After spending hours working on this video and doing my best to help share what this book looks like, Hasbro's D&D Creator Team Relations emailed me with new rules saying we weren't able to show more than 75% of the page on a two-page spread because they're worried people will take screenshots and stitch them together into a book. Even though every other creator and publisher I've worked with *loves* me to show off their work, Hasbro only wants us to show it their way. It's a huge disappointment to me and I'm sorry to give you such a shitty video in response. So yeah, I blurred the pages because lawyers are expensive and I don't want to take the whole video down. By the way, did you know the Shadowdark RPG won four ENNIEs last night? Check it out! www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/shadowdark-rpg
Not gonna say I agree with them, but they were right in people turning footage into a book thing. There's already a full pdf of the book out there by putting together stuff from creators
it's really disappointing. I got the same email, with the same percentages.. I too have gone through to blur out what I've spent time presenting. it's... I dunno. like I said, disappointing.
@@HyodorioI mean it is on them. They are pay gating players. Can you afford Gencon? Play on the 1st! Can afford the subscription and digital book? You get several weeks of play early? Supporting a F***ing game store? Punished.
Hey man, you tried. Sorry to hear about how you were treated as you tried to help both us and WotC. Glad to hear about Shadowdark. I loved the list of people Kelsey thanked in her accepance speech.
I'm bummed to hear that the Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws are gone. I thought they were a nice way to help players, especially new ones, think about their character beyond the stats. It's easy enough to add them back in, but I enjoyed having them in the core of 2014.
Yeah, that seems important. I'll hold judgment until I see if there is alternate guidance, but it has me wondering if related things are going to change too now. Like NPCs in published adventures made use of those and I think the Insight skill references them in its mechanics. On a related note, not loving that the minor abilities from backgrounds '14 seem to be gone (ie folk hero's ability to hide in a crowd), replaced by the origin feats. It looks like a trend to remove things that require more human-GM adjudication, in favor of things that can be calculated. Meh.
@@theodorehunter4765I get that, but I'm thinking more about people new to the game or who might like some roleplay prompts. D&D has had comparatively little in the way of roleplay advice or mechanics, historically speaking. Someone who has no frame of reference for a roleplaying game might benefit from such material. Some veterans, such as your group, might not, unless they wanted to try something new. Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws were a nice, light-handed but specific way of giving players something to work with, if they so desire.
My house rule was you got inspiration for making choices based on those attributes. But I've always been more interested in character choices than tactical combat anyways. I guess I'll have to house rule this back in, or keep playing systems that reward the actual role playing in a role playing game.
10:11. I teach a summer school class in which kids learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons. This summer I used Shadowdark instead, and it made a huge difference. We were able to jump into adventures more quickly, we were able to create new characters more quickly to replace dead characters, and because the mechanics were so simple the kids were able to devote more of their attention to the fantasy of the game than to the mechanics. And they loved it. In comparison, teaching 5E is much more taxing and time-consuming.
"Has the prone condition" has to be from some rules lawyer who's day job is on Magic: The Gathering. It's the sort of language that's absolutely necessary for competition gaming where pedantic wording a) really matters in gameplay but b) has zero to do with roleplaying. They could have had it both ways by just adding "prone is described as a condition to fit the layout, and anything that makes you prone or knocks you prone should just be assumed to also apply the prone condition. Yes, wolves."
I have a feeling that the lack of 'Culture' and Gods is due to this book is to be setting agnostic (to my knowledge). It isn't specific to Sword Coast or Eberron.
See that was my thought too, but then he mentioned that there's a cosmology map. That's not setting agnostic either! Plus, a list of gods is something which is very easy to cut and replace. Just add a disclaimer at the top. It's not like Pathfinder where setting details are kinda baked into the mechanics.
Glad to hear the glossary is great. The 2014 PHB index read like an old yellow pages. "If I want pizza, I look for pizza not restaurants. But if I want hamburgers, I look under restaurants not hamburgers."
On missing gods and culture - That seems setting specific. No reason to list a "dwarf kingdom" background/culture here as this means different things if you play Eberron or Forgotten. You could argue that the species are also setting specific, but they picked the most common between settings to put here. They could have just written "ask the dm". While I'll keep playing 5e, I personally see no big reason to pick this book. I will definitely copy the surprise rule, and the art looks awesome, but thats it. Good video!
@@brilobox2 putting the material out on a website or the availability of pirated books doesn't make WOTC NOT try and sell supplements. And a move to VTT will most likely stop the availability of books...
I'm with Strunk & White-- and you! Any halfway decent text editor will recommend you get rid of "utilize" and other cumbersome phrases you can replace with a single word. It's a shame you had to blur out the book, but I get it. Kudos for going through with it.
I am doing my own read through on this now and plan to do a video but he fact that you had to blur AFTER the embargo was lifted is ridiculous. Especially now that they are selling them at Gen Con!
This may be a disagreement based on the fact I'm more of a player than a DM, but Re: Lucky: I personally think a feature that is a rare expendable resource that gives you a reroll or advantage should ALWAYS be done after you make a roll. Dice is gambling enough, and having to guess when you'll need that feature in the first place and then feel like it wasn't useful if you do WELL is bogus. I much prefer stuff like Reckless Attack, which allows you to gain advantage before a roll, where the penalty isn't a limited resource, but an effect you have to deal with.
That is sort of the point, it helps with balancing to have both options, precisely because advantage isn't as strong as a reroll. Having rerolls on lucky made it VERY strong, which is why they readjusted it to have way more uses later on in the game, but now you have to use it ahead of time instead of as a reaction to a fail.
Having played in a campaign where another character had Lucky, hard disagree. It makes it so that whatever roll you don’t like doesn’t have any consequences, which fundamentally ruins the premise of dice-based RPGs. It takes that exciting and scary moment of “Oh no!” and immediately says “jk nvm”. I think those sorts of things can be fun they are limited in what they can be applied to, but not for any and every roll. Besides, that’s what Heroic Inspiration does now anyway.
Personally, I like the way codified terminology is more identifiable. It's a good hint to new players (and in the case of niche rulings) that there is some existing way to resolve those mechanics. Maybe it's not too big a deal for Prone, but in general it helps my brain "tag" things better.
