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.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I've seen some express that they enjoy long D&D combats and that's where they find the most fun, just adding that in for them. The opposite would be those who come for the adventure or story telling or secret finding etc etc etc.

Of course they’re also some who enjoyed both!

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

No one said it was derogatory. It's meant to emphasize power levels. Not vs old D&D but even against the NPCs of 5th ed. The game is made toward player survivability more than it’s ever been. Nothing wrong with that. It is what it is.

Issue it’s possibly around the idea that no one has standard definition about what a superhero is. Some people would call 5E players superheroes and others would say it is not. So superhero is more talking about your biases than a statement of fact

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Unless your PC can be killed by a 1d4 damage roll, can only succeed on 1/5 ability checks, and has no abilities, it's a superhero.

I don’t think that is true at all, not by any definition of superhero I’ve seen.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don’t think that is true at all, not by any definition of superhero I’ve seen.

Yeah that's the point @Shardstone is making - some people are ridiculous/reckless in their application of the term "superhero".

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Yeah that's the point @Shardstone is making - some people are ridiculous/reckless in their application of the term "superhero".

Ok - I can see that now. Totally took it the wrong way!

 

[MarkB]

I always kind-of saw the warlock, especially the old 3.5e version, as the closest thing to a superhero class - a narrowly-defined set of powers, but ones that are reliable and in many cases aren't expended upon use.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No one said it was derogatory.

Didn't need to. I've got the context.

It's meant to emphasize power levels.

Because of this.

Superheroes aren't about power; they're about how they apply whatever skills they have that sets them apart mixed with an element of duality and internalizing social responsibility.

I spent 3 years alongside a bunch of other writers rassling Amazon to get the genre recognized. Did didn't get into the low six digits on Bezos's hit list to see it used as a term of disrespect in my other genre of focus.

 

[Chaosmancer]

They can pretty easily both be correct. Pace of play depends almost entirely on the particular players and DM at the table, so one table may say that X speeds things up while another table that same thing could slow the game to a crawl.

Makes it pretty pointless to debate about really, other than looking for tips on how to speed things up from tables that aren't seeing the issue

Yeah, if it was "I think these rules will slow down things at my specific table" then there wouldn't be anything to do but offer advice, which I have plenty of potential tricks which could speed things up.

 

[Chaosmancer]

A rose by any other name

Is a fireball where you have to calculate the volume of the fireball and the tunnel you are in, so that you can properly follow the rules for how it moves through the tunnel?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Didn't need to. I've got the context.

Because of this.

Superheroes aren't about power; they're about how they apply whatever skills they have that sets them apart mixed with an element of duality and internalizing social responsibility.

I spent 3 years alongside a bunch of other writers rassling Amazon to get the genre recognized. Did didn't get into the low six digits on Bezos's hit list to see it used as a term of disrespect in my other genre of focus.

"Context" vs what I actually said. But feel free to choose which one fits your bias better.

I'm trying to be nice. I'm trying to express that 5E has its place for fun. I'm trying to not poo on it as I often do.

I don't know why you feel the need to nitpick my posts and put them into your context. Perhaps it would be better for you to block me if you find all my posts so unappealing. You seem to want to read into them more than I am saying.

And I am well aware of what a Superhero is. I've been alive for almost 50 years. This isn't my first step into the geek side of life. Thanks for the explanation, though.