I'm Not Convinced D&D's 2024 Player's Handbook Is As Backward Compatible As It Claims

is currently in a very weird transitional state. The 2024 marks the first major revision to the fifth edition rules established in 2014's core rulebooks, but it's not sweeping things aside in favor of a new edition or even taking up a 5.5e mantle like 3.5e did. Fifth edition has been hugely popular, and publisher Wizards of the Coast is promising that the new will maintain backward compatibility with all the adventures released over the past decade of play.

It's a nice sentiment, but I've never been convinced that it would be that simple. With a copy of 's 2024 now in my hands (well, digitally), I'm more skeptical than ever. It's true that the book doesn't overhaul things to a degree that would completely break the system, and anyone familiar with the rules from 2014 shouldn't have much trouble adjusting to the changes. When all is said and done, however, it doesn't feel like slotting into the same place that the 2014 did is the new book's highest priority.

There's a lot of exciting stuff to talk about in the new Player's Handbook, but sometimes showing is better than telling, and I wish I had that power.

One of the most-talked about aspects of 's 2024 is how it addresses traditionally underpowered classes like the Monk and Ranger, but the new book's approach to balance goes a lot farther than just buffing classes that lagged behind. Everyone has at least a little something to be excited about, whether that's an interesting new feature or a tweak to something that was previously hard to use. There are a lot of changes that affect multiple classes as well, like reworked spells and feats that are often more powerful or require less to use than previous iterations did.

I completely understand why the 2024 is taking this approach, and I'm not immune to its charms. The first thing I did upon getting the book was check out how some classes I was interested in fared, skipping over the new introductory material to revisit later. Buffs are exciting, and tweaking every