Summary
Dungeons and Dragons' 2024Player’s Handbookmay not be on the market yet, but its full text is available now that early access review embargoes have come to an end. This has revealed the final form ofDungeons and Dragons' major revamp to backgrounds, and it’s a mixed bag.
A lot was already known about the 2024Player’s Handbookprior to the reveal of its full text, but there’s still a great deal that’s new.D&D2024’sPlayer’s Handbookgives cats darkvision, brings back the Bloodied tag fromD&D 4e, simplifies multiclassing, and much more. The book is laid out in a new way with clearer formatting and gorgeous art, as well as a class-first approach to character creation.
D&D 2024’s Background Changes Are Great, But Fall Short On Roleplaying
On the subject of character creation,D&D 2024makes sweeping changes to backgrounds. In 2014, backgrounds did little more than add flavor; they gave the player extra languages, skill proficiencies, and an additional feature that most often served as a way of gaining room and board. 2024 not only makes them the source of an ability score boost (as opposed to races in 2014), but all of them grant a feat. These changes have made backgrounds a critical part of character creation, but they may now have an unfortunate side effect on a player’s roleplaying.
D&D 2024’s Backgrounds Makes Character Creation More Customizable
Adding feats to backgrounds isn’t anew idea forD&D, as it was one of the first changes proposed in theOneD&Dplaytest. Moreover,D&D 5ebackgrounds have slowly been gaining feats since books likeStrixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos, though these are intended to be setting-specific. Luckily, the designers at WOTC divided feats into different categories to limit backgrounds from being too potent, with this option only granting Origin Feats. These feats don’t grant weapon or armor proficiencies, nor do they have any prerequisites or ASI boosts. What they do provide is a nice bonus to all characters, giving players an edge in the dangerous game of low-levelD&D.
These backgrounds are also coupled with beautiful art, which is especially present in new options like Farmer, Guide, Guard, and others. These backgrounds are very sensible additions, so much so that they stood out as glaring omissions in previous material. The decoupling of ability score boosts from races (now species) is part of alarger initiative inD&D 2024to modernize the game—and it works great. Though some may prefer the freedom offered by the approach found inTasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the 2024 backgrounds still offer a lot of flexibility as to what classes they work best with.
D&D’s New Backgrounds Lack Flavor
However, there’s one place where backgrounds inD&D 2024took a big hit, and that’s in roleplaying.Backgrounds from olderD&D 5ematerialoffer the player a number of tables to help create their character. These tables help the player determine an ideal, bond, flaw, and core personality trait; many players ignore these, but they nonetheless offer a stimulus that many new players find useful. Even veterans can get some mileage from them, especially those who want to give roleplaying more of a try.
Unfortunately,D&D 2024makes a changehere that’s for the worse. Backgrounds in this version only have a single paragraph of flavor text, with no tables to suggest any spice. Again, many players will be unaffected by this, but it’s still a net loss. Backgrounds should be something that influences roleplaying and character development, but their more mechanical lean in 2024 could make some players pick and choose them based on stats alone.
Dungeons and Dragons
Created by Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop game in which players craft their own worlds and band together to take on adventures through mysterious realms outlined in companion materials. One of the best role-playing games ever made, it has been adapted into a variety of video games and other media.
