I propose that If you have the Physical D&D Adventurers and DMs Guide, There should be something on the back that you can type into the redeem section for the Digital copy
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
yeah this has been discussed a million times over the course of the last 3 years at least, as per those convos : its essentially never gonna happen simply cuz of the fact it allows businesses to double dip in the pool of money
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
yeah this has been discussed a million times over the course of the last 3 years at least, as per those convos : its essentially never gonna happen simply cuz of the fact it allows businesses to double dip in the pool of money
Bladegod, I hear you, But why would I want to spend even more money to unlock the rest of the Backgrounds and such, When I already Have a Physical Hardback Copy?
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
yeah this has been discussed a million times over the course of the last 3 years at least, as per those convos : its essentially never gonna happen simply cuz of the fact it allows businesses to double dip in the pool of money
Bladegod, I hear you, But why would I want to spend even more money to unlock the rest of the Backgrounds and such, When I already Have a Physical Hardback Copy?
It's not that you would want to, it's that up until recently, it was completely impossible, and now it's proving to be somewhat of a logistics nightmare. There are a lot of factors that make it really difficult. Plus, why wouldn't WotC want to make more money from people who want physical and digital books? They are a business, after all....
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Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
I walk into Barnes & Noble. The DM's Guide is there. I crack it open. Get the bar code. Log into D&D Beyond and redeem. I now have the DM's Guide.
Someone else comes in after me, buys that book - and they get "Your Code Has Already Been Used."
Or say someone buy's the DM's Guide. Redeems. Sells it at some store.
Someone buys the used copy - they can't redeem the code, even though they too now have a physical copy (even if bought second hand).
Just TWO quick off the top of my head examples. But like I said, check the FAQ Lamoon01 linked to.
Going forward, I do believe (they've done it with Dragonlance) - if you buy directly from Wizards, they will honor physical and digital. But only through them, which makes sense. Because it's the sole way they know you have a legit copy of the book. But that's probably only going to be new books going forward. Not older books.
I propose that If you have the Physical D&D Adventurers and DMs Guide, There should be something on the back that you can type into the redeem section for the Digital copy
Have you had any traction on this with Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry or Demiplane? No?
(Some, maybe most) Publishers only give out complimentary PDFs, that's very different from what D&D Beyond is. DemiPlane is the closest thing to D&D Beyond for other games (Pathfinder, a few Free League, a few others), started up by D&D Beyond alumna. Yeah, you don't get the content if you own the physical book there either.
You're arguing against an industry standard when it comes to digital tools that enhance the game, not simply reproduce the text as a PDF.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I walk into Barnes & Noble. The DM's Guide is there. I crack it open. Get the bar code. Log into D&D Beyond and redeem. I now have the DM's Guide.
Someone else comes in after me, buys that book - and they get "Your Code Has Already Been Used."
Or say someone buy's the DM's Guide. Redeems. Sells it at some store.
Someone buys the used copy - they can't redeem the code, even though they too now have a physical copy (even if bought second hand).
Just TWO quick off the top of my head examples. But like I said, check the FAQ Lamoon01 linked to.
Going forward, I do believe (they've done it with Dragonlance) - if you buy directly from Wizards, they will honor physical and digital. But only through them, which makes sense. Because it's the sole way they know you have a legit copy of the book. But that's probably only going to be new books going forward. Not older books.
All of your issues had been solved years before even 5E came out.
The B&N example, solved by having the Redemption code require being scratched off and be on a separate card which would be contained in a sealed container in the book. If the book is being sold the cashier checks it. Alternatively, the redemption cards can be kept at the cashier area and sent out with each purchase. A third option would be simply that the redemption code is not activated until that book is purchased at which point the cashier activates it same as they do with most modern redemption codes or have for pre-paid credit cards for at least the past 15+ years. The cashiers can even use a special stamp provided by WotC to mark the inside of the books as having been given their redemption codes. The return of these items would not be permitted unless the claim can be shown to have not been scratched off or otherwise redeemed.
A person buying a used book at a 2nd hand store is not going to expect any of the claims to have been valid. They did not buy the book new at full price. They bought it used at a reduced price in the case of any currently available game. They are not buying that for the redemption they are buying it to get the physical copy and just the physical copy.
There is zero reason for them to require buying through WotC to get a redemption code for D&D Beyond.
