The Dungeons & Dragons 2024 rules are finally here! Some people got early access to the 2024 Player’s Handbook through their local game store or D&D Beyond pre-orders, but today marks the public release of the new rulebook. You might be trying these rules for the first time soon, and be needing to rebuild your current character even sooner. So whether you call it One D&D, DnD 2024, D&D 5.5, or something else, here’s how to update your character sheet to the 2024 rules.
Before beginning, you should have a copy of your old character sheet handy. Be that paper or a separate window open in D&D Beyond, you’ll probably want to compare as you go.
DnD 2024 Class Update
Player’s Handbook 2024 now recommends that you start character creation by picking your class. Thankfully, DnD 2024 classes haven’t changed very much. Druids still turn into animals, Rogues still sneak around, and Barbarians still rage. One glaring omission from the 2014 rules is Artificer. If you still want to be an Artificer, you’ll have to use the Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything version of the class. Same goes for Blood Hunter and any class published in third party books.
Start by selecting your class and adding as many levels as your DM allows. It’s the same as the 2014 version: follow the chart in the Player’s Handbook to find out what feature each level in your class provides. If building in D&D Beyond, your features will automatically populate your character sheet when you select the class. For features that consist of choices, such as Feats, you’ll select them from drop down menus just as you always have.
Every class underwent some small change, so be sure to read every ability you have even if it’s something very familiar like Wild Shape. You can still multiclass as long as you have at least a 13 in the main stat of the class you’re adding.
Class Changes In A Nutshell:
- Ability Score Improvement is still granted at certain key levels like four and eight. You can also take a Feat instead. The change here is that Ability Score Improvement is now listed as a Feat. If you’re building in D&D Beyond, you’ll now find Ability Score Improvement under the Feat drop down menu.
- Fighter, Monk, Rogue, Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin all have a new feature called Weapon Mastery. This grants bonus effects to attacks made with select weapons. Be sure to read up on the various Weapon Mastery Properties in Chapter 6 of the Player’s Handbook. These can happen on every turn in combat and affect several enemies, so it will be helpful to the DM if you keep track of your own Weapon Mastery effect.
Picking Subclasses In DnD 2024
Once you get to level three in your class, you are given the option to pick a subclass. Each class in the 2024 Player’s Handbook has four subclass options to choose from. The D&D Beyond builder will have a box to pick your subclass at level three just as before.
Choose your desired subclass, again making note of whatever features you unlocked based on your current level. D&D Beyond will add these automatically and prompt you to make choices where a feature provides multiple options.
You can combine a 2024 class with a subclass from the 2014 Player’s Handbook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and any other book your DM allows you to use. You’ll still just add whatever features your level allows. However, you will probably notice that the wording of certain features clashes with the 2024 wording of certain rules. You should work with your DM to ensure that you both have an agreed-upon understanding of how your subclass works within the new rules.
If you’re using D&D Beyond in September 2024, you might find that the subclass you wanted doesn’t show up on the list of available options. Or that your subclass spells disappeared, or that features like Channel Divinity are hidden. This doesn’t mean that you lost that content or that it’s not allowed in the 2024 rules. The change just seems to have caused several bugs and glitches. If you find yourself faced with such an omission, reach out to your DM. You may need to re-add features with homebrew or just make a note for yourself.
Subclass Changes In A Nutshell
- All 2024 classes get their subclasses at level three. This means Cleric and Warlock players have to wait for some features now. And technically, Warlocks are not supposed to be aware of their patrons until level three when they get their full pact. As this is a big story decision, feel free to discuss with your DM how you want this to play out.
Backgrounds, Now With Free Feats!
Your old Background probably gave you a rather specific roleplay-focused feature like making NPCs sympathetic to you or allowing you to get free lodging at certain establishments. This time around, Backgrounds are more functional for your character sheet.
Each DnD 2024 Background provides Tool and Skill proficiencies that’ll help you navigate the world or even craft items. They’ll also decide your starting equipment and starting gold. More importantly, your Background is now what grants you Ability Score bonuses. So you’ll get +2 to one stat and +1 to another based on your background.
The final cherry on top is that Backgrounds now grant you an Origin Feat. These feats are tailored to the theme of the background and are a nice way to further vary your character or optimize them for battle.
If you want to keep using an older Background from the 2014 rules or another book like The Book of Many Things, you’ll need to do a little tweaking. In this case, since those old books don’t have Backgrounds that give Ability Scores, you’ll need to pick two Scores to give a +2 and +1 (or +1 to three separate Scores). Similarly, if the older Background doesn’t grant a feat, you can pick an Origin Feat of your choice. Player’s Handbook 2024 chapter 5 tells you what the Origin Feats are.
Background Changes In A Nutshell:
- Backgrounds now come with an Origin Feat. If you use a pre-2024 Background that doesn’t grant a Feat, you can pick an Origin Feat of your choice.
- Backgrounds are now what give your character a starting +2 to one Ability Score and +1 to another, or +1 to three Scores.
