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.

 

[abirdcall]

Is that in the 2024 DMG? I haven't made the time to read through it thoroughly.

Pg. 17

Hidden Die Rolls:

Hiding your die rolls keeps them mysterious and allows you to alter results if you want to. For example, you could ignore a Critical Hit to save a character's life. Don't alter die rolls too often, though, and never let the players know when you fudge a die roll.

 

[pemerton]

I also recall that both 3.0 and 3.5 had a few pointed notes in the CN alignment description including something like "he is not just as likely to cross a bridge as jump off it".

I was curious about this, and so just checked the 3.5 SRD: Description :: d20srd.org

Assuming this is accurate, it goes out of its way to reverse the idea of CN conveyed in 2nd ed AD&D:

A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it.​

 

[Oofta]

Pg. 17

Hidden Die Rolls:

Hiding your die rolls keeps them mysterious and allows you to alter results if you want to. For example, you could ignore a Critical Hit to save a character's life. Don't alter die rolls too often, though, and never let the players know when you fudge a die roll.

While I will occasionally use less than optimal tactics based on the monster's intelligence and sometimes on player preference (we discuss how lethal a game we want), I always roll in the open. But there's a difference between not killing a PC because your dice are simply super hot and making up whether or not you hit. I wouldn't do either one, but I understand why some people would occasionally do the former.

 

[abirdcall]

While I will occasionally use less than optimal tactics based on the monster's intelligence and sometimes on player preference (we discuss how lethal a game we want), I always roll in the open. But there's a difference between not killing a PC because your dice are simply super hot and making up whether or not you hit. I wouldn't do either one, but I understand why some people would occasionally do the former.

It's fine for the table to agree during session 0 for the DM to avoid character death or generally make the game easier in one way or another.

It's entirely different to lie to the players.

Just don't lie to your friends. It's not nice.

 

[billd91]

It's fine for the table to agree during session 0 for the DM to avoid character death or generally make the game easier in one way or another.

It's entirely different to lie to the players.

Just don't lie to your friends. It's not nice.

Baloney. Reducing a crit to a hit isn’t a question of integrity. It isn’t like lying about screwing their ex or how much money they owe for their part of the carry out order. It’s changing a game state that is within your power to change. That’s it.
I get tired of religiously people treat this topic. If you don’t want to fudge, then don’t. But stop casting aspersions on those who do.

 

[Oofta]

Baloney. Reducing a crit to a hit isn’t a question of integrity. It isn’t like lying about screwing their ex or how much money they owe for their part of the carry out order. It’s changing a game state that is within your power to change. That’s it.
I get tired of religiously people treat this topic. If you don’t want to fudge, then don’t. But stop casting aspersions on those who do.

While I don't fudge, I don't see a problem with turning a crit into a hit if the group doesn't want a deadly game. After all, I can also do things as a DM like not double tapping an unconscious character or swapping out an ability I think would be too deadly when I'm prepping for a game. I decided ahead of time that the encounter against a level 1 party wouldn't include an ancient red dragon bent on their deaths.

On the other hand, I turning 1s into crits because I want to show the PCs a lesson is a Bozo no-no. That, to me, is just being vindictive.

 

[abirdcall]

While I don't fudge, I don't see a problem with turning a crit into a hit if the group doesn't want a deadly game. After all, I can also do things as a DM like not double tapping an unconscious character or swapping out an ability I think would be too deadly when I'm prepping for a game. I decided ahead of time that the encounter against a level 1 party wouldn't include an ancient red dragon bent on their deaths.

On the other hand, I turning 1s into crits because I want to show the PCs a lesson is a Bozo no-no. That, to me, is just being vindictive.

If it didn't have the 'never let players know' bit at the end I would still not think it was great advice but would be largely indifferent about it.

All that needs to be done is to establish in session 0 that you're sometimes going to put your foot on the scale to better achieve the table's playing goals. And then, you can go ahead and not specify when you're changing things as you already did so at the beginning.

 

[SkidAce]

Did I accidently pin this thread, or was it officially pinned?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Did I accidently pin this thread, or was it officially pinned?

It's officially pinned. But has wandered very off topic.

 

[Oofta]

Did I accidently pin this thread, or was it officially pinned?

It's officially pinned. But has wandered very off topic.

@Morrus perhaps time to unpin?