Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has already made rules errata for its new Player’s Handbook. Digital copies of the 2024 Player’s Handbook went live on D&D Beyond on September 3, with Master Tier subscribers able to access the book ahead of its worldwide release date. This version of the rulebook features several tweaks that aren’t present in physical copies.
One particularly powerful spell has seen a nerf as part of this errata. Originally, Giant Insect summoned a giant beastie whose HP was 30 plus 10 for each spell level you used to cast it. Given that Giant Insect is a level-four spell, that gave you a companion with 70 HP, even without upcasting. In the tweaked rules, Giant Insect’s HP is 30 plus 10 for each spell level above four.
Giant Insect was one of several spells with a power level that baffled Dungeons and Dragons players. However, the other main offenders seem to have survived unscathed. Conjure Minor Elementals, which is now a staple of broken builds like this Valor Bard, still does silly levels of damage.
In fact, the only ‘Conjure’ spell that’s been updated is Conjure Woodland Beings, and that’s been made more powerful. Its damage now increases for each spell slot above level four rather than level five.
The overpowered Nick DnD weapon mastery also seems to function as it did before. The armor table now has a note for shields that rules you must use a Utilize action to equip or unequip it. However, based on our understanding of this Nick Dual Wielder combo, you can still make a flurry of attacks without needing to shift your shield.
There’s an entire Reddit thread dedicated to spotting these changes, and so far the remaining corrections seem to be for clarity rather than balance. True Polymorph no longer ends early if its target runs out of temporary hit points, and the Telekinetic feat now increases the range your Mage Hand can be away from you by 30 feet, not just the range of space you can cast the spell in.
The Goliath has advantage on ability checks to end the grappled condition rather than saving throws. Additionally, the Grappler feat’s Fast Wrestler wording specifies that, when moving with a grappled creature, “you don’t have to spend extra movement” instead of “your speed isn’t halved”.
These rules changes are going to be a little confusing for anyone who prefers to use physical DnD books. However, we all knew an errata would arrive at some point, so hopefully Wizards can make this transition as easy as possible for players.
For more on the new rules, check out our full DnD 2024 Player’s Handbook review. And for all your Dungeons and Dragons basics, check out our DnD classes and DnD races guides.
Source: Wargamer
