Is DnD Beyond Worth it? Review and Walkthrough for Dungeons and Dragons 5e Online Tool
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Today I'm taking a deep dive into D&D Beyond to get a walk through of what all is included even at the free level for Players and Dungeon Masters. I think DnD Beyond has a lot to offer, especially for new players coming to D&D 5e even without buying a DnD Beyond subscription. You can follow along at dndbeyond.com.
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Can still join the campaign if you try hard enough. Might want to just blur the entire right side of the screen. Just to prove my point: the link ends with 90
Edit: Considering this could be a costly joke you might want to make it quick
I'd uses this if they would've included a code with each book instead of buying it because I own all of the Books to date right now
If I already own a players handbook, is there any way to get it on D&D Beyond?
yeah by buying them unfortunately
yeah by buying them unfortunately
I already own all the physical books. I'm not paying to access them again. If the physical books came with a code to unlock the digital content i would be on board, but as is it's not worth it.
Guess you've never looked up stuff on Roll20?
Steven Simmons I haven't. I generally don't play d&d online.
I agree we have all the wizards books for 5e already so just for ease I have to purchase them again? At those prices I was sold them At? No fucking way.
Even if the code made it maybe half price even, but paying twice, book and digital book.. crazy!
I got lucky, I was just about to get into D&D when Beyond launched so I had no books and the three main ones were on sale for just $20 so I picked them all up just in case I ever decided to DM. That being said I understand not wanting to rebuy stuff you already own. But for brand new players it is a very good deal.
My only real problem with D&D Beyond is I already own all the physical books. I have to buy a second, digital copy to use any of the content I already paid for.
And imagine if you bought them for D&D Beyond, and then ran into Corona and suddenly want to use Fantasy Grounds, and have to purchase them a third time!
A very important point. Wizards should supply a code to enable getting digital versions for free, after you buy the original physical copy
Also cannot import any content, like campaigns, to roll20. Another point to touch on.
It is annoying, but i would be cool with that if it meant i could share it in my campaign, but the whole supscription thing just makes it too much
I’m pretty sure it’s because they’re third party
I started DMing a game in roll20 (I'm a new DM), and I'm fine with digital copies. The only downsides I see are running out of power, not having internet, or 20 years from now the service is gone for whatever reason
Which is why, frankly, if I'm paying $20 for digital copies of the rules, I want to be able to store those digital copies on my own computer, and keep them once the servers are down. I would be willing to pay the price they're charging for just the compendium stuff ($20) for a PDF - I think it's a little pricey for a PDF (especially since my Pathfinder PDFs were $10 each and gave me a discount on Fantasy Grounds content), but it's not completely ridiculous.
I am not willing to pay that price for something I can only access if I have internet access, and that could be removed any time WOTC decides they no longer want to provide this service. I regularly run games in places where I can't access the internet, and I quite often use PDF rulebooks to do so.
I can understand your love for PDFs and your fear of the servers going down, but those extra $10 are going towards tools the PDFs can't provide, like a character creator, an easy to interact with character sheet, and my favorite: the ability to filter things like spells, items, and monsters. I'm not saying your way is wrong. I'm just saying what I believe that extra money is going towards
@@Parker8752 every single D&D rulebook .pdf can be downloaded for free online. Illegal? Yes, but doable.
I love how D&D beyond works, if It was partnered with a good VTT that would be awesome!
This. The foundation is laid. I hope this is the direction they're heading :)
For what it is worth, it is possible to use an API and import your dndbeyond characters into a roll20 game. Pretty easy to do as well. Roll20 isnt perfect, but it's useful as a VTT.
1000% I've been searching and searching for a VTT that allows me to take advantage of the awesome content on dndbeyond... but none exist. If they partnered to keep my subscribed content over to a VTT, or better yet... build their own without the challenges of the ones currently available.. I'm in. ps. please somebody, build a vtt for non-IT professionals. I need simple, stupid, ios like drag and drop simplicity... or even a simple drop in map from pinterest, lay a grid over the top and allow me to drop some tokens and share online. I don't need the 1000 other features. There are enough web conference choices out there (Fuze, Zoom, LogMeIn) that I can just share my screen and video the rest live, but nothing out there allows me to just share a map and move tokens- or let my shared adventurers just move their own token.
yeah thats my problem. I found a browser extension (Beyond20) that links Beyond with Roll20 pretty decently well as far as in-game (click on your Beyond char sheet to roll on Roll20), but it means having your character set up in two places which isn't ideal.
Down the road they'll be developing their own VTT.
If this had come out at 5e launch, or even when I got into it (roughly a year later), I would've been all in. I'm a fan of the quickness and ease that digital content provides. It also looks incredibly user-friendly. My biggest problem is what you mentioned in the video, and probably where they'll get the most push-back: I've already paid for most of the books (still haven't picked up Volo's yet). I'm not eager to pay for the same content twice (or, in the case of the Monster Manual, thrice). BUT, I would consider a rental option included in a subscription tier. And if this is available whenever 6e launches, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase the digital version instead.
Garrett Scott I got lucky, it came out right when I was about to start playing so I got all three core rulebooks for $60 total (launch week sale). I am so happy it launched when it did, though I wish it did launch closer to when 5e came out.
Wow, had no idea. Just started playing 5e and needed to create a couple characters. Without books this would have made life so much easier. Thank you for the clear review.
you should do a 2019 update of the site and app
I play pick up games at my local game shop and I love D&D Beyond. I can join a group and whip up a character to suit whatever the group's needs are. When there are new players at the table, I can quickly help them make their own characters. Questions about class, race, abilities, and spells are quick to answer. There's more time playing and less time digging through books.
