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.

 

[Aldarc]

I am a shameful game harlot who just bought the three core books and the digital version on D&D Beyond. Even though I told myself I wouldn't. Even though I told my friends I wouldn't. Even though I think Hasboro sucks. Even though WotC can be horrid. Even though 5e feels like a superhero game after level 4. Even though... I AM A WEAK MAN

This is why WotC always wins.

 

[Shardstone]

This is why WotC always wins.

They always win because the problems brought up online are usually (not always, just usually) not that deep. Having read through the 2024 PHB handbook myself now, I can say a lot of the stuff people are bringing up is second-hand nonsense and isn't that serious. Two Weapon Fighting is fine, most spells are fine, and the things that keep coming up in discussion -- Giant Insect, Conjure Minor Elementals, Giant Insect, Hunter's Mark requiring concentration, Giant Insect -- just aren't that significantly changed.

There's this weird thing going on where people here on this forum are paradoxically announcing the game is sloppy and broken and not enough changed to consider getting the new books. Yes, this is a paradox because if the game is hardly changed, and if you are happy with 2014, then this "sloppy and broken" critique comes off as dramatic hyperbole. Which it is.

D&D is not the best game. It is not my favorite game, even though it's the one I've settled on. It can be better in many ways. But people get so unabashedly dramatic over the game's rules and make mountains out of mole hills and then expect everyone else to have the same stark opinions.

Now, WotC is also a naughty word up company. But they are truly no worse or better then most others. Hiringer the PInkertons was real scum behavior; the OGL was scum behavior; they value profit over quality. That's a symptom of a rotten world, and while I agree we should call these things out, we have to admit that most people just do not care. We can barely feed ourselves. COrporate greed is bleeding us all dry. There are political crises in every part of the world. WotC always wins because compared to most of the evil out there, they are relatively benign.

Do I wish we could hold them to a higher standard? Yes. Do I still think people are way too dramatic over this? Yes.

 

[Aldarc]

They always win because the problems brought up online are usually (not always, just usually) not that deep. Having read through the 2024 PHB handbook myself now, I can say a lot of the stuff people are bringing up is second-hand nonsense and isn't that serious. Two Weapon Fighting is fine, most spells are fine, and the things that keep coming up in discussion -- Giant Insect, Conjure Minor Elementals, Giant Insect, Hunter's Mark requiring concentration, Giant Insect -- just aren't that significantly changed.

There's this weird thing going on where people here on this forum are paradoxically announcing the game is sloppy and broken and not enough changed to consider getting the new books. Yes, this is a paradox because if the game is hardly changed, and if you are happy with 2014, then this "sloppy and broken" critique comes off as dramatic hyperbole. Which it is.

D&D is not the best game. It is not my favorite game, even though it's the one I've settled on. It can be better in many ways. But people get so unabashedly dramatic over the game's rules and make mountains out of mole hills and then expect everyone else to have the same stark opinions.

Now, WotC is also a naughty word up company. But they are truly no worse or better then most others. Hiringer the PInkertons was real scum behavior; the OGL was scum behavior; they value profit over quality. That's a symptom of a rotten world, and while I agree we should call these things out, we have to admit that most people just do not care. We can barely feed ourselves. COrporate greed is bleeding us all dry. There are political crises in every part of the world. WotC always wins because compared to most of the evil out there, they are relatively benign.

Do I wish we could hold them to a higher standard? Yes. Do I still think people are way too dramatic over this? Yes.

My point is simply that consumers are gonna consume because they wanna consume.

 

[Shardstone]

My point is simply that consumers are gonna consume because they wanna consume.

If you think about it, that cuts to the heart of my post too. Nice.

 

[GothmogIV]

This is why WotC always wins.

I backed out. “Do you hear the people siiinnnggggg…!”

 

[Crimson Longinus]

There's this weird thing going on where people here on this forum are paradoxically announcing the game is sloppy and broken and not enough changed to consider getting the new books. Yes, this is a paradox because if the game is hardly changed, and if you are happy with 2014, then this "sloppy and broken" critique comes off as dramatic hyperbole. Which it is.

Well, perhaps it is somewhat hyperbolic but I think the criticism is perfectly valid. And I don't think everyone was happy with the 2014 version. Like sure I'm fine with the basics, but there is a lot of what I wish was fixed or improved. "It is not worse than what we had before" may be true, and it still would be a big disappointment. This was marketed as a clean-up and an update, so changing some old problems for new problems is not ideal.

 

[Aldarc]

I backed out. “Do you hear the people siiinnnggggg…!”

You didn't have to. There's no shame in buying D&D 2024.

 

[Shardstone]

Well, perhaps it is somewhat hyperbolic but I think the criticism is perfectly valid. And I don't think everyone was happy with the 2014 version. Like sure I'm fine with the basics, but there is a lot of what I wish was fixed or improved. "It is not worse than what we had before" may be true, and it still would be a big disappointment. This was marketed as a clean-up and an update, so changing some old problems for new problems is not ideal.

I consider new problems for old problems to be inevitable. My concern is if there are fewer problems or a better experience. Note I said in my post that criticisms are valid.

 

[mellored]

I consider new problems for old problems to be inevitable. My concern is if there are fewer problems or a better experience. Note I said in my post that criticisms are valid.

Old book problems
Conjure Animals, Giant Insect, Conjure Minor Elemental, Conjure Fey, Conjure Woodland Beings, Polymorph, True Polymorph, Wild Shape, True Strike, Animate Objects, Two Weapon Fighting, Force Cage, Double Dipping into zones (Cloud of Daggers),... that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

New problems
Giant Insect, Conjure Minor Elemental, Two Weapon Fighting*, Stealth.

* two weapon fighting works well if run as intended, with a weapon in each hand.

 

[Gorck]

Did anybody happen to notice, in any of the previews, if the Feats chapter had a handy table with brief feat descriptions like there was in 3.x and 4e? That way my overwhelmed players can scan the list and then look up the feats they want more clarification on. That was a pretty basic thing that I missed in the 2014 PHB.