D&D Beyond’s 2026 Development Roadmap

Hello world!

As I mentioned in my 2025 Wrap-Up, the D&D Beyond team is committed to being more transparent about our development process and to keeping communication with you—our community—flowing.

Today, I’m happy to share D&D Beyond’s public development Roadmap hub! This is something we plan to keep updated for years to come, all from one central place.

D&D Beyond’s 2026 Development Roadmap

The new Roadmap hub lives on a static landing page. Check it out here:

Be sure to check back regularly for updates!

A few important caveats about the information included on the Roadmap hub:

  1. Quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes are not included. The roadmap will focus on larger features and projects.
  2. Priorities and scope can change, and sometimes a planned feature may never launch at all. Software development is a winding road, not often a linear path.
  3. We reserve the right to surprise and delight you sometimes.

Roadmap items are split into 3 categories:

  • Now: Roll for Initiative! We’re actively working on this right now.
  • Next: Make an Investigation check. We’re designing, scoping, researching. Active development has not yet begun.
  • Complete: It’s live on D&D Beyond, ICYMI!

The team and I look forward to hearing what you think of the roadmap and the features we are working on. With that in mind, join Zac Cohn and me for a Reddit AMA on Feb 24 at 10 AM PT at r/dndbeyond. We look forward to answering your questions about D&D Beyond there.

Roadmap Priorities

Over the past few months, we’ve launched a new homepage, a revamped and more sortable content library, image reveals in the Maps VTT to help DMs immerse their players more easily, and several other quality-of-life improvements.

2026 is a year of refocusing and rebuilding D&D Beyond to make it easier to play D&D your way. Three major initiatives will drive most of our work:

I’d like to introduce you to a few members of the team to discuss these three major initiatives in detail.

Rebuilding D&D Beyond’s Game Platform

EREL MAATITA A swirling constellation of stars

Laura Thompson (Software Engineering Manager, D&D Beyond Game Platform)

To power everything we have planned for D&D Beyond, we’re rebuilding our Game Platform from the ground up. D&D has grown to be more dynamic and interconnected, and our systems need to scale with this evolution.

The new platform is an opinionated set of modular, scalable services designed to work together seamlessly. It is fundamentally data-driven, so rules, content, access, search, and messaging can be defined and updated as data rather than hard-coded logic. In short: we’re building a true game engine for D&D Beyond.

For players and Dungeon Masters, that will mean faster load times, more responsive character updates, smarter search, and smoother rules validation. This multi-phase project will take time to complete, but you’ll begin to see benefits with releases this year.

Because rules will be defined as data instead of hard-coded logic, we can deliver updates and new options more quickly and reliably. And later this year, when the new Character Builder fully launches on this platform, you’ll experience expanded build flexibility, stronger compatibility with the rules, and a foundation ready for deeper play.

Improving Player Onboarding and Revamping the Character Builder Experience

The DDB Character Builder

Jeff Turriff (Director of Product Management, D&D Beyond)

Character creation is the front door to D&D, and we want to make that first experience more inspiring and more intuitive without sacrificing depth. That’s why in March, we’re launching Quickbuilder, the first public milestone in our Character Builder modernization project.

It’s a streamlined, art-forward way to build a level 1 character in just a few guided steps, letting you make the most impactful character decisions while using thoughtful, optimized defaults for the details so you can go from idea to playable hero in minutes. It’s designed to spark creativity and reduce cognitive load, whether you’re brand new to D&D or a veteran spinning up your next concept.

And importantly, it’s built on our new game platform foundation, so it’s fast, flexible, and ready to evolve.

Quickbuilder is just the beginning. Throughout the year, we’ll expand it into a fully modernized Character Builder that supports deeper customization, advanced options, and multiple creation paths, all powered by our new data-defined rules engine.

We’re taking a phased approach so players can jump in at the beginning, give feedback, and help shape what comes next.

The goal is simple: Build Your Character Your Way.

Launching a Suite of Dungeon Master Tools

A magical D&D table

Zac Cohn (Principal Technical Product Manager, D&D Beyond DM Tools)

We have two big focuses for our Maps VTT this year: Quality-of-life improvements and DM prep.

Our product development philosophy for Maps is “Honda Accord, not F-16." Anyone should be able to sit down and immediately know how to drive it. We’re continually looking for ways to make D&D easier to play and to introduce new features that improve the Maps experience. We’ve already released three quality-of-life updates this year, with features ranging from Copy and Paste, Polygonal Fog of War, and Monster Reveals, to 90 new stickers. Expect plenty more progress here, both big and small.

Speaking of making D&D easier to play, we know one of the biggest barriers for new and experienced DMs alike is the amount of prep work required to run a game.

That’s why, throughout the year, we’re rolling out a number of DM Prep features, including new ways to document what happened during a session, easier ways to embed rules, lore, and rollable tables, and embedding your prep directly into the tools you use to run the game.

These tools will reduce the cognitive overhead of DMing, reduce tab switching or the need to hunt for information in the middle of a game, and, most of all, help new and potential DMs build confidence running their first campaigns.

Let's Keep Talking

Brian touching base back at the end to close us out.

I truly believe D&D is the best way to spend time with your friends. Our job on D&D Beyond is to make it easier for everyone to experience that joy of playing—however they want to play. We love all the questions you keep asking and ideas you keep sharing to help us continue to make things easier. So, thank you so much for continuing to spend your time with us and for sharing your feedback. It really does help shape what we build next.

Speaking of feedback, don’t forget to join us for our next D&D Beyond Reddit AMA on Feb 24 at 10 AM PT over at r/dndnext. See you there!

Q1 2026: Partnered Content Release Schedule
by Laura Hohman
D&D Beyond 2025 Wrap-Up
by Brian Perry
The Road Ahead: Join Our Journey to Improve the Maps VTT
by Zac Cohn

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