Here are my observations on the new 5E 2024 rules. This is not an in depth review. I am not claiming that I am an expert in all of the changes from 5E 2014. I have skimmed through the new Player’s Handbook. There are some things I either like or find interesting. This is a list of those changes.
First, I’ll say that I did not find any changes that I hate. There are some that I do not like. I do not feel strongly about any of them. For example, 5E 2024 has incorporated psionics into the base game with psionics-based subclasses for the fighter, rogue, and the warlock. I have always felt that psionics belonged in horror/sci-fi games, not fantasy ones. Fantasy games already have magic. They do not need a separate magic-like ability. I could ignore the psionics except that it pushed out the swashbuckler rogue subclass. I have always thought that the scoundrel/swashbuckler is one of the core rogue archetypes. I also do not think that reinventing the Great Old One warlock as a psionicist was really necessary.
But here are the things I do like:
Clarifying tool proficiencies - As a DM, I have wondered for a while how to handle rolls for using tools with which a character has a proficiency. Do you treat the tool as a skill? That is what I have usually ended up doing. I have seen professional DMs do things like call for Charisma (Performance) checks to use a disguise kit, for example. 5E 2014 may have had a rule for this. If it did, it was obscure. In 5E 2024, the character with proficiency in both Performance and the disguise kit would roll with advantage. A relatively minor rules clarification but a welcome one.
Weapon mastery - Certain classes get a buff to their weapons usage. Each weapon now has a mastery property. For example, a character who has short sword mastery attacks with advantage after they hit someone with the sword. The only thing I question is the ability for a character to change the weapons for which they are masters after a long rest. It seems odd to think that I could be a master of a weapon one day and not the next. A few practice swings makes me a master of a weapon. I doubt most characters will change very often, but the rule still seems weird.
Backgrounds - In 5E 2014, backgrounds were primarily used to get a character a pair of skill proficiencies. They had a few minor effects, such as adding a language or proficiency with a musical instrument. They also had a minor power that few characters ever used. In 5E 2024, each background comes with a feat. The background also defines which ability scores the player can bump up during character creation. In the original 5E 2014, those bumps were defined by the character’s race (now species), representing that race’s aptitudes. A few years ago, that was updated so that the player could bump up any two or three abilities, representing their character’s particular idiosyncrasies. In 5E 2024, the abilities that can be bumped are restricted to the character’s experience or training, represented by their background. Each background is associated with three abilities. The player can bump one up +2 and another +1, or all three +1. Overall, I like making backgrounds more important. I do not particularly like the return to restricting which abilities can be bumped. It limits the classes that a character can take without suffering a relative disadvantage. I also think that the way Pathfinder integrates class, species, and background benefits together is a more interesting system.
Alignment - Alignments did not change. A few years ago, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) started publishing monster stat blocks that no longer included alignment. Many thought that signaled a move away from including alignment in the rules. I think that alignment is not a particularly useful or interesting rule. Trying to fit a character’s personality to a particular alignment is a waste of time.
Cantrips - In 5E 2014, a magic-using character can learn additional cantrips at certain levels. Once learned, the character is stuck with those cantrips. In 5E 2024, these characters can swap a cantrip when they gain a level or have a long rest, depending on class. This allows a player to adapt a character to their party’s needs or the character’s personality as those things are revealed during gameplay.
General class changes: All classes now get their subclass at third level. The benefits each class gets at particular levels have been rejigged somewhat. New benefits were not necessarily added or old ones removed. Just that some are achieved at lower levels and some at higher ones. Epic boons - characters get very powerful feats at level 19. Just to make those Level 20 super battles more interesting? Few characters will ever see these boons.
Barbarians - Barbarians no longer have to hurt someone to keep rage going. They can just use a bonus action. Berserkers no longer suffer from exhaustion. In 5E 2014, exhaustion was such a bane that it put off players from the berserker. Both good tweaks.
Exhaustion - Speaking of exhaustion, it is no longer as punishing as it was in 5E 2014. It reduces the results of your d20 rolls and slows you down. It no longer cuts your HP in half. It can still kill you.
Druids - One of my favorite classes. I love to shapechange. In 5E 2014, a Circle of the Moon druid would use the hit points of the beast into which they changed. Since most beasts are CR 1 or below, that makes the druid’s beast form pretty much useless in a fight at Tier 2 or above. If the beast form took more damage than their HP, they would change back into their druid form, with any extra damage carrying over. Effectively, the beast’s HP are temporary HP. In 5E 2024, the beast form keeps the druid’s HP, plus a few explicit temporary HP. A level 10 druid could turn into a 100 HP mouse. Sounds absurd. But they could also turn into a 100 HP bear, which would be a terror on the battlefield. 5E 2024 druids are also limited to the number of beasts they can change into. In most of the live plays I have watched, druids usually keep to a few beast forms. My druids, on the other hand, usually have up to a dozen forms, one for any occasion, a Swiss Army knife of beasts. I think the druid buffs more than offset this minor debuff.
Ranger - The Beastmaster’s beast is now a generic Beast of the Land, Beast of the Sky, or Beast of the Sea, rather than a particular beast. This is similar to the first playtest version of the druid, which had the druid change into a generic beast whose form the druid could determine. That, among other things, would allow the druid to change into a horse with a climb speed. That change was generally completely despised and was quickly rescinded. It looks like it carried over into the Beastmaster, however. I do not particularly see the point of the change. Since it only applies to the companion, I do not think that it is an incredibly bad change.
Rogue - Starting a Level 5, a rogue can forgo some of their sneak attack damage to add poison to their attack, to trip their target, or to disengage after the attack. Cannot complain about that, but wasn’t the rogue OP already?
Warlock - I had heard that Eldritch Blast was going to become a basic class capability. It remains a cantrip. All of the invocations that had required Eldritch Blast in 5E 2014 now just require an attack cantrip, such as Poison Spray. Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Chain, and Pact of the Tome are now also invocations. That means a character can take multiple pacts, if they wanted a familiar and a spellbook, for example.
Dwarf - Maybe for the first time in D&D history, dwarves have a 30 ft move, not 25.
Human - Where are these 2-4 ft tall humans coming from? Maybe they are half-halflings?
Half-orc, half-elf - Not there any more. Orcs, goliaths, aasimar, and the other traditional species. That seems like a good mix.
Fighting styles - Fighting styles are now feats. I guess this provides some consistency. A player does not have to worry about which marital classes provide which feats.
Den of the Red Wolf 