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.

 

[Imaro]

But I don't let any RAW dictate play.

That's interesting because when I read your posts about 5e... I get the opposite impression. I definitely subscribe to this philosophy though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

To seduce, coerce or even intimidate them enough on the coming power to convince them to sign the dotted line... same reason drug dealers will offer a reduced price or even "samples" to potential customers...

If you gain your pact at level 1...this is all handwavium and it doesn't allow for any narratives where a person was tempted but chose not to make a pact with the entity... at 1st level there is no choice.


Wait, what... My off the cuff answer would be that we arent telling the story of the patron... its the story of the Warlock.

Second... why would every patron's point of view be the same? Better yet why would most patrons even offer power when they have the power to force most mortals into servitude?

You mechanically choose not to enter the pact by taking another class instead. Maybe take a Magic Initiate-type feat (don't know what they're called in 5.5) to represent a flirtation with a patron, or just have it in your backstory.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's interesting because when I read your posts about 5e... I get the opposite impression. I definitely subscribe to this philosophy though.

What do you mean? I love Level Up, and agree with most of it's ideas, but I still change things to make more logical sense for me and my players if desired, and to experiment. My personal game is not at stake here, just my thoughts on what would make design better and make more sense to me. I always want the mechanics to follow and model the fiction, and I feel the level 1 patron choice does that better.

 

[Imaro]

You mechanically choose not to enter the pact by taking another class instead. Maybe take a Magic Initiate-type feat (don't know what they're called in 5.5) to represent a flirtation with a patron, or just have it in your backstory.

But you took the pact at level one...

 

[Imaro]

What do you mean? I love Level Up, and agree with most of it's ideas, but I still change things to make more logical sense for me and my players if desired, and to experiment. My personal game is not at stake here, just my thoughts on what would make design better and make more sense to me. I always want the mechanics to follow and model the fiction, and I feel the level 1 patron choice does that better.

Serious question... What fiction is being modeled?

 

[Micah Sweet]

But you took the pact at level one...

Indicating to me that you decided to be a Warlock.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Serious question... What fiction is being modeled?

The idea that ordinary people (for a fantasy world anyway) sometimes end up in a life of adventure and need to find a way to make a go/survive it.

 

[Corinnguard]

If you gain your pact at level 1...this is all handwavium and it doesn't allow for any narratives where a person was tempted but chose not to make a pact with the entity... at 1st level there is no choice.

If a person was tempted but chose not to make a pact with an entity, they wouldn't be a warlock. They would have chosen to become a member of a different character class instead.

What if they made the deal before they became a 1st-level warlock? They could have made the choice while they were a member of a particular background. As a result, they leave that background as a 1st-level warlock and begin adventuring in the service of their patron.

Wait, what... My off the cuff answer would be that we arent telling the story of the patron... its the story of the Warlock.

True, but guess who gets to role-play the role of patron to the player who had decided to play a warlock? The DM. They are the ones who are going to draw the warlock player aside during an adventure and tell the player what they want to be done. As for stories, some stories are written by single person while others were written by two authors. In this case, it's the warlock and the patron.

Second... why would every patron's point of view be the same? Better yet why would most patrons even offer power when they have the power to force most mortals into servitude?

They wouldn't be the same. Each patron would have their own reasons for choosing a mortal to be their servant on the Material Plane. More like they manipulate a mortal into servitude while offering the mortal power.

 

[Corinnguard]

You mechanically choose not to enter the pact by taking another class instead. Maybe take a Magic Initiate-type feat (don't know what they're called in 5.5) to represent a flirtation with a patron, or just have it in your backstory.

The feat still goes by the same name in 5.5.

 

[Steampunkette]

What if they made the deal before they became a 1st-level warlock? They could have made the choice while they were a member of a particular background. As a result, they leave that background as a 1st-level warlock and begin adventuring in the service of their patron.

One of my favorite warlocks, ever, was Sevinnia Ebonmire.

Half-Elf who grew too slowly to hang with people her own age and wound up too old for the people younger than her, like half elves do. So she wound up kinda desperate for friendship and fell in with a bad crowd.

She became a thief and a burglar with them on their earliest adventures (Criminal Background) even finding a magic dagger. But when she got in trouble in a dungeon and wound up trapped in an oubliette, they abandoned her to save themselves.

In the darkness and despair she heard whispers from the dagger. It was a sentient magic item, and became her Warlock patron. Promised her power if she used it to free herself, and take the Blackflame Dagger with her out of the dungeon.

And that's how she became a level 1 Warlock with the Criminal background. I chose the Fiend patron and used the "Dark Ones Blessing" to describe the dagger taking people's life-essence. All the fire spells and stuff were black flame to match her patron. Her Eldritch Blasts were throwing the dagger at her targets.

It made for a really fun and dramatic character.

Who needs Rogue levels to play a knife-throwing thief?