This was my experience also
Yeah, I do think it makes creating a character and jumping into a game a lot quicker and easier. That's great for vets who game-hop a lot, or for "onboarding" new players. I think some folks get caught up in passing on the "tradition" of old school character creation (and don't get me wrong, there's a nostalgia factor there for me too), but being able to get new people into the game quickly is going to get more people playing the game. And that's ultimately good for this game, for the hobby in general, and for the community. They can go back and learn how us greybeards did things back in the day after they're already hooked ;)
Not to mention not having to bring 100lbs of books to the game store.
387 dollars to buy the books i already own? No thanks
I honestly thought the same way you did. There was no way in hell I was gonna pay a second time for material that I already had.
Then my group grew, and there were only 2 copies of the PHB at the table. On game days, we always had to delay starting the game for new characters to be created or for leveling up. Most of my players are on limited income and couldn't afford the books. A couple are just casual players and don't want to spend *any* money on D&D stuff.
I figured there had to be a way around this. I registered for D&D:B, bought the PHB for I think $29, and paid for a Master subscription for $5.99/month. Then I created a campaign and sent the link to all of my players. Now *they* had access to the PHB for free, and they could access it any time, anywhere. They didn't have to 'borrow my book'.
The next time we met, everybody had characters ready to go. We didn't have to spend any game time on that.
Since they now had access to it, players started *reading* the PHB. They started learning the game faster. They started getting new ideas for characters that never would have occurred to them if they hadn't had time to browse the book.
I added a DMG for $29, so that I could access charts I needed without carrying another book around.
All of my games are set in the Forgotten Realms, so I bought the SCAG for about $15. Now all of my players have access to all of that lore at any time, as well as the new backgrounds and spells.
So for about $75 spent over 3 months, plus the $5.99/month for my subscription, ALL of my players have access to the PHB, DMG, and SCAG. For the same access, we would have had to spend, at MSRP, about $150 for *each player*. I have twelve players.
Now each of my players can also use it during a game to manage their characters on their phones or tablets. They can keep track of hit points, spell slots, and equipment. They have detailed descriptions of their spells right there in their spell lists. Without ever opening another app.
What’s not to like about this?
See, that explanation makes far more sense in favor for D&D Beyond. (Which I have been searching for. Trying to find a reason to justify giving it a try despite owning the books already.)
Except; That first day of character creation has always held a special place in my heart and I enjoy it. I get to talk to the players and discuss their characters with them. Find ways to make their character part of the world instead of a new character dropped in the middle of an MMO.
Example; I remember a player who (during the days of AD&D) had an elven paladin... when only a Human could be a paladin. The character actually had his ears cut down to be human like and denounced his elven nature. (That is to say he thought himself a human and behaved accordingly. A goddess took pity on his state of mind and sponsored him as a Paladin... He is the reason I hate paladins... kept botching his saves and harming my character in the process...)
I know about the home-brew content, and honestly D&D has become far more open then when I learned. But you cannot account for the creativity of players. It helps (rather I find it essential) for the DM to be involved in the character creation process to help the player accomplish their vision.
Example;
Back in 3.0 I came up with the idea for a half-elf monk who's infra-vision worked, but their normal vision was kaput. Working with the DM at the time, I would throw out ideas and he would approve them or shoot them down based on the background I came up with. (He went over that as well prior to it being 'done' as well.)
Sorry, I honestly am glad I read your post as it gave a good example of why D&D Beyond would be useful. (Sorry about the derailing of my rambling)
As a player joining a group who had all the physical books between them, I used the homebrew editor and the SRD content to add everything relevant to my character for zero dollars, and the character sheet has been invaluable~
Pathfinder does the same thing via hero labs. I believe the difference is D&D beyond itself is free (hero labs costs money) and starfinder & I expect Pathfinder 2.0 require a subscription to access the books you bought and can not be used for much of anything without a connection. By comparison D&D beyond looks to be a much, much better deal.
We are using it in our new campaign. As Cody pointed out, we get access to everything our DM has unlocked, which is great. We all bring our laptops and have one tab on DND Beyond and another on Roll20. Works perfectly!
Integration into roll20 would be huge, still waiting for this to happen
probably wont happen, as roll20 would lose money, rather its more likely to be fantasy grounds if anything since it would be an improvement on their character making process
look at the beyond 20 chrome extension, it does what I think you want
The physical books always ticked me off because of errata. Online books update automatically. That's my selling point.
Thanks, I was not aware the we got credit for partial content purchases. Being able to ease/budget my way in to the content helps a lot (because I'm a cheap skate).
I am, however still miffed about having to pay for online content after having already purchased the hardcover copy. But it sounds like for new players, this can completely replace the hardcovers.
Thanks for the great overview! Getting back into playing, especially DM’ing. This cleared up a lot and answered many questions. I definitely see the advantage, since I drive OTR, and DM for our boys and a few of their friends, so our physical table play time is limited.
Dm’ing for them, takes me back to high school, when we’d play the entire weekend with at least one all nighter and into the next day, until we were exhausted.
Using this, will help the game flow much easier and increase their experience of each adventure! Major thumbs up! 👍🏻
Thanks Cody! 🍻
Holy crap, you sell this product so much better than they did! I totally just blew past their adds for it, as they didn't explain it well. This will prove useful for my next home campaign.
I got most my books on D&D beyond. It is so useful as a new DM
Why does this video have any down votes!!!??? This answered all my question. Thank you SOOO much!
Kevin McKinley-Czup I'm guessing it's from people who already own everything physically, and this is a horrible deal for them.
For someone like me, who only owns a starter kit it isn't a good value. The D&D books have amazing art and design. I would like to own each one individually. Buying digital at the same price as physical just does not make sense to me at all. I think this would work much better as a subscription service with several tiers.
I guess I'm just old. I prefer paper and pencil. Always have. Pay walls bad. Rolling is always better. And it plays into one of my biggest pet peeves. Electronics at the table. I really hate when my players are more engaged with an electronic device than they are with the current happenings in the game. Just my opinion.
