Dungeons and Dragons' Updated Player's Handbook is a Huge Loss for One Class (2024)

Dungeons and Dragons is getting a rules update in late 2024, with the revised Player's Handbook to be the first among these to be released. However, its trove of player options will go without one class that has become beloved by Dungeons and Dragons' fanbase.

A great deal has already been revealed about , with previews coming from every direction. Not only are videos being released almost every day on D&D's YouTube channel, content that has slowly unveiled the major strokes of class revisions, but content creators in the TTRPG community have been showing off some exclusive sneak peeks. Reworked subclasses, updated species options, and entirely new character choices (like the Sphinx of Wonder familiar and the Path of the World Tree Barbarian subclass) are being made public at a rapid pace as WOTC picks up its drive for preorders.

D&D 2024's Player's Handbook Won't Feature The Artificer, And That's A Massive Shame

This immensity of hype for the first of has also doubled down something that was already confirmed. The new Player's Handbook will feature the same 12 classes that were in the 2014 version—meaning that the one officially published extra class, the Artificer, will be excluded. First published for D&D 5e in Eberron: Rising from the Last War and later in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the artificer and its steampunk-adjacent theming has won the heart of many a player. Of course, it will still be playable in D&D 2024 thanks to backward compatibility, but its lack of presence in D&D 2024 is nonetheless tragic.

No Revised Artificer Is A Huge Loss

The Artificer has roots all the way back in 1996, but the class itself was more properly introduced in D&D 3e. Tied closely to the Eberron setting, a trend that continued in both the fourth and fifth editions, the artificer embraced Eberron's sci-fi inspirations (even if the setting is not strictly science fiction). Nonetheless, ; the artificer has been interpreted as an alchemist, a creator of magic items, a clockwork engineer, and much more.

Though the class' tinkering gameplay may not gel well with the more Tolkien-inspired high fantasy worldbuilding of many settings, the regardless. In D&D 5e in particular, it invites a level of customization equivalent to the warlock, making use of a system similar to the latter's invocations. Its integration with magic items, constructs, and the often-sidelined firearms mechanics make the class both fun and flavorful, one that many players find a breath of fresh air.

D&D Is Seeing A Crackdown On Extra Classes

Despite this wild popularity, the artificer has been the only non-PHB class published by WOTC after 2014. There were attempts for another new class , but that class never left the realm of playtests. This is in stark contrast to the smorgasbord of classes other editions received after their respective PHBs hit shelves, as well as the demand evident from the sheer quantity of third-party classes.

Lead designer Chris Perkins signaled that this was not without intention, mentioning in an interview with GamesRadar that he 'would put a strong case forward that we could actually do with fewer classes in the core game'. This was argued on the basis that classes like the barbarian and warlock aren't too distinct in archetype from the fighter and the wizard respectively, at least to someone first perusing the list of classes, and could easily become subclasses. While there's certainly value in condensing and simplifying, there is still demand for more full classes that do things that could not be contained within an iteration of an existing class. Luckily, though the artificer isn't getting , it shouldn't be too hard for dungeon masters to let players integrate the existing class with any new rules.

Dungeons and Dragons

Created by Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop game in which players craft their own worlds and band together to take on adventures through mysterious realms outlined in companion materials. One of the best role-playing games ever made, it has been adapted into a variety of video games and other media.

Franchise

Dungeons & Dragons

Original Release Date

1974-00-00

Publisher

Wizards of the Coast

Designer

E. Gary Gygax , Dave Arneson