This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, and the 10th anniversary of the tabletop RPG’s popular Fifth Edition (5E). To cap a decade of great expansion and mainstream normalization, developer Wizards of the Coast is injecting new blood into its trio of core rulebooks; the first—the 2024 Player’s Handbook—is coming out of the gate swinging with new options that feel familiar, yet powerful.
The player’s guide is, arguably, the single most important tome for any TTRPG. They contain both the core mechanics of the game and the options available for character creation, like the tutorial and the character builder for a game like Fallout 4 rolled into a textbook.
Whether you’re a player or a DM, a newcomer or a veteran, you’ll want a copy of two of this key book around your table anytime you play. So, it’s encouraging that the 2024 Player’s Handbook sets such a strong tone for 5E’s second decade.
To address the bugbear in the room before we go any further: the revised rules presented across the new handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual technically supersede the rules published at 5E’s onset in 2014, but they don’t totally render any other 5E content inert. You can build characters using the updated rules and use them alongside any other 5E sourcebooks—the biggest change is that DMs will have updated stat blocks for monsters at their disposal, and players have more options at their fingertips, while a few things have been renamed or folded into new options.
(Before early access to the 2024 Player’s Handbook rolled out last week, there was a small panic as Wizards of the Coast’s official digital tool, D&D Beyond, appeared to be delegating the familiar 2014 options to homebrew, forcing players to either pay and upgrade to 2024, or tediously enter any desired older content as homebrew options. Wizards wisely backpedaled on this.)
I can understand the hesitance to shell out cash for updated versions of the well-loved rulebooks you already own, dogeared and marked up and sticky-noted as they are. I can also understand the temptation to see it cynically as a cash-grab; Wizards and its parent company Hasbro have attempted some controversial changes in the last couple years. But the more I’ve explored the 2024 Player’s Handbook, from the Wizards’ own extensive YouTube breakdowns to thumbing through the book itself and rolling characters with its new method, the more convinced I’ve grown that it’s worth making the change at some point in the near future.
It’s a big deal in the long-term to have these additions codified in the heart of the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
So, just like rolling a skill check at a pivotal plot moment, let’s break things down by the numbers and expand from there. By sheer page count, the 2024 Player’s Handbook clocks in at 384 pages, 20% more than the 2014’s 320—and the extra space is utilized much more effectively. Both books have a pretty similar table of contents, covering basic rules and classes across several chapters and appendices. The same twelve classes are covered, but each has four subclasses here, either revised, brought into the core rules from a previous supplement, or brand new.
To illustrate: The Barbarian’s two 2014 subclasses are back with revised features (and Path of the Totem Warrior has been renamed to Path of the Wild Heart), with the Path of the Zealot from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything promoted to the core rules, and a brand new subclass, the Path of the World Tree. The Bard and Druid also have original subclasses, while every class has at least one subclass promoted from Xanathar’s Guide or Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
Chances are, if you’ve been playing for most of 5E, you already own these nigh-essential sourcebooks—they remain the two most important books I recommend a group buy after the core trio—so this department may not feel like a huge infusion of new content. However, it’s a big deal in the long-term to have these additions codified in the heart of the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
Anyone who wants to get into this hobby is directed toward this book, or at least its equivalent. Their experience with it will colour their experience with the rest of the game for some time. So, having a more diverse pool of build options for their characters is a huge advantage. If a budding player wants to play a Sorcerer, the core rules will no longer shoehorn them toward either the Draconic Bloodline or Wild Magic subclasses in the 2014 book; they also have the Aberrant and Clockwork Sorcery options, which present a more representative spectrum of the class’ potential.
Plus, many of the changes open up new realms of of potential. A Warlock gets more Eldritch Invocation features, for example, and the Pacts have been shuffled into this category—so now they can take Pact of the Blade and Pact of the Chain if they wish. There’s also relief for their limited spellcasting in the Magical Cunning trait, which allows them to perform a 1-minute rite to regain their slots, once per long rest.
Surely there will be some flies to be found in the ointment along the way, as players put these rules through their paces for the next few years. For now though, I’m energized to play some classes I normally avoid.
For the most part, the additions in the 2024 Player’s Handbook put a lot more power in the players’ hands, beginning with the revised character creation process.
Speaking of classes and using space more effectively, the 2024 Player’s Handbook treats the classes with more gravitas. In the original edition, they were shoved into one chapter, and a illustration showed where each class began. In the new iteration, each is its own chapter, marked by a beautiful full-page illustration that truly conveys a sense of its skillset. Each subclass gets a half-page portrait as well.
