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.

 

[Shardstone]

Honestly, it's hard to respect the "superhero" opinion. To me, that says you're not really doing a good job of thinking about the game, challenge, and how to create interesting challenges. My games have never, ever in early levels felt like actual Superheroes. They are not justice league. They do heroic stuff, they do some crazy stuff, but that's par the course for Fantasy. After all, in book one, Aragorn does fend off 9 Nazgul! That's pretty early into the story we see some cool stunts.

But no, if your game feels too easy, that is not the fault of the system, it is the fault of the DM. That does NOT mean you are a bad DM! Nor does it mean you are stupid or anything negative at all. But you, as the DM, are responsible for the quality of the encounters in your game. And we all make mistakes. One time I spent a whole session hyping up this bossfight for the following session, worked on the custom stat block, set up the arena, and they killed it round one. Whoops. Never happened again, because I LEARNED from that and got better at designing encounters.

All too often do I see people with tons of DM experience blame the system for their failures. Just because you've played since 1974 doesn't mean you are an infalliable DM. I consider DMing an art, and a respectable one at that, and that means you have to take on the stance as a forever-student. Always seek to be better. Always seek to improve. And while 5E is not perfect, nor is 2024, that doesn't mean it's an actual valid excuse for some complaints. SUPERHERO is one of them.

SUPER HERO. LOL. Like, you are telling on yourself with that. Up your damage a little bit, bump a DC by 1 or 2, play with long rests a bit. It isn't that hard. And no amount at handwringing over having to homebrew will make it hard. I have literally never played a game out of the box EXCEPT for one shots where I didn't want to homebrew stuff. We all have styles and tastes in DMing unique to us, and I consider it a mark of a skilled DM to be able to impose their vision upon a game. And since most people here seem to be running typical D&D worlds, it really isn't that had to get a "old school" or "heavy story" or "challenging immersion dungeon crawler" out of 5E. It just isn't. If you've had troubles with it, that's valid, but try looking for solutions other then pretending the game is at fault.

 

[ECMO3]

And yet, despite never using the word problem, a narrative keeps growing that one of the flaws with the system is going to be that it slows down combat. And it is growing pervasively only amongst people who haven't tried it in play, who are warning about the "potential". A potential that keeps failing to manifest.

I am not saying this. Maybe someone else is, but I am not.

Make sure you listen through past the 27 minute mark, because you are going to want to stop and say "no no, he agrees with me" or "no no, he said we can't know" but I'm referring to when he starts talking about the higher average damage leading to shorter combats, because monsters will drop faster.

Did you bother to listen to what you posted?

From 25:20

Treantmonk: "[combat encounters] might take fewer rounds but I don't think they will be faster, because I think the rounds will take longer. Everybody has a bonus action they can do, reaction they can do, there is some stuff people can do at the start of their turn that doesn't take an action, there will be more saving throws. So I think a round of combat is going to take longer, a person's turn is going to take longer, but I can't see them taking as long" (note in context the last 7 words he is talking about rounds, not time)

D4: "My hunch is they will take longer for the reasons that you mention, but I think also maybe take more rounds"

Later at 33:00

D4: "I tend to think combat will take a little bit longer, you think it will be fewer rounds but maybe longer"

Pretty much sounds like exactly what I have been saying!

And only Magic Initiate (Wizard) and Lucky give reactions, Musician gives a re-roll to people in the party. Savage attacker offers a re-roll too, but has not changed. Crafter, the other two magic initiates, Alert, Healer, Tavern Brawler, Skilled, and Tough don't give any re-rolls or reactions

No they do other things. While reactions are the biggest thing that will make combat longer lots of other things will too, like Treatmonk points out in the video you posted.

Are we also counting wizards being able to move Cloud of Daggers as something they couldn't do before and may slow down combat?

Yes.

What skills are the fighter going to choose to use Second Wind on, instead of healing, during combat?

Persuasion, Intimidation, hide, Athletics, Insight, Perception, thieves tools check .....

Really anything

Not everyone played Eldritch Knights in 2014.

Eldritch Knight was your example, not mine.