Agreed. This is great for online, when it works, it is still up to the DM and I've had DM's lost in the searching or fail at searching. I look it up faster in my books (But I have a visual memory and know page numbers) and when you play enough, you really rarely have to go to a book. I can't support the pay aspect. . . . again. Online sure, but going to a friends? access. I have so many problems outside of the intention of Beyond use for a game with this approach. DnD will falter in being rich and cultured in expertise and well roundedness. May the in-person players keep it together and champion the burden.I won't allow electronics at the table. I see merit, but at the cost of undermining so much more or the meta aspect of the game. Like online games in general are completely broken in comparison anyway but . . . and with all the pages, new players were overwhelmed in Beta on where to focus. Destroys reading/skimming the books, learning actual rules, pick and choose only what you want to kind of learn and badly, not looking up things you think you know, but don't. Like HP gains everyone gets wrong or Proficiency and tools nobody ever reads etc. . . Beyond won't teach that, and the uninformed will just rule what they believe it used to be until some rules guy tells them they are wrong then we create more back and forth nonsense where rule Nazis will be need yet shunned due to these unknowing DMs thinking they can learn to DM from a search function. There will be a loss of DM quality as hacks at it become shallow in knowledge and unpolished in the skill. I am not worried about current solid DMs with it, it's the next and the next who come up in lazy mode.I have 3-4 more topics I could go on but. . . meh it's bad. Player behavior, cheating, attention, content release and control, longevity, pricing for no longer actually creating (lining pocket money) material product ugh. . . bad. . .The video game problems of today and seeping into the no longer tabletop market. It has included the Micro Transaction. A Bane of Business Models to it's consumers. Bug Bears also in Lost Mines so. . . will I get cross content? Or just screwed as Wizards is already duplicated info across books as page filler.
I also think that if you're playing with friends or family, then the focus should be more on the social aspects of roleplaying, and spending quality time interacting with one another. I play in two groups right now, one online (with friends of friends) and one at home (family and friends). The players who are in both say that they prefer the face-to-face contact that playing at a table provides. The computerization of games (MMOS, RPGS, ARPGS, etc) have pulled us away from the roots of roleplaying, and I think that is problematic overall. So, I'm right there with you when it comes to poor player behavior associated with cell phones.
I feared this, but it’s actually been great for my group. Basically a paper replacer that allows our table time to be optimized. Plus their devices being on their character sheet means they aren’t dorking around with them on other things.
Faster reference materials just helps my game immensely, and I no longer have to bring a dozen heavy books to the store we game at!
I use DnD beyond at my groups table. One its not distracting at all, because im there to play DnD not look at youtube. If players are more interested in other things than the story, its more so the game is boring them.
Yeah, I am right there with you. Nothing drives me crazier than describing something and looking up to see people looking at their phone or tablet.
Everyone in the same group sharing products is really cool.
I have the DnD Beyond Beta App, it allows you to download the books you own. It's super buggy and beta right now, but it has frequent updates and will work offline. Expect the full release later this yesr
The basic for D&D Beyond has more monsters than what is listed in the DM guild you can download from Wizards of the Coast. Same with races/classes.
Basic in the d/l only has Halfling, Elf, Human, and Dwarf for races. For classes, it's Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard.
D&D Beyond has five other races listed as basic(Dragonborn, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Tiefling. and all of the classes including Critical Role crated Blood Hunter class.
There are even more monsters listed on the basic at D&D Beyond vs what's in the DM guild to d/l.
I don't own any books, so the only source material I use is the two files I've downloaded from Wizards of the Coast's website. I've compared monsters because I've been looking through what I've downloaded to add to a campaign I'm working on and noticed there's more listed on the website than what I got off the file.
Been nice, but since I"m broke af, the basic is all I can use right now.
LdyVder They added SRD and other online free stuff too. If you’re a free player then this is tops. Especially if you just might want to add something special for $2 rather than buying the whole book... AND having that $2 count towards book purchase if your financial situation changes later.
What a great video. You are right, the marketing for this has been horrible! I run a game, and while I have never liked electronics at the table, I feel like it's inevitable. Additionally, as a dm, I'm sure having quick access to things would improve my games. I just don't think I can give up my books though.
You know if they put a half price code in the hard copy books for the digital version, I would be buying both 100% 😆 wouldn't be able to help myself...
They have sales every so often that drop the price of the core books 33%. Also, I was the same way. Old school DM, love having the books in my hand...and then, D&D Beyond came out and changed how my table plays this game. Our games are faster, there are fewer people going over the rules because they pop right up in the search bar, and if I am feeling lazy and didn't really prepare for the evening I have everything I need on my iPad Pro. Easy living with DDB. Come to the darkside, we have cookies and free character sheets lol
There is are several reasons they don't and probably will never have codes in books, those codes are way to easy to steal. I don't know about you but I certainly would be upset if I bought a book and got home to register my code only to find it had already been redeemed. Without a whole complicated system of retail verification there is no secure way to give some kind of credit for a digital copy when buying a hard copy of a book
I started making that mental transition from physical to digital content when I got heavily into Pathfinder and Pathfinder Society, and started using Hero Lab. I still buy a physical copy of Paizo's big titles, but I just get PDFs of everything else (plus the content for HL) for everything else. I'm as nostalgic as everyone else for the days of a backpack full of books and some notebook paper and pencils, but my back thanks me when I'm headed out for a local game store or a convention with just my tablet, some scratch paper, and my dice.
I see myself doing the same thing with D&D content. I like having the core books, because I want to support the creation and production of that artwork, and have those physical copies. But for just about everything else, I'll probably just be buying the content in D&D Beyond. It'd be nice if WotC made it easy to buy just PDFs of the books (rather than content proprietary for their character and campaign creation and management tool), in case someone just wants to create and manage everything by hand (or using another tool), but wants digital copies of the books. Buuuuuut, for me personally, I'm digging D&D Beyond so that's not an issue.