Same here! Sly complained that this stuff reads like “toaster instructions” and that it pulls him out of the game a little bit. But it’s never done that for me. It’s just been less ambiguous and helpful. You know what’s definitely pulled me out of the game and ruined my fun? Having yet another argument over what the heck some stupid “natural language” sentence is supposed to actually mean-a sentence whose meaning which, in 5e, as often as not, relies on what ISN’T said, as what is.
I agree that the action variants could possibly slow stuff down- but it seems to me like it's still a worthwhile change. In 2014, most martial classes have always felt sort of boring compared to the spellcasters. It'll take a bit for people to learn, but having classes like the rogue or fighter being able to exert more battlefield control will hopefully make them more dynamic to play. Feats make the game more complex, but because of 5es linear leveling system they're also the main way to add customization to your character (unless your a spellcaster), they make the game more complicated but they also make the game deeper. 5e has always been a very big game to learn, and I think embracing the potential of a little bit of mechanical crunch will be to its benifit, for a game that focuses on combat, the more potential depth to every class to the better. These new rules will be hardest on newer players who aren't used to having the book open between every turn, so I think we have to wonder: is 5e even a good introduction game? Or is something simplified and streamlined like Shadowdark the way to go.
There was one thing I really liked about the playtest material, and that was the customizable backgrounds, a +1 and +2, or three +1s, two proficiencies, one tool, one language, one feat. So what do WotC do? Remove even the customization from 2014, and force Wizards to be Criminals so they can actually get the stat bumps they need to play the game.
Personally I do not understand the move towards homogenizing species into a big gray blob of sameness. They have effectively become just a costume you can wear like a FPS skin.
Count me in as one of the players that's super hyped for more flexibility in martial classes. Cunning Strike seems really fun to me. I'm really looking forward to describing those as "fighting dirty".
TLDR! Let's get the timeline for me about buying the 2024 PHB. Step 1: Nah, I don't want to buy it, bc I have tons of other DnD5E books and I didn't really need to; if I or my players don't like some rules/mechanics it's easy AF to make a homebrew rule to change the way we like it. Step 2: gets mildly intrested bc the hype Step 3: I saw Mike's video when was released, before the terrible Day of Blur and I love it: I like the design, the things, Mike's very good opinions and enthusiasm was infectous, so I made my choice and pre-order the PHB from a hungarian rpg webstore. Step 4: The video got The Pointless Blur and after I heard the "reasons" (It was soooo lame and dilletant) of the WotC and I cancelled my pre-order. I simply cannot enthuse and support a publisher with this attitude by buying ANYTHING from them. I have enough DnD5E book on my bookshelves that will probably last a lifetime (or longer if my children play with them) so I don't NEED any more books from WoTC and now I don't WANT any more from that publisher. HeGe/Rex is out, greetings from Hungary, hail to my pal, Mike! Have a great day, get out there and play an RPG! ;) *drop the mic*
Good Video. Funny that you mentioned Level Up Advanced. I never heard of it before until last weekend when I saw two of their supplementary books in a thrift store. Bought them both after a quick look.
The backgrounds were a little disappointing, but I hope everyone does the custom background, which will certainly allow for that idea of a human raised by elves and such. They said this is coming in DMG but they surely could have added a paragraph about custom backgrounds in PHB... Unless I play with a frustrating GM who doesn't want to do custom backgrounds, I'm almost never going to use the existing ones
Agreed, I create all my characters on DnD Beyond and I'm definitely hopeful that custom background option will be available straight away, as it's sort of needed for adjusting old backgrounds, which is definitely meant to be possible.
I think you sold yourself short, this was still a very useful review despite the massive blurring. That said, it is very frustrating to hear that they made you sabotage your own hour-long video, especially since it was a fairly glowing review from you when I think you are usually pretty critical of WotC products! 100% understand the frustration they are generating in people who are trying to do something that supports them.
Glad to hear about improvements in organization. My major complaint of 5e PHB is trying to find anything is a pain, and important information is scattered. It made character creation and advancement a pain just finding stuff.
I noticed that Heat Metal requires you to be within range for the future Bonus Action fire damages. Just a small note. But i agree that it is still silly, this makes it only slightly less abusable. Its just a weird spell, and I would have had it high on my change list.
It feels to me that wording "prone condition" has to do sth with their brothers from MTG was looking over their shoulder 😀. And I just remember, didn't they cleaned the species to avoid situation where you pick dwarf because he is better fighter and elf as he is better wizard? I am fan of cleaned species 👍
@24:15 But it DOES tell you how to use other subclasses ... if you READ THE FEATURES. 'You gain each of your subclass features that are of your level or lower'
I’m sticking with 2014 right now but the art in this PHB is the temptation. Maybe I’ll wait for some of the book art to show up as desktop or mobile backgrounds on D&D Beyond.
"Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete bullshit, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value." Says the guy that recommends people buy it and says themselves they are gonna buy four copies...
Almost everything in the old book that referred to 'must decide to do X before the result of a roll is known' has been removed. Bardic Inspiration is a particularly notable case.
The hell with Magic Initiate, Tough or Alert. I want Skilled at first level. Maybe also as a Human to double down on it. :D That's what I love with Origin Feats, anyone can have a different favorite. But yeah, I would prefer that you could choose the feat independently instead of selecting your background for the feat you want. Maybe the background could have a suggested feat, as they do with its starting equipment. I'm OK with background forcing to choose between 3 abilities for the modifiers.
38:25 they probably chose "utilize" because "use the use action" sounds extremely bad. The old "use an object" action was the worst of both worlds though lol.
i agree the formatting here is much better than the 2014 PHB, but it still pales in comparison to the spread-oriented layout of Old-School Essentials, Mothership, and other modern games. WOTC seems content to be stuck in the past when it comes to attention to formatting for ergonomics and usability at the table, which is really the only reason I won't give 5E another look with this new version.
@@TylerHannaWithin D&D 5e rules text, you don’t see “Use the action”, it’s usually “take”. So you will probably see things more like, “This applies whenever you take the Utilize action.”, which is decidedly less silly.