They could even retroactively provide a way for people who already own physical copies of 5E books to be able to claim digital copies and access to the D&D Beyond content. WotC would just have special times and places at conventions, game stores, book stores and the like where owners bring their 5E books in, the books are stamped or otherwise marked by WotC, and the owner is given the appropriate redemption code for the book or books that they have gotten marked; a requirement that the books being marked be in good condition with no damage which gives the appearance to have removed a previously existing redemption code claimed mark.
I propose that If you have the Physical D&D Adventurers and DMs Guide, There should be something on the back that you can type into the redeem section for the Digital copy
Have you had any traction on this with Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry or Demiplane? No?
(Some, maybe most) Publishers only give out complimentary PDFs, that's very different from what D&D Beyond is. DemiPlane is the closest thing to D&D Beyond for other games (Pathfinder, a few Free League, a few others), started up by D&D Beyond alumna. Yeah, you don't get the content if you own the physical book there either.
You're arguing against an industry standard when it comes to digital tools that enhance the game, not simply reproduce the text as a PDF.
Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry, and Demiplane (of which none are publishers) do not have the legal authority to provide any of those things. WotC (and thus D&D Beyond) do. Aside from D&D Beyond, none of the services that you listed own the content which they offer VTTs for, they provide content covered by the OGL 1.0a (and now Creative Commons or ORC when it is released) to their users. Any further content is required to be purchased from WotC or the appropriate Game developer (such as Paizo). You don't get the content there for owning the physical book because they don't own the rights to it. Further WotC could easily provide an API that would allow all VTTs to link to D&D Beyond accounts and share access just like you would in actual games, similar to how Ultraviolet used to work. Digital access being widely granted has been around for well over 20 years now.
It is not an industry standard, because none of the service providers you mentioned are also the publishers of the content they share, and they have no central point that they could pull from. If they did I can guarantee you that Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry, and Demiplane would all use it and allow their users to have access to everything that they own physically.
All of your issues had been solved years before even 5E came out.
The B&N example, solved by having the Redemption code require being scratched off and be on a separate card which would be contained in a sealed container in the book. If the book is being sold the cashier checks it. Alternatively, the redemption cards can be kept at the cashier area and sent out with each purchase. A third option would be simply that the redemption code is not activated until that book is purchased at which point the cashier activates it same as they do with most modern redemption codes or have for pre-paid credit cards for at least the past 15+ years. The cashiers can even use a special stamp provided by WotC to mark the inside of the books as having been given their redemption codes. The return of these items would not be permitted unless the claim can be shown to have not been scratched off or otherwise redeemed.
A person buying a used book at a 2nd hand store is not going to expect any of the claims to have been valid. They did not buy the book new at full price. They bought it used at a reduced price in the case of any currently available game. They are not buying that for the redemption they are buying it to get the physical copy and just the physical copy.
There is zero reason for them to require buying through WotC to get a redemption code for D&D Beyond.
They could even retroactively provide a way for people who already own physical copies of 5E books to be able to claim digital copies and access to the D&D Beyond content. WotC would just have special times and places at conventions, game stores, book stores and the like where owners bring their 5E books in, the books are stamped or otherwise marked by WotC, and the owner is given the appropriate redemption code for the book or books that they have gotten marked; a requirement that the books being marked be in good condition with no damage which gives the appearance to have removed a previously existing redemption code claimed mark.
So for the first one being in a "sealed copy" of the book. That's almost laughable. It's much easier to crack open a sealed book than it is to steal it.
And the other solution? Putting it on the cashiers? That's even sillier.
That would work for "promotional" instances, maybe. But for ongoing? I'd be surprised any bookstore would put up with being responsible for remembering to give out a digital code.
And the Convention idea, while sure it would work - but Conventions do not travel to every city - and WotC doesn't attend every convention.
So what about all the people who don't go to Conventions or the Conventions don't go to their town? S.O.L.?
It just Irritates me. I can'd do anything with my D&D adventure guide online, And I need to buy the Digital copy to unlock everything in character creation.
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
It just Irritates me. I can'd do anything with my D&D adventure guide online, And I need to buy the Digital copy to unlock everything in character creation.
I am with you on the frustration - because I have way more books in physical form than I do in digital (and I have quite a bit in digital now). But I was playing in person so never used D&D Beyond for digital until the Pandemic hit. So all the physical books that came out before that - and even throughout the pandemic (like the Spelljammer book) - I was buying physical and also through digital. And thankfully with the Dragonlance bundle I was able to get both in one shot.
