The 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook Places great emphasis on overhauling the character creation process, a defining aspect of the role-playing experience that can make or break any campaign. Although the essentials of the process and rules should still be largely familiar to DND Veterans, especially those who have a lot of experience with the fifth edition of the rules, there are definitely some changes that are worth paying attention to.
As always, character creation focuses on defining characters through various attributes, spread across classes, subclasses, species, backgrounds, and more. None of the elements went through the revision process without significant changes, and a character built on the same basic concepts in the 2014 Player’s Handbook It may end up being significantly different when emerging from the process laid out in the 2024 version.
It is common for adventurers in DND To begin their journey with various tools, which can be useful for everything from calligraphy to wood carving. Proficiency with a set of tools can make it easier to perform a related activity or skill check, giving characters a leg up thanks to their unique specialties. in 2014 Player’s HandbookTools have no specific uses, with their application left to the creativity of players and the discretion of dungeon masters.
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The 2024 Player’s Handbook Shake things up by giving each tool a designated abilityAdding a DC to determine the odds of success in a task, as well as a list of items that can be crafted with them. For players who have never used their tools, this can be a useful way to find specific purposes for them. Treating these new options as boundaries for what tools can do would be a mistake, however, as creative use should still be encouraged.
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Weapon Mastery Properties Add flair
Weapon mastery properties expand the options in combat for martial classes, and they are available from the beginning in character creation. Rogues, Rangers, and Paladins each get two Weapon Mastery properties. Barbarians start with two and gain more later, and Fighters start with three and gain more.
in war Weapon Mastery properties allow characters to use specific abilities with weapons they have masteredWhether this results in increasing consistency, damage, applying an attack to multiple targets or a number of other options. Chosen weapons can be swapped out in long rests, so choices made in character creation are not something a character will have to live with forever.
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More classes with spells at level one
Although no class needs to deal with subclasses at level one in the 2024 Player’s HandbookMore classes now have to choose Dungeons & Dragons spells in the beginning. Dedicated spellcasters like wizards and sorcerers always have a couple of spell slots from the start, but the hybrid nature of paladins and rangers has the availability of spells up to level two. Paladins and Rangers are now level one spellcastersAnd Warlocks also get an Eldritch Invocation at level one instead of level two.
It’s not a significant scale change, but it makes the start of a campaign a little more interesting than a paladin or ranger. Moving subclasses to level three will remove some early access to magic for specific subclasses, however, like Eldritch Knight Fighters who now have to hold off on spellcasting for a bit longer.
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Streamlined species in 2024
Species – previously called races in the 2014 Player’s Handbook and earlier iterations of DND – No longer play a rather large role in the character creation process. Picking a species still has an impact on a character’s abilities, and there are even some new features thrown into the mix. Ability score bonuses are no longer tied to speciesHowever, and the entries for each species in the 2024 Player’s Handbook are largely streamlined.
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The 2024 Player’s Handbook Also removes half-elves and half-orcs from the picture, sticking to options without hyphenations. All orcs make it in, as do Aasimar, with both of these species excluded from the 2014 book but making it into the fifth edition DND through later periods.
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Subclass at level three
Subclasses are a big part of specialization in DNDBut they are no longer something that anyone will have to deal with directly during the level one character creation process. While the 2014 Player’s Handbook has no consistent rule for the level at which subclasses are acquired, giving them out at level one, two, or three depending on the class, The new book standardizes things by sticking to the level three subclass across the board.
There are various arguments to be made for this approach in terms of flavor and mechanics (clerics, for example, are generally defined by their subclass in a way that now makes the first couple of levels a bit awkward), but it somewhat complicates the character. . creation process. The 2024 Player’s HandbookThis approach should certainly be less confusing for newcomers, and it makes level three an exciting moment for any class.
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New subclass in the 2024 Player’s Handbook
The 2024 Player’s Handbook Also shakes up subclass with the addition of some new options. With four subclasses per class, the book offers more options for every class but wizards and clerics, both of which featured long lists in the last book. Most of the published in previous fifth edition material viz Xanathar’s guide to everything And Tasha’s cauldron of everythingBut some are completely new additions.
The three subclasses making their debut are the Way of the World Tree for Barbarians, the College of Dance for Bards, and the Sea Cross for Druids.. Path of the World Tree gives barbarians some additional healing and resilience options, College of Dance turns bards into a different type of performer, and Circle of the Sea lets druids call upon the power of the sea and spray.
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2024 brings reordered character creation
One change that is easy to immediately notice in the 2024 Player’s Handbook Is that the order of character creation is not the same this time. The 2014 process led with choosing a race, followed by class, ability scores, alignment, backgrounds and equipment. In 2024, classes are chosen firstFollowed by backgrounds, equipment, species, ability scores and alignment.
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Each approach can have its merits, but starting with classes makes a lot of sense, especially now that species do not play quite as central to a role. It is still possible to choose things in a different order, of course, but following the guidelines of the book is generally the easiest approach for newcomers especially. Starting off with aptitude scores is another reasonable alternative that served as the standard for many DNDHistory, and for anyone who rolls them rather than picking from a standard array, it can help guide the entire process.
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Core information during character creation
Although opinions on the order may vary, one change in the character creation process that is undeniably useful is the inclusion of more core information along the way. While the details of building a character will always require some flipping around the book, the 2014 approach requires players to do so regularly, as the section that guides the character creation process did not include many details about most of the selections.
in 2024 Player’s Handbook, New tables and more detailed sections add more of what players need to know in the “Create a Character” Chapter. From a brief class overview to a description of what characters with low and high scores in each ability might be, it’s easy to get a good idea of ​​the basics without having to dive into the nitty gritty.
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Backgrounds have Ability score bonuses
The reduction of species significance in the 2024 Player’s Handbook Doesn’t mean characters end up with fewer benefits, with backgrounds now doing the heavy lifting. Each background offers three different ability scores that players can spread points between for a boostAllocating one point to each or two points to one faculty and one point to another. A farmer can choose from strength, constitution and wisdom, for example, while a writer picks from dexterity, intelligence and wisdom.
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Tying ability scores to backgrounds makes sense as a reflection of skills a character has picked up before adventuring, but those who like backgrounds for their pure roleplay flavor while building optimized classes may have some resistance to the change. As before, backgrounds also grant skills, along with the addition of origin feats that specialize characters.
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Origin fits are now mandatory
Fits were previously an optional concept in DND 5e, showing up as an option for variant humans, custom lineages, and a replacement for ability score enhancements. The 2024 Player’s Handbook Makes fits something that every player participates in from the beginningPacking them with the expanded backgrounds to make each character feel more unique from the start.
Some Origin Feats can be very useful for any character, such as Skilled, which grants proficiency in three skills or tools of the player’s choice. Others, like Tavern Brawler, lean more toward a specific character concept. While some feats in previous rules may feel underwhelming, feats tend to be strong across the board in the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook.