What’s changing in the 2024 D&D core rulebooks?

Keep up with all the changes in the new rulebooks

Wizards of the Coast just dropped a major reveal of the Player’s Handbook 2024 (previously known as One D&D and sometimes referred to as 5.5e) with a bunch of info about what will be included in the release as well as some tidbits about the new Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual. Like the rest of us, you’re probably wondering what’s changing with the rulebooks and what you can expect when they launch.

We should continue to get tonnes of information through until release so I’ll keep this article up to date as and when we find out more.

You can check out the full video which I’ve embedded below:

When do the 2024 core rulebooks release?

At different times over the next 9 months. The 2024 core rulebooks will release on the following dates:

Player’s Handbook 2024 – 17 September 2024

Dungeon Master’s Guide 2024 – 12 November 2024

Monster Manual 2024 – 18 February 2025

Ironically, the 2024 Monster Manual doesn’t actually release in 2024 but it seems there were practical reasons for staggering the release of each book.

Its also worth being aware that if you purchase the books on D&D Beyond and you’re a master tier subscriber, you’ll get 2 weeks early access while hero subscribers will get 1 week of early access for each book.

What’s included in the 2024 core rulebooks?

Player’s Handbook 2024

The most recent presentation was for the Player’s Handbook so we have the most information about this so far. I have included everything we know about the other core rulebooks too and will keep these updated as Wizards reveals more. Below I’ve provided a comparison so you can see how the new Player’s Handbook stacks up against the 2014 edition (it’s definitely a decent bit bigger):

Feature	2024 rulebook	2014 rulebook
Pages	384	320
Classes	12	12
Subclasses	48	40
Races/species	10	9 (10 subspecies)
Backgrounds	16	16
Feats	75	42
Spells	391	360
Items	211	200
Magic items	3	0
Monsters	51	31

Within this, we have confirmation (mostly) of which classes, subclasses and races will be featured in the 2024 Player’s Handbook:

Classes & subclasses

For classes, we get the same 12 classes from the 2014 Player’s Handbook. Sadly, there’s no room for the artificer or the Blood Hunter, but they can still be used from the 2014 rules.

• Barbarian: Berserker, wild heart, world tree and zealot
• Bard: Dance, glamour, lore and valor
• Cleric: Life, light, trickery and war
• Druid: Land, moon, sea and stars
• Fighter: Battle master, champion, eldritch knight and psi warrior
• Monk: Mercy, shadow, the elements and the open hand
• Paladin: Devotion, glory, the ancients and vengeance
• Ranger: Beast master, fey wanderer, gloom stalker and hunter
• Rogue: Arcane trickster, assassin, soulknife and thief
• Sorcerer: Aberrant sorcery, clockwork sorcery, draconic sorcery and wild magic
• Warlock: Archfey patron, celestial patron, fiend patron and great old one patron
• Wizard: Abjurer, diviner, evoker, illusionist

There are some notable absentees. Wizards and clerics see their subclass lists severely reduced from the previous Player’s Handbook, but this allows all classes to get access to 4 subclasses (and 8 more total subclasses than we had before).

This does mean that we’re missing the likes of the necromancer wizard, swashbuckler rogue and the hexblade warlock. This does feel a little disappointing though it does feel like they’ve tried to provide a broad spread of subclasses with varying abilities. I think we can also expect updated subclass rules for some old favourites in future rule expansions along the lines of Tasha’s and Xanathar’s.

There are 3 entirely new subclasses that have never been featured before. These are; path of the world tree barbarian, college of dance bard and the circle of the sea druid. It was also confirmed that some subclasses will feel so different that they are practically new subclasses other than in name.

Races/species

Races are now called species and there are 10 of these featured. There will be 3 brand new races for the Player’s Handbook (though these have appeared in other sourcebooks previously). They are the Aasimar, Goliath and Orc.