Yeah, I love it. It's perfect for the tablet and their developers are really awesome if you come across a problem or bug.
But you can buy just the books on D&D Beyond. Go to a product page and if you scroll to the bottom you can buy the 'Compendium Content Only'.
Thinking of playing some D&D for the first time so D&D beyond is really attractive to me. Thanks for the detailed review!
I really like how quick and easy character creation is, but the adventure books on Beyond are awesome. I'm currently running Tomb Of Annihilation right now and Beyond is amazing.
I don't have a ton of time to prep, basically I have the time to read through the book a bit before we play. But, I can have a bunch of tabs on my tablet up that have all the stat blocks and maps ready to go. I can spin around my tablet and show a map without showing any extra information or trying to cover up some of the pages, etc.
It's incredibly easy, much easier than running a module from the physical book.
Update: With the upcoming addition of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foe's, I bought it in the market place, with a discount and upon release the new content is automatically integrated into my digital compendium. Player's may have had 'everything' available when Beyond was released, but as more content is added, Beyond will make more sense.
I invested as soon as beyond launched, I have been waiting on a tool like this to come out for any role playing game. My players really like the interface and the fact that everything is simplified into just a few taps on a tablet. I can't recommend it enough for someone new to d&d, or if you have young players.
I personally love it. I've been using it since it launched and prior to buying more than just the physical copies of PHB and DMG. I purchased the online versions, got Monster's Manual, Volo's and Xanathar's. The prepurchase of Xanathar's opened up Alpha access to the iPad and Android apps and that ALONE has shown me the power of this product. The iPad Reader for offline access to a digital copy of the books? That's a no-brainer. This is going to be the direction these books are going. Sure there are always going to be hardcover books, but having a full searchable, indexed Player's Handbook that you can digitally bookmark? Yes, please!
The Character Creator is one of the best and these folks listen to bug reports and issues and constantly make changes to adjust and fix things. This is a great product and I'm happy to support. No, it's not a replacement for the Virtual Table Tops and I think there's an issue with having to buy two sets of content there, but honestly, VTT and those should focus on what makes their systems great and just work with DND Beyond to allow easy export of characters to allow bringing in your character into those games super fast and easy. The REST API is already there in DND Beyond, it's just not documented or open yet. Wave of the future direction, then VTT's can focus on token and map packs.
Newly back into D&D, not in any games or campaigns just yet, and this site seemed very good for someone who hasn't spent a dime on the game since 2nd edition.
I'd love to see an update of this video to go over more recent features and such.
It was a tough mental decision to forego purchasing the physical books. I’m old school and the books mean nostalgia. But it was a great decision. Very happy with dnd beyond and the cross linking and layout of well everything.
I just took the plunge and picked up everything. Not regretting the decision I just made! Awesome videos Taking20!
the only problem i have with this is expected support, because while you say you have it forever i highly doubt they'll keep their servers for this up forever, more likely once WotC shift over to a new edition all of the things you've bought here will no longer be supported and you'll lose access to them in time, companies have a really bad track record with this sort of thing and frankly its one of the reasons why i prefer having physical copies of products even if it is bad for my back.
I never want to see physical books go away. Especially players handbook and the Dungeons masters guide. The reason is 1 having a physical copy is just always amazing. But also you can add page markers to things you commonly need to reference. But also because our minds are better at remembering where in a book something is likely found and quickly thumb to it. With online material sure its not HARD to find things. But you can find yourself at times clicking the wrong thing. Or bad weather coming through and causing issues with your internet provider. Or your internet provider doing un-announced servicing to its networks and tough titty if you need to do online stuff. Wich has happened to me MANY times from online gaming to just wanting to watch videos online. If your internet is down you are fucked. There is nothing you can do and your books and even your characters are all gone if you don't have a paper copy of your character and its kept up to date with the online version with like gear and inventory. D&D Beyond is surely a great tool. But its just a tool with 1 problem wich is of course the internet not fucking you over when you need it the most. Something the internet is famous for doing historically. So Hard copy material should always be something you have on hand for the "Just in case times". And of course holding a book and reading through it is always a comforting thing to do while other party members are doing shopping or you have a bit of down time during a campaign and others are doing their own thing.
Would be nice if they had a way to unlock the books if you have physical copies of the book. I know it would be a pain to do, as most of the ways to do it would let people pull the info from game shops and not actually buy the book, but it would still be a nice feature if they figured some way to do it.
I really don't get the majority of complains about this. If you prefer the books, then you buy the books. I understand that some people don't like digital products but that doesn't mean this is overprized. It's practical, it's cheaper than the books and you can share it without having to be in the same room. With the newer generations being in a digital era, I think it's a very reasonable thing to do, and if you are new to the game it's the easiest way to make a character without forgeting something. First sessions with new players often are very slow because you have to remind players about their proficiency bonus, their damage dice and their spells effects, and D&DB solves most of these problems. If I hadn't purchased the books and this was in the language I'm comfortable with, I would use it without a doubt.
Oh, and yes, if you don't have connection you can't play. It's 2018 guys! If you don't have internet it's because you are lost in the middle of the mountains! And it's not like you need 100MBS to use this.
And yes, if the web closes you can't use it anymore. A videogame that you play for 100 hours (tops) it's 60$. If you play a session of 4 hours a month, 3 years of service would provide you the same hours of fun. You probably play more and it will probably be available for more than 3 years, so it's not an overprized service.
Good video good info but i am not sold....
I'm a new DM, but started playing in the 3.5 and Pathfinder era and let me tell ya, I LOVE D&D Beyond. It has been a God-send because every single one of my players (7!) are D&D newbies. It just helps making everything smooth: some like their paper sheets so they just print it, others use 100% tablet, they need to know something: BAMZ, search bar, it's being one heck of a help.
