The revised Player’s Handbook clarifies and changes one high-level Wizard spell that’s often been the subject of debate among D&D players. Dungeons & Dragons is entering a new era with the Player’s Handbook (2024), the first of three revised core rulebooks that will be released between now and February 2025. While still part of and compatible with all existing Fifth Edition content , the new PHB makes a slew of changes to things like classes and spells.
Notably, one seventh-level Wizard spell – Simulacrum – has been updated in a way that amounts to a major nerf. Under the new rules, Simulacrum still fulfills the same basic purpose. The user can create a friendly duplicate of a Beast or Humanoid by touching both the creature and a pile of ice or snow.
The simulacrum has the stats and abilities of the creature, though with half the HP and no way to level up or take rests to restore spell slots and class abilities. While subtle, the Player’s Handbook (2024) makes one crucial change that greatly impacts the spell’s utility: Simulacrums can no longer cast the spell Simulacrum. This new caveat closes a loophole that previously let players create infinite duplicates.
While the spell text says that casting Simulacrum again immediately destroys the previous duplicate, based on the old rules, you could get around that by having a simulacrum cast it. D&D players have long discussed the potential uses and abuses of this spell. As one commenter on D&D Beyond put it “If [yo.