I am preparing a campaign for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for a group of my friends. I have received and approves character sheets for three of my players, two of which have already been approved. For the third players sheet, which is the the most recent one I have received, I noticed quite quickly that the stats and skills weren't making sense to me.
After looking into it a bit closer, I had found out why. The first two players had made their characters using the original Player Handbook and it's rules, while this most recent character was made with the 2024 version of the Player Handbook
I would like the knowledge from more experienced DM's on this. Would is be possible, or even viable to play the campaign with the characters using two different source books, or would it be better to ask my third player use the original PHB?
The only set rules I had was that anything from the PHB was allowed. I had made this rule without realizing that the 2024 PHB, and therefore, a different version of it existed
Update: Thank you everyone for the information on what to do. I was updating the third player as the replies were coming in, and they thankfully offered to remake their character with the 2014 PHB so that we don't have to dance around two different books and potential power balancing issues. Their new sheet has been approved now, and I now know that I need to pick one version to make sure everything runs smoothly :)
No. For some reason WotC decided to make everything more powerful in the 2024 rules, so the two 2014 players are probably going to be overshadowed by the 2024 guy. There isn't any true incompatibility, but it's a bad idea to mix them.
Yes you can and it works fine. I’m in multiple campaigns as a player and a DM with ‘14 and ‘24 subclasses. Everyone has fun and no one feels overshadowed, if that’s the question.
If you are talking about character generation, it’s better to pick one. If you will have subclasses from each version, pick the ‘24 version. Use it for character generation and base classes. Then you can use whichever subclasses you like. Some classes require minor adjustments, but it’s nothing really hard to manage.
Now, if you don’t own and don’t want to mess with the ‘24 PHB, that’s a different story. Then you definitely want to have everyone use the ‘14 version. There are a number of rules changes and some new systems that can get confusing.
The official guidance is if you're using any 2024 game options, you should use the full set of 2024 core rules. However, that doesn't mean you can't use 2014 game options. You just need to make sure that any 2014 game options that can pick other game options pick 2014 game options.
For example, you could run a game using the 2024 core rules but one of your players could use the 2014 Wizard class. If they do, they should only pick 2014 subclasses and 2014 spells.
However, a 2024 wizard picking 2014 necromancer should still pick 2024 spells.
It's a little confusing, yeah, but the general rule is use as much 2024 while also avoiding "crossing the streams"
It works well too, I'm running a drop-in, drop-out game right now allowing 2014 and 2024 game options and I've had zero issues (except when trying to help players and forgetting which version they're using, lol)
Like said yes and no. If something is printed in 2024, and using 24 rules, it supersede the 14 rules.
for instance- players subclass- battle master fighter
assassin (rogue) etc
That also goes with print expansion Tasha, Xanathar with subclass from there.
notable Gloomstalker Ranger- which got nerfed in 24, but that’s the one used.
All that being said, homebrew is encouraged to make your table fun, if you all want. That’s been always allowed. But for RAW/table, you get what’s in 24, and use other supplements for those not in the book.
The DM decides which ruleset they're using, and all PC's must conform to that. The only exception would be playing under the 2024 ruleset and using a non-2024 subclass. But even then I'd probably homebrew that a little.
The DM decides which ruleset they're using, and all PC's must conform to that. The only exception would be playing under the 2024 ruleset and using a non-2024 subclass. But even then I'd probably homebrew that a little.
That's not really the question they're asking though. Also it's not a correct answer. If we're going with "what the DM decides", there are no exceptions. But if we're talking about what exceptions there are to "Use the 2024 version wherever possible", it's still not correct.
The guideline is "If 2014 and 2024 versions of a rule or game options exists, use the 2024 version. Otherwise you're free to use the 2014 version. With one exception—base classes and any features they reference. If using a 2014 base class (which you can totally do), use only 2014 options when instructed to make selections for that class, such as subclass, spells, feats, etc"
tl;dr - backwards compatible, not forwards compatible.