I fully understand the argument about the "I already bought this book", but you need to check the forums concerning this. It has been discussed ad-nauseum and how impossible it would be to magically create a code. Either case, I now have a PHB in physical format (rarely used), and a digital one I bought so my players can access it.
I'll probably buy my other 2 physical books again (DMG and MM) just because of how convenient it is.
This has definitely been touched on, but I think they really should have figured out a way to be able to register a physical book on D&D beyond. It does seem like a bit of a tax for those who have bought the books and now see the website come out. A lot of people seem unhappy with the prospect of buying the books twice. I admit, it is a bit of a tricky problem from Wizard's perspective as well.
Hoping to use this website for my personal group! Thanks for uploading, very informative!
I plan to use this tool for future D&D Fifth Edition campaigns. Thank you for this awesome tutorial. :)
I would go digital if the prices more reflected the cost of publishing digital verses print. As it is $60 for 150 pages is pricey but it's nice to have the material.
Another thing that I think would be nice is if you bought the print you got a substantial cut in the digital price.
I run a home brew game and exclusivly use DnDB. Less clutter at the table and quick rules look ups make everything run smoother, and the dndb team has some pretty amazing things planned for it... including a mobile app that allows for offline content. The homebrew system is great for things you customize or create for your home game and not all the community homebrew stuff is broken to the point of not being useful. I love this tool and recomend it to everyone I know.
Im sorry but what?..If I pay for Aasimaar, I wont get the subraces for them?..Thats..dumb.
rayman359 agreed to be honest I just found out last month they even had sub races I was using the DMG one for over a year
No. You get the Aasimaar race from the DMG for free. If you want the subraces from Xanathar's you have to pay for them.
Aasimar subraces are from Volo, you have to get that first.
I'm on the other side from PolarityGrease. I hadn't played since AD&D 2E when I ran across Critical Role. They reminded me so much of the group of friends I played with back then. So then I was coming into 5E fresh. I poked around the free account. When I found a tabletop game to join I bought the players handbook on D&D Beyond. When CR had they legendary bundle special I passed at first (due to the "digital content rights can be taken away" fear) but eventually gave in due to the 15% off forever deal. Due to said fear I did spend a while pulling content down and formatting it nicely, so even if the servers went offline tomorrow I'm not losing everything. [As a side note, you can lose your physical books if your house burns down or someone else walks off with it - nothing's perfect.] The adventure content is put together nicely with DM and player maps, etc.
Just an update for this video, I think you probably know about it already but mentioning it for those who might be unaware. DNDBeyond has released a character sheet app that does work offline so connecting to get your character sheet the playing in an area with bad signal won't prevent you from accessing your character sheet...
>it's free
>you can't do a lot with homebrew content on free subscription
>buy material
>this is a really great price. ...in my opinion.
>I'm not a shill
oh dear.
I'm a relatively player and making my characters in DnD Beyond has helped me learn so much easier especially with the "help" function on. I bought the players handbook on here and otherwise use the free edition and it's perfect. It's also a really clean way to show your character sheet for streaming in combination with Roll20.
Your video helped me learn some things about the site that I didn't know. Thank you!
They have put out an app in beta for some people. You can download the content you want to view remotely on your phone without having a great connection.
The tough part is. As a DM who’s already spent over $300 on physical books. I’m really not looking to spend any more money on the exact same content just so I have access to a virtual tool. Really wish there was some option where if you purchased the physical books you’d have access to that content on d&dbeyond.
Personally i like my players to use a paper character sheet for quick reference. every second counts after all, but i use DnD beyond for them to keep their characters on and i get my players to update them on there after each adventure.
Another benefit you forgot to mention is, that as the DM i can view any character sheet in one of my campaigns any time i want, so i get them to update the sheets between games so i can plan future adventures out without having to text players and get stats off them
I am a relatively new D&D player (started May 2019) and I absolutely ADORE all the digital resources. I have bought 4 books on D&D beyond and I use them all the time.
However, I have found the .pdf versions of all the books I've bought too (which I do not see as problematic as I have paid for the content. Call it a grey-zone, idc). As it is mroe tangible for complete newbies to get a print of ONLY the bare minimum of pages required to get them through the first session (using a tablet on your first session of a TABLETOP-RPG tends to confuse some players)
I do find it frustrating that you cannot download an actual PDF version of the books (since you can protect them with a password, or better, an encryption (certificate) that makes it so you can only open the PDF on the device on which the PDF was downloaded to from DnD Beyond)
And a suggestion from another player at our table: export and download the PDF of your character(s) to your device as a backup if you're unable to get online for whatever reason.
Can you make a video that shows how to use the Campaign feature?
as someone who wants to DM and haven't got any book atm went full out legendary+dm sub, not regreting, plenty reading material and stuff to improve my games
This is great for security when sharing books with a group you don't really know. A friend just yesterday got her DMs Guide stolen because she lent it to the guy who said he was going to DM. He wanted to change the day they played and she couldn't make it to that particular day with her schedule so he kicked her from the group and blocked her on all social media.
I personally would have a hard time buying ONLY a digital copy of a book. I would LOVE to see combo books being sold for a bit extra, buy the physical book in store and in the back there's a peel away sticker with a code for a PDF underneath. To prevent theft of the sticker, just have the book shrink wrapped or keep the combo books behind the counter and let the customers look at the non-combo books on the floor.
I really wanted to like DnD Beyond, I love that any sub-purchase discounts the value of the base price, and the critical role code made it tempting to try and buy something on there.