Because you keep presenting it like "we have going to have a problem with this new system, because there are 700 new things that will slow down combat" but in actual play.. it may be two or three things. Yes, there are a lot of things overall that changed, but if you expect the system as a whole to feel altered in terms of time, you can't keep pointing o small changes and extrapolating them like you are.

I have never presented that way. Not one time in any post. I said I think combat will take longer. I said I think rounds will take longer (and Treantmonk unequivocally agrees) and I said that was frustrating for me as a DM.

I never said it was a problem. Combat already takes a long time in 5E, if I thought it was a problem I would not be playing 5E, I would be playing 1E or 2E where combat is much quicker.

You will never be convinced until you play it at the table. You keep seeing this as "there are more options, therefore everything will be slower". I'm saying "an individual turn will largely look the same, so there is no reason to expect the speed of gameplay will look largely different."

I am saying an individual turn will be longer and since turns will be longer rounds will be longer. I think there is ample evidence to support that theory that and now that you posted the video Im know the experts agree on that. I also think overall combat will be longer.

I don't think you will be convinced until you play.

 

[Distracted DM]

Well, in AD&D, all you had to do was be an 8th-level fighter to be a superhero, so it wasn't that tough.

It took us almost two years of playing 3-4 sessions/month to hit level 9... that's when a campaign would usually wrap up.

edit: I just realized you were making a joke about the level titles :'D

 

[Chaosmancer]

Did you bother to listen to what you posted?

From 25:20

Treantmonk: "[combat encounters] might take fewer rounds but I don't think they will be faster, because I think the rounds will take longer. Everybody has a bonus action they can do, reaction they can do, there is some stuff people can do at the start of their turn that doesn't take an action, there will be more saving throws. So I think a round of combat is going to take longer, a person's turn is going to take longer, but I can't see them taking as long" (note in context the last 7 words he is talking about rounds, not time)

D4: "My hunch is they will take longer for the reasons that you mention, but I think also maybe take more rounds"

Later at 33:00

D4: "I tend to think combat will take a little bit longer, you think it will be fewer rounds but maybe longer"

Pretty much sounds like exactly what I have been saying!

So you completely ignored where he said that combats will likely have fewer rounds, so that combat itself will not be slower even if the rounds are slightly longer? I mean, I literally told you to listen past the part where you would want to stop and declare victory, which is exactly the part you are quoting to tell me that you are right. And yeah, D4 said he felt that combat might take longer, but he attributed that to the decreasing of spike damage as well. And when Treantmonk challenged him on that, he referenced back to their earlier 25 minute conversation about whether or not damage as a whole is higher or lower in the new rules.

And while yes, you keep focusing on the every round, you keep extrapolating that to all of combat and then the entire game being slower. Whereas the opinion presented is that even if the round is slightly longer, overall, the rest of the game won't actually be slowed down.

No they do other things. While reactions are the biggest thing that will make combat longer lots of other things will too, like Treatmonk points out in the video you posted.

Yes.

So did you just want a reprint with zero rules changes? Because you have at this point complained about every single thing, individually. Did you ever think that there were going to be zero new mechanics in the 2024 rules? Is Conjure Animals being changed going to slow down combat, because now rather than a banned spell you never allowed, the Druid is going to have a spell that does something? Are the changes to the Barbarian now going to slow down combat, because the Barbarian is less likely to lose rage? Does the fact that the paladin now has options for smites going to slow down combat, because they will no longer attack robotically with no thought to the tactical situation?

I have never presented that way. Not one time in any post. I said I think combat will take longer. I said I think rounds will take longer (and Treantmonk unequivocally agrees) and I said that was frustrating for me as a DM.

I never said it was a problem. Combat already takes a long time in 5E, if I thought it was a problem I would not be playing 5E, I would be playing 1E or 2E where combat is much quicker.

So... what? "I think combat will take longer, that makes me growly, but ultimately I don't care, except to argue for dozens of pages that it absolutely will take longer no matter what anyone says to the contrary?"

I am saying an individual turn will be longer and since turns will be longer rounds will be longer. I think there is ample evidence to support that theory that and now that you posted the video Im know the experts agree on that. I also think overall combat will be longer.

I don't think you will be convinced until you play.

