Three new faces make it into the core lineup of D&D 2024 Player's Handbook playable races
These are the 10 core species (formerly "races") that will be in the Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player's Handbook. There are three new faces, at least new to the Player's Handbook—Aasimar, Goliath, and Orc. While old, familiar faces often come with updates introduced in other D&D 5th Edition sourcebooks between 2014 and 2024:
- Aasimar – Almost like pronouncing ASMR. A celestial, angelic race. Originally introduced in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022)
- Dragonborn – Combines the best of dragons and humans. Was already a core playable race, but now is updated to be the dragonborn in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (2021)
- Dwarf – "Dwarves have been streamlined." Whatever that means. Can now keep up with companions with a speed of 30 (instead of 25).
- Elf – Pointy ears. Live so long each one requires a novel-length backstory.
- But wait, where did half-elves go? They're here. But in D&D 2024 you can be half-anything. And the unspoken half doesn't have to be human anymore. I'm half-Dwarf-Goliath. I'm half-Halfling-Dragonborn. You know what? I'm a classic Half-Elf-Human.
- Gnome – Eyyy, Gnomes can keep up with Dwarves can keep up with everybody now moving 30 feet per round. Except Goliaths who now move 35 feet per round.
- Goliath – They move 35 feet per round now. They're a core species now too, having been first introduced in Monsters of the Multiverse along with the Aasimar.
- Halfling – Another newly 30 speed haver (up from 25). All 2024 halflings now have the Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Luck (formerly called Lucky), and Naturally Stealthy traits.
- Human – The 2024 vanilla Human will now basically be the 2014 Variant Human. Also, don't let people shame you into thinking being human in a fantasy world is boring. It makes the most sense to take in a fantasy world's sights and sounds through eyes you're most familiar with. If everyone is something fantastical, then what's fantastical in that?
- Orc – Now aligned with the Orc listed in Monsters of the Multiverse. And you're a full Orc now, not just a Half-Orc. Unless you want to be a Half-Orc, then by all means.
- Tiefling – Choose between three fiendish legacies: Abyssal, Chthonic, or Infernal. Chthonic deals with the Underdark. Abyssal deals with the Abyss. And play Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus if you want to get familiar with the Infernal legacy.
So, those are your 10 starting lineup species from the 2024 D&D Player's Handbook. Those 10 plus however many half n' half species you care to come up with. ChatGPT did the math for me and tells me that that's 45 species to choose from (if you go for those gnome-orcs and tiefling-aasimars; talk about an identity crisis).
The D&D 2024 Player's Handbook is out on September 17. D&D Beyond subscribers will get early access three weeks earlier on August 25. And people attending Gen Con 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana, will get even earlier access to the hard copies—one per visitor—on, like, next week, August 1.
