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.

 

[OB1]

Since exhaustion applies to all D20 Tests, that means it also applies to death saving throws ... so the more exhausted you are, the harder it is to stop yourself from dying. While this makes sense, I thought it was worth mentioning.

Dungeon Dudes mentioned that a death saving throw is specifically not a D20 test, so it won't count against those.

 

[pukunui]

Dungeon Dudes mentioned that a death saving throw is specifically not a D20 test, so it won't count against those.

Ah OK. That's good to know.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Dungeon Dudes mentioned that a death saving throw is specifically not a D20 test, so it won't count against those.

I'm not so sure they're right on that. Saving throws are d20 tests, and death saving throws are saving throws.

 

[Daztur]

That's an interesting thought. And spending some time thinking about it, I suspect you're right.

In 4e, a DM could literally had a new player a character sheet and a small deck of cards representing their abilities. And, assuming that player had played a collectible card game or video game, they'd probably be able to pick it up very quickly.

I recall my DM even included a card in everyone's deck which said something like "Tell the DM something cool you'd like your character to attempt" as well, in case the players forgot they were not beholden to just their other cards.

I think the same goes for the FATE game I played where one person just could not wrap their head around the metagame fate point economy. They were used to RPGs working in a certain way and their expectations just had a really hard time shifting to new ideas.

There's a real gap between the games I would be able to play if the players were my clones and the games I'm able to play with the group I actually have. For example the only way I was able to play Shadowrun was with a really solid GM who could hold my hand through combat and made sure I rolled the right dice for each thing. Similarly the more abstract Indie games are just off the table for the more beer and pizza group I actually have so I get to play them at conventions instead. And that's fine, they're my friends.

5e was such a success because it had few things that were really HATED so most people were fine with going along with it even if it wasn't their first choice. With 4e or OSR games if you run games with a random group of friends there'll probably be one person who just hates them and a lot of tables choose games for the group they have, not choose people for the game they want to play. Often the exception to this is newbie groups (as in your case) as they don't have anything else to compare the game you're playing to and are often far more open than veteran players. As I said in another thread I'm gearing up for a Beyond the Wall campaign now since it has a lot softer edges than other OSR games, will hopefully be a hit with my friend group.

 

[OB1]

I'm not so sure they're right on that. Saving throws are d20 tests, and death saving throws are saving throws.

Saving throws are always associated with an ability score. Death saving throws are not, they're just a 55/45 straight up chance. You can still use heroic inspiration to reroll though, because heroic insipiration allows you to reroll any die.

But also, Death Saving Throw and failure/success have always been clunky wording that's caused problems since 2014.

 

[pukunui]

Yeah, it's hard to tell, but I think "Death Saving Throw" is meant to be distinct from "Saving Throw". They are listed separately in the rules glossary, for one thing.

 

[volanin]

I have a silly question! In the deep depths of my mind, I remember somebody at WotC mentioning that the fonts inside the new books would be bigger than the 2014 version. My eyes have withered in these last 10 years, and it would be great if this is true. Could anyone confirm this please?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I think "Death Saving Throw" is meant to be distinct from "Saving Throw"

Guess we'll find out, if they ever make an official 2024 ruling on how Paladin save aura interacts with death saves.

 

[Stalker0]

Guess we'll find out, if they ever make an official 2024 ruling on how Paladin save aura interacts with death saves.

yeah I've always assumed paladin aura affects death saves, would be interesting if they really consider them seperate now

 

[Ruin Explorer]

You are probably right but if WotC was making these niche games they would most likely have more exposure, and more people might be willing to try them. Everything that TSR/WotC that wasn't D&D never seemed to last more than a few years, like Alternity, d20 Modern, Star Frontiers, and others.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is that these IPs you've been listing, like GI Joe are niche-as-hell, and even with a ton more exposure, you wouldn't have a ton more people playing them. Almost no-one under 40 will be buying the GI Joe RPG, let alone 30 or 20, which is where most D&D and RPG players are. You might convince a younger Millennial or a Gen Z person to buy a Star Wars or even Star Trek RPG or something. GI Joe though? I don't think there's a chance in hell. The same applies to pretty much all these "big in the '80s" IPs - and "big in the '90s" IPs only push it down like 10 years. And MLP nostalgia is probably still 10+ years away.

But I think if was unsuccessful it have been canned already, so someone has to be buying and playing it.

Yeah I expect it's exactly as successful as they anticipated. Which is really solid for them, but would be peanuts to WotC, probably less than they make on sourcebook.