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]

A new player to D&D probably takes several months to learn the ins and outs of the RPG they're in. Some of it on their own thru trial and error. Some of it thru advice given to them by an understanding DM or by a more experienced member at the table.

Wow to understand the basics takes your players several months??

Im shocked...the basics of 5e aren't that hard imo.

 

[GreyLord]

The problem with this is that it forces all warlocks to be ignorant fools, and forces all patrons to be secretive until 3rd level. It's okay to to give the subclass at level 1 and then roleplay that sort of ignorance if you want to, but it's not okay to force every warlock to go down that path of ignorance.

That narrative is inherently nonsensical if you apply it to every person who becomes a warlock.

Traditionally, since the 19th century, selling your soul for power has always been seen as some foolish faustian stupidity.

Warlocks would seem to be the epitome of this.

Their prime stat is Charisma...not Wisdom.

 

[Maxperson]

Wow to understand the basics takes your players several months??

Im shocked...the basics of 5e aren't that hard imo.

Yeah. Several months is too long for the basics. A few sessions is too few, though. And the basics really aren't enough if you want someone to understand levels 3 to 20 before picking a subclass.

By the time you are level 3, you still haven't gained enough to make an informed decision for levels 3-20. Your grasp on what it means to be Fey or Great Old One isn't going to be much different than at level 1.

 

[Maxperson]

Traditionally, since the 19th century, selling your soul for power has always been seen as some foolish faustian stupidity.

Warlocks would seem to be the epitome of this.

Their prime stat is Charisma...not Wisdom.

And for the most part they knew it was to the devil.

 

[Corinnguard]

Wow to understand the basics takes your players several months??

Im shocked...the basics of 5e aren't that hard imo.

Wasn't there a reply a few posts back about new players not bothering or caring to read the PHB?

 

[GreyLord]

And for the most part they knew it was to the devil.

Well, traditionally, that's what Witches and Warlocks did. Faust himself, kind of an evolution of that idea...isn't shown to be all that successful in the end (well, if you discount the VERY end with the intercession in Goethe's rendition).

Lovecraft also shows examples where the end result always is a disaster...

Yet...that craving for power drives people to make these bargains with powerful beings that will eventually suck them dry.

It's not exactly wisdom which drives someone to do that...and if they crave power so much they will sell their soul...do you really think they are doing due diligence in investigating it when approached?

 

[Imaro]

Yeah. Several months is too long for the basics. A few sessions is too few, though. And the basics really aren't enough if you want someone to understand levels 3 to 20 before picking a subclass.

By the time you are level 3, you still haven't gained enough to make an informed decision for levels 3-20. Your grasp on what it means to be Fey or Great Old One isn't going to be much different than at level 1.

But you will have experience with how spells work, how your spell slots work, how invocations work, how combat works, how resting works, as well as the general theme of the campaign you're playing (hopefully in session zero),

 

[Maxperson]

But you will have experience with how spells work, how your spell slots work, how invocations work, how combat works, how resting works, as well as the general theme of the campaign you're playing (hopefully in session zero),

Other than the theme, what do those have to do with your subclass abilities which you don't get until 3rd? You don't need to know how combat works, how spell slots work, how resting works, or how invocations work in order to pick your subclass. Those things are part of all subclasses. And theme isn't going to be something you need to level a few times to understand.

 

[Imaro]

Other than the theme, what do those have to do with your subclass abilities which you don't get until 3rd? You don't need to know how combat works, how spell slots work, how resting works, or how invocations work in order to pick your subclass. Those things are part of all subclasses. And theme isn't going to be something you need to level a few times to understand.

Isn't the first ability granted when taking your patron a list of themed spells... wouldn't having at least some idea how combat, the game and warlock magic works...help in selecting the type of patron that grants the type of spells you might enjoy?

Edit: Also many of the abilities are based 9n spells and interactions with them.

 

[Maxperson]

Isn't the first ability granted when taking your patron a list of themed spells...

Not so much. They give it the ole college try, but the spells are just spells for the most part. If there were a special list of themed spells only for warlocks, that would be different.

wouldn't having at least some idea how combat, the game and warlock magic works...help in selecting the type of patron that grants the type of spells you might enjoy?

I mean, you can just read the spells. 5e spells for the most part aren't complicated at all. You only have 4 spells to look at.

Edit: Also many of the abilities are based 9n spells and interactions with them.

At 3rd level?