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.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Sad sta

 

[DarkCrisis]

Sad state of affairs when your character is just a way to min max for reasons. Glad I out grew that.

I’d want to lose my Paly powers if I broke my oath.

Then again, I’d rather my Paly and any other class actually earn thier powers instead of just say words they might mean in 3 levels. See also Warlock.

Frankly I blame MMOs. I think 4E would absolutely fly now a days

 

[Maxperson]

You mean where it suggests the player may want to talk to their DM about switching to a different subclass or class if they unrepentantly violate their oath ( though there are no rules or mechanics to enforce it)?? No where does it say you auto-loose your power and it even makes it clear that breaking one's oath and repenting are possible.

That's a far cry from... if you break your oath you loose your powers... in fact I don't see that stated anywhere.

So I'll ask again... where is this stated?

Nope. Where it says that it happens without talking to the player at all. The player can talk about a different deity and oath if the DM allows it.

"If a paladin willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences can be more serious. At the DM's discretion, an impenitent paladin might be forced to abandon this class and adopt another, or perhaps to take the Oath breaker paladin option that appears in the Dungeon Master's Guide"

There is no discussion involved unless the DM opts to talk to the player.

 

[Demetrios1453]

There is no other narrative provided in the PHB. Sure you can come with any narrative you want, including getting power prior to the oath, but the PHB says it comes from oath and provides no exceptions.

Other than the exception that they are getting those powers before the oath.

I'm really shocked at all the pedantry here in this thread over 3rd level subclasses. Really? You guys can't come up with logical, reasonable constructs on why said powers appear before 3rd level? Do you really have to descend into the deepest depths of rules-lawyering like this?

 

[Imaro]

Nope. Where it says that it happens without talking to the player at all. The player can talk about a different deity and oath if the DM allows it.

"If a paladin willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences can be more serious. At the DM's discretion, an impenitent paladin might be forced to abandon this class and adopt another, or perhaps to take the Oath breaker paladin option that appears in the Dungeon Master's Guide"

There is no discussion involved unless the DM opts to talk to the player.

So it's DM fiat... not a rule. Also where in the 2024 book is this statement... I honestly can't find it.

EDIT: Ok you're referencing the 2014 PHB... I thought this was a thread about the 2024 book.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm really shocked at all the pedantry here in this thread over 3rd level subclasses. Really? You guys can't come up with logical, reasonable constructs on why said powers appear before 3rd level?

I mean, the writers who are paid to do this thing and in turn expect us to pay for their work apparently couldn't...

That I can make up my own stuff or indeed write my own rules does not absolve WotC from criticism. I don't think this is a huge issue, but it certainly is a clear incongruity between the rules and the lore that is supposed to go along with them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

First every 1-2 paladin only gets it if the DM rules so (at least for NPC's)... Every 1-2 PC paladin gets it because they are devout warriors.

Because your devout warrior now wants to pledge themselves to a cause, also because in doing so you are granted greater power in the name of said cause....

Devout to what?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yep because there's no precedent in all of fantasy for a holy warrior who failed at becoming paragon and turned to other magical arts... where does it say Paladins loose their powers for breaking their oaths?

In lore I prefer from previous editions of D&D.

 

[Scribe]

Devout to what?

Indeed, the Paladin (less so in 5) but Warlock especially are thematically a mess when trying to marry up with the rules.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Other than the exception that they are getting those powers before the oath.

I'm really shocked at all the pedantry here in this thread over 3rd level subclasses. Really? You guys can't come up with logical, reasonable constructs on why said powers appear before 3rd level? Do you really have to descend into the deepest depths of rules-lawyering like this?

I think it's worth talking about that such logical, reasonable constructs don't exist in the text. Seems like the sort of thing that would have been worth putting in there, if narrative is supposed to matter in this game of role-play.