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!

---

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]

---

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.

 

[Hatmatter]

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.

Very well said, Shardstone.

 

[Shardstone]

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.

There is a table for all feats and what category of feat they are (General, Origin, Fighting Style, Epic Boon) but the table does not include a description of each feat.

 

[Gorck]

There is a table for all feats and what category of feat they are (General, Origin, Fighting Style, Epic Boon) but the table does not include a description of each feat.

Oh well, I’ll just have to recreate my own Excel spreadsheet. Thanks for the info, Shardstone.

 

[mellored]

Oh well, I’ll just have to recreate my own Excel spreadsheet. Thanks for the info, Shardstone.

The name of the feat is kind of what it's about.

If your a wizard you're probably not going to look up great weapon master for instance.

 

[Gorck]

The name of the feat is kind of what it's about.

If your a wizard you're probably not going to look up great weapon master for instance.

For the most part. But when I’m teaching new players, I feel like the names might not be as obvious of a description of their mechanics, and I fear that the new players would be put off by having to flip through all the pages of feats to figure out what each one does.

 

[mellored]

For the most part. But when I’m teaching new players, I feel like the names might not be as obvious of a description of their mechanics, and I fear that the new players would be put off by having to flip through all the pages of feats to figure out what each one does.

The wording has been tightened up, so it takes less effort to read each feat.

But yea, if your doing a lot of teaching then yea. Making a spreadsheet might be helpful.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

The name of the feat is kind of what it's about.

Is it?

If your a wizard you're probably not going to look up great weapon master for instance.

Does this feat give weapon mastery with great weapons?

 

[ECMO3]

If your a wizard you're probably not going to look up great weapon master for instance.

I think with the new truestrike that feat is doable for a Wizard now. You just need to start with the 13 Strength and make your attacks using the Cantrip (or your first attack in the case of a Bladesinger).

I think it will be a niche build but I certainly think it is doable for a nice damage buff.

 

[Vaalingrade]

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.

That's the secret, Shard.

It was always sloppy and broken.

For the last 50 years.

 

[ECMO3]

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.

So I agree with you for the most part, but I question if WOTC spent enough money or time playtesting the things that were not in the playtest online.

I want to be clear - overall I really like the 2024 rules. I play 4 weekly games and 3 of them are switching immediately. One is going to probably switch after 20th level when we start over.

At the same time I think the rules are sloppy and there are a lot of things the designers did not think through ... more things than they did not think through in 2014. Dual Wielding is one example, weapon switching is another, the interplay between Alert and Find Familiar is a third, the stunning strike rules and the stunned condition is a fourth.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I feel like the 2024 rules were rushed out without enough scrutiny. That doesn't mean they are bad, nor does it mean they are worse than 2014.

As far as WOTC goes, I love WOTC. I would argue they are better than any other game company I have experience with. I am saying I think you are wrong when you say they are not better ..... they ARE BETTER, but they are not faultless.