Dungeons & Dragons–New Player’s Handbook is All That and more

Review by C.J. Bunce

A decade since we first encountered a new round of rules from Dungeons & Dragons, the updated D&D Player’s Handbook is here, coming to online and brick and mortar shops next week. Based on a decade of feedback, get ready for a “new and improved” rule book for the 5th Edition of “the world’s greatest roleplaying game” that delivers on its promises, something regular players can easily get accustomed to, and new players will find easier to get up roleplaying. You’ll first notice the new D&D Player’s Handbook is much bigger than the edition from 2014, adding sixty more pages to make a hefty 384-page book. It replaces all rules, classes, subclasses, spells, feats, equipment, species, and backgrounds from the 2014 book, but it’s not all so drastic as changes are concerned.

Find out more below and take a look inside. The new 2024 D&D Player’s Handbook is available for pre-order now at a locked-in discount here at Amazon.

The new D&D Player’s Handbook doesn’t streamline the old. If anything it opts to over-explain so that a new player has more opportunity to pick up on how game play works. Some concepts are fleshed out in a really good way, like “The Three Pillars of Adventure”–Exploration, Social Interaction, and Combat. The earlier edition hit on these and jumped ahead to the next chapter. Here the Handbook takes a breath and details what these mean. For Social Interaction players get to see an example, a script, of the exchange of dialogue between players/characters. Other sample scripts are included throughout.

The design really is better, from spacing in the sidebar boxes to more attractive presentation through “historical” design elements. Notations in text boxes such as “Playing on a Grid” are written more clearly. Maybe this won’t matter for everyone, but effort like this shows Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are making a lot of effort to be inclusive and bring everyone into the game who wants to be here.

Here are all the details from the promotional materials:

UNLEASH NEW POSSIBILITIES—Introducing the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the new and improved guide for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Redesigned with 10 years of feedback from the D&D community, the essential Dungeons & Dragons rulebook is bigger and better than ever before!
NEW CHARACTER OPTIONS YOU’LL LOVE—Create unforgettable characters with 12 core classes, 48 intriguing subclasses, and 10 distinctive species. Buff up your character’s backstory with 16 compelling backgrounds and 75 fantastic feats.
STUNNING ARTWORK—With vibrant new illustrations of every single character class, subclass, background, species, weapon, and armor, our thrilling artwork also features new and familiar spells, brought to life for the first time ever.
FRESH & ENGAGING GAMEPLAY—Change up your combat style with fascinating new Weapon Masteries for your character class. Our new Tools and Crafting system lets you use your tools to craft items and impact travel and exploration.
DESIGNED JUST FOR YOU—We’ve thoughtfully redesigned this book with an improved layout, better organization, and an alphabetized Rules Glossary. Find whatever you’re looking for with ease!

Before you think anything is missing, take a look around. The character sheet template that was formerly an appendix is now included upfront in the chapter on creating characters. The book excised a dozen subclasses, species, and feats from the 2014 version, which are still playable. Another 17 subclasses are simply renamed. Feats now total 75, with about 35 new feats and 35 revised.

The changes to Equipment include eight new Weapon Mastery properties: Cleave, Graze, Nick, Push, Sap, Slow, Topple, and Vex. The Spell count is now up to 391, with thirty new spells in the book. Twenty-one new stat blocks were added, to total 51. Common sign language has been added, and backgrounds of farmer, guard, guide, merchant, scribe, and wayfarer have also been added. New rules and new terminology are going to keep players busy re-learning, for anyone who hasn’t already delved into the digital edition.

What do I miss? Although the earlier Player’s Handbook didn’t show the artist names adjacent to each image, this became more common throughout the 5th Edition source books. Why can’t this be done for every volume? Space is of course the consideration, but when it’s been planned for before it provides information many readers want, at their fingertips, so to speak. Tyler Jacobson created the “regular” cover for this book with Wylie Beckert creating the game shop edition cover. Here is that alternate edition cover:

It’s bigger and better, reviewed and vetted by the community of fans who love the game. As stated above, the new D&D Player’s Handbook is the first of three updates to the Core Rulebooks. Look for reviews of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide (available for pre-order now here at Amazon coming in November,) and 2024 Monster Manual (available for pre-order now here at Amazon, expected now in February 2025) coming soon. The new 2024 D&D Player’s Handbook is available for pre-order now at a locked-in discount here at Amazon.