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.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Combat WILL take longer and I am not speaking any more generally than you when you say it won't.

Of course you are. You are saying that they will generally take longer, when I am saying that only specific combinations of PCs and their chosen features will take longer. The rest will be about the same.

Summoning spells did at times take forever, but that was rare and specifically when the caster used one of those spells AND had no idea ahead of time of what they were going to summon.

Sure, and those will be shorter.

Most combats do not include those spells at all though, so if we are talking about the time the median combat takes, this is irrelevant.

But (as @Paul Farquhar mentioned) it's not just those that take a long time in 2014, it's much of spellcasting.

There are rounds that take an hour because of this, but in the vast majority (I would say over 95%) of combats this is a non-issue.

Yes, and 95% of 2024 combats, it will be a non-issue.

It is also possible that the median combat will take longer and I for one think it will take substantially longer.

That's fine. I don't. I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever with playtest characters, and I can't imagine why I would with the full rules.

When I say "combats will take longer" that is what I am talking about - the average combat.

Yes! That is my point! You are speaking of most combats. I think that only very specific combats might be longer.

I think it is generally longer, with the degree of change dependant on specifics, but very rarely shorter.

I'll agree that they will be rarely shorter. Though that depends on if there is monster HP bloat. If not, then it could conceivably be faster (but I don't expect it, we will have to wait and see).

 

[mamba]

After all, in book one, Aragorn does fend off 9 Nazgul! That's pretty early into the story we see some cool stunts.

Aragorn did not exactly start out as a first level character though, that was the hobbits

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Huh, that's something I honestly didn't consider. Since NOT spamming WM is kind of the equivalent of not spamming bonus attacks if you have PAM. Looking at things tactically there's literally no reason NOT to spam WM.

Well, there is - sometimes there is no tactical reason to knock someone prone or push someone away, or even to shorten their speed. When it doesn't matter - don't do it.

I think we're going to see a period of adjustment where at first people play 5.5e just the same as they played 5e and then later people see what kind of behavior 5.5e encourages tactically and either switch over to that or make gentleman's agreements with the DM to avoid certain tactics. I saw that a lot with the change-over from 2e to 3.*e.

Yeah, maybe.

 

[ECMO3]

Of course you are. You are saying that they will generally take longer, when I am saying that only specific combinations of PCs and their chosen features will take longer. The rest will be about the same.

Ok to be clear about what I am saying - specific combinations of PCs and their chosen features will take longer and those speicifc combinations will include most parties and most combats will take longer.

But (as @Paul Farquhar mentioned) it's not just those that take a long time in 2014, it's much of spellcasting.

And there is still spell casting, and to a degree spell casting is more complicated and more prolific overall.

Yes, and 95% of 2024 combats, it will be a non-issue.

The Conjure animals spells? Not really. Above you said it is not just those spells that take a long time. Conjure Animals will be less of a time sink than it was before, but if your position is deciding what spell to cast is the biggest time sink (and I don't think it is) then the changes to Conjure Animals don't even address the biggest time sink.

That's fine. I don't. I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever with playtest characters, and I can't imagine why I would with the full rules.

I can imagine why and I am pretty certain it will take longer.

Yes! That is my point! You are speaking of most combats. I think that only very specific combats might be longer.

Specific combats will be longer and other specific combats will be shorter, that much is for sure. I think the longer ones will outnumber the shorter ones by a large margin.

 

[Daztur]

Well, there is - sometimes there is no tactical reason to knock someone prone or push someone away, or even to shorten their speed. When it doesn't matter - don't do it.

As I said upthread I think this situation is a bit analogous to the changeover from 2e to 3e. If you used 2e tactics in 3e things worked pretty smoothly. But after a while people figured out what tactics worked the best under 3e rules (mostly save or suck/lose effects, with direct damage being less useful than in 2e due to 3e monster HP bloat) and then things started to work much less smoothly unless there was a gentleman's agreement to avoid problematic tactics/builds.

So I think that the way people are playing 5.5e is mostly just using 5e tactics with slightly different rules. However, once people really sink their teeth into the new mechanics I think that in a lot of tables the tactics used will start to shift over towards the sort of tactics that 5.5e most incentivizes. For example I think it's going to be a VERY good idea to figure out a build/tactics that let you spam your WMs left and right.

