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.

 

[R_J_K75]

that is what I thought, but I couldn't remember for sure so I didn't want to comment. That is pretty crappy of him as he presumably knew the restriction before posting them.

I don't think that he can say he was unaware or didn't understand the terms here, he broke the rules and got caught. Bunch of savages in this town

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I don't think that he can say he was unaware or didn't understand the terms here, he broke the rules and got caught. Bunch of savages in this town

Let's be honest: he knew quite well what he was doing, and being ''caught'' also help him spin his narrative of ''big bad WotC crushing the little innocent content creator beneath their feet''. Its a win-win for him.

 

[R_J_K75]

Let's be honest: he knew quite well what he was doing, and being ''caught'' also help him spin his narrative of ''big bad WotC crushing the little innocent content creator beneath their feet''. Its a win-win for him.

Is it a win win for him? I never heard of him nor will I likely watch any of his videos again

crushing the little innocent content creator beneath their feet

I prefer crushed beneath booted heal, just a personal preference

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Is it a win win for him? I never heard of him nor will I likely watch any of his videos again

I prefer crushed beneath booted heal, just a personal preference

yeah, I mean it does fit in the narrative his community loves him for. For people with no interest in youtuber being contrarians for the sake of it, its pretty un-appealing.

Booted Heal should be an healing item craft-able with cobbler's tools.

 

[R_J_K75]

yeah, I mean it does fit in the narrative his community loves him for. For people with no interest in youtuber being contrarians for the sake of it, its pretty un-appealing.

Booted Heal should be an healing item craft-able with cobbler's tools.

Booted Heal - 5E can be whatever you want it to be

 

[R_J_K75]

This kind of reminds me of the Ballad of Dwight Frye

He died penniless of a heart attack on a city bus if Im not mistaken

 

[Parmandur]

His review was not pulled. It is right here

Not sure why you would spread that misinformation. Hmm....

No, hia complete 1 and a half hour flio through was pulled.

 

[Yaarel]

No, hia complete 1 and a half hour flio through was pulled.

Man, I wish I saw that before it went private.

 

[Parmandur]

Man, I wish I saw that before it went private.

Honestly, not that much to be surprised by.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Yes. it will not go away but it feels to me that with each edition/revision there's a push for more digital tools and the face-to-face aspect of the game slowly gets whittled away.

Yes, this tooling is being rolled out, but I stand by my assertion. The feeling you are expressing are little different (though less hostile in language) from much of what I heard back in the eighties and nineties from wargamers about first D&D and latter from D&D grogs regarding Magic: The gathering.
The tabletop and board wargaming hobby still exists and is doing ok 30+ years later and that is outside the behemoth that Games Workshop.