5E 2024 Rules

Just a place for me to jot down some stuff, nothing more than that.

General

Big step up on the art. But that of course also increased page size and price.

They now write D20 instead of d20. Also now standardized things by using the term "D20 Test".

They talk about Hit Point Dice but also Hit Dice.

Bonus Action is now written with two capital letters but things like Magic action and Utilize action get just one capital.

They did away with Prepared Spells vs Spells Known. Now everyone prepares spells; some classes get to change the list after a Long Rest, others only minimally when they level up.

Saw this phrasing a few times: "Choose creatures within 30 feet of yourself (which can include you)", does that mean that any time the part between the parentheses is not there, you can't include yourself? In the past the wording was different and the default was that you were always included unless it said "other creatures" or words to that effect.

Chapter 1 - Playing

You can now fail a save again; 11.

From XGE: If the use of a tool and the use of a skill both apply to a check, and a character is proficient with the tool and the skill, consider allowing the character to make the check with advantage; 14.

Influence, Search, Study specifically called out as Actions; 15.

Finding hidden objects once again is calling out Perception where it should be Investigation; 20. Interesting quote found: “Would an animal notice anything remarkable about this?” If so; Perception, if not, Investigation.

Normal (travel) pace now gives disadvantage on Stealth; 20.

Forced March is gone but with mounts you can now go double speed for an hour and then need a rest; 20.

Being surprised now gives disadvantage on Initiative and nothing more!

Ally's space is no longer difficult terrain; 25.

You can no longer move between attacks? 25. You can but that is only explained in the Glossary!

Knocking Out a Creature; see Rules Glossary.

Chapter 2 - Character

Tying ability scores to backgrounds is criminally stupid and the ability choices made for the backgrounds are completely moronic in many cases; 36.

Decoupled languages from race and background. Not bad, but now everyone starts with the same number, which is so dumb; 37.

Appearance and Personality table is insultingly terrible; 39.

Alignment is as bad as every edition; 39.

Personality Traits by Alignment table, as bad as the previous table; 40.

Chapter 3 - Classes

Definite power creep; just about across the board the new classes are better than the old ones.

Very good that all classes now have 4 subclasses.

But absolutely indefensible that they removed a number of Cleric subclasses/domains.

Removing over half of the Wizard subclasses/schools is slightly less bad but certainly from a lore and world building perspective really dumb.

They must release updated versions of the removed domains and schools as a free web enhancement, at least.

Many classes now regain 1 use of an iconic class feature on a short rest, nice.

Almost all spell casting classes get more spells from the first level of their subclass, nice.

Quite nice that the spell lists are now listed with the class and show which spells are ritual spells, need concentration, or have a material component.

Noticed that they completely dropped the flavor names for subclass groups (Druid Circle, Monastic Tradition, etc.), shame.

Only going to comment below on class features up to about level 12.

Barbarian

Rage Good changes. No longer limited to melee attacks, Strength attacks with ranged weapons also work. No more needing to get hit. Duration max 10 min. Regain 1 use on Short Rest. Also nice to be able to use Rage to fuel other abilities.

Reckless Attack No longer limited to melee attacks, Strength attacks with ranged weapons also work.

Primal Knowledge Dumb 4th Edition nonsense, at least it's limited to rage.

Feral Instinct No longer interacts with surprise but that's cause surprise was nerfed.

Instinctive Pounce Nice.

Brutal Strike Much more interesting than the Brutal Critical it replaces.

Relentless Rage Made it actually useful.

Berserker

Frenzy got better. Retaliation and Intimidating Presence got swapped around and both are better for it.

Wild Heart

What used to be Totem Warrior; many changes for the better but very unfortunately lost the flavor of having a single animal totem all the way through.

Rage of the Wilds (formerly Totem Spirit) Bear is no longer super overpowered, good. Eagle much more streamlined. Elk and Tiger are gone.

Aspect of the Wilds (formerly Aspect of the Beast) Removed all the existing ones. New ones are meh in most scenarios.

Power of the Wilds (formerly Totemic Attunement) Removed some, renamed some, added some. What's there now is ok and more streamlined.

World Tree

I like it, interesting path.

Zealot

Warrior of the Gods Good change.

Bard

Happened to notice they lost access to hand crossbow.