I mean, we don't really know how this game's supposed to run until February 2025 when we have all the books. We don't know its intended ecosystem until then (including magic item distribution, as well as the monsters and how fights are structured), but from what I quickly gather here, I think everything is being buffed other than boss monsters, who are nerfed to no longer have Legendary Actions or Lair Actions and instead reactions with specific triggers, giving them less flexibility and less mobility in combat. While it might be simpler to run, it makes bosses lose the action economy game by leaps and bounds, especially if they lose their reaction, or 1 reaction if that's how it's ruled, for any reason. But maybe it's just a design philosophy for there to simply be no solo bosses and even dragons have minions to fight you. We won't know until 2025, which is why I feel like it's not worth diving into this system very deep until then.
i think the concern about combat turns taking longer is valid. my problem is that people often voice that concern without also mentioning the problem it's trying to fix. that martials often have very little options compared to spellcasters and that often the solution was to just give them spells or magical abilities, now they get non-magical options. guess what makes combat take a long time currently? spells and magical abilities. maybe criticize their solution or offer alternate solutions
@39:00 No strength save on that Prone condition from the Wolf stat block? So wait, do they still have Pack Tactics? OMG - so dangerous! Will a normal level 2 Druid be able to do that?
@matthewgoettel2798 we played it that it did give pack Tactics but the ability to force the prone condition was harder to do. Now it seems to be automatic. So that's almost an aout crit for your fighter buddy (depending on initiative).
And of course I watched this Monday night! 😅 I still thoroughly enjoyed it even with the blurring. I'm bummed that they removed the role-playing suggestions from backgrounds and will probably do what you suggested and use the 2014 ones. As a cleric player, I'm also baffled that they removed the section on the gods. The 2014 PHB had multiple pantheons you could choose from that were super barebones, and I would have loved to have seen that expanded upon. Everything else looks fantastic, though, especially the rules glossary! Thanks for taking the time to make such an informative and balanced video!
@@jenheil I understand why they removed the section because very world have different gods and it's impossible to list all gods in all possible worlds. The best is for the cleric to work with the DM to find a god that suit them in the world they are playing in, but maybe there could be better guidance for the player i'm not sure because I haven't read it year. We are converting to the new 2024 rules in my group, but I also thing it's totally validt to stay with the 2014 PH and you can always implement the rules you like from the 2024 rules as house rules.
You are the first one making really a point about the feat theme. we play without feat in 2014 and love the simplicity. Thats gone, and i also think that the gamespeed will be much slower than before. I am not so happy with that new way.... Guess i should go to osr, but they are too simple. 5E hits that sweet point inbetween.
Is there any guidelines on Barriers @22:00 I would use the same thing for Barriers and Barrier Spells so if a Stone Wall has like 120HP for a castle wall with a damage thresh hold of like 40hp damage - then yeah, isn't there something one one of the books for a wall and a wall of force or a Tiny hut? It's been 10 years so it should be out there.
Never worried about compatibility either. Good points. Main thing with compatibility and why they kept the edition is so you can use the adventures as they are.
This half-elf has always identified as a human, and she appeared in a cooking video with Mindy Kaling wherein they cooked human food, but recently this half-elf BECAME an elf! And I think someone should look into that.
Seriously? Don’t advertise my book for cheap? Another unforced error by Hasbro! 😮 I’m going to go buy another copy Shadowdark instead. (My comment is not sponsored by Arcane Library.)
That's an interesting point about the complexity of martial classes. I'm finally at the point where I could see myself playing a Rogue or Barbarian, but I can imagine the options becoming overwhelming. I can see more groups playing levels 1 and 2 instead of skipping straight to 3, just so they have a more gradual introduction to all these options.
Sounds like an improvement over 5th, but I refuse to buy it or play it based on the actions of Wizards and Hasbro. They're a terrible company that treats their employees that crap, and is more interested making money off of digital services than making a good game. If you want to play D&D just play Pathfinder 2. Also, blurring out the pages to the book made me stop watching. I wanted to see some of the artwork and layout.
@@jasonhawkins6888 Hasbro has committed many sins, but using AI to generate their content is not one of them (at least not yet). Claiming that they are is doing a massive disservice to the hard work of the design team and artists that really do care about the game.
Why would anyone, in combat, cast Leomunds Tiny Hut? There's a cast time of 1 minute. That would take the character casting it out of action for 10 rounds, which is much longer than most combats occur. Not only that, while objects within the dome when it's cast can pass through such as arrows, it stipulates that spells CAN'T be cast through. So if players are using it as a mini-pillbox, I can see archers doing so, but if casters are doing so that seems to be a DM (you) problem, not a rules problem.
I've actually implemented the weapon masteries as an option since they were in the UA but I haven't had anyone playing martial classes use them yet. Even with the rules printed out in front of them. I think it's an extra layer of complexity they aren't ready for yet
A glossary is great! But PF2e has that with the page numbers included with each word, as this new book seems to have a separate index. So my question is, does the index contain different words and rules from the glossary, or are they included in both lists?
Hey Mike, I don't think you're supposed to show the actual book. You may want to check on the rules for the embargo. I've seen some other content creators get their videos taken down. Folks have been just basically copy pasting text onto blank screens to talk about them.
I was under no NDA. I believe Ted had an NDA that specifically didn't let him show monsters and the index from the PDF he got. That's not the case with the physical book. I can't say why.
To tell the truth, I was a big fan of AD&D second edition. After running D&D 2014 from the SRD and the web I must say, and seeing my players through it, I noticed I didn't have as much fun with this as with other games. I tweaked some things and it got a little better. I've seen some reviews of the new books, and I must say I'm not impressed at all.
Funny thing about Tiny Hut. It only blocks creatures and objects, likely so the occupants don't asphyxiate. But if fluids like air and water aren't objects and can pass through that means it doesn't even block rain. ;3 On the other hand it also means enemies can smoke out the occupants, try to drown them if they can flood the area, cook them with a bonfire, or even just throw acid or alchemist's fire. Sure the bottle will break against the effect, but then the liquid should pass through. *shrug* Enemies could also attempt to burrow out underneath. If they can cause the ground to collapse under the players the effect is stationary and won't keep them safely inside. And of course anything that came out of the area of effect can pass back in, including ammunition.
Gotta push back on the idea that "thats what my character would do" is the indicator of being a shitty character! Yes...if that's the default of a player and that they ALWAYS use that excuse for doing chaotic and selfish things...but sometimes that's simply the truth...play a paladin or a rogue or a bard...and then tell me you've never said "that's what my character would do"!
