The latest version of D&D is out in the wild. I’ve been perusing it via D&D Beyond, and I bought the local shop version of the hardbound book (which already lacks the near-immediate errata updates). That cover, with its slice-of-life capture rather appealed to me. A large part of what I love about the game is imagining these heroes in their between times.
This review isn’t going to dive deep into rules, nor the debate about this being a new edition. Instead it’s going to be why I enjoy the book. Eventually I’ll use the 2024 version of 5e as my baseline, but leaning into SlyFlourish’s ideals I’ll augment it with other 5e materials I enjoy — Tales of the Valiant/Black Flag, Advanced 5e/Level Up, 2014 Wizards of the Coast, and more. Whatever tells the story at the table best will be what’s welcome at my table, when I DM.
I’ve played D&D in some variant for nearly as long as I can remember. My first games involved a few d6 and were kind of ad hoc, played with a red box and a DM who had to explain everything to my much too young mind. I stuck through it and grew into it, and played for more than ten years during my first run in the 80s and 90s. Then I came back to the game with 5th edition, almost twenty years after leaving the game. I bring this up, because in many ways the 2024 rule set isn’t made for me — it’s made for people who are still new to Dungeons & Dragons.
More welcoming
There are a lot of new rules, both revisions and outright new items.
But the best, absolute best, thing about this new PHB is that it seems crafted to help someone who has never played D&D before. It leads with how to play the game rather than how to create a character.
The examples given cover all pillars of the game, which is vital as more and more actual plays emphasize social and exploration pillars over the pure combat that birthed Dungeons & Dragons.
With a layout and organization that welcomes the eye the craft of the book is immediately obvious. The larger font is welcome to my old eyes, while also helping youngsters not feel like the wall of text is an obstruction to learning.
Massive amounts of art help too. That art sets tone, all the tones. Art throughout the book gives examples of sword & sorcery, high fantasy, magi-punk. In fact every active setting from 5e is given art at some point. There’s art that shows dirt and grit. There’s art from high fantasy superheroes. There’s art of a calm brook and a dragon and so much more.
Art is language. It shows us what the game can do, and for people with less D&D firmware updates in their brain they can see the game as it can be.
Having helped more than a dozen friends try to learn the game from the 2014 PHB I cannot wait for the first person to ask to learn now that 2024 is in our hands. It won’t feel like studying for a test.
Origins
There are some misses in the rules of the Origins section. Backgrounds remove some of the distinct flavor elements that were great (this is fixable via expanded feat opportunities and short-form personality). Also, my halflings were simplified, which makes me sad.
There are also wonderful new things that, once again, help new players more than old.
Background and species art is a slice of life for both.
With the species are every species listed but one shows at least one character with corrective lenses. Yes, this is something I harp on a lot, but it is a rather easy way to show the level of technology and acceptance within a society (even if it wasn’t historically accurate, which it is, your D&D campaign should include glasses). Species art shows the typical cultures for a species. The language also makes it clear, that you don’t have to make a character that is typical.
This is further reinforced because the background art shows other cultures. These vignettes of life are demonstrations of what the future heroes did before. It’s a wonderful and subtle to show more variety in the worlds of D&D. There are rice patties and sailing-canal towns and magi-scribes and so much possibility. That’s really what D&D is about at the core, possibility.
Equipment improvements
Of all the rule tweaks and expansions, my attention keeps coming back to what the design team did with gear. In old school D&D your equipment build out helped define how you could innovate to solve exploration and social problems.
2024 doesn’t go that same direction. Instead of innovation it goes for explanation. Every non-container (probably, I haven’t counted) has a description about what types of mechanical things it helps the owner of such gear do. A book helps with history checks. Perfume helps charisma checks. The list continues.
This is a massive improvement for the social and exploration pillars’ mechanical support. Equipment availability also helps describe the types of worlds within D&D. With muskets and pistols and ball bearings and magnifying glasses and spyglasses this is a world similar to the Renaissance.
A setting book can also remove or add to those elements. Eberron and Dark Sun need this the most.
As someone who used to peruse the polearm section of the original Unearthed Arcana for hours upon hours the massive amount of drawings for mundane gear is a pleasure.
Rules Glossary!
D&D is a complicated game. There are quite a few rules. Within the tabletop RPG space it is somewhere between medium and high complexity, even with 5th edition’s much more welcoming ruleset.
Another wise layout choice was to not waste space on an index, but instead give us a glossary of rules. A 384-page book, even one with a larger font and loads of art, can be intimidating.
For 2024 Wizards of the Coast decided to cut back on that potential complexity via the Rules Glossary (yes, it probably should have been an index also, but the glossary aspect is most important).
When people first start playing they consult rules frequently. During character creation they do this to understand what their PC is capable of. During play flipping pages to understand is quite common.
A glossary speeds things up at the table. So does writing the page number of your abilities on your character sheet (another SlyFlourish tip).
Who should get the 2024 PHB?
- People new to D&D who will be joining a table where it is the baseline rule set.
- Completionists.
- DMs who want to understand the tweaks that will speed up play (like beasts no longer having rules riders with saving throws).
- Players who want a much better monk.
- Tables that want better representation.
- Art lovers.
- Me
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