10 D&D Character Creation Changes In The 2024 Player's Handbook You Should Check Out ASAP

The 2024 puts a big emphasis on overhauling the process of character creation, a defining aspect of the roleplaying experience that can make or break any campaign. Although the essentials of the process and rules should still be largely familiar to veterans, especially those who have a lot of experience with the fifth edition ruleset, there are definitely some changes that are worthy of attention.

As always, character creation focuses on defining characters through various attributes, spread out across classes, subclasses, species, backgrounds, and more. None of these elements have made it through the revision process without significant changes, and a character built on the same essential concepts in the 2014 could end up being significantly different when emerging from the process laid out in the 2024 version.

It's common for adventurers in to start their journeys with various sets of tools, which can be useful for anything from calligraphy to woodcarving. Proficiency with a set of tools can make it easier to perform a related activity or skill check, giving characters a leg up thanks to their unique specialties. In the 2014, tools didn't have any specific uses, with their application being left to the creativity of players and the discretion of dungeon masters.

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The 2024 shakes things up by giving each tool a designated ability, adding a DC to determine the odds of success at a task, as well as a list of items that can be crafted with them. For players who have never made much use of their tools, this could be a helpful way to find specific purposes for them. Treating the new options as boundaries for what tools can do would be a mistake, however, as creative use should still be encouraged.

Weapon mastery properties expand the options in combat for martial classes, and they're available from the get-go in character