Heroes Feats: ".. it has Immunity to the Frightened and Poisoned conditions." Ok, it's not "Poison Damage", but people are still immune to be poisoned.
One issue with backwards compatibility is whether characters are too powerful for old adventures as written. Do you think power increase will make old adventures too easy? DMs Ive had dont like to alter adventures
With the nerfs to paladin smites/great weapon/sharpshooter, they may actually be less powerful. Like a 2014 great weapon using sorcadin is still likely more game breaking than anything in 2024
@MisterCynic18 hmm not sure I ever had one of those my groups. The most power builds I regularly had were clerics with heavy armor mastery, warcaster, spirit guardians, and banish. Plus some single class paladins
UTILIZE! AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH! When I told my husband that it is literally the same meaning as use, he stopped saying it. Bro, you sound PRETENTIOUS.
How is the index at the back of the book? In the 2014 it was filled with things like you look up A and it says see C and C says see B and B finally says see page X. The index was more frustrating than useful. Have they cleaned that up?
Now that I watched video until you talked about the Glossary that may very well take care of my issues with the index since I can look in the glossary for most things I was looking in the index for in 2014 version.
The Prone condition has always been so dumb because targets can just stand up and attack without Disadvantage. It essentially just cuts movement in half (like difficult terrain), and gives advantage on attach rolls within 5 feet. I'm a 1-1 combat, it's nearly useless. We added the following rules to Prone: Standing up provokes attacks of opportunity and attacks against the prone target within 10 feet are made with Advantage. A prone target's attacks against targets within 10 feet are made with Disadvantage. Now prone is actually a powerful condition and ranged attackers who are voluntarily prone are not penalized for sniping from ground cover
As a professional writer, I am 100% in agreement with you about the utilize and use thing. It should be stricken from the English language. Why are we trading a 1 syllable, 3-letter word for a 3 syllable word? It's just wrong.
So I like lots of stuff about this new update, but I’m 200% with you (and I’m a professional academic, a historian, whose career is fundamentally that of reading and writing) that utilize is the Devil.
12:01 Not loving these weapon mastery effects, just because they feel so out of character, and more like playing MTG cards. Dictionary on vex: "verb. make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried, especially with trivial matters." So if I'm a Rogue player and it's my turn, "I stab him with my short sword and then wipe the bloody sword off on his tunic. That's sure to vex him!" DM: "Yeah, the wound isn't distracting but he's so distracted wondering how he'll get that stain out you get advantage..." 🤡Or - is every single player going to just say "I use Vex" 🤮
Surprise = Disadvanatge on initiative, but surely this takes place AFTER a character acts to intiative combat if they are hidden. Eg. The ambusher should get to make an attack first surely. It would be weird to ask for initiative if one group is not even aware of the other.
The way Jeremy said about subclasses, it sounded like it was buried in the subclass section of the first class. Maybe it is in each subclass section, but that seems unlikely.
Your profile pic is a bit of a blast from the past. I thought East West would just be another band to die in obscurity, but clearly there are sill people who listen and remember.
The design team at WotC has been overtaken by an ideology that doesn't allow for variation in genetic innate abilities. Thus on the "nurture or nature" argument they fall fully on the nurture side. This does not allow for a halfling to be slower than an elf, and also precludes the possibility of having the interesting diversity that could come from a halfling raised by elves. That halfling would just be an elf for all intents and purposes, I guess?
After spending hours working on this video and doing my best to help share what this book looks like, Hasbro's D&D Creator Team Relations emailed me with new rules saying we weren't able to show more than 75% of the page on a two-page spread because they're worried people will take screenshots and stitch them together into a book.
Even though every other creator and publisher I've worked with *loves* me to show off their work, Hasbro only wants us to show it their way. It's a huge disappointment to me and I'm sorry to give you such a shitty video in response.
So yeah, I blurred the pages because lawyers are expensive and I don't want to take the whole video down.
By the way, did you know the Shadowdark RPG won four ENNIEs last night? Check it out!
www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/shadowdark-rpg
Not gonna say I agree with them, but they were right in people turning footage into a book thing. There's already a full pdf of the book out there by putting together stuff from creators
it's really disappointing. I got the same email, with the same percentages.. I too have gone through to blur out what I've spent time presenting. it's... I dunno. like I said, disappointing.
@@HyodorioI mean it is on them. They are pay gating players.
Can you afford Gencon? Play on the 1st!
Can afford the subscription and digital book? You get several weeks of play early?
Supporting a F***ing game store? Punished.
Hey man, you tried. Sorry to hear about how you were treated as you tried to help both us and WotC. Glad to hear about Shadowdark. I loved the list of people Kelsey thanked in her accepance speech.
@@SlyFlourish Some what frustrating for many reasons.
I'm bummed to hear that the Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws are gone. I thought they were a nice way to help players, especially new ones, think about their character beyond the stats. It's easy enough to add them back in, but I enjoyed having them in the core of 2014.
Yeah, that seems important. I'll hold judgment until I see if there is alternate guidance, but it has me wondering if related things are going to change too now. Like NPCs in published adventures made use of those and I think the Insight skill references them in its mechanics. On a related note, not loving that the minor abilities from backgrounds '14 seem to be gone (ie folk hero's ability to hide in a crowd), replaced by the origin feats. It looks like a trend to remove things that require more human-GM adjudication, in favor of things that can be calculated. Meh.
I'll be honest, my table just ignored them. That's the kind of stuff that comes out of roleplaying.
@@theodorehunter4765I get that, but I'm thinking more about people new to the game or who might like some roleplay prompts. D&D has had comparatively little in the way of roleplay advice or mechanics, historically speaking. Someone who has no frame of reference for a roleplaying game might benefit from such material. Some veterans, such as your group, might not, unless they wanted to try something new.
Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws were a nice, light-handed but specific way of giving players something to work with, if they so desire.
My house rule was you got inspiration for making choices based on those attributes. But I've always been more interested in character choices than tactical combat anyways. I guess I'll have to house rule this back in, or keep playing systems that reward the actual role playing in a role playing game.
@@BCMZeroZero Any system that codifies exactly what constitutes 'in character' would be garbage, if it existed at all.
10:11. I teach a summer school class in which kids learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons. This summer I used Shadowdark instead, and it made a huge difference.