Bardic Inspiration Now specifically says you roll it after failing a D20 Test.

Jack of All Trades & Expertise Both at 2nd level now.

Song of Rest Removed for some reason?

Font of Inspiration Nice way to regain a use.

Countercharm Now level 7 and actually useful!

Magical Secrets You gain more spells, better spread over levels, it lets you change as well; this got really powerful. Maybe somewhat balanced by that you can't pick from all spell lists, just Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard. And you can't pick cantrips.

Dance

Fun Monk hybrid, I like it a lot.

Glamour

Beguiling Magic Good replacement for Enthralling Performance which wasn't very good.

Mantle of Inspiration, Mantle of Majesty, and Unbreakable Majesty All improved.

Lore

Cutting Words Now specifically mentions succeeds on a roll. Also no one is immune to it anymore.

Magical Discoveries Nerfed a little; spells can only come from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell lists.

Valor

No notes.

Cleric

Divine Order Not very balanced; 99% of players are going to pick Protector.

Channel Divinity Surprisingly you get only 1 back on a Short Rest instead of all, but you do get a max of 4 at high levels.

Divine Spark Nice addition.

Turn Undead Streamlined, as long as you know what the Frightened and Incapacitated conditions do.

Sear Undead Hmm, could go either way on this, the old Destroy Undead was more cinematic and took less admin, as long as you knew the max CR.

Blessed Strikes Nice, bit better balanced than Divine Order.

Domain choice has been moved to 3rd level. But nice to see that all Domains get more spells added to their Prepared Spells at 1st level.

Life

Abilities now specifically say "spell slot’s level" instead of spell level, not an actual change but making it more clear.

Light

Bonus Cantrip Removed, you no longer get the Light cantrip for free.

Radiance of the Dawn Dispels darkness of any level [this was already the case in the 2014 edition, but I'd house rule that].

Warding Flare Now works to save others. Blind creatures are no longer immune...

Improved Warding Flare Big improvement over the old version.

Trickery

Blessing of the Trickster The range upgrade makes it way better.

Invoke Duplicity No concentration needed now!

Cloak of Shadows Removed, but you now already have access to the Invisibility spell.

Trickster’s Transposition The wording could be a bit more clear; can you first move the illusion and then teleport? Cool either way!

Druid

Druidic Smart way to add Speak with Animals. They changes Perception to Investigation, so it seems they are at least aware.

Primal Order By far the most people will go for the medium armor proficiency, which all druids used to get under the old rules!

Wild Companion Not sure what to think of giving Familiars to druids.

Wild Shape Seems to be much weaker now, unless you go for the Moon circle.

Wild Resurgence Nice bit of flexibility.

Elemental Fury Most will pick Primal Strike which is a nice damage boost.

Circle of the Land

Lose some flavor by no longer making them choose one kind of land but also makes sense that druids should be able to adapt to all kinds of nature.

Shame there are fewer types of land and fewer spells per type. But you do get better spells now (fireball).

Land's Aid Fun! Always nice to be able to harm and heal at the same time.

Natural Recovery Moved up to level 6. Made better by giving one free spell per day.

Nature's Ward Lost disease immunity but gaining resistance vs a damage type is definitely better.

Circle of the Moon

The big bad Wild Shape subclass. Now also gains spells (that can even be cast when wild shaped) and a better AC and temp hp. And no more early limitations on fly and swim speeds. Now attacks are not magical but can be Radiant. No more elemental forms, which made no sense anyway, but get a bonus teleport with arriving.

Circle of the Sea

Would seem rather limited if a campaign was mostly land based but none of the powers actually need water, except for the swim speed.

Wrath of the Sea Interesting alternative to Wild Shape but duration makes it a little less flexible.

Stormborn Gain a Fly Speed, clearly this is why the duration is limited.

Circle of the Stars

A very out there take on Druid. :p

Star Map Cool! And getting a number of Guiding Bolt uses is quite nice.

Starry Form Also cool! The Dragon constellation is a quite nice out of combat option.

Fighter

Fighting Style Added most from TCE and made it a single list for all classes, good. Great Weapon Fighting has been nerfed, good.

Second Wind Another ability that got a SR single refresh, nice.

Weapon Mastery Dumb addition that is just going to make combats even slower and make things more difficult for new players.