But I get that in a business sense, it's nearly impossible to have a solid way to legitimately verify purchases - unless purchased from the Wizard store. (The Dragonlance is the first book I bought direct from Wizard; but I'd like to think that other physical books purchased directly through Wizard previously can be tied to the account and honored on D&D Beyond... not sure if that's something they considered... but I'd wager most people got their books at hobby shops or online, like through Amazon).
It does rankle that one could potentially spend nearly $90.00 CDN on each damned book once one has bought both physical and digital. First World problems are...expensive.
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It's not the arrow with my name on it that worries me. It's the arrow that says, "To whom it may concern".
If you have the book, then just use the homebrew tools to recreate it for free. You can do this with everything except the main Artificer class (which could be bought for just $1.99).
If you don't want to buy the whole thing again, then just buy the specific things you need.
Seems simple enough to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I would like to point out, as a college student, there has never been a situation where buying a physical book gives you access to the corresponding e-book. Eventually, I got curious and started asking why.
Put simply, the vast majority of the time, there's an entirely separate and unique logistical framework behind both products that would make doing so impossible. You're literally asking them to pay obscene amounts of money to get a product made and then just give it to you for free because you bought an entirely separate product.
As an example, the people printing and warehousing the physical books are not the same people maintaining the server uploads\hosting for the E-book. As another example, the people determining the page length, page count, cover, and size of a physical book are not the same people running around to the different e-book distributors reformatting for compatibility.
I could go on but the point is the two products are made be separate departments with separate employees and costs. It is not as simple as "the book is already a word document that you just hit print on, why can't you just give me the document too?"
Edit: For redemption codes that give you digital versions, you are being charged more for the printed book to offset the cost. The book that usually costs 20$ would now cost 40$ as opposed to two separate products each costing 20$. You aren't saving any money. Actually, it complicates the process even further by requiring another entire framework to support the code process. Someone has to oversee the production of the codes, the redemption of the codes, a help line for when the codes don't work, etc. It might even end up costing you MORE money simply so you don't have to buy two items. It gets even worse when you consider that this wouldn't remove the digital\physical split because there are customers who want one but not the other so now there are 3 products being hosted in the form of physical, digital, and the bundle, which again adds cost to the business.
Tldr: Its not a simple thing to mass produce books.
Second Edit: There's actually a pinned thread in the Feedback section that explains literally all of this.
Greetings traveller! Welcome to the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ!
Here you should find the answers to the many frequently asked questions regarding Hardcover copies of 5th Edition books and their relationship with D&D Beyond. This thread was created in response to the many occasions where similar questions have been asked multiple times – hopefully this will result in a de-clutter of the message boards.
This thread is designed to fulfil a couple of functions:
To easily point newcomers with questions regarding Hardcover books/this website in the right direction
Hopefully prevent the creation of numerous threads asking the same questions (though this may of course still occur).
This FAQ is a compilation of questions from different forum users and answers given by a combination of D&D Beyond staff and other Forum users. However, anything in this FAQ may be superseded by more recent posts by D&D Beyond staff. When that happens, I will attempt to update the FAQ to reflect those changes but I am just humble site user myself with a life outside of this site – this is a compilation of Official Site rules and opinions.
When it comes to posts on this thread, please take the time to review the Site Rules and Guidelines, as warnings/infraction points will be issued upon a stricter scale by the moderators (Flaming, Non-constructive posting, trolling, harassment, and so forth).
I would also like to give my thanks to the following Mods/Users who I have borrowed/lovingly ripped off responses to the most asked questions. Without their better knowledge and clearer explanations, this thread would simply act as a ‘but my friend Dave at the Pub said-’ ramble.
Mods: Davedamon, Sedge, Sillvva, Stormknight
Site Members: BioWizard, Cyb3rM1nd, DevanAvalon, DxJxC, Emmber, Hardvice, hollowtpm, Houligan, JoeltheWalrus, LangyMD - And anyone else that I have not acknowledged! I bow to your higher Intelligence scores!
Disclaimer 1
As of 24th October 2022, there have been more Physical and Digital Bundles announced. You can view the different bundles here at the Dnd Wizards Store here (USA Store) or individually by clicking the titles for each Bundle below.