We were able to jump into adventures more quickly, we were able to create new characters more quickly to replace dead characters, and because the mechanics were so simple the kids were able to devote more of their attention to the fantasy of the game than to the mechanics. And they loved it.
In comparison, teaching 5E is much more taxing and time-consuming.
Agreed! Shadowdark is my new favorite.
Are you doing higher fantasy settings? Or keeping with shadow dark themes?
This why classically it was nice to have basic and advanced D&D
It’s a really good update imo. Just sucks that people have to spend another $100 on 3 books.
"Has the prone condition" has to be from some rules lawyer who's day job is on Magic: The Gathering. It's the sort of language that's absolutely necessary for competition gaming where pedantic wording a) really matters in gameplay but b) has zero to do with roleplaying. They could have had it both ways by just adding "prone is described as a condition to fit the layout, and anything that makes you prone or knocks you prone should just be assumed to also apply the prone condition. Yes, wolves."
You'll be happy to see that Hero's Feast no longer grants poison immunity!
There it is! The PHB 2024 walkthrough by Mike Shea, the only PHB 2024 walkthrough I trust!
Hear hear
I have a feeling that the lack of 'Culture' and Gods is due to this book is to be setting agnostic (to my knowledge). It isn't specific to Sword Coast or Eberron.
Good call!
See that was my thought too, but then he mentioned that there's a cosmology map. That's not setting agnostic either!
Plus, a list of gods is something which is very easy to cut and replace. Just add a disclaimer at the top. It's not like Pathfinder where setting details are kinda baked into the mechanics.
Glad to hear the glossary is great. The 2014 PHB index read like an old yellow pages. "If I want pizza, I look for pizza not restaurants. But if I want hamburgers, I look under restaurants not hamburgers."
On missing gods and culture - That seems setting specific. No reason to list a "dwarf kingdom" background/culture here as this means different things if you play Eberron or Forgotten. You could argue that the species are also setting specific, but they picked the most common between settings to put here. They could have just written "ask the dm".
While I'll keep playing 5e, I personally see no big reason to pick this book. I will definitely copy the surprise rule, and the art looks awesome, but thats it. Good video!
It also opens the door for WOTC to sell more setting-specific supplements in the future.
@@matthewwhelehan5185 Because going on a wiki to look up a pantheon or region is hard.
I’m glad they decoupled faerun from being baseline lore, it’s so much nicer for me as a predominantly homebrew worlder
@@brilobox2 putting the material out on a website or the availability of pirated books doesn't make WOTC NOT try and sell supplements. And a move to VTT will most likely stop the availability of books...
I'm with Strunk & White-- and you! Any halfway decent text editor will recommend you get rid of "utilize" and other cumbersome phrases you can replace with a single word.
It's a shame you had to blur out the book, but I get it. Kudos for going through with it.
I am doing my own read through on this now and plan to do a video but he fact that you had to blur AFTER the embargo was lifted is ridiculous. Especially now that they are selling them at Gen Con!
This may be a disagreement based on the fact I'm more of a player than a DM, but Re: Lucky: I personally think a feature that is a rare expendable resource that gives you a reroll or advantage should ALWAYS be done after you make a roll. Dice is gambling enough, and having to guess when you'll need that feature in the first place and then feel like it wasn't useful if you do WELL is bogus. I much prefer stuff like Reckless Attack, which allows you to gain advantage before a roll, where the penalty isn't a limited resource, but an effect you have to deal with.
That is sort of the point, it helps with balancing to have both options, precisely because advantage isn't as strong as a reroll. Having rerolls on lucky made it VERY strong, which is why they readjusted it to have way more uses later on in the game, but now you have to use it ahead of time instead of as a reaction to a fail.
Having played in a campaign where another character had Lucky, hard disagree. It makes it so that whatever roll you don’t like doesn’t have any consequences, which fundamentally ruins the premise of dice-based RPGs. It takes that exciting and scary moment of “Oh no!” and immediately says “jk nvm”. I think those sorts of things can be fun they are limited in what they can be applied to, but not for any and every roll. Besides, that’s what Heroic Inspiration does now anyway.
Personally, I like the way codified terminology is more identifiable. It's a good hint to new players (and in the case of niche rulings) that there is some existing way to resolve those mechanics. Maybe it's not too big a deal for Prone, but in general it helps my brain "tag" things better.
Same here! Sly complained that this stuff reads like “toaster instructions” and that it pulls him out of the game a little bit. But it’s never done that for me. It’s just been less ambiguous and helpful.
You know what’s definitely pulled me out of the game and ruined my fun? Having yet another argument over what the heck some stupid “natural language” sentence is supposed to actually mean-a sentence whose meaning which, in 5e, as often as not, relies on what ISN’T said, as what is.
I agree that the action variants could possibly slow stuff down- but it seems to me like it's still a worthwhile change. In 2014, most martial classes have always felt sort of boring compared to the spellcasters. It'll take a bit for people to learn, but having classes like the rogue or fighter being able to exert more battlefield control will hopefully make them more dynamic to play. Feats make the game more complex, but because of 5es linear leveling system they're also the main way to add customization to your character (unless your a spellcaster), they make the game more complicated but they also make the game deeper.
5e has always been a very big game to learn, and I think embracing the potential of a little bit of mechanical crunch will be to its benifit, for a game that focuses on combat, the more potential depth to every class to the better. These new rules will be hardest on newer players who aren't used to having the book open between every turn, so I think we have to wonder: is 5e even a good introduction game? Or is something simplified and streamlined like Shadowdark the way to go.
Loved this, not the circumstances, but the format. I listened to it while painting minis. :)
There was one thing I really liked about the playtest material, and that was the customizable backgrounds, a +1 and +2, or three +1s, two proficiencies, one tool, one language, one feat.
So what do WotC do?
Remove even the customization from 2014, and force Wizards to be Criminals so they can actually get the stat bumps they need to play the game.
Well, they give you the option to use custom backgrounds from Tasha’s and tell to apply the stat increases and starting feats as you see fit, right?
Oh very cool. You have a different perspective than all the other videos I've been watching about the new book. So glad to have your viewpoint!
Personally I do not understand the move towards homogenizing species into a big gray blob of sameness. They have effectively become just a costume you can wear like a FPS skin.
