The 2024 ruleset for 5th edition promises to bring another 10 years of players and innovation to the game, but with promised backwards compatibility and a decade of players who started their journeys with 2014 rules, the old books aren’t going anywhere any time soon. So let’s take a look at the roadmap for the future.
Mage Hand Press base classes and sourcebooks will be coming to the 2024 rule set, and the 2014 rules will remain available! We’ve been tearing apart the new core books to figure out the balance of the new ruleset—how much damage characters do, how skill checks are handled, and which levels get subclass features—so we can deliver the same quality you’ve come to expect. Here’s how we’ll do it.
Complete Classes
All Mage Hand Press base classes are getting a 2024 update. If you purchase a Complete Class or have in the past, you’ll have access to both versions at no cost. Just go to the Downloads section of your Mage Hand Press account to find them!
The Complete Witch and the Complete Warmage are already available! The 2024 Witch translates all hexes into cantrips, buffs the core chassis and reworks several of the subclasses, in addition to system-specific verbiage changes. The 2024 Warmage buffs parts of the chassis, modifies some cantrips (such as the “Blade” cantrips), and reworks some subclasses, in addition to system-specific verbiage changes.
The rest of the Completes, including the Vagabond and the upcoming Dancer, will be released to the Patreon first, then to the store as they’re completed and polished. (The Alchemist and Gunslinger are already there.) Previously released free classes, like the Green Witch and the Warmage House of Rooks, will have their 2024 counterparts released to the blog for free so you can continue to play them into the new edition.
Valda’s Spire of Secrets
But what if you play our new classes through a copy of Valda’s Spire of Secrets? The plan is to build a 2024 update PDF with all of the reworked and updated classes, released for free to everyone who has a PDF of Valda’s through our store, Patreon, or Kickstarter. Don’t expect this for a few months, as we still have plenty of base classes and playtesting on our plate!
For the rest of Valda’s, its subclasses, species, spells, and magic items, we’re working on them in the background, but they deserve a Kickstarter and a reprint all on their own down the line.
Eventually, we’ll update the character sheet packs as well! Stay tuned!
Book of Extinction
With the 2024 Monster Manual as yet unreleased, there’s not much we can know about how monsters will be handled in the new ruleset. But the real-world stories of extinct animals in Book of Extinction will continue to inspire your games regardless of edition. (After all, no fantasy ruleset will change what happened.) If you’re running an Extinction encounter, however, assume that characters are putting out much more damage than they once did, and adjust the encounter accordingly—add an extra whomper or two.
Dark Matter
The 2024 update to Dark Matter has been in progress since the first rumblings of a new edition, as parts of the book—like blasters, guns, and equipment—are integral parts of other projects like the Complete Gunslinger and Insomnia. Entire chapters from Dark Matter’s 2024 revision have already been released on Patreon, and we’ll release more as we finish the book!
But that’s not all! Dark Matter will be returning to Kickstarter with a full cover-to-cover overhaul in the new Megabox set:
Insomnia
Our upcoming horror book, Insomnia, will offer three ways to play: 5E 2014, 2024, and a standalone RPG called Blood on the Lens. Each one is a spine-chilling horror movie experience you’re unlikely to forget.
In fact, you can already play Blood on the Lens for free! As you take damage, you tear off pieces of your character sheet to survive. It’s unique, terrifying, and available at bloodonthelens.com. The full sourcebook is coming to Kickstarter later this year along with Insomnia. Check it out and give us a follow here!
No matter how you play 5E, we want you to have the best damn 5E in the world, and we’re committed to making that happen into 2024 and beyond!
Hi, been a great fan of the VSS classes for some time and running them in my playgroup for 3 years has always been fun.
I was curious about the progress, particularly since im dying to find out about the changes to the Craftsman. I dont know anything about your creative process or whether you can/should tell random strangers about it, but it never hurts to try.
At any rate i hope your day is going well
Best Regards