D&D (2024) Let's talk about the Rules Glossary in the PHB

I'm neutral on the layout. We had a standard style in the 2014 book, and while it made understanding the rules a bit easier (with the logical reading order), it made finding specific rules difficult. Learning the rules for 2024 is a bit harder, but I imagine they're going to be much easier to look up during play.

I would note that if viewed on D&D Beyond (where hyperlinking/hovering can pull up the appropriate rule without leaving the original text) it's a far superior experience. But getting used to the footnote style of reading the paper PHB takes some getting use to.
Definitely written with D&D Beyond in mind. I use Roll20, and I plan to create a rules glossary of handouts for my players by copy and pasting from Beyond. That way they have access to it without having to open Beyond.
 

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I just now purchased and started reading the 2024 PHB, so I am sure I missed this discussion the first time around.

I do not like the Rules Glossary. It is disjointed, requires a bunch of page flipping, and doesn't even make sense in its own context. I think it would have been fine if it had been an addendum to the rules, but by not bothering to explain the rules in the specific sections of the book, and instead constantly pointing the reader at the Glossary, the book fails to be a useful and usable handbook on how to play.

An example of how the Glossary itself fails is the Influence action entry: the rules for the action aren't even completely in the entry; you still have to look up multiple terms elsewhere in the glossary.

I am sure someone is going to say that this is a better way and education/learning specialists were consulted, etc. I don't see how. It is a mess.

As a related aside: the combat example in that section is woefully undercooked.
I think it just needs relearning, since we are used to a different organization. Maybe if I use the book I will find it helpful.

I do agree though, that the entries should alsonbe explained in the chapter itself.
 


Generally, I like the new glossary since I’m most likely to look up the rules in play or when prepping and just want a quick lookup. It would have been ideal to also describe the rules in the main body text, especially for first time learners and to minimize page flipping, though I get that they have page constraints. Overall, I think the 3.5 PHB did a better job on this issue — it described the rules in text but then also a had a fairly comprehensive rules glossary with each rule alphabetized to facilitate in-game lookups (though 3.5 has smaller typeface and that distinctive lower-contrast journal background that can make it harder to read).
 

I find it awful. So many times I've looked up something only to find that it's only partially described in the glossary, and I have to go elsewhere.

In both 3E and 4E we got really good Rules Compendiums later on in their lifecycles. This feels like a good idea only halfway implemented.
 

I just now purchased and started reading the 2024 PHB, so I am sure I missed this discussion the first time around.

I do not like the Rules Glossary. It is disjointed, requires a bunch of page flipping, and doesn't even make sense in its own context. I think it would have been fine if it had been an addendum to the rules, but by not bothering to explain the rules in the specific sections of the book, and instead constantly pointing the reader at the Glossary, the book fails to be a useful and usable handbook on how to play.

An example of how the Glossary itself fails is the Influence action entry: the rules for the action aren't even completely in the entry; you still have to look up multiple terms elsewhere in the glossary.

I am sure someone is going to say that this is a better way and education/learning specialists were consulted, etc. I don't see how. It is a mess.

As a related aside: the combat example in that section is woefully undercooked.
The glossary works great in a well-hyperlinked digital document. It’s super inconvenient in a physical book, especially since page number references aren’t given in-context, only in the appendix (which to be fair is much better organized than the 2014 appendix). It’s maybe a little too conspiracy-brained to assume it was done this way intentionally to push readers towards buying on D&D Beyond… but WotC certainly isn’t heavily incentivized to put too much effort into making the physical version similarly user-friendly to the digital version.
 
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I legitimately think they could have had it both ways: explaining the rules in the sections where those rules are relevant, AND having a Rules Glossary that distills those things down for easy reference.
In theory, yes, but that would have increased the already very high page count. The book reads to me like a lot of decisions were made in the interest of trimming words to make the most economical use of page space possible, sometimes with unintended side-effects. Most notably in a number of spells that read very similarly to their 2014 versions but have slight wording changes that make the text shorter and introduce a weird interaction or exploit that can’t possibly have been intended.
 


The glossary works great in a well-hyperlinked digital document. It’s super inconvenient in a physical book, especially since page number references aren’t given in-context, only in the appendix (which to be fair is much better organized than the 2014 appendix). It’s maybe a little too conspiracy-brained to assume it was done this way intentionally to push readers towards buying on D&D Beyond… but WotC certainly isn’t heavily incentivized to put too much effort into making the physical version similarly user-friendly to the digital version.
In the small amount of play I've had with these use, using the hardcopy only, I found the glossary to be super helpful. Not only did it not push me to the digital (which I have) but I found it about as easy to use as digital.
 

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