The 2024 Player’s Handbook is just better formatted overall than the 2014 original. It’s practically the same layout that 5E has used all along, but crisper, with a slightly larger font and the sort of improved sensibilities that come with a decade of experience, like having a better rundown of the overall rules and mechanics upfront. I didn’t think too much of it until I put them side by side, where the difference was profound. This will be a much easier tome to consult quickly in the heat of a game.
Plus, for the most part, the additions in the 2024 Player’s Handbook put a lot more power in the players’ hands, beginning with the revised character creation process. Formerly, one would pick a race, then a class, determine their ability scores, then describe their character using backgrounds and character traits. Largely, this led to backgrounds being an afterthought, instead of a way to codify your character’s backstory into their abilities.
The 2024 Player’s Handbook features just under 400 spells, including 30 new options.
Now, the 2024 Player’s Handbook shakes up order of operations. Step one is choosing your class, then your “Origin,” which includes both your background and species—how they spent their early years, and who their ancestors were. Factors that were once determined by your character’s hard-coded, capital-R Race are now divided between these two components.
Ability scores, skill and tool proficiencies, and an initial feat are covered by background; size, speed, and special traits are covered by species. So, if you’re building an Elven Wizard who got their start as a Scribe at a magical academy, it’s their experience as a scholar that taught them History and Arcana, not a benefit stemming from their elven blood.
- 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.
This change has been a long time coming in 5E, and the 2024 Player’s Handbook just makes it final and official. It’s a move to distance the game from perspectives instituted by co-creator Gary Gygax 50 years ago which were dated at best, harmful at worst. It also happens to be a more natural and beneficial way to build characters which empowers an overlooked aspect of the process, so we’re getting two birds with one stone here.
My favourite part of the new procedure is that players get a feat as part of their background. These are pulled from a smaller pool called Origin Feats, like the Musician for your aspiring Bard or Crafter for someone who wants a hobby during downtime. Feats are further broken down into General, Fighting Style, and Epic Boon categories as well—the latter being a potential reward for players at level 19 or higher. 5E has barely dipped into the “deep end” of its level structure with official content thus far, and these epic rewards are a promising sign.
Another key new element is Weapon Mastery, a feature which gives martial characters a little more complexity. Characters with the corresponding trait can use a special property for their most proficient weapons: large weapons like greataxes get the Cleave property to hit additional targets with a big swing, while smaller ones like daggers can be more useful in dual wielding with the Nick property.
And on the other side of the coin, magic users have an exhaustive list of magic. The 2024 Player’s Handbook features just under 400 spells, including 30 new options, and a host of existing ones that have been either redesigned or revised. As such, any class with access to spellcasting has had their spell lists expanded. Equipment gets similar treatment—most notably buffing healing potions. (If only Baldur’s Gate 3 would update them as well.)
(For a more complete rundown on the additions to the 2024 Player’s Handbook, check this post on D&D Beyond.)
Of course, there are a few glaring omissions. The Artificer class, first brought into 5E in Eberron: Rising From the Last War and taken into the mainstream in Tasha’s Cauldron, is absent from the 2024 Player’s Handbook. I can see the case for this, as it’s a more complex class that newcomers shouldn’t necessarily stumble into. Yet, it’s also a core part of the edition now, and could benefit from the same loving touch-ups the other classes got.
And while each class has four subclasses here, there’s still plenty that had to sit out of the update. Some of my personal favourites from Xanathar’s Guide and Tasha’s Cauldron, the Hexblade for Warlocks or Monster Hunter for Rangers, are painfully absent. Both examples would benefit greatly from either an overhaul or the new structures of their classes. Fingers crossed that Wizards addresses the rest of the subclasses and the Artificer before too long.
All told, I think the new status quo presented in the 2024 Player’s Handbook will be a net positive for Dungeons & Dragons as it moves beyond the half-century mark. Whether established players should rush out and buy the new rules will be a matter of personal circumstance, however. If your group is about to start a new campaign, I’d recommend updating before you begin if only for the additional options in each class. If you’re 3/4 of the way through a multiyear campaign, you’re justified in holding off.
The changes feel substantial and promising, enough to warrant acclimatizing to the rules again. Practically every change shows a deliberate effort to improve the game or fill a gap in 5E as we know it, incorporating feedback from a decade that saw the game reach new heights of popularity, virtually ascending TTRPGs to an entertainment form in its own right. It’s never been more mainstream, and there’s something here for every potential player.
The revised Dungeon Master’s Guide will show a fuller trajectory for this update when it follows in November, but if it’s anything like the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the second decade of D&D 5E looks promising.