But, some of those 'micro' transaction at $2 per spell/item/race/subrace/subclass just seem really untempting, especially when many of us already own the physical books, so we're paying to not have to enter things ourselves. Having to buy both the race and the subrace, like with Aasimar... that's not appealing.
player sub cost just looks like bait, although I'm not sure what happens if you cancel the sub after you've made more than 6 characters, but that seems like something that once you're on the hook for it, you might be stuck paying for it forever or risk losing access to characters you're still playing. There's no option to simply buy a character slot.
paying $300+ for all the content and then still getting adds if you don't also subscribe? that's really their stance...
it's just little things, but they add up, especially when as you said [and it's by far the largest complaint] most of us already own all the books.
The whole thing to me just felt like it was relying on the sunk cost fallacy to try and get people to spend a little, and then end up stuck on there forever because they don't want their previous purchases on there to be for nothing. It's not like you get a pdf to download, you always have to use their website/app.
I'll keep watching its progress, but I still intend to buy the physical book for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and that just puts the relative price of DnD Beyond up further if I want to start using that.
Right now, I'd rather spend my money on going out for coffee more often, rather than buy digital versions of content I already own physical copies of... Especially when I'm already considering buying adventures on fantasy grounds/roll20 to run for some friends online.
Some are mentioning that they'd use it if they could put a code that comes from the physical books. But idk how dnd beyond would handle that. I guess they would need to get some income from it? Charging a bit, but how much? idk either
@@sofialaya596 It would take WotC and DDB to come to an agreement where DDB gets a couple bucks per physical book sold, but every book comes with a digital key. Then to offset the rest, increase the Master Tier sub to $8 or even $10 a month. I think most people would be more willing to spend $10 a month to be able to access a digital copy of their physical books that they can then share with everyone in the campaign. That's better for WotC, as they'd now sell more physical books. Better for DDB since they'd be doubling up on subs (and most likely picking up more subs). And better for us, since we ca have both physical and digital copies without feeling like we have to buy things twice.
Thanks for the awesome review of DDB. Even though I already own the main 3 books, I've been considering picking up the Master tier when I start running Strahd with my group (and perhaps buying the magic items from Phandalen since my party is continuing Strahd from the starter box) and this video really helped me look at my options.
I am a lifelong D&D fan. I have probably invested thousands of dollars on books going back to the old box sets: basic, expert, companion, master, and immortals. I have a great fondness for the physical books and part of the classic tabletop experience has always included searching through books in the middle of an encounter to find that one sentence that justifies the shenanigans you're trying to pull. That said, I am only just now looking at cracking into 5e due to not having played for years. I am now rediscovering D&D in it's current form and I plan to start participating in some local AL events so I will need to invest in one form or another. Having recently discovered Beyond (and now this video to supplement my findings), I must say the sheer utility the site brings (and now the app for the compendium) is pretty amazing. The searching and cross-referencing make this a no brainer for me. I've played with it enough now to know that SRD won't cut it so I will be buying into it, however, I can understand the frustration with having already purchased hard copies (and perhaps even digital copies) and now being offered to buy it again. It would be great if you could buy the content once and have it everywhere but the logistics in doing that are nearly impossible (what's to stop people from buying a book, taking the code, then returning it?). Anyway, I will most likely end up buying at least the three core books as hard copies in addition to buying them on Beyond.
Awesome. I may have to get this. I am so behind, used to play a lot of 3.5 then 4.0 but haven't hit 5 yet. I travel a lot for work so heavy lovely books can't really work with me. Having my books easily at hand makes this an easy choice. Thank you!
Well, seeing as I _don't_ already have books for 5e, I'd certainly be willing to get them in digital format with D&D Beyond. The character sheet function _alone_ is worth it, even if you only get 6 concurrent characters with a free account. I love rolling characters, but with the physical limitations my Dyspraxia places on me, it's exhausting to write, or even type for even short periods of time. Even typing this, my wrists are getting fatigued, and I'm using proper typing posture. D&D Beyond is a godsend for the accessibility implications it provides in that respect. A few clicks isn't going to make me feel like I've just had 50lb weights attached to my arms for the last hour lol And being able to export hard copies for not only records but also in the event of the unforeseeable happening, such as Beyond going down unexpectedly means that you always have access to your characters, and the compendium app is a must-have. Edited to re-word something that was incorrectly worded; "or even type for long periods of time" should have been "or even type for even short periods of time". This has been rectified.
I started to play D&D 5e just a few months ago. I'm running a campaign in roll20, and play in a couple west marches style of campaign. I subscribed to the Master Annually tier and bought all the content, since I don't own any of the physical products (and don't plan to buy any either) this is my way of supporting Wizards
Great video. I was actually looking at buying the legendary pack from D&D Beyond and wasn't sure. I'll definitely buy it after watching your video. Thanks heaps.
It annoys me that there still isnt a subscription option that gives you access to all the books.
Good vid, it's come a long way from where I played around with it when it was in beta. I would definitely consider digging into DNDB if I got myself back into face to face games. Most of the time that I find myself in a home game it's PF, but my online game is all D&D5, and I'm in the middle of transitioning from R20 to FG. With that context I'm sticking with content through FG for the forseeable future, although if I found myself in a new 5e home game I would absolutely run with D&DB. The interface is much cleaner than FG, if nothing else.
The biggest thing for me is simply ownership. In ten years when I wanna play DnD with my kids, I can blow the dust off my sourcebooks, where as there's no guarantee DnD Beyond is even still around despite all the $$$ you may put into it.
There are three phone apps I use. One builds a character using offical content as fast as Beyond, but not as pretty (small charge). Two is a spell list app with all the spells. Three is a search able reference which has all the classes, feats, monsters, and items. Because of the licensing and intellectual property the spells app and reference app required additional file downloads.
I own physical copies of core books, volos, and XgtE so I'm supporting the company. I was given SKT and PoA. I have pdfs of the core books and volos...
