Your species is an integral part of defining where your character came from, with your character's background rounding out the other half of their origin. The 2024 Player’s Handbook has changed the way these aspects interact with your character, and also changed how creation works. As part of this new journey, each of the ten playable species featured in the 2024 core rules has been revisited and revamped. Some of these species were part of the 2014 core rules, and others have been added to the list.

We’ll take a look at what’s new for each and what some of the overall changes are in this article!

• Updated Species in the 2024 Player’s Handbook
• New Species in the Core Rules
• Revised Species Traits
• Ability Score Adjustments No Longer Tied to Species
• New Art to Showcase Species

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New Species in the Core Rules

Artist: Hinchel Or

A big change to the 2024 Player’s Handbook is the addition of some new but familiar faces. Three species that had previously been featured in other sourcebooks are now included within the core rules in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. The Aasimar, the Goliath, and the Orc have been called up to the majors, with some tweaks and updates for each.

Aasimar

Aasimar getting their Celestial Revelation trait at level 3 and as a Bonus Action was a change from Monsters of the Multiverse that has carried through to the 2024 Aasimar. An updated boost to this power for the new core rules is that an Aasimar no longer has to pick which option of this trait you want to take when you unlock it. Instead you choose which option you want to take whenever you activate it.

This means that your Celestial Revelation is now tied to your mood or emotional state when you call upon it. Are you looking to soar with your Heavenly Wings? Are you ready to be a righteous beacon with your Inner Radiance? Or are you feeling broken, crestfallen, and dour with your Necrotic Shroud?

Goliath

The 2024 Goliath leans more heavily into the Giants that they descended from. Now you get to choose the specific type of giant that is in your family line. Like Tieflings, this ancestry doesn’t have to determine your Goliath’s destiny or personality, but it does mean inheriting different gifts you can tap into.

For example, a descendant of Fire Giants can add an additional d10 Fire damage on a successful attack roll. A Goliath with Stone Giant ancestry can use a Reaction when you take damage to roll a d12, add your Constitution modifier, and reduce your damage by that amount. Each of these types of traits can be used a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

Orc

A playable species in D&D in different versions since 1993, Orcs aren’t just back on the menu, they’re now a part of the core rules. The 2024 Orc builds upon the Adrenaline Rush feature from Monsters of the Multiverse, which allows you to Dash and gain Temporary Hit Points as a Bonus Action. Now you regain all uses of the trait after completing a Short Rest. Your 2024 Orcs also get expanded Darkvision, gaining a range of 120 feet.

Revised Species Traits

Artist: Clint Cearley

Whether it’s one of the three new species in the 2024 Player’s Handbook or one of the seven returning, each of the species in the 2024 core rules has been given an overhaul.

A Boost to Effectiveness

Features for several species have been given a boost to help give them more value within the action economy of the game. Dragonborn can now choose whether their breath weapon comes out as a Cone or a Line. Gnomes now get full access to Speak With Animals. Dwarves can now use Tremorsense on stone surfaces. Traits like these and others have all been looked at and upgraded to make them more usable more often in your games.

Elves and Tieflings Get Spells

Each of the three main 2024 Elf lineages and the three new 2024 Tiefling lineages gain access to a unique spell at level 3 and level 5. For example, the Wood Elf now gains Longstrider at level 3 and Pass Without Trace at level 5. Similarly, a Chthonic Tiefling gains False Life at level 3 and Ray of Enfeeblement at level 5. The three Tiefling lineages also gain resistance to an appropriate damage type, and the Thaumaturgy cantrip. Each of the three Elf and Tiefling variants also gain a unique cantrip.

Each Species Was Shaped With an Eye Toward the Fantasy

When working on the revisions for each of the species for the 2024 Player’s Handbook, a decision was made to focus on what the fantasy of each species is. Dwarves were given enhanced Stonecunning and Darkvision to emphasize their legacy of toiling away in mountain mines and kingdoms. Goliaths lean much more heavily into their specific lineages to reflect being the descendants of Giants as we understand them in D&D. Dragonborn were given the ability to access wings because flight is absolutely one of the coolest things about dragons.

Even Humans in the 2024 Player’s Handbook were given a keen focus on their role in fantasy. The flavor text talks about the way Humans have spread throughout the multiverse much in the way humans have done to every corner of our globe. By emphasizing human resourcefulness and versatility in their traits, the 2024 core rules portray humans as they’re seen in stories like The Lord of the Rings or The Witcher, or even in sci-fi tales like Star Trek, never content to stay in one place, always eager to learn, grow, and explore.

In some cases, this means these species have been given more choice points during the creation process, such as Tieflings or Goliaths. In other cases, like Halflings or Dwarves, these choice points were streamlined to best serve their fantasy elements.

Ability Score Adjustments No Longer Tied to Species

A huge change to species in the 2024 Player’s Handbook is that your ability score adjustments will no longer be tied them. With the 2014 character creation rules, players often chose their class based on the ability score adjustments of the species, which took away from the customizability of character creation. Now you can play any species with any character class without feeling like you’re intentionally putting yourself at an ability score detriment by doing so.

Your ability score adjustments now come from your background, which also gives you proficiency in certain skills. This makes backgrounds more important to character creation as the part of your character’s history where they honed their skills and abilities.

The way ability score adjustments work for 2024 backgrounds is that each background has three ability scores tied to it. You can choose to add +2 to one of those ability scores and +1 to another, or add +1 to all three. For example, the Farmer background gives you Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom to choose from. The Wayfarer background gives you Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Using Backgrounds from Older Books

While these ten species have seen revisions for the 2024 Player’s Handbook, you can still use species and backgrounds from previous books. A sidebar in the character creation rules chapter gives you suggestions for how to adapt backgrounds and species from older books when creating new characters for the 2024 core rules.

New Art to Showcase Species

Artist: Zuzanna Wuzyk

The 2024 Player’s Handbook has art for each species. These illustrations all show a variety of versions of each species to help inspire your characters. The art specifically shows what civilian life may look like for them, too, to help you get an idea of what life may have looked like for your character before they started adventuring.

Preorder the 2024 Core Rulebooks Today!

The 2024 Player’s Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!

The new options and revisions presented in this book are a result of a decade of lessons learned and adventures had. With updated rules and streamlined gameplay, it's never been easier to bring your stories to life.

We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features:

• Aasimar: Corrected Inner Radiance bullet.
• Dragonborn: Clarified when you choose the shape of your Breath Weapon.
• Human: Clarified that Origin feats are granted when you choose your background.
• New Species in the Core Rules (Goliath): Clarified the attack roll has to be successful.