The current Physical and Digital Bundles that have been announced are detailed in the Spoilers:
Physical Copies of the fifth edition Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Monsters of the Multiverse (with special foil covers)
Digital Copies of the fifth edition Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Monsters of the Multiverse (for use with dndbeyond).
A Digital Copy of the fifth edition Dungeon Master’s Guide (for use with dndbeyond).
30 double-sided interlocking 5" × 5" terrain tiles for dungeon, city and wilderness adventures.
5 sheets of reusable Adventure Clings with an assortment of wilderness, dungeon and interior features to customize your terrain surfaces, including campsites, rubble, and tombs.
1 double-sided Adventure Grid with Wilderness terrain on one side and Dungeon on the other, measuring 22" × 25.5" when laid flat. Ready to use in combination with the terrain tiles or on its own.
1 storage folder for your reusable Adventure Clings.
1 sturdy storage case with a magnetic closure and rope handle for portability.
A Digital Copy of the fifth edition Monster Manual (for use with dndbeyond).
64 weighted plastic discs that come in 3 sizes and 4 colours for maximum flexibility in encounter creation: 40 medium sized creature tokens, 20 large sized creature tokens, 4 huge sized creature tokens
5 Sheets of fully illustrated reusable creature clings (apply a cling to a disc to create customized Creature Tokens).
2 Removable custom token storage trays.
1 storage folder for creature clings.
1 durable storage case with a magnetic closure and a rope handle for portability.
1 Outer box that protects the keepsake box.
Disclaimer 2
Following the announcement of 'One D&D' on 18th August 2022, there appeared to be movement from Wizards of the Coast on introducing Physical and Digital Product Bundles to D&D Beyond. Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen was the first to be offered as this new bundle. Please carefully read the intro link here and the Wizards of the Coast Online Shop Customer FAQ here.
A Preorder which grants Early Access to the Digital Copy of the fifth edition Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen starting 22nd November 2022 (for use with dndbeyond).
A Physical Copy of the fifth edition Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
Note: D&D Beyond Adventure Bundle and Legendary Bundle discounts are not currently valid with this purchase. Click here for FAQ's.
A Preorder which grants Early Access to the Digital Copy of the fifth edition Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen starting 22nd November 2022 (for use with dndbeyond).
A Physical Copy of the fifth edition Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen with an exclusive foil cover.
A Dungeon Master’s screen found only in this Deluxe Edition.
Warriors of Krynn, a cooperative mass-battle game:
Warriors of Krynn Game Components:
6 Highly detailed hero figures
6 Hero Boards
136 Plastic unit markers
10 Double sided Battle tiles
22 Double sided Adventure tiles
7 Custom Dice
92 Tokens
320 Cards
7 Card dividers
1 Storage tray
1 Rulebook
1 Scenario book
1 Key Moments Tracker
Note: D&D Beyond Adventure Bundle and Legendary Bundle discounts are not currently valid with this purchase. Click here for FAQ's.
Do note that was wisely being advertised as a test - this is not confirmation that every book will be getting a Physical and Digital bundle in the future. See the key extracts from this thread following the announcement of One D&D in the Spoiler:
'What are digital and physical product bundles?
We’re excited to offer our first ever selection of specially priced bundles that give you a physical copy and a D&D Beyond digital copy of the upcoming book Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Our first offering is now live on dndstore.wizards.com.
Can I expect more D&D products to offer physical and digital bundles?
Yes! We want to deliver on this ask. Right now, we are in the test and learn phase. Join us on this first foray and expect more in the future. For now, we’re not quite ready to commit to every book getting a bundle.
You called this bundle a test. What are you testing?
We are testing everything from distribution method and quantities to bundle contents. We thought it was important to call this out as a test because you should expect things to change over the next two years while we work on bringing more D&D in more ways to more people.
Does the bundle come with preorder perks?
Yes, all preorder perks you would receive on D&D Beyond are included in this bundle. A preorder perk exclusive to this bundle is early access to Shadow of the Dragon Queen on D&D Beyond. Players who preorder the bundle will be able to access the D&D Beyond digital book starting November 22, 2022.
How do I redeem my product on D&D Beyond?
When you purchase a bundle, you will be asked to provide an email address at checkout. You will later receive instructions via that email to access a code that grants you early access to the product on D&D Beyond. Your code can be redeemed at: dndbeyond.com/marketplace/redeem-key.
