D&D (2024) D&D 2024 Player's Handbook Reviews

On Thursday August 1st, the review embargo is lifted for those who were sent an early copy of the new Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. In this post I intend to compile a handy list of those reviews as they arrive. If you know of a review, please let me know in the comments so that I can add it! I'll be updating this list as new reviews arrive, so do check back later to see what's been added!

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Review List

• The official EN World review -- "Make no mistake, this is a new edition."
• ComicBook.com -- "Dungeons & Dragons has improved upon its current ruleset, but the ruleset still feels very familiar to 5E veterans."
• Comic Book Resources -- "From magic upgrades to easier character building, D&D's 2024 Player's Handbook is the upgrade players and DMs didn't know they needed."
• Wargamer.com -- "The 2024 Player’s Handbook is bigger and more beginner-friendly than ever before. It still feels and plays like D&D fifth edition, but numerous quality-of-life tweaks have made the game more approachable and its player options more powerful. Its execution disappoints in a handful of places, and it’s too early to tell how the new rules will impact encounter balance, but this is an optimistic start to the new Dungeons and Dragons era."
• RPGBOT -- "A lot has changed in the 2024 DnD 5e rules. In this horrendously long article, we’ve dug into everything that has changed in excruciating detail. There’s a lot here."

Video Reviews
Note, a couple of these videos have been redacted or taken down following copyright claims by WotC.

• 2024 PHB Rules Changes D&D 5.24 (Treantmonk's Temple)
• Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook 2024 Preview & Review | Key Takeaways and Comparisons with 2014 (Awesome Black)
• 10 Unexpected Changes in the D&D 5E 2024 Player's Handbook (This Effin' GM Games)
• Every Class and Subclass Change for 2024 (d4: Deep Dive)
• D&D Player's Handbook 2024 Winners & Losers! (The Character Sheet on ComicBook.com)
• 2024 Player's Handbook First Look Review (Dungeon Dudes)
• The 2024 Player's Handbook: Full Spoilers Review (DnD Shorts)
• Full Early Review! D&D 2024 Player's Handbook (JoeFudge)
• First Look at the 2024 Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons (GameMasters)
• 2024 PHB Flip through (Jorphdan) [taken down]
• D&D New Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual, and Project Sigil Info (maturemindedgamers)
• 2024 Player's Handbook: Questions Answered! (Alphastream)
• D&D 2024 Player's Handbook Walkthrough (Sly Flourish) [redacted]

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Release timeline (i.e. when you can get it!)

• August 1st: Reviewers. Some reviewers have copies already, with their embargo lifting August 1st.
• August 1st-4th: Gen Con. There will be 3,000 copies for sale at Gen Con.
• September 3rd: US/Canada Hobby Stores. US/Canada hobby stores get it September 3rd.
• September 3rd: DDB 'Master' Pre-orders. Also on this date, D&D Beyond 'Master Subscribers' get the digital version.
• September 10th: DDB 'Hero' Pre-orders. On this date, D&D Beyond 'Hero Subscribers' get the digital version.
• September 17th: General Release. For the rest of us, the street date is September 17th.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The characteristic that is important to most players about being an orc is being big and green and having tusks. The fraction of players who want to squeeze the absolute maximum mechanical advantage out of character creation choices is tiny. Most players don’t care about that stuff.

As for being big, green and having tusks is better accomplished by orc. Which is why they were already far more popular with players than half orcs ever were.

 

[pemerton]

The characteristic that is important to most players about being an orc is being big and green and having tusks. The fraction of players who want to squeeze the absolute maximum mechanical advantage out of character creation choices is tiny. Most players don’t care about that stuff.

As for being big, green and having tusks is better accomplished by orc. Which is why they were already far more popular with players than half orcs ever were.

Wrong thread? This seems more like it fits in the "half races in the SRD" thread.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wrong thread? This seems more like it fits in the "half races in the SRD" thread.

Probably. I’m trying to do to many things at once!

 

[Micah Sweet]

The characteristic that is important to most players about being an orc is being big and green and having tusks. The fraction of players who want to squeeze the absolute maximum mechanical advantage out of character creation choices is tiny. Most players don’t care about that stuff.

As for being big, green and having tusks is better accomplished by orc. Which is why they were already far more popular with players than half orcs ever were.

I thought 5.5 orcs were grey humans with a bit of fang showing. That's what the art tells us, so these green, tusked beings you're describing don't seem to be what WotC wants to see as orcs. Anything beyond that in-universe that makes them different from humans?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Anything beyond that in-universe that makes them different from humans?

They're natural sprinters?

Mechanically, 2024 orcs would need one more feature to be worth a look. Right now, they're just giving you 'avoid dropping to 0hp once', which is a) planning to fail in the first place b) everything has multiattacks so you're getting dropped before your turn anyway. At least make it 'you cannot be dropped to 0hp before the start of your next turn' and I can trust it does something if it does come up.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I thought 5.5 orcs were grey humans with a bit of fang showing. That's what the art tells us, so these green, tusked beings you're describing don't seem to be what WotC wants to see as orcs

Pop culture is out of WotC’s control, and pop culture knows what an orc looks like.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Pop culture is out of WotC’s control, and pop culture knows what an orc looks like.

That does bring up the question, what pop culture orcs have there recently been? All I remember seeing is the standard Warcraft and Warhammer orcs, and for the general public, LotR orcs.

I do wonder though, if we ever get firbolgs, if they are going to follow Critical Role fan art's direction on them... The one time anyone has cared about firbolgs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Pop culture is out of WotC’s control, and pop culture knows what an orc looks like.

So your argument is that WotC is fighting pop culture here?

 

[Micah Sweet]

That does bring up the question, what pop culture orcs have there recently been? All I remember seeing is the standard Warcraft and Warhammer orcs, and for the general public, LotR orcs.

None of those look like WotC orcs, that's for sure. Not sure what they're hoping to gain.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

They're natural sprinters?

Mechanically, 2024 orcs would need one more feature to be worth a look. Right now, they're just giving you 'avoid dropping to 0hp once', which is a) planning to fail in the first place b) everything has multiattacks so you're getting dropped before your turn anyway. At least make it 'you cannot be dropped to 0hp before the start of your next turn' and I can trust it does something if it does come up.

I would really love for WoTC to lean into more development in cultures, species and backgrounds in future setting books. Give a selection of traits for culture, and species. Use it to build out hybrids and expand on backgrounds.
Take something like the lifepath builder in Xanathar's and show it would relate to a custom background.