I cannot justify spend an extra $30 per book for a digital reference. I like the service, but the ship has sailed for me. Had they offered this from day one hell YES. This doesn't offer me enough to throw cash into it. I will absolutely admit this format is attractive and convenient. A new player might be better off with digital than hardcopy.
I recently got into 5e, bought my books, then found out about DnD Beyond as I was prepping my campaign. While I was a bit disappointed to not get some sort of access or discount for owning the physical, the more I thought about it the more I realized that feeling was just entitlement. I bought the physical book, got what I paid for. The digital content is a separate product. It would be like complaining that I have to buy a game twice to play it on PS4 and XBox One. Like, duh?
For the record, I haven't put a penny into DnD Beyond yet and it's made my life much easier. It's important to mention that for your personal use, if you own the books, you can put in content as your private 'homebrew' to use in your campaign by just typing in the info. Takes some time initially, but honestly if I wanted to I COULD transcribe my entire PHB into DNDB and use it for my games. Or I could just buy the digital version to save myself the time. You know, choice and such.
I've been a member for two months, and I've had a lot of fun just making up Homebrew stuff!
I'm a first time DM. I've been picking up the core rule / content books on D&D Beyond for the last few months, and I just held a session 0 for a family campaign I'm gonna run. I need to get the Master tier though so the PC's can have their own D&D Beyond accounts, because as soon as they saw it, they were all asking for my login info, and that wasn't about to happen.
The problem with this is it doesn't list the price for the items. So if you want to buy items you will still have to look up the prices. I have hero lab and All the content is saved to my Pc. Also you can buy and sell items from the app. The PHB is in the community packages so it's free.
D&D Beyond has really changed the way I play at game night now.
No more giant book bag...no more smudged character sheets.
my computer, a bag of dice a notepad and fidget spinners in a briefcase.
The Character creation system is nice and takes rookie mistakes out of the equation as well as giving you all of the needed character data right on hand during play.
Our group has one member at Master...the rest of us run free accounts. We have all chipped in to buy the books we want. It has spread the cost over a broader group.
I say D&D Beyond is worth the cost as a gaming tool.
I really like the setup but like you at enjoy having the books. Also am pretty solid with FG and own all the book versions on there as well. Yes I'm crazy😃.
Awesome video!
It does have an app for the books. App based Character sheets are a work in progress.
I haven't been a DM since the 3.5 days. I haven't yet picked up anything more than a ratty PHB and DMG for 5e. And I mean ratty. My daughter lives in another state, and one of her brothers also wants to play (not my son). This video has convinced me to pick up the DMG, PHB, MM, and Volo's on D&D Beyond, so they can access stuff without also having to buy all the books.
We will probably run the campaign through Discord. Thanks for the indepth video. It makes a lot more sense now.
Thanks for this! Getting a bit frustrated at Roll20's pricing structure and what we've already sunk into that platform, even though I like Roll20's interface and way of doing things (white & clean is much easier for me than FG's 90's look).
There needs to be some sort of package deal where it gives you the monster manual, player handbook, and dungeon masters guide all for like $30-40. I’d be all over that. I can find the physical books for $30 each second hand, there’s no way I’m paying $30 each for a digital book.
I spent 1 hour on the android app in Oct. 2021. Trying to build a char is frustrating at best. Doesn't show options at all if you haven't purchased. Needs a complete redesign with menus showing:
All Options
-Free
-Purchasable/price/short descrip.
Having even PHB content behind a paywall is an absolute 'uninstall'. I'm not paying money to build a moon druid when I have a PHB and character sheets in my lap.
Thank you,I would invest but haven't played since advanced dungeons & dragons...
I recently bought/got all the physical rulebooks and I like to read before I fall asleep to inspire some ideas or encounters, which isn't really a thing that works on a tablet or phone because it's a light in my face that keeps me awake and suddenly I realize I need to be at a meeting telling everyone about the latest systems updates in 4 hours and I still haven't slept. :(
But for just running the game. I could see this saving me a lot of paper.
D&D Beyond has come a long way since same time last year! Primarily I got into it because it was incredibly accessible (phone, tablet, desktop, laptop) and as a DM it made my work simply faster, more efficient and even a bit discreet compared to pulling out the book. I don't necessarily always want my players to know I'm cooking up an encounter for them when I pull out Volo's. Having it all digital allows me to retain the element of surprise.
Also I use mapmakers on my laptop, use the images for making tokens, lots and lots and lots of ways to use what's given. Plus having offline versions on phone/tablet is wonderful. Wish there was a PC app for it though....
My complaint is that since I already own the books I don’t like the idea of having to rebuy everything
Very well explained! I agree, the initial marketing on this was very confusing. You have really clarified things! You make a great argument for buying resources, and really show the value of what the different options are. They should pay you for what this does for them.
Just wanted to add to the content sharing, as far as I can tell you don't have to have a subscription to share the books you have bought, Only one person in the campaign needs the Master sub. I have a player, on a free account, that picked up Xanathars in DDB and all the players, who are all also on free accounts, in the campaign can access it just because he joined the campaign and I, as the DM, have a Master subscription and have enabled content sharing for the campaign.
Yes, this has been my experience as well.
Wait, even if I own the book, I have to pay full price again to use the info on the site?
I have the books as well and right now I'm on the edge of getting into this. My main argument for this avenue is that I have played through several sessions of many games, including DnD, where a single book was passed around to find information. If the game had several players, it could stall the game often causing attentions to wander and difficulty with the session. Granted, this may be a negotiable issue; but, for me I can see the value on-top of the fact that most my players are from this new generation.
I do try an support the companies by buying books and things... But I have a hard time with the micro transaction thing. Blame Rockstar and Bethesda and Turn Ten, I don't want to drop $60 bucks to then constantly spend 2-3 bucks for ever.
Someone made an app for Pathfinder that was free and as far as I can tell has everything Pazio has published for making a character. I had to tell a player he we weren't using every option in the app.
