The Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules revision is here with a new Player’s Handbook. These revisions — and they are revisions and explicitly not a new edition — update the 5th Edition of D&D that was released a decade ago in 2014 to streamline the ruleset and bring it more in line with 2024’s gameplay sensibilities.

Let’s talk about the biggest changes you’ll see in 2024’s Player’s Handbook.

5e hasn’t been replaced, just upgraded

While Wizards of the Coast’s 2024 revision of D&D’s 5th edition ruleset revises some mechanics and rules — we’ll go into more on this below — the core game is still very much the same. Think of it as an update or a modification rather than a 6th Edition. There’s nothing incompatible about the two versions – that was the original intent of the “One D&D” marketing push that began in 2021. But the revised ruleset is a way to patch 5e to make it more up-to-date and incorporate some quality of life improvements from the last decade.

If anything, a character built with 2024’s rules will be better prepared for 5e adventures than one built under 2014’s rules.

It’s species, not race

Even up until the 5th edition of D&D, choosing your character’s race determined things like Ability Score improvements. (Long, long ago, the same applied to your character’s gender.) Since that’s essentialist, reductive, and, you know, gross, D&D has been moving away from that for some time.

In the 2024 rules revision, they’ve even done away with the word race altogether (since it’s a social construct anyway and doesn’t even really make sense when talking about the peoples of D&D). Instead, D&D now uses the much more accurate species.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook lists 10 species: Aasimar, Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goliath, Halfling, Human, Orc, and Tiefling. That said, conceptually there’s nothing about species that’s all that different from race in 5e. You’ll still get your movement speed, resistances, and traits from the decision. The only thing to ignore is the Ability Score adjustments. There’s nothing preventing you from porting over a previously published 5e race as a species.

Half-races like Half-Elves and Half-Orcs don’t appear in the 2024 PHB. It’s not clear if this represents a permanent exclusion (based on the definition of species) or that they just didn’t make the list for initial publication.

Fifth Edition’s subraces also are gone. What used to be subraces have been folded into the Species as things like Lineages or environmental differences (making them, effectively, subspecies). Those lineages still get the same benefits like cantrips or a little extra movement.

Backgrounds and Origin Feats are tied to stats

Starting with Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything’s revised approach to Origins, D&D has been working to make it easier to have your character’s personal history reflected by their stats. In the 2024 rules revision, that’s realized through Backgrounds.

Backgrounds in 5th Edition provided skills, languages, and your starting gear. In the revised rules, your Background gives you an Ability Score Increase, an Origin Feat, skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies, and your starting equipment. That Ability Score Increase (the same as when you take the Ability Score Increase feat) lets you add +1 to three Ability Scores, or +2 to one Ability Score and +1 to another. The Abilities you get to pick from are determined by the Background and themed to that background — Farmers choose from Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom, for example. (For languages, by the way, every character starts with three known and Rogues and Rangers pick up more from their Class features.)

This boost lets you customize your character’s background a little more and have it reflect in their current reality (and their stats). Just like species (race) above, you can still use previously published 5e Backgrounds. For Backgrounds, though, you’ll have to do a little customization and figure out your own Abilities, tool proficiencies, and Origin Feat. Speaking of which…

Origin Feats are tied to Background — each Background has a set Origin Feat. These feats go a little further to cement your character’s backstory and history in their stats and mechanics. And it also just makes them a little cooler to have a little perk right from the start.

Fighting Styles are moved to feats

Speaking of feats, feats have been reworked a bit as well. Most feats now have a requirement that you reach Level 4 before taking them — which makes sense since that’s really the first chance you have to take them. 

The Fighting Style feature for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers have also moved to feats rather than being part of the Class.

Weapon Mastery is a Class feature

Weapon Mastery is a Class feature (and can be provided by one feat) for Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, and Rogues. Each weapon has a Mastery Property that adds an extra attack or effect to your uses of those weapons.

We go more into Weapon Mastery in its own guide.

Tools and Crafting have new rules

In 5e, Artisan’s Tools — like the ones you got with your Background — were a little nebulous, honestly. D&D in 2024  has streamlined tool rules, made them even more useful, and provided much better examples of how your character would use them. While 5e’s toolkits were not linked with a single Ability, the revision’s are — and there are clearer mechanics involved. There are also a lot more options now, with 25 sets of tools listed in the PHB.

It’s not worth it to go through them all here, but let’s look at one as an example. The 2024 PHB’s rules say that Carpenter’s Tools can be used to pry open a crate with a DC 20 (Strength) check. If you have proficiency with Carpenter’s Tools from your Background, you’d add your proficiency bonus to that roll.

You can, depending on your DM (or your ability to bully your DM), roll Skills instead of straight Ability. If you were to roll Athletics instead of just straight Strength and you had Athletics skill proficiency, you’d get advantage on the roll to use Artisan’s Tools.

Once the rolls are sorted out, 2024’s revised rules also give examples of the sorts of things each tool kit can produce — Cook’s Utensils let you make rations, Weaver’s Tools let you craft a bedroll or padded armor, or Tinker’s Tools can be used to make a lantern or a pistol, for example.

Remember, though, that these are thematic descriptions of tools and their uses with examples that can help inspire your home group. But they’re just a jumping off point, and you and your DM should feel free to interpret their function and use on the fly.

Unarmed Strike is a little different

Unarmed Strikes themselves are still the same — you roll to attack and deal (1 + your Strength modifier) points of damage. But now, Grapple and Shove attacks are now under the umbrella of Unarmed Strike attacks.

In 5e, grappling and shoving involved a contest of the attacker’s Athletics versus the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics. In 2024, attempting either is now part of an Unarmed Strike. First, you have to successfully hit with an Unarmed Strike. Next, you decide to either do damage or attempt to Grapple or Shove. Grappling or Shoving triggers a Strength or Dexterity Saving Throw from the target against a DC of (8 + the attacker’s STR + the attacker’s proficiency). On a failure, they’re successfully grappled or shoved.

Cats finally have darkvision

Maybe it’s not the biggest change, but 5e’s cats didn’t originally have any special senses. The 2024 revision finally adds Darkvision to the fluffy little murderballs.

Inspiration is now called Heroic Inspiration

But we all know no one is going to call it that.