Count me in as one of the players that's super hyped for more flexibility in martial classes. Cunning Strike seems really fun to me. I'm really looking forward to describing those as "fighting dirty".
TLDR!
Let's get the timeline for me about buying the 2024 PHB. Step 1: Nah, I don't want to buy it, bc I have tons of other DnD5E books and I didn't really need to; if I or my players don't like some rules/mechanics it's easy AF to make a homebrew rule to change the way we like it. Step 2: gets mildly intrested bc the hype Step 3: I saw Mike's video when was released, before the terrible Day of Blur and I love it: I like the design, the things, Mike's very good opinions and enthusiasm was infectous, so I made my choice and pre-order the PHB from a hungarian rpg webstore. Step 4: The video got The Pointless Blur and after I heard the "reasons" (It was soooo lame and dilletant) of the WotC and I cancelled my pre-order. I simply cannot enthuse and support a publisher with this attitude by buying ANYTHING from them. I have enough DnD5E book on my bookshelves that will probably last a lifetime (or longer if my children play with them) so I don't NEED any more books from WoTC and now I don't WANT any more from that publisher.
HeGe/Rex is out, greetings from Hungary, hail to my pal, Mike! Have a great day, get out there and play an RPG! ;) *drop the mic*
Mike I really like the simplicity of the backgrounds. It's a template for the characters to describe further in their backstory
Good Video. Funny that you mentioned Level Up Advanced. I never heard of it before until last weekend when I saw two of their supplementary books in a thrift store. Bought them both after a quick look.
Hahaha wow
I was going to pick this up - but this has corrected my behavior.
Utterly ridiculous
The backgrounds were a little disappointing, but I hope everyone does the custom background, which will certainly allow for that idea of a human raised by elves and such. They said this is coming in DMG but they surely could have added a paragraph about custom backgrounds in PHB... Unless I play with a frustrating GM who doesn't want to do custom backgrounds, I'm almost never going to use the existing ones
Agreed, I create all my characters on DnD Beyond and I'm definitely hopeful that custom background option will be available straight away, as it's sort of needed for adjusting old backgrounds, which is definitely meant to be possible.
That's a really strong blur, I see you went for better safe than sorry 🤣
I think you sold yourself short, this was still a very useful review despite the massive blurring. That said, it is very frustrating to hear that they made you sabotage your own hour-long video, especially since it was a fairly glowing review from you when I think you are usually pretty critical of WotC products! 100% understand the frustration they are generating in people who are trying to do something that supports them.
Glad to hear about improvements in organization. My major complaint of 5e PHB is trying to find anything is a pain, and important information is scattered. It made character creation and advancement a pain just finding stuff.
I noticed that Heat Metal requires you to be within range for the future Bonus Action fire damages. Just a small note. But i agree that it is still silly, this makes it only slightly less abusable. Its just a weird spell, and I would have had it high on my change list.
I am appalled to hear that WOTC asked you to blur the book.
How can I decide if I want to buy it if I'm not allowed to look at it?
Because a lot of people won't buy it if they already read all of it online.
It feels to me that wording "prone condition" has to do sth with their brothers from MTG was looking over their shoulder 😀.
And I just remember, didn't they cleaned the species to avoid situation where you pick dwarf because he is better fighter and elf as he is better wizard? I am fan of cleaned species 👍
@24:15 But it DOES tell you how to use other subclasses ... if you READ THE FEATURES. 'You gain each of your subclass features that are of your level or lower'
Great Strunk and White reference. Lazy DM’s guide is a perfect equivalent to their book for the gaming space!
Tiny hut change - it only stops spells of lvl 3 or lower.
I’m sticking with 2014 right now but the art in this PHB is the temptation. Maybe I’ll wait for some of the book art to show up as desktop or mobile backgrounds on D&D Beyond.
"Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete bullshit, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value." Says the guy that recommends people buy it and says themselves they are gonna buy four copies...
Based on this blurred box there is a LOT of nudity in this book
Almost everything in the old book that referred to 'must decide to do X before the result of a roll is known' has been removed. Bardic Inspiration is a particularly notable case.
I don’t like stats being tied to backgrounds. I’m like welp my monks a sailor because that’s the only thing that fits
Thanks for a great review. I'll stick to A5e, and might jump into MCDM Draw Steel when I want some fantasy superheroics.
The hell with Magic Initiate, Tough or Alert. I want Skilled at first level. Maybe also as a Human to double down on it. :D
That's what I love with Origin Feats, anyone can have a different favorite.
But yeah, I would prefer that you could choose the feat independently instead of selecting your background for the feat you want.
Maybe the background could have a suggested feat, as they do with its starting equipment.
I'm OK with background forcing to choose between 3 abilities for the modifiers.
Question. If I am planning to switch, should I get rid of Xanatar/Tasha or options there are still valid?
I’d focus on just this book at first
I'm LOLing at the "utilize" thing, but I'm also agreeing.
38:25 they probably chose "utilize" because "use the use action" sounds extremely bad. The old "use an object" action was the worst of both worlds though lol.
I have no plans to buy it, but I'll read the SRD when it is released. If I am switching from 2014, it will be to Tales of the Valiant or A5E.
i agree the formatting here is much better than the 2014 PHB, but it still pales in comparison to the spread-oriented layout of Old-School Essentials, Mothership, and other modern games. WOTC seems content to be stuck in the past when it comes to attention to formatting for ergonomics and usability at the table, which is really the only reason I won't give 5E another look with this new version.
I like "utilize" because it's less verbally ambiguous than "use" (which could sound like "you's")
"Use the utilize action" is kinda dumb sounding though, I agree. "Use an Object" as the name of the action would been better.
@@TylerHannaWithin D&D 5e rules text, you don’t see “Use the action”, it’s usually “take”. So you will probably see things more like, “This applies whenever you take the Utilize action.”, which is decidedly less silly.
