D&D General The 2024 PHB is the best Player's Handbook ever

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Thank you for that, sincerely. But I still see the language you're using here as insulting, and likely to make people disagree with you needlessly angry.

Well, that's possible. What I'm saying is true though. If stating a fact makes someone angry, then the problem doesn't lie with me does it? If folks can't discuss facts without making it personal, where does that leave us?

Actually, let's not call it a 'fact'. Let's call it 'my opinion'. I think my opinion is a fact, but I'm willing to have my mind changed.

 

[sevenbastard]

Pretty much the best one and done official D&D rule book you can buy. Just fantastic.

Until you get your hands on B/X painstakingly combined and edited to s single box.

BX Complete

Early in the year I finished a project but still haven’t figured out what to do with it. I took the PDFs of the Moldvay and Cook B...

perilandplunder.blogspot.com

 

[Charlaquin]

I never played 5e, but the art in 2024 I think is horrific in 90% of cases. it looks too bright, too happy, almost AI generated. Plus it seems like they contracted out to any random artist on social media/DeviantArt rather than have specific artists to keep a consistent visual style; it's all over the place (not even getting to ridiculous stuff like the Heroe's Feast with tacos, sushi, spaghetti, and hamburgers).

The rules themselves seem fairly solid (again, didn't play 5e so idk what's different) and perfectly acceptable if you want to run that sort of high power game D&D has been for the last decade or more. But the art? Yikes. I've seen indy books with better presentation that have art that looks like the same artist(s) drew it. Almost every piece in 2024 looks like it was done by someone different.

Looks both stylistically consistent and very well done to me.

 

[Blue]

Frankly, I'm still with the 13th Age Core Book. And it had to also have all the DMG and MM stuff in it.

It had the Rules Glossary before 2014 5e was originally released It was fantastic. That's now 11 year old idea, having it at this point is just keeping up with the Joneses.

It had different information about the classes, like a complexity guide for players.

But most of all it had sidebars from the two designers explaining why the rules were what they were, and consequences of changing them. They even had cases why where they differed and why they ended up with this rule. It made hacking and adjusting the game so much easier, and without that designer dive into the why of the rules, it's very hard for any other rulebook to compete.

Oh yeah, and art, layout, etc.

Not putting down the 2024 PHB, but it's missing some things to be considered "a masterpiece", and other things were praiseworthy when they came out before 5e, but are just "not falling behind" 11 years later.

EDIT: 13th Age was a d20 OGL, made by a lead designer of 3ed, Jonathan Tweet, and the lead designer of 4e, Rob Heinsoo, as the game they would want to play in their weekly game, and as a "love letter to D&D". It also adopted a streamlined approach, much like 5e followed with, though was able to break with certain sacred cows since it wasn't "D&D" as a brand.

 

[Quickleaf]

I would love to read or watch a deep dive into the 2024 PHB’s actual usability at the table focusing on typical choke points of 2014 D&D: how does hiding work? how does casting multiple spells work? how do grappling and two-weapon fighting work? Etc.

At least when I was watching flip through videos - I’m not picking up the books for myself (maaaybe as gift for nephew) - it seemed like the hiding rules were split across three different pages/sections of the book. That stuck out to me as odd given the focus on accessible design in the press push for the PHB.

The stealth rules seemed a little… hidden.

 

[Corinnguard]

I would think the rules themselves would be a (major) relevant factor regarding whether or not a PH can be called, "the greatest ever". Yet people keep getting hung up on the pretty wrapping paper and gift box.

While the 2024 PHB has something pretty decent artwork and a nice layout, what ought to make it great are what the designers did to make the rules better and easier to understand to your average player. Which rules did they fix through a rewrite? What rules were brought into address an issue noticed by the players? And so forth.

The title of 'the greatest ever' is very subjective and in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Oofta]

I would love to read or watch a deep dive into the 2024 PHB’s actual usability at the table focusing on typical choke points of 2014 D&D: how does hiding work? how does casting multiple spells work? how do grappling and two-weapon fighting work? Etc.

At least when I was watching flip through videos - I’m not picking up the books for myself (maaaybe as gift for nephew) - it seemed like the hiding rules were split across three different pages/sections of the book. That stuck out to me as odd given the focus on accessible design in the press push for the PHB.

The stealth rules seemed a little… hidden.

I'm waiting for the DMG. They seem to have moved almost all optional rules out of the PHB, so maybe we'll have a couple of ways of dealing with it? If it's a flat DC 15 stealth check, I'll ignore it and use the 2014 version with my personal spin on it. Time will tell.

We won't really have a good grasp until we get the MM.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Speaking as someone who has just recently come back to TTRPGs as a kind of 50-something mid-life crisis after 30 years away from it, I'm really impressed with the 2024 PHB. I haven't read a Players Handbook since 2nd Ed, and the accessibility and smoothness of onboarding in this is terrific. The art isn't really to my taste (bit too slick for my liking - it was DCC's aesthetic that got me back into it all, so that's where I am), but there's plenty of it, and the whole thing is presented in a way that makes sense, slowly adding complexity with every chapter. And yeah, those play examples are brilliant.
On the art, it was funny to see all the moaning about it in advance, somehow trying to frame it as a "woke", cosy game now, but all the danger, action and monsters are still there in the art as well. It's just that sometimes in the art people smile, almost like they're enjoying themselves. Nuts, I know.
I also wonder what those guys must've made of the Tom Wham art in the AD&D manuals...

Welcome back! I played the game in my teens, fell out of it in college, dabbled during my 30s, and got back into it as a way of connecting with old friends when my kids were born. I just turned 50. I've played over 200 sessions of 5E and think it's a great game.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

While I agree with this sentiment, there is another side to this.

Yes, the information is organized clearly. Yes, the examples are clear and concise. And yes, they changed the language in the book to read like a YA novel. The last part, the lower vocabulary and fewer use of compound and complex sentences I am not a fan of.

And for this reason only - Like many of us here, we read these books as kids or young teenagers. They helped us learn how to read and broadened our vocabulary. The new book reads like a middle school text, and for my own personal reasons, I dislike that.

I don't feel that 5E or 5R is dumbed down, just properly organized.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I would think the rules themselves would be a (major) relevant factor regarding whether or not a PH can be called, "the greatest ever". Yet people keep getting hung up on the pretty wrapping paper and gift box.

I don't think that's a fair characterization.

Rules are the most important part of my overall enjoyment of a game. But in the case of D&D, they're spread out across 3 books.

The one book we have in hand is great. I hope the other two are just as strong.