Will all people use those tactics? Nope. Just like not all people focused save vs. suck tactics and stacking buffs for 3.*ed casters instead of blasting and healing but it's a bit too early to judge what the state of play in 5.5e will look like until we start seeing how play changes as people adapt to the new rules. What form that adaptation will take (and if that adaptation will make things more fun or not) is beyond me to determine, but it will be something.

 

[Shardstone]

Aragorn did not exactly start out as a first level character though, that was the hobbits

And they still had plenty of epic moments. This is missing the forest for the trees.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yes! That is my point! You are speaking of most combats. I think that only very specific combats might be longer.

I don't think you're really understanding what an average is.

It doesn't matter whether they're "specific" or not - every single combat is "specific". Each one is unique. What matters is whether overall the changes, particularly at levels 1-10 (where it seems likely people will continue to play), speed up or slow down combat overall. Looking at the changes, to me it looks like it's inevitable that, on average, combining all the factors, they'll slow things down, because for example Weapon Mastery is something that will apply virtually every round, sometimes several times in a single character's turn, whereas summoning spells are something that don't even apply to most combats, let alone most rounds or multiple times a turn.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't think you're really understanding what an average is.

What are you talking about? Of course I understand what average is.

It doesn't matter whether they're "specific" or not - every single combat is "specific". Each one is unique.

Yes. I know. That's MY point. I don't know why it's hard to understand.

What matters is whether overall the changes, particularly at levels 1-10 (where it seems likely people will continue to play), speed up or slow down combat overall.

Right. I don't think that it will do it "overall" - I think that it will do it ONLY IN VERY SPECIFIC INSTANCES: Certain party combinations (of classes) would be slower when compared to the same party combination in 2014. Other party combinations will NOT be slower - the Average or Net effect being that it turns out to be "about the same".

I've played scores of sessions with playtest characters with players of all levels of experience and I've never noticed an appreciable change to combat length. I don't see why the published material would change that.

Looking at the changes, to me it looks like it's inevitable that, on average, combining all the factors, they'll slow things down, because for example Weapon Mastery is something that will apply virtually every round, sometimes several times in a single character's turn, whereas summoning spells are something that don't even apply to most combats, let alone most rounds or multiple times a turn.

I've only ever seen the assertion that it WILL slow down "in theory" - I still haven't seen anyone who's posted about it say that they tried it and found it slower. They might, at specific levels with specific party make-ups and specific types of players, but across the board? "On Average"? I don't think so.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

As I said upthread I think this situation is a bit analogous to the changeover from 2e to 3e. If you used 2e tactics in 3e things worked pretty smoothly. But after a while people figured out what tactics worked the best under 3e rules (mostly save or suck/lose effects, with direct damage being less useful than in 2e due to 3e monster HP bloat) and then things started to work much less smoothly unless there was a gentleman's agreement to avoid problematic tactics/builds.

So I think that the way people are playing 5.5e is mostly just using 5e tactics with slightly different rules. However, once people really sink their teeth into the new mechanics I think that in a lot of tables the tactics used will start to shift over towards the sort of tactics that 5.5e most incentivizes. For example I think it's going to be a VERY good idea to figure out a build/tactics that let you spam your WMs left and right.

Will all people use those tactics? Nope. Just like not all people focused save vs. suck tactics and stacking buffs for 3.*ed casters instead of blasting and healing but it's a bit too early to judge what the state of play in 5.5e will look like until we start seeing how play changes as people adapt to the new rules. What form that adaptation will take (and if that adaptation will make things more fun or not) is beyond me to determine, but it will be something.

This is the best argument that I've seen for the other side, though I would put forth that the kind of player you appear to me to be describing is not the average player, but a specific type that we see a lot around here, but is not as common "in the wild".

Maybe I just have a different perspective? I play with dozens of people over varying experience levels, often teaching new players to play. While I DO also play with a core group of friends that have been together for 15 years, none of those are tactically minded or power gamers. In 30 years, I've taught nearly a thousand people how to play D&D.

I know what "average" is.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've taught nearly a thousand people how to play D&D

If you are teaching them, I suspect that has an effect on what kind of player they turn out to be.