Considering I have played a few games with 2024 characters... I don't think playing more of them will convince me of something I've never seen any evidence for in play.

 

[Dausuul]

Honestly, it's hard to respect the "superhero" opinion. To me, that says you're not really doing a good job of thinking about the game, challenge, and how to create interesting challenges. My games have never, ever in early levels felt like actual Superheroes. They are not justice league. They do heroic stuff, they do some crazy stuff, but that's par the course for Fantasy. After all, in book one, Aragorn does fend off 9 Nazgul!

Nitpicking here, but Aragorn never took on the Nine. He managed to startle five of them into withdrawing when they weren't expecting resistance; but he himself was surprised they didn't return to resume the assault, implying they held the advantage. (Since the Witch-King had tagged Frodo with a Morgul-blade, they saw no need to risk further battle.) When the full Nine were assembled, Aragorn and even Glorfindel got the hell out of the way and let Elrond handle it.

 

[ECMO3]

So you completely ignored where he said that combats will likely have fewer rounds, so that combat itself will not be slower even if the rounds are slightly longer?

That is not what he said. TM said combats will have fewer rounds but might take as long (or later in the video longer). D4 said they would would take longer.

I never said combat would have more rounds. What I said is rounds and combat would take longer, which is consistent with what they said.

I mean, I literally told you to listen past the part where you would want to stop and declare victory, which is exactly the part you are quoting to tell me that you are right.

I listened 5 minutes past that point and included a quote from past that point.

And yeah, D4 said he felt that combat might take longer, but he attributed that to the decreasing of spike damage as well. And when Treantmonk challenged him on that, he referenced back to their earlier 25 minute conversation about whether or not damage as a whole is higher or lower in the new rules.

And then he doubled down AFTER that and said "I tend to think combat will take longer".

And while yes, you keep focusing on the every round, you keep extrapolating that to all of combat and then the entire game being slower. Whereas the opinion presented is that even if the round is slightly longer, overall, the rest of the game won't actually be slowed down.

Slightly longer IS longer!

So did you just want a reprint with zero rules changes? Because you have at this point complained about every single thing, individually.

I have not complained about a single thing on this thread.

I want a reprint with zero rule changes? Where do you come up with this? It is certainly not something I said.

The only thread I started in the last week on 2024 actually talked about how much I love one of the new classes.

To the best of my memory, the only thing I complained about in the new rules on this entire board are the changes to Inflict Wounds and the ASIs being tied to backgrounds. I have complained about nothing else in the new rules at all to my knowledge.

Is Conjure Animals being changed going to slow down combat, because now rather than a banned spell you never allowed, the Druid is going to have a spell that does something?

I never banned Conjure Animals.

Are the changes to the Barbarian now going to slow down combat?

Yes

Does the fact that the paladin now has options for smites going to slow down combat, because they will no longer attack robotically with no thought to the tactical situation?

No, not for the smite options specifically although other things will.

So... what? "I think combat will take longer, that makes me growly, but ultimately I don't care, except to argue for dozens of pages that it absolutely will take longer no matter what anyone says to the contrary?"

Isn't that exactly what you are doing by claiming it won't take longer?

At least I am not accusing you of things that you never said like you are of me - saying I complained about the rules, I want a reprint with zero changes or that longer rounds is a problem .... and that is just in the last 2 days alone.

Considering I have played a few games with 2024 characters... I don't think playing more of them will convince me of something I've never seen any evidence for in play.

So you have a copy of the 2024 PHB? If you don't then you haven't played games with 2024 characters.

Just face it. Rounds are going to take longer. Combat is going to take longer. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to accept.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't know why this is so hard for some people to accept.

Because it's bollocks!

 

[Shardstone]

Nitpicking here, but Aragorn never took on the Nine. He managed to startle five of them into withdrawing when they weren't expecting resistance; but he himself was surprised they didn't return to resume the assault, implying they held the advantage. (Since the Witch-King had tagged Frodo with a Morgul-blade, they saw no need to risk further battle.) When the full Nine were assembled, Aragorn and even Glorfindel got the hell out of the way and let Elrond handle it.

Still amazing!

 

[SteveC]

Will combat be faster or slower under the new Edition? Let's be honest here: unless you are one of the designers who's been playtesting it, you don't know. I don't know.