Species Is The New Race
Species, formerly called race, represents the birth and ancestry of your character. They work much the same as their 2014 counterparts. They still grant properties like Darkvision, Resistance to certain damage types, wings, and more. If you’ve been following the steps above, however, you’ll notice that Ability Score bonuses are no longer tied to Species and are now in Background.
Selecting your Species is pretty straightforward. Just pick what you want to be and record any special traits you get. Some species have “subspecies” which will be a decision point for you. For instance, if you play a Dragonborn your color of dragon lineage determines your Resistance and Breath Weapon effect. Elves still split into Drow, Wood, and High categories that each come with their own bonus spells.
You can still pick races from older books, and even play 2014 versions of standard races like Elf. If using D&D Beyond, make sure you have the “Legacy” switch activated or the older stuff will be hidden. When using these versions, you’ll still take Ability Scores from your Background in accordance with the 2024 rules. Also note that spells and Feats granted by old Races will probably still keep their Legacy wording on D&D Beyond. You’ll need to work with your DM to address these discrepancies.
Species Changes In A Nutshell:
- It’s called Species instead of Race.
- Variant Human is no longer a thing. Now every Human gets to take an Origin Feat. They also get Heroic Inspiration after every Long Rest.
-There are no half Species like Half-Elves or Half-Orcs in 2024 rules. You now just take the Species traits of one of your ancestries and let your Background represent the uniqueness of your upbringing and culture.
- Race used to determine your character’s Ability Score bonuses. Now, Ability Scores are tied to Background. You still get +2 and +1 to two different scores or three +1s, it just comes from a different source. This does cause a problem when using D&D Beyond. Since Ability Score bonuses are no longer tied to race, it seems like you can’t use Tasha’s optional rule of customizing your Ability Score bonuses.
- If you use a race from the 2014 rules or a pre-2024 sourcebook, you don’t add the Ability Score bonuses listed in their description. Instead, you get your Ability Score bonuses from your Background or you assign them as you like under DM discretion.
Ability Scores In DnD 2024
The six core Abilities haven’t changed. And neither has the way you generate them. Whether you rolled for stats, used Standard Array, or created a character with Point Buy, your method is still valid. So you can likely leave this part of your character sheet untouched.
One thing that might be affected when converting a character from 2014 to 2024 rules is how Backgrounds give Ability Score bonuses. The new Background you picked might change which Ability Scores you’re allowed to increase, and that might differ from what you originally picked with your Race in the old rules. In such cases, ask your DM if it’s okay to select your own Ability Score bonuses rather than using what’s written.
When using D&D Beyond to convert your character to 2024 rules, you can make use of the “Other Modifier” and “Override Score” boxes in the “Abilities” section of the Character Builder. These can help you set your own bonuses or even scores in the case where the Background as written is too limiting and your DM allows a swap.
Ability Score Changes In A Nutshell:
- The initial bonus to Ability Scores is now granted by Background instead of Race/Species. Each Background limits you to a choice of three Ability Scores you can increase. If you’re unhappy with this, talk to your DM to see if you can use Tasha’s Customize Your Origin rule to choose your own scores.
StartIng Equipment Or Gold?
The last step in creating a DnD 2024 character is starting Equipment or gold. If you’re converting an already-existing 2014 character to 2024 rules, you can skip this step. You likely already carry a full inventory of items from the journeys you’ve had so far.
If you are creating a fresh 2024 DnD character, then you have a few choices for your starting Equipment. Your class gives you two choices, labeled A and B (except for Fighters, who get A, B, and C). The first choice is a grab bag of items relevant to the class such as a signature weapon, survival gear, and pocket change. The second is just pure gold so that you can buy starting items yourself. Your Background supplies you with another set of items or gold, your choice.
Swap Out Those Legacy Spells
And with that, your 2024 character should be complete!
…Unless you are playing a spellcaster. If your character belongs to any class or subclass that gives you spells, you may need to go through your spells and change some out. You should read your spells in the 2024 Player’s Handbook to see if and how they’ve changed. Also check out your class/subclass spell list in the Player’s Handbook. You might find some new spells in your arsenal!
For those on D&D Beyond, your spells will still display their old “Legacy” version. Spells that have a Legacy tag on D&D Beyond belong to 2014 rules and are technically not allowed in 2024 play. Again, this is something you should check with your DM about in case they allow old spells.
Those who plan to fully update to 2024 rules will need to remove every Legacy spell from their list and select their 2024 counterpart instead. Fortunately for D&D Beyond users, the 2024 version of a spell should be listed right next to the Legacy version. Two exceptions are the spells Feeblemind and Branding Smite. These were replaced with new spells, Befuddlement and Shining Smite.
Spell Changes In A Nutshell:
- Your class/subclass spell list has probably changed, so you should re-pick your spells.
- 2014 spells are tagged as “Legacy” in D&D Beyond. Swap those out for their modern counterparts which should be right below them in your spell list.
- While most spells have the same names, Feeblemind and Branding Smite were replaced with new spells called Befuddlement and Shining Smite.
But now, with a brand new spell list, your character should truly be fully updated! Feel free to take a look at that shiny new character sheet and admire your work. Now let’s hope your dice rolls are as cool as your new abilities!