I mean, we don't really know how this game's supposed to run until February 2025 when we have all the books. We don't know its intended ecosystem until then (including magic item distribution, as well as the monsters and how fights are structured), but from what I quickly gather here, I think everything is being buffed other than boss monsters, who are nerfed to no longer have Legendary Actions or Lair Actions and instead reactions with specific triggers, giving them less flexibility and less mobility in combat. While it might be simpler to run, it makes bosses lose the action economy game by leaps and bounds, especially if they lose their reaction, or 1 reaction if that's how it's ruled, for any reason. But maybe it's just a design philosophy for there to simply be no solo bosses and even dragons have minions to fight you. We won't know until 2025, which is why I feel like it's not worth diving into this system very deep until then.
i think the concern about combat turns taking longer is valid. my problem is that people often voice that concern without also mentioning the problem it's trying to fix. that martials often have very little options compared to spellcasters and that often the solution was to just give them spells or magical abilities, now they get non-magical options. guess what makes combat take a long time currently? spells and magical abilities. maybe criticize their solution or offer alternate solutions
Thanks for the analysis. I think I will just play the 6e or 7e version (homebrew).
Howdy.
@@timothygutierrez Hi Timothy 👋
Can you tell if it’s stitched and glued?
@39:00 No strength save on that Prone condition from the Wolf stat block? So wait, do they still have Pack Tactics? OMG - so dangerous! Will a normal level 2 Druid be able to do that?
It's a third level spell so a druid wouldn't be able to perform this until 5th level.
@matthewgoettel2798 Right, but at level 2, a wildshaped Druid standing next to a fighter will.
@@Zr0din I see.. So as per 2014 DnD, wild shaping into a wolf didn't grant you pack tactics? It's in the statblock. Sorry if I'm not understanding.
@matthewgoettel2798 we played it that it did give pack Tactics but the ability to force the prone condition was harder to do. Now it seems to be automatic. So that's almost an aout crit for your fighter buddy (depending on initiative).
@@Zr0din that's fun, like a contested strength check or save for the prone condition to succeed?
Thanks for the walk through 😃
So what edition is this even.
Just 5e (enhanced) 5.5? Even one- d&d would have been an ok. Calling it d&d 2014 amd d&d2024 is just retarted
in the future you will make a similar video with tales of valiant?
Is it possible for you to make a unblurred version of this video now?
Yes! It’s going up Tuesday .
@@SlyFlourish 🙂
And of course I watched this Monday night! 😅
I still thoroughly enjoyed it even with the blurring. I'm bummed that they removed the role-playing suggestions from backgrounds and will probably do what you suggested and use the 2014 ones. As a cleric player, I'm also baffled that they removed the section on the gods. The 2014 PHB had multiple pantheons you could choose from that were super barebones, and I would have loved to have seen that expanded upon. Everything else looks fantastic, though, especially the rules glossary! Thanks for taking the time to make such an informative and balanced video!
@@jenheil I understand why they removed the section because very world have different gods and it's impossible to list all gods in all possible worlds. The best is for the cleric to work with the DM to find a god that suit them in the world they are playing in, but maybe there could be better guidance for the player i'm not sure because I haven't read it year.
We are converting to the new 2024 rules in my group, but I also thing it's totally validt to stay with the 2014 PH and you can always implement the rules you like from the 2024 rules as house rules.
You are the first one making really a point about the feat theme. we play without feat in 2014 and love the simplicity. Thats gone, and i also think that the gamespeed will be much slower than before. I am not so happy with that new way.... Guess i should go to osr, but they are too simple. 5E hits that sweet point inbetween.
Is there any guidelines on Barriers @22:00 I would use the same thing for Barriers and Barrier Spells so if a Stone Wall has like 120HP for a castle wall with a damage thresh hold of like 40hp damage - then yeah, isn't there something one one of the books for a wall and a wall of force or a Tiny hut? It's been 10 years so it should be out there.
I'd assume since word Utilize exists, it could be used with a direct purpose like "use with a benefit" (use the best quality of an object).
I've watched a number of PHB24 videos this week, but I was awaiting your calm, realistic and always balanced expo - always a treat
Not just when you get sneak attack, whenever you have advantage to an attack roll. So vex gives you perpetual advantage/sneak attack.
Never worried about compatibility either. Good points. Main thing with compatibility and why they kept the edition is so you can use the adventures as they are.
The pages are blurred out….when is the release date?
Omg. Really? Wotc don’t send out pre copies then. You have the books. Put them out. Your artificially
Making us wait.
This half-elf has always identified as a human, and she appeared in a cooking video with Mindy Kaling wherein they cooked human food, but recently this half-elf BECAME an elf! And I think someone should look into that.
Seriously? Don’t advertise my book for cheap? Another unforced error by Hasbro! 😮 I’m going to go buy another copy Shadowdark instead. (My comment is not sponsored by Arcane Library.)
That's an interesting point about the complexity of martial classes. I'm finally at the point where I could see myself playing a Rogue or Barbarian, but I can imagine the options becoming overwhelming. I can see more groups playing levels 1 and 2 instead of skipping straight to 3, just so they have a more gradual introduction to all these options.
My DM yesterday said that all cantrips are bonus actions in the new PHB. That's not true right?
Sounds like an improvement over 5th, but I refuse to buy it or play it based on the actions of Wizards and Hasbro. They're a terrible company that treats their employees that crap, and is more interested making money off of digital services than making a good game. If you want to play D&D just play Pathfinder 2. Also, blurring out the pages to the book made me stop watching. I wanted to see some of the artwork and layout.
Why is the book blurred out? It wasn’t when I watched the video yesterday and it’s blurred out today.
Take a guess why.
Hasbro’s lawyers are eager to snatch defeat from the claws of victory is why.
Because Hasbro's AI is still generating that content. Just be patient.
@@jasonhawkins6888 Hasbro has committed many sins, but using AI to generate their content is not one of them (at least not yet). Claiming that they are is doing a massive disservice to the hard work of the design team and artists that really do care about the game.
@@kennethray8473 Man, you sniped my joke before it had a chance to live.
Why would anyone, in combat, cast Leomunds Tiny Hut? There's a cast time of 1 minute. That would take the character casting it out of action for 10 rounds, which is much longer than most combats occur. Not only that, while objects within the dome when it's cast can pass through such as arrows, it stipulates that spells CAN'T be cast through. So if players are using it as a mini-pillbox, I can see archers doing so, but if casters are doing so that seems to be a DM (you) problem, not a rules problem.
I've actually implemented the weapon masteries as an option since they were in the UA but I haven't had anyone playing martial classes use them yet. Even with the rules printed out in front of them. I think it's an extra layer of complexity they aren't ready for yet
One things that baffles me: no change to legendary resistance! (See legendary green dragon stat block)
A glossary is great! But PF2e has that with the page numbers included with each word, as this new book seems to have a separate index. So my question is, does the index contain different words and rules from the glossary, or are they included in both lists?