The full list of species for the new Player’s Handbook are:

• Aasimar
• Dragonborn
• Dwarves
• Elves
• Gnomes
• Goliaths
• Halflings
• Humans
• Orcs
• Tieflings

Dungeon Master’s Guide 2024

The big inclusions in the dungeon master’s guide include:

• A bigger focus on how to create a campaign
• 5 adventures you can run set in Greyhawk
• A lore glossary
• More information on crafting things beyond potions and scrolls (which are covered in the Player’s Handbook)
• Rules for bastions
• Tracking sheets for keeping track of important information that might change over the course of a campaign
• A session planner

Monster Manual 2024

We also know that the Monster Manual will include the following:

• 75 brand new monsters
• Additional monster types to provide stat blocks for higher level parties fighting the same types of monsters
• New groups of monsters like pirates and performers giving more variety to encounters with these types of enemies
• All pre-existing monsters have been updated, but remain the same challenge rating (meaning old adventures including these monsters will maintain their difficulty ensuring backwards compatibility).
• All monster types now have an apex version for a tougher version of that monster type.
• Stat blocks have been reworked to provide more of the information DMs need at their fingertips (see example below)

What’s changing in the 2024 rules?

The short answer is, a lot! But at the same time, this is not a new edition of D&D, it is a revision of 5e (distinguished as the 2024 version rather than the 2014 version). This means that rules and character options remain compatible with all other 5e publications. It’s also been confirmed that some players could be playing with characters created using the 2014 handbook while others could be created using the 2024 handbook.

What this means is that largely the rules have remained the same with some clarifications, additions and tweaks. Much of what has changed is how it’s presented, being more welcoming and easy to follow for newer players (and experienced players) as well as improving character options. There are certainly some legacy options from the 2014 edition that will benefit from the improvements, particularly when it comes to races as these tend to be subpar compared to more recent releases.

Below are all the changes that I could work out based on what has been shared so far. I’ll be sure to add to this list as I learn more though:

Character options

• Updated classes including things like more druid transformations, changes to sneak attack, out of combat options for barbarians and more
• Updated subclasses
• 3 new subclasses and some old subclasses that have been reworked so significantly that they’re almost like new subclasses. Brand new classes include; dance bard, sea druid and world tree barbarian.
• All classes will receive their subclass option at level 3. Other features will take their place at earlier levels if needed.
• Updated races
• Updated feats
• Feats are now granted at 1st level as standard
• Some feats are split out into origin feats for 1st level characters and epic boon feats for lv19+ characters. Epic boons are super feats that also allow your ability scores to go beyond 20
• Rules for levelling up beyond level 20 allowing players to take epic boon feats and even being able to achieve ability scores of up to 30
• Updated backgrounds
• Backgrounds now grant ability score increases (as races previously did in the 2014 edition). Species won’t get ability score increases tied to them.
• Reworked and brand new spells as well as some spells from Tasha’s and Xanathar’s guides
• More items
• More monsters
• Reworked character sheet
• All mounts and familiars have stat blocks
• Fighting styles are now incorporated into feats rather than classes

New/updated rules

• Crafting rules
• Healing potions only require a bonus action to use
• Weapon mastery is available to enhance martial capabilities and can be used as part of attacks. You can learn all about weapon mastery from our guide
• Heroic inspiration is now a reroll of any roll, not just advantage
• Players encouraged to start at level 3 unless they’re new players
• Rules for bastions
• Some small tweaks to weapon properties
• Changes to how the surprised rule works to make it less devastating for the surprised characters/creatures. Rather than causing the surprised characters to miss the first round of combat, they just have disadvantage on initiative rolls
• Emanations are now a distinct AoE effect that impact creatures within a certain radius. They existed in the 2014 rules, but now have a distinct category
• Ritual spells are available to all classes as long as they have the spell prepared and it has the ritual tag
• Unarmed strikes now allow you to inflict grapples, shoves and other effects
• Exhaustion has been streamlined and better integrated across more situations (like malnutrition and suffocation) as well as being easier to remember

So there you have it. All the changes coming in the 2024 core rulebooks that we know about so far. What do you think? Are you excited about these changes? Let us know in comments below.

Spotlight on the D&D 2024 revision

All the latest updates on what’s changing with the 2024 rules revision.