I am preparing a campaign for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for a group of my friends. I have received and approves character sheets for three of my players, two of which have already been approved. For the third players sheet, which is the the most recent one I have received, I noticed quite quickly that the stats and skills weren't making sense to me.
After looking into it a bit closer, I had found out why. The first two players had made their characters using the original Player Handbook and it's rules, while this most recent character was made with the 2024 version of the Player Handbook
I would like the knowledge from more experienced DM's on this. Would is be possible, or even viable to play the campaign with the characters using two different source books, or would it be better to ask my third player use the original PHB?
The only set rules I had was that anything from the PHB was allowed. I had made this rule without realizing that the 2024 PHB, and therefore, a different version of it existed
Update: Thank you everyone for the information on what to do. I was updating the third player as the replies were coming in, and they thankfully offered to remake their character with the 2014 PHB so that we don't have to dance around two different books and potential power balancing issues. Their new sheet has been approved now, and I now know that I need to pick one version to make sure everything runs smoothly :)
No. For some reason WotC decided to make everything more powerful in the 2024 rules, so the two 2014 players are probably going to be overshadowed by the 2024 guy. There isn't any true incompatibility, but it's a bad idea to mix them.
Yes you can and it works fine. I’m in multiple campaigns as a player and a DM with ‘14 and ‘24 subclasses. Everyone has fun and no one feels overshadowed, if that’s the question.
If you are talking about character generation, it’s better to pick one. If you will have subclasses from each version, pick the ‘24 version. Use it for character generation and base classes. Then you can use whichever subclasses you like. Some classes require minor adjustments, but it’s nothing really hard to manage.
Now, if you don’t own and don’t want to mess with the ‘24 PHB, that’s a different story. Then you definitely want to have everyone use the ‘14 version. There are a number of rules changes and some new systems that can get confusing.
The answer is "sort of" or "partially"
The official guidance is if you're using any 2024 game options, you should use the full set of 2024 core rules. However, that doesn't mean you can't use 2014 game options. You just need to make sure that any 2014 game options that can pick other game options pick 2014 game options.
For example, you could run a game using the 2024 core rules but one of your players could use the 2014 Wizard class. If they do, they should only pick 2014 subclasses and 2014 spells.
However, a 2024 wizard picking 2014 necromancer should still pick 2024 spells.
It's a little confusing, yeah, but the general rule is use as much 2024 while also avoiding "crossing the streams"
It works well too, I'm running a drop-in, drop-out game right now allowing 2014 and 2024 game options and I've had zero issues (except when trying to help players and forgetting which version they're using, lol)
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Just watch out if they're a martial because other players might scratch their heads when the 24 player starts talking about their weapon masteries
Like said yes and no.
If something is printed in 2024, and using 24 rules, it supersede the 14 rules.
for instance- players subclass- battle master fighter
assassin (rogue) etc
That also goes with print expansion Tasha, Xanathar with subclass from there.
notable Gloomstalker Ranger- which got nerfed in 24, but that’s the one used.
All that being said, homebrew is encouraged to make your table fun, if you all want. That’s been always allowed. But for RAW/table, you get what’s in 24, and use other supplements for those not in the book.
The DM decides which ruleset they're using, and all PC's must conform to that. The only exception would be playing under the 2024 ruleset and using a non-2024 subclass. But even then I'd probably homebrew that a little.
That's not really the question they're asking though. Also it's not a correct answer. If we're going with "what the DM decides", there are no exceptions. But if we're talking about what exceptions there are to "Use the 2024 version wherever possible", it's still not correct.
The guideline is "If 2014 and 2024 versions of a rule or game options exists, use the 2024 version. Otherwise you're free to use the 2014 version. With one exception—base classes and any features they reference. If using a 2014 base class (which you can totally do), use only 2014 options when instructed to make selections for that class, such as subclass, spells, feats, etc"
tl;dr - backwards compatible, not forwards compatible.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here