Hey Mike, I don't think you're supposed to show the actual book. You may want to check on the rules for the embargo. I've seen some other content creators get their videos taken down.
Folks have been just basically copy pasting text onto blank screens to talk about them.
Ted from NerdImmersion stated that for example the Statblocks and Glossary shouldn't be shown. The rest is supposedly fine?
People at GenCon are getting books now and as far as I know they have no embargo so not sure how restrictions can stick around
I was under no NDA. I believe Ted had an NDA that specifically didn't let him show monsters and the index from the PDF he got. That's not the case with the physical book. I can't say why.
Books are in the streets. Floodgates have opened
To tell the truth, I was a big fan of AD&D second edition. After running D&D 2014 from the SRD and the web I must say, and seeing my players through it, I noticed I didn't have as much fun with this as with other games. I tweaked some things and it got a little better. I've seen some reviews of the new books, and I must say I'm not impressed at all.
Funny thing about Tiny Hut. It only blocks creatures and objects, likely so the occupants don't asphyxiate. But if fluids like air and water aren't objects and can pass through that means it doesn't even block rain. ;3 On the other hand it also means enemies can smoke out the occupants, try to drown them if they can flood the area, cook them with a bonfire, or even just throw acid or alchemist's fire. Sure the bottle will break against the effect, but then the liquid should pass through. *shrug*
Enemies could also attempt to burrow out underneath. If they can cause the ground to collapse under the players the effect is stationary and won't keep them safely inside.
And of course anything that came out of the area of effect can pass back in, including ammunition.
In the finest tradition of D&D, I look forward to long heated arguments over whether a raindrop counts as an object.
@@jeffw991 lol Same.
Gotta push back on the idea that "thats what my character would do" is the indicator of being a shitty character! Yes...if that's the default of a player and that they ALWAYS use that excuse for doing chaotic and selfish things...but sometimes that's simply the truth...play a paladin or a rogue or a bard...and then tell me you've never said "that's what my character would do"!
Regarding Backgrounds, does it still say that you can absolutely make your own?
From what I've seen it doesn't mention it in the PHB (though I think it should). They're probably saving customisations like this for the DMG.
Why is everything blurred? Why did you do it like that?
Heroes Feats: ".. it has Immunity to the Frightened and Poisoned conditions." Ok, it's not "Poison Damage", but people are still immune to be poisoned.
SRD is definitely an option.
One issue with backwards compatibility is whether characters are too powerful for old adventures as written. Do you think power increase will make old adventures too easy? DMs Ive had dont like to alter adventures
With the nerfs to paladin smites/great weapon/sharpshooter, they may actually be less powerful. Like a 2014 great weapon using sorcadin is still likely more game breaking than anything in 2024
@MisterCynic18 hmm not sure I ever had one of those my groups. The most power builds I regularly had were clerics with heavy armor mastery, warcaster, spirit guardians, and banish. Plus some single class paladins
UTILIZE! AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH! When I told my husband that it is literally the same meaning as use, he stopped saying it. Bro, you sound PRETENTIOUS.
How is the index at the back of the book? In the 2014 it was filled with things like you look up A and it says see C and C says see B and B finally says see page X. The index was more frustrating than useful. Have they cleaned that up?
Now that I watched video until you talked about the Glossary that may very well take care of my issues with the index since I can look in the glossary for most things I was looking in the index for in 2014 version.
Denying a wizard their sesquipedelian loquaciousness, is like parting an old man from his walking stick.
The Prone condition has always been so dumb because targets can just stand up and attack without Disadvantage. It essentially just cuts movement in half (like difficult terrain), and gives advantage on attach rolls within 5 feet. I'm a 1-1 combat, it's nearly useless.
We added the following rules to Prone: Standing up provokes attacks of opportunity and attacks against the prone target within 10 feet are made with Advantage. A prone target's attacks against targets within 10 feet are made with Disadvantage.
Now prone is actually a powerful condition and ranged attackers who are voluntarily prone are not penalized for sniping from ground cover
Giving you a 3rd watch even with things blurred !
What a fantastic walkthrough of this. 5/5 books for you
As a professional writer, I am 100% in agreement with you about the utilize and use thing. It should be stricken from the English language. Why are we trading a 1 syllable, 3-letter word for a 3 syllable word? It's just wrong.
Just curious, did arcane eruptions make it into the sorcerer's spell list?
So I like lots of stuff about this new update, but I’m 200% with you (and I’m a professional academic, a historian, whose career is fundamentally that of reading and writing) that utilize is the Devil.
Enjoyed the breakdown and your review
12:01 Not loving these weapon mastery effects, just because they feel so out of character, and more like playing MTG cards. Dictionary on vex: "verb. make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried, especially with trivial matters." So if I'm a Rogue player and it's my turn, "I stab him with my short sword and then wipe the bloody sword off on his tunic. That's sure to vex him!" DM: "Yeah, the wound isn't distracting but he's so distracted wondering how he'll get that stain out you get advantage..." 🤡Or - is every single player going to just say "I use Vex" 🤮
I personally don't like the power creep.
Surprise = Disadvanatge on initiative, but surely this takes place AFTER a character acts to intiative combat if they are hidden. Eg. The ambusher should get to make an attack first surely. It would be weird to ask for initiative if one group is not even aware of the other.
The second someone attacks you roll for initiative.
@@connors7078 agreed
Took me all of five minutes to create a custom background.
Utilize is such a Crawford word.
The way Jeremy said about subclasses, it sounded like it was buried in the subclass section of the first class. Maybe it is in each subclass section, but that seems unlikely.
Your profile pic is a bit of a blast from the past. I thought East West would just be another band to die in obscurity, but clearly there are sill people who listen and remember.
@@ChristopherRoss. Either that, or I'm old & haven't died yet. 😜
The design team at WotC has been overtaken by an ideology that doesn't allow for variation in genetic innate abilities. Thus on the "nurture or nature" argument they fall fully on the nurture side. This does not allow for a halfling to be slower than an elf, and also precludes the possibility of having the interesting diversity that could come from a halfling raised by elves. That halfling would just be an elf for all intents and purposes, I guess?