Tech is cool, but man I can't handle the nickle and dime stuff.
Because Pathfinder is made with the OGL, and thus every part of it that called back to that has to be using the OGL as well. So, for most things you want to do, the SRD will have the rules.
However, once you buy the 5e book once (however you buy the books), there's nothing making you pay to run the game. Even on Fantasy Grounds, it's fully possible to play the game without the automation. You just have to enter stats in manually.
If they applied a discount to those who own the books already I would consider moving completely over to digital. The truth is I always love having the printed book in my hand which is why I even got the Players Companion printed aswell.
For those who don't know you can buy "parts" of the books.
SAy you're only interested in a particular class or items/race in a book that contains dozens of those, you can buy only those things you want to unlock them in the character builder etc.
cost like 0.99 to 4$ depending on the size of the file.
So say you allready have the physical copy of a book and read the lore, but still having all the rules and technical stuff on tablet with out having to go through the book every 5 minutes and searching in the 100 of pages is still a good thing.
You can choose to leave the "lore" part and buy only the rules wich will cost less then the entire book.
Now yes if you're the knd of guy that rather have a mountain of books to slug around, then yeah D&D beyond is not for you, nothing wrong with that either.
I was unaware you could even pay a subscription fee for d&d beyond. I thought it was completely a free service that you paid for individual books of content. You're right. They have not marketed this very well. I'm glad you told me I have to pay a monthly fee to share my content. That's very useful information.
My only thing with D&D Beyond is that there is no way to register bought physical books. It could be easily done in terms of some sort of serial number or something. It seems like a waste to make players buy content twice, even if you say you can "Buy What You Need" it seems a little rubbish. I have spent almost £300 on D&D Books, I just feel like shouldn't have to pay anymore. Could we not use the ISBN or Bar Codes? Thoughts on a post it note.
No, because it's a new edition that had a group of people bringing it to life. Say you have an extended bluray edition of LotR, now there's a 4K version, are you hoping to get a discount for the 4k version because you own the bluray? I get where you are coming from, for sure. I have all the hardcopy books and was also uneasy about purchasing online...now, I'm completely happy with it. I much rather use DDB on my iPad now then pulling out all my dusty tomes lmao
Billy Rigby I see you. I see your point but the idea of the 4k blurays and what not is a little flawed but I see the logic. I would still like some sort of transferring mechanism even if it is like a bonus in buying books from this point on like Blu-Rays do nowadays. Most mediums that have gone digital also give away the digital versions- Amazon do it with music and it is great. Why not do the same here? It just seems to make sense so I don't see why we can't do it and make it so I don't have to pay the extra £150 (because I will, I know I will) for books I have already purchased.
Billy Rigby is it 6th edition though? Its the same product on a browser. Its like having to pay for your video game fix patches with no new content.
scimitaradp This is what I am getting at but better out I think!
The books are not 50$ on DNDbeyond i got all three on sale for 60$
Best move I ever made (from hard copies to digital), with the new Combat Tracker and Encounter Builder, which has made it even easier.
If You buy the players handbook do you get all the sub classes and feats and things, sorry for it being 2 years late but i wanted to know
I bought the basic three books plus Volo's for 5e but then I participated in the beta for DDB and the second it went sub, I paid for the Master tier and haven't looked back and I will not be purchasing any more physical handbooks. I still need to convince my players to register on DDB but slowly, I'll get them to switch to the digital side. Also, $30/ sourcebook instead of $50 is so worth it!
It has really helped my players, and even myself, make characters. Quick and pretty convenient to use, definately faster than referencing in the books. It is also convenient for running campaign for getting quick access to player's character sheets. I like the tracking of limited use abilities as well.
Hey Cody, great vid. I've been using dndbeyond for a while now. I bought all the books (didn't have the "already invested so much in the physical copies" constraint) and don't regret a bit. I guess if the site goes down in the future as it eventually might, I might regret it but, for now, heh.
Another thing. I don't know if you already found that out as it's been 2 months, but if you want to delete personality traits, bonds, etc when you add them, they're actually added to a textarea above the list from which you choose the traits. You can edit that textarea to either remove traits you chose and don't want or add your own traits ;)
The main issue I have is that most of the archetypes and backgrounds that are in the player's handbook are not available for free. So just to build a character you're looking at buying the book or spending around $8 to unlock basic things.
Nice! This was a big help.. I GM a regular weekly game but I am not the host, so I have to haul my book collection over to the Hosts place every week.. I hate that. Its a giant bag that weighs 80 pounds LOL. I think I am really going to like using D&D Beyond just for the fact that I can now just take my Laptop PC instead of a ton of books!
WotC should have just used UPCs for digital purchases that could be entered and used in any supported system or app. So if you bought a book on roll20 you could enter the code on DND Beyond and it would show purchased as you already bought the book. Basically a way for me to not have 5 copies of Skyrim.
Agreed, purchasing the books alone are amazing- since you don’t need a subscription at all to use them if you are just a player. Given that they are cheaper than roll20, I might as well use their PHB and copy the necessary information easily onto handouts for roll20 use. Not to mention if you are running an in person game with newer folk, the character creator is absolutely brilliant and has a nice interface. Not to mention it is a BREEZE navigating through the books on DDB. Between this and my OneNote notebooks, I basically never need a physical edition... ever! Plus the base site runs buttery smooth on mobile browsers, so props to them for that!
Hopefully they’ll make good progress getting a well functioning app so I can have access to these digitally offline. It would also be nice if we had a variety of bookmarking features for things we frequently need to reference, but it isn’t a must given the ease of searching and navigation. I would be also very intrigued if WotC would be ever willing to sell codes in their physical editions (perhaps even at a slightly higher cost- if needed) so we can get these resources without having to pay a second time; but I can understand that may not be incredibly profitable.