D&D 2024 Edition Heads Back To Greyhawk, Makes Aasimar A Default Option
That Game Informer interview is a doozy, revealing some potent new details about the upcoming 2024 Player’s Handbook and beyond.
Yesterday, we got our first look at the new cover of D&D’s 2024 Player’s Handbook, thanks to an interview and teaser from Game Informer. But, it turns out, the gorgeous art of the new book isn’t the only thing revealed. Greyhawk beckons in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Aasimar makes the jump to the default Player’s Handbook choice. And a surprising number of feats will be yours to choose from.
All of this is just a taste of things to come. It sounds like the 2024-2025 revision of the rules is going to be bigger than we thought. Temperature is starting to rise on the ol’ excite-o-meter, which I guess measures temperature as well as excitement. Which I suppose makes sense. Heat makes molecules move. Heat also makes you really love or hate a wrestler. Plus where else are you going to see Val Kilmer and Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the same movie?
You guessed it, Heat.
But we’re not here to talk about the incredible ensemble work of a 1995 heist film that would prove to redefine the blueprint for the next decade at least. We’re here to talk about what we learned about the new Player’s Handbook.
Aasimar Confirmed for PHB
First, let’s start with the most exciting thing for a lot of players, Aasimar, the “I want to be the protagonist” option in D&D since time immemorial. Well, 1995, which is when Aasimar were first introduced. I’m not saying that the Aasimar are a direct result of the Michael Mann thriller, but I am saying that you couldn’t have one without the other.
Aasimar are everyone’s favorite special little princesses. They are humanoids descended from celestials that have glowing eyes, and can unleash the energy within to dramatic effects. And soon, they’ll be one of the options you can pick right alongside elves, dwarves, and gnomes. So says Game Informer, while also confirming that Goliaths and Orcs are core PHB options now:
“Classic options like humans and elves — which, incidentally, are by far the most popular selections by players —are joined by new included options, like the planetouched Aasimar, the hulking Goliath, and mighty Orcs.”
This quote comes from a more in-depth interview, which you’ll have to subscribe to see in full. It also reveals that there are 75 new feats and that backgrounds may play an expanded role.
The other exciting detail emerging from the interview is for the DMs. Greyhawk, the D&D world of Gary Gygax’s home game that also became its own campaign setting, plays a bigger role in the world. The multiverse is still the “core setting,” but Greyhawk gets a little more fleshed out as an example of how to create a campaign setting of your own. You can also include a big poster map of Greyhawk to illustrate your adventures.
September is going to be a fun month if the new book is even half as fun as it sounds from this interview.
