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]

You can wear a brace of loaded pistols...

... Your point is?

 

[Micah Sweet]

... Your point is?

That if you change the weapon you can still do the thing and have it make logical sense.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That if you change the weapon you can still do the thing and have it make logical sense.

Ah. I wasn't trying to be argumentative, I just didn't quite get where you were coming from.

Still: Do firearms work with the Crossbow Expert Feat? That was a part of what I was responding to. Also, are there any firearms with the "Light" property? I don't really know much about the mechanics for firearms in D&D. It seems that the "egregious" parts of the supposed combo aren't applicable to your comment, but I could be wrong.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ah. I wasn't trying to be argumentative, I just didn't quite get where you were coming from.

Still: Do firearms work with the Crossbow Expert Feat? That was a part of what I was responding to. Also, are there any firearms with the "Light" property? I don't really know much about the mechanics for firearms in D&D. It seems that the "egregious" parts of the supposed combo aren't applicable to your comment, but I could be wrong.

It should (or there should be a feat that does the same thing for firearms), and I think so. I play Level Up and have a custom equipment list, so in Micahland pistols absolutely have what is effectively the light trait. Not 100% sure about the WotC rules.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Still: Do firearms work with the Crossbow Expert Feat?

No. It specifies 'crossbow' for every benefit now.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Why the heck would anyone make melee combat more powerful than ranged?

Why would you want to?

Mostly because Melee PCs are often in greater danger of harm, and therefore the logic goes that there should be a reward for that. It certainly makes less sense to make ranged the more powerful of the two.

Edit: Seeing your later "but we invented ranged weapons for a reason". Sure, but that reason was not that they were more destructive than using melee weapons. A large club has always and will always do a lot more damage to a body than a sling will. The trick is, the sling can reach someone the club cannot, and if an animal faster than you is running away from you... then the sling will still reach them even as your club can not.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why would you want to?

Mostly because Melee PCs are often in greater danger of harm, and therefore the logic goes that there should be a reward for that. It certainly makes less sense to make ranged the more powerful of the two.

It makes perfect sense for ranged to be stronger as a tactic, because that's the way weapons work. Your logic is gamist. Why should you get a mechanical reward for doing something just because it's more dangerous? I can see the PC maybe getting something like hazard pay, but that's it.

 

[Scribe]

It makes perfect sense for ranged to be stronger as a tactic, because that's the way weapons work. Your logic is gamist. Why should you get a mechanical reward for doing something just because it's more dangerous? I can see the PC maybe getting something like hazard pay, but that's it.

I mean yes, we are playing a game, and a sword will forever be cooler than a sling.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean yes, we are playing a game, and a sword will forever be cooler than a sling.

Not a factor in mechanics, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Scribe]

Not a factor in mechanics, as far as I'm concerned.

Sure, but its a factor in what kind of fiction you want to see.

Do you want to see the heroics of Gimli and Aragorn holding the gate from a tide of Orcs, or do you want to see them fall because its simply not realistic for 2 beings to beat 20?