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.

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

One doesn't acquire one's species at all. One's species is an integral component of one's being!

This is what is known as "racial (or species) essentialism."

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

Is the nomenclature an important point of contention here?

There are few scenarios in written communication where nomenclature is unimportant, because without it participants likely won't have a clear idea of what the subject matter is.

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

How is choosing my PC's race not also "game first"?

It is or it isn't or it's something else. Up to you. There are no objective facts in operation here.

 

[pemerton]

Is the nomenclature an important point of contention here?

Well, if we recognise that in D&D building a PC has always involved choosing one's race/species (perhaps within the limits of rolled stats), then we can see that it is not less logical to choose one's class first than to choose one's race/species first. Because the choice of race/species is clearly not an action declaration, or some other model/representation of something a PC is doing in the fiction.

 

[pemerton]

This is what is known as "racial (or species) essentialism."

No it's not.

Racial essentialism is a fallacious view about the relationship between complex patterns of facts involving human history, geography, appearance, community, etc.

Whereas the view that it is essential to my being that I am human rather than (say) feline is not racial essentialism. It's not even biological essentialism (as it makes no claim about the necessary biological elements or concomitants of being human rather than feline).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, if we recognise that in D&D building a PC has always involved choosing one's race/species (perhaps within the limits of rolled stats), then we can see that it is not less logical to choose one's class first than to choose one's race/species first. Because the choice of race/species is clearly not an action declaration, or some other model/representation of something a PC is doing in the fiction.

I like to let the dice make the decisions you can't make in real life (sometimes, at least, it's fun). So if the DM has, say, five choices of species in a campaign, well I'm potentially a d10 away from a decision.

 

[Oofta]

I like to let the dice make the decisions you can't make in real life (sometimes, at least, it's fun). So if the DM has, say, five choices of species in a campaign, well I'm potentially a d10 away from a decision.

Real gamers invest in a D5.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Real gamers invest in a D5.
View attachment 391059

I have a d5, actually. Got a couple for my DCC games.