Action Surge Specifically excludes the Magic Action, smart.

Tactical Mind Nice new way to use Second Win when you need it, even better how it's not expended when you still fail.

Tactical Shift Does what it says on the tin; giving more tactical options by letting you move when using Second Wind.

Indomitable Made much stronger by adding your Fighter level. Assume fighters will succeed at the really nasty saves now.

Studied Attacks Another incredibly powerful addition.

Battle Master

Student of War Never really fit the flavor but now you also get another skill, dang.

Combat Superiority No changes.

Maneuver Options Added some of the TCE ones, clearly not all were a success.

• Evasive Footwork now also gets Disengage.
• Lunging Attack no longer magically increases range, good. Instead you get to Dash and add to damage if you move in straight line, bad wording.
• Parry can now also use Strength.
• Precision Attack now triggers after missing.
• Rally gives a lot more temp hp now but is limited to someone within 30'.

Know Your Enemy Now limited use and you learn Immunities, Resistances, Vulnerabilities instead of the weird stuff from the old one, better!

Champion

Remarkable Athlete Brought from level 7 to 3 and completely changed. Now gives Advantage on Init and Athletics and let's you move after a crit.

Heroic Warrior Terrible addition; giving a free Heroic Inspiration whenever you start your turn without it.

Eldritch Knight

No longer limited to abjuration and evocation spells.

Weapon Bond Now says you can't bond to a weapon attuned to someone else, good catch.

War Magic Rephrased to streamline and close loopholes.

Psi Warrior

New subclass, makes you wonder why they didn't add a Psionicist base class. Seems under-powered unless I am missing something.

Psionic Power Sort of like the Battle Master but more limited.

Telekinetic Adept Getting Fly, even for a round, is nice. And putting people prone or moving them... Enough said about that.

Guarded Mind Not bad but you can definitely question if anyone would know they had the Charmed condition.

Monk

Martial Arts Die upgraded by one step across the board, needed with all the other classes getting bumps. Also nice to see more weapons being allowed. Only allowing Unarmed Strike as the Bonus Action makes it so you can't get extra benefit from magic weapons.

Monk's Focus Ki renamed to Focus, smart. No longer needing 30 minutes of meditating, losing flavor. Nice to see you can get Dash and Disengage for free now, should have been like this from the start.

Uncanny Metabolism Another nice boost, getting more Focus into battles.

Deflect Attacks Nice update, now also deflecting melee attacks and no limits on ranged weapon size. And later it works against all damage types!

Stunning Strike Made even better than it was, now also a real benefit when they save. The fact the Stunned condition no longer means no movement is even weirder considering that those who make their save against this, lose half their speed.

Empowered Strikes Another change to damage type, they moved completely away from player attacks counting as 'magical', good.

Heightened Focus More nice upgrades, especially moving someone along with you.

Self-Restoration Combines Stillness of Mind and Purity of Body. No more immunity to disease, not the worst, certainly enough flavor left.

Higher Levels Interestingly they changed a lot here. No more knowing all languages, invisibility, astral projection, no old age. Makes sense as they are going away from the stereotypical Asian monk. And some of these things are folded into subclasses. And the new additions are quite good.

Chapter 4 - Origins

Background feats are a good idea but the feats themselves are more than a mixed bag; 177.

Giving every background the same number of skill and tool proficiencies removes so much flavor, sigh; 177.

The book is all crunch and no flavor. There is hardly any lore info on the races, no name suggestions, etc. How are you supposed to roleplay?

No more half-elves or half-orcs!

"Regardless of life span, members of all species reach physical maturity at about the same age." Makes things easier but is a huge change and not very defendable; 177.

Heights have changed a lot and weight isn't mentioned at all; pc gone too far?

All races now have a 30 Speed, with Goliaths and Wood Elves being the exception at 35.

All races lost their weapon proficiencies.

Some species can now choose to be M or S size at character creation, nice; 177.

Tangent: I would have sworn up and down that gnomes were smaller than halflings but if I can believe ChatGPT that was never the case!

Also surprising that humans can be Small but elves can't; in D&D elves were always described as (somewhat) shorter and slighter than humans.

Dwarf Darkvision 120 is nice but then why Gnomes still at 60? Stonecunning seems too powerful, especially at lower levels. No more subraces.

