I’ve been a Pro member for a few months now, and it still surprises me that the 3 base books (PHB, DMG, MM) are not all included in a digital bundle for Pro Subscribers. They have the PHB for free on the free subscription tier, but not the other two books you need to run a campaign?
I understand needing to make a profit, but you’d think providing those as part of the Top Tier Subscription package would incentivize people to join in. I Mean, I’ve spent $500 on books on D&D Beyond, but I keep forgetting I need those two because they’re basic necessities.
The PHB is not available for free for anyone. What is available for free are all the things that Wizards already provided for everyone to use for free -- the Basic Rules/SRD, which contains about a third of the PHB (all the rules-rules, and one subclass per class), plus some other material that was also provided for free (eg the Elemental Evil Players' Companion, much of which was later reprinted in XGTE).
The basic rules/srd actually have everything you need to run a game (or several):
All the rules for playing the game (basically 90% of the PHB)
Most of the rules for running the game (over half the DMG)
All (I think) non-magic items and equipment
Most of the PHB race options
All base classes (except artificer) and 1 subclass each
Over 80% of spells in the PHB
Over 80% of magic items in the DMG
Over 60% of monsters in the Monster Manual.
Basically the only reason to buy the PHB is a subclass or a few spells and to support the game; the only reason to buy the DMG is homebrew tips, a few magic items, optional rules, and to support the game; and the only reason to buy the monster manual is for a few monsters and to support the game (note: official adventures reprint any stat block that isn't free AFAIK).
All that said, considering how little there actually is that isn't already free (less than 1/3 of the total content), maybe the core books should just be free with a subscription. At least now that WotC owns DDB.
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I’ve been a Pro member for a few months now, and it still surprises me that the 3 base books (PHB, DMG, MM) are not all included in a digital bundle for Pro Subscribers. They have the PHB for free on the free subscription tier, but not the other two books you need to run a campaign?
I understand needing to make a profit, but you’d think providing those as part of the Top Tier Subscription package would incentivize people to join in. I Mean, I’ve spent $500 on books on D&D Beyond, but I keep forgetting I need those two because they’re basic necessities.
The PHB is not available for free for anyone. What is available for free are all the things that Wizards already provided for everyone to use for free -- the Basic Rules/SRD, which contains about a third of the PHB (all the rules-rules, and one subclass per class), plus some other material that was also provided for free (eg the Elemental Evil Players' Companion, much of which was later reprinted in XGTE).
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Gotcha. Guess I just don’t remember getting it lol
The basic rules/srd actually have everything you need to run a game (or several):
Basically the only reason to buy the PHB is a subclass or a few spells and to support the game; the only reason to buy the DMG is homebrew tips, a few magic items, optional rules, and to support the game; and the only reason to buy the monster manual is for a few monsters and to support the game (note: official adventures reprint any stat block that isn't free AFAIK).
All that said, considering how little there actually is that isn't already free (less than 1/3 of the total content), maybe the core books should just be free with a subscription. At least now that WotC owns DDB.