Take a Peek At the 2024 D&D Player’s Handbook
At the PAX Unplugged ’50 Years of D&D’ panel, we got a closer look at the upcoming 2024 Player’s Handbook. Check out the new Fighter.
D&D has big plans for 2024. And whether or not the books actually release when WotC (briefly) said they would, 2024 will see the advent of a new set of core books. These new books are basically a 5.5E, maybe more like a 5.25E, depending on how many playtest changes they walk back between now and then.
But at the PAX Unplugged panel on D&D, we got to see firsthand a few things from the new Player’s Handbook. None of this is final, yet, as they made perfectly clear in the panel. But along with new art, we got a look at a subclass and a background or two.
And now, so will you.
D&D 2024 Player’s Handbook Sneak Peek
In the 50 Years of D&D Panel, Jeremy Crawford took an audience through a few pages (still in progress) of the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Starting with a new iconic Fighter, pictured above.
“Fighters rule many battlefields. Questing knights, royal champions, elite soldiers, and hardened mercenaries—as Fighters, they all share an unparalleled prowess with weapons and armor. And they are well acquainted with death, both meting it out and staring it defiantly in the face.
Accompanying the Fighter overview, a preview of one of the subclasses. Again, none of this is final, but the artwork seems to at least be locked in place. The new PHB will feature more artwork than ever, with Crawford stating that every class and all 48 subclasses would have a piece of art to illustrate what they might look like. Seen above, the Champion Fighter shows what this might look like.
This is about where the Champion Fighter was the last time we saw the subclass in an Unearthed Arcana. Boring, but easy enough to play, feeling like a very solid entry for anyone looking to get started with the game.
We also got a look at what the Backgrounds will be like, in terms of art. As Crawford says, the team wants the Backgrounds to feel like a background. Which is why they’re depicted as a place. Acolytes have a temple, Hermits have their huts, and so on.
Sadly, the Backgrounds continue to be the “build-your-own” hodgepodge of features that, while fine for a build, lack the flavor of the other features from the 2014 Player’s Handbook.
The team also talked, briefly, about the new Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual. The new DMG will feature a complete campaign setting, all new advice for DMs, and new magic items, including magic items for all of the characters from the D&D cartoon.
And the new Monster Manual will feature more than 500 monsters, with new art, new abilities, and more high CR monsters.
All of this awaits in 2024.
