Dungeons and Dragons is a table-top roleplaying game that’s been around for some time. This game influenced by dice rolls is receiving an update to its fifth edition player’s handbook! Players, old and new, are getting ready for the tweaked rules and mechanics.
Wizards of the Coast is bringing a revised and updated version of the fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. It releases on September 17th of this year and brings in new options and improved mechanics. The 2024 Player’s Handbook will total 384 pages and will be the largest Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook that will release.
This new handbook opens the doors for people looking to give Dungeons and Dragons a try. Many mechanics and options have been added to help those, new and old, wanting to play the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new and improved Player’s Handbook!
New Detailed Guide to Playing D&D
The 2024 Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook opens with a lengthy detailed guide on how to play Dungeons and Dragons and how to build a character. Each core D&D term and mechanic is defined to help player’s new to the game and fifth edition version. For example, the handbook will help thoroughly describe twenty-sided die rolls and tests and how they affect the game.
Also Included in this guide are combat and other mechanics with examples, many notes describing situations and turns. Spells, attacks, and a multitude of actions have rules, roles, and mechanics detailed within the guide.
Character creation has never been easier with the 2024 Player’s Handbook. The guide provides steps in creating a new character. This includes how to roll stats, pick class, species (originally race), and identify class mechanics. With a guide to make things easy, it’s time to look into the added options implemented into the handbook.
New Options for Backgrounds, Feats, and Species
Wizards of the Coast switched and updated the options for backgrounds, feats, and species. There are a total of sixteen backgrounds, seventy-five feats, and ten species to choose from.
To begin with, backgrounds received major changes to them. Backgrounds in this new handbook now come with a feat; those feats being categorized as an Origin feat. Along with this new change, ability score adjustments come with the background you select rather than your species. These changes adapt more to the story a player wants to tell with their character rather than basing on physical or stereotypical species features and traits.
Additionally, feats are slightly more categorized. Origin feats come from a character’s background and are for first level characters. Then there are Epic Boon feats. These feats are strictly for higher-level characters, a reward or symbol of a character reaching this power. Along with these categories, there are new feats being introduced and brought in from other guides and books.
Species, previously known as races, have some new base additions and changes. Humans and other originals are receiving an update to their functionality. Other species are being added, such as Aasimars, Orcs, and Goliaths. These three species have existed in other books and are finally finding a spot in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
The options and revisions never end as we move on to talking about classes and subclasses!
Expanded and Updated Classes and Subclasses
The twelve base classes of Dungeons and Dragons are back with updates and upgrades. Each of these classes came with four options of subclasses. In total, there are forty-eight subclasses in the 2024 Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. The Barbarian, Bard, and Druid classes all got a new option of subclass. Those options include Path of the World Tree Barbarian, College of Dance Bard, and Circle of the Sea Druid.
According to Wizards of the Coast, each class and subclass received major refinement to improve gameplay and combat. These changes have been drastic and minor, some subclasses having new mechanics or new abilities.
With the refinements of each class, the choice of weapon is important and luckily Wizards of the Coast implemented a new property to weapons for more interesting results.
New Weapon Mastery Properties
Weapon Mastery properties are new to the Dungeons and Dragons scene. What exactly are these properties and what do they do?
Weapon Mastery properties are new actions or attacks a character of specific martial classes, such as Barbarian or Fighter, can make with the weapon they gained mastery in. For example, if a character learned weapon mastery for a great axe, they could use the Cleave property after hitting with an attack to attack another enemy close by. Weapon Mastery properties bring more interesting interactions and overall action into combat.
Combat in Dungeons and Dragons tends to feel like a drag with the limitations martial classes have in actions. By introducing Weapon Mastery, combat becomes more engaging and makes weapons feel unique to each character.
So Many Spells and Equipment: New and Old
Almost four hundred spells are projected to be included in this handbook. These spells take up over one hundred pages of the book. There are at least twleve new spells being added and hundreds of older spells from books like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Older spells from the 2014 Player’s Handbook and the other guides listed are getting reworks for the 2024 handbook.
D&D Moving Forward
Dungeons and Dragons is going through a big change with the new Player’s Handbook and will continue being updated. Through The Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual, fifth edition D&D will be changing rapidly over the next year. While these changes bring new and exciting structure to the game, it’s important to remember that the rules are simply for structure. Various groups playing campaigns and one-shots tend to use rules and mechanics in different ways. The changes coming to this player’s handbook are more of a suggestion and guideline for campaigns moving forward from the 2014 handbook.
Every player in Dungeons and Dragons has a different experience. It’s not always about the rules or the newest updates, but rather the journey.