Elf Keen Senses; get to pick one of three skills now, nice.

• Drow Another chance that is impossible to defend; lost Sunlight Sensitivity!
• High Gained spells.
• Wood Lost Mask of the Wild (made it easier to hide) but gained spells.

Gnome Gnomish Cunning now works against everything. Nicely streamlined the Forest and Rock abilities but loss of Artificer's Lore is big.

Goliath The Ancestry options are very uneven. Large Form; very strange how this doesn't line up with the Enlarge/Reduce spell.

Halfling No more subraces and they kept Naturally Stealthy and did away with Stout Resilience.

Human What was the variant in 5E has become the default; gaining a feat, though it now has to be an Origin feat.

Orc Darkvision 120 makes no sense. MM '14 describes 'Tribes like Plagues', will be a huge change. No more Spine of the World orc hosts attacks?

Tiefling I'll mention it here; interesting change to now also let you use spell slots from classes to cast spells gained from race, etc.

Complete removal of the Ideal, Bond, and Flaw tables is bad, even if they weren't great, they gave new players at least something; 177.

Chapter 6 - Equipment

Heavy Armor no longer reduces Speed!

Food prices have gone down, other prices remained the same.

Chapter 7 - Spells

Guidance Now select 1 skill and get 1d4 for the full minute, good change.

Rules Glossary

Attack You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this action. Even includes sheathing and picking up.

Burning Explicitly says how to douse.

Damage Threshold Back from older editions but why the change in it taking all damage if over the threshold instead of just subtracting?

Dead Nice to see this included with all the effects it has, including losing attunement!

Dehydration Good to see it back. Extreme Heat is gone but it was in the DMG before, might turn up there.

Difficult Terrain Nice listing.

Exhaustion Huge change that makes it a lot easier and more useful, but the penalty should go on spell save DC's as well.

Falling Nice to see a rule for falling into liquid.

Grappled Finally disadvantage to attack anyone but grappler, ending it now under Grappling (no 2014 weird Thunderwave thing). Dragging rule, nice.

Grappling Really much improved, especially how it's now done via Unarmed Attack (see there). Ending by being out of reach is much cleaner.

Heroic Inspiration Truly terrible idea; and to make it worse, at higher levels many characters will have a free reroll every or every other round.

Hide Interesting changes to Stealth, just one successful roll now giving you the Invisible condition. Potential issue: rerolling for a 20.

Incapacitated The new catch-all for being stopped from acting. No speech, no concentration. But you can still move!

Influence action Very regimented social skills. Interesting idea to use monster Intelligence score but incorrect DC's remain the skill issue of 5E.

Invisible No more mention of heavily obscured. A crying shame they haven't made the conditions to lose Invisibility the same across the board.

Knocking Out a Creature Still stupid but a tiny bit less so, they go unconscious, have 1 hp, start a short rest (no heal?), waking up at end; 29 & 370

Long Rest Now also restores all ability damage! Finally spelled out the interrupts and made an interrupted LR be a SR as I already house ruled.

Magic action Smart to quantify it so it can be referenced not just by spells but also magic items, class abilities, etc.

Malnutrition Nice to see quantified.

Opportunity Attack Uses less words to cover the old rule but now you have to intuit that you need to look under Teleportation for it being exempt.

Ready Surprisingly no changes, this could really have done with some love.

Ritual General rule so now Paladins, Rangers, etc. can also ritual cast.

Search action Went completely off the reservation; so many complaints from the start about Investigation and now they remove it from this?!

Simultaneous Effects Probably a good thing to let player/DM decide, saves on bookkeeping.

Speed Really annoying they didn't give this another word in front of it but I guess "Walk Speed" would get questions about running, etc.

Stat Block They saw the errors of their ways and included Initiative again and made the increased Saves much easier to see.

Study action Breaks down which skill knows about what monster types.

Suffocation Not as punishing as the old rule. The new exhaustion rules might still make for a nice death spiral.

Telepathy Now specifies that the default is two-way communication. Weird they went with Incapacitated breaking contact as you could still listen.

Teleportation Again really saves on individual spell descriptions.

Unarmed Strike Like the way they did this, including Grapple and Shove. Some might say Dexterity should be able to be used instead of Strength.