But I'm going to speculate anyway. It's my opinion, based on what I've seen of the martial classes, that the floor for complexity is going to be higher with 5.5E. What do I mean? I play in a game with people of incredibly varying skill levels at D&D. The players who are playing the most complex builds are going to take some time to adjust to the new rules or spells, but I expect them to be up to speed in a couple of sessions.

What's going to change are the players at the lower end because their characters have more options. One of our players played a Champion fighter as their first character. On their turn, they moved if necessary and then rolled to hit and damage. They occasionally remembered Action Surge and had to be reminded about Second Wind. That player is going to be slower.

And if you think about it, WotC is giving us what we've asked for. Champions and characters at the low end of complexity were criticized for that, along with not being anything but damage dealers. So they have some more options with weapon mastery. I'm going to be honest and say that I don't know all of those options because I'm unlikely to play a character that uses them. Maybe there is a really simple choice for them to make. Don't know.

Will the game be slower overall? None of us know that yet. But I do know that it got more complex at the low end, so I suspect it will be for some groups.

 

[Chaosmancer]

That is not what he said. TM said combats will have fewer rounds but might take as long (or later in the video longer). D4 said they would would take longer.

I never said combat would have more rounds. What I said is rounds and combat would take longer, which is consistent with what they said.

I listened 5 minutes past that point and included a quote from past that point.

And then he doubled down AFTER that and said "I tend to think combat will take longer".

Slightly longer IS longer!

You have said that combat will take longer, because each round will be longer. They said that combat will not be longer, because there will be fewer rounds, even if each round is longer.

I, personally, am not even convinced that the rounds will be longer. Yes, I understand that people will be taking reactions, and yes, I understand that there will be numerically more reaction options, but that doesn't necessarily translate to longer rounds of combat. The things that have always slowed down our combats is not someone shouting "You have bless! Roll to add to that save!" but "Okay, if I position the fireball here I will get these six enemies, but if I move here and put it there I will get the boss and these three enemies, but if I..." and that has not changed one iota in the new game.

I have not complained about a single thing on this thread.

I want a reprint with zero rule changes? Where do you come up with this? It is certainly not something I said.

The only thread I started in the last week on 2024 actually talked about how much I love one of the new classes.

To the best of my memory, the only thing I complained about in the new rules on this entire board are the changes to Inflict Wounds and the ASIs being tied to backgrounds. I have complained about nothing else in the new rules at all to my knowledge.


I never banned Conjure Animals.


Yes



No, not for the smite options specifically although other things will.



Isn't that exactly what you are doing by claiming it won't take longer?

At least I am not accusing you of things that you never said like you are of me - saying I complained about the rules, I want a reprint with zero changes or that longer rounds is a problem .... and that is just in the last 2 days alone.

It doesn't make sense to me that you want to come on here, insist on telling us that combat will be slower (a thing people have been complaining about the potential of, as a black mark against the new rules)... for the sole purpose of just informing us that you think the combats might be slower. Especially since, I keep telling you I have played characters during the playtest, and I have not seen combats take longer.

People didn't want the weapon mastery system, because they claimed it would slow down combat. They didn't want extra tactical options for the fighter because it would slow down combat. Now here you are, telling me how every single change is going to slow down combat... but that you love all the changes and that you like the new edition and that you don't care that it slows down combat? But it absolutely will slow down combat and my experience and report on the situation isn't being met with "Oh good, that makes this even better" but instead with "You are absolutely wrong, look at how many reactions there are, and that is going to frustrate me as a DM"

Is it any wonder I'm confused as heck here? If you weren't invested in the idea that combat will absolutely be slower and more aggravating for you, wouldn't reports that it won't be GOOD?

So you have a copy of the 2024 PHB? If you don't then you haven't played games with 2024 characters.

Just face it. Rounds are going to take longer. Combat is going to take longer. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to accept.

Whatever man. I'm so tired of this constant complaining about everything about the new rules. I can't find a single discussion on here that doesn't devolve back into the same old talking points, or new things where people insist on the absolute most absurd positions and demand that we all bow to almighty power of "Well Actually, the rules state..."