If I have purchased a bundle on D&D Beyond that discounts products, will that discount apply to this bundle?
No, those discounts only apply to products purchased directly on the D&D Beyond website.
Is there a way to get this bundle and support my local game store?
We love our friendly local game stores and we know you do, too, but at present this test bundle is limited to online purchases directly from dndstore.wizards.com. It is not available through any other store or marketplace.
I already preordered my book physically or digitally on D&D Beyond. Can I swap it for the bundle?
We do not have any upgrade paths to the bundle at this time. You would need to work with that outlet to request a refund.'
Disclaimer 3
As of 13th April 2022, D&D Beyond is part of the Wizards of the Coast family, whereas before they were two separate entities. As such, references to the two entities being separate within this FAQ are now out of date. However, until there is concrete news as to how this will affect Physical vs Digital Purchases in the future, I am leaving this FAQ as is for now. Kind reminder that I am not an employee of this site and I have life outside of D&D, so I can only apologise if I'm not updating this Thread as fast as the news comes out!
So I have the Hardcover Books – Can I get them free Digitally here?
The short answer is no.
To be brief, this Website is owned by the company Wizards of the Coast which is currently a subsidiary of Hasbro.
Prior to 13th April 2022, this Website was not owned by Wizards of the Coast but by a company called Fandom, which was the primary factor as to why you could not redeem Hardcover Books for Digital Books (for a multitude of reasons).
At this moment time, D&D Beyond are attempting a ‘Test Phase’ – please see the ‘Disclaimer 2’ section above for the details.
So whilst you can’t redeem them Hardcover Books for Digital Books at present, depending on how things work out with the release of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and the announcements in Disclaimer 1, it does seem the wheels are turning on whether that becomes a possibility in the future.
At the moment however, buying a book in Hardcover entitles you to the Hardcover version only and NOT the Digital version.
To buy the Digital Versions, you will need to visit the Marketplace.
If D&DBeyond is an ‘Official Tool Set’ to play 5th Edition, why isn’t it free? Surely it’s just a copy and paste job from the files of Wizards of the Coast?
Regretfully it's not that simple. This process takes time and money; simply put, trained staff need to be paid to implement these files from the original physical texts and into a digital format that the websites digital tools can read.
Isn’t there a way to simply redeem a code found within the Hardcover Book?
Whilst it seems a fairly simple request, there are some complications. Here’s the main ones as to why it will be unlikely to be implemented:
Putting codes in books requires sealing books which deters sales as people like to look through books in stores (less of a thing now, but is still a consideration)
Not sealing books means people can just snapshot the codes and redeem without purchase (this is a problem that plagued Nintendo Club back in the GameCube and Wii era; people would just write down the codes in the game cases and redeem them)
Printing codes in books increases printing costs (you need a two stage system)
Point of Sale code verification systems have an overhead that smaller gaming stores can't afford
Point of Sale coupons are insecure and can be trivially stolen (interesting factlet; this is why Subway moved over to an app, their stamps were being stolen by the fist full and costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars)
As per the Disclaimers above however, it appears there is some headway towards supplying a code for a Physical/Digital Bundle. Please see the relevant sections for details.
What if I Subscribe? Does that get me my content for free?
No, here is what the two subscriptions allow (correct as of 09.08.2022):
Hero Tier:
Removes Ads
Allows you to create an unlimited number of character slots
Allows you to save published, public homebrew
Grants you access to features in alpha (such as the Combat Tracker when it was first created)
Create unlimited encounters in the Encounter Builder
Access to monthly subscriber perks such as Character Sheet backdrops and Digital Dice
Master Tier:
Removes Ads
Allows you to create an unlimited number of character slots
Allows you to save published, public homebrew
Grants you access to features in alpha (such as the Combat Tracker when it was first created)
Create unlimited encounters in the Encounter Builder
Access to monthly subscriber perks such as Character Sheet backdrops and Digital Dice
Allows you to share content you own on D&D Beyond with players in your campaigns (up to 3 campaigns of 12 players each)
Allows you to share all content owned by all players in a campaign you've enabled content sharing in, not just content you own
Subscribing to ANY Tier does NOT allow you to get any part of the Digital Books for free.
Details can be found here on the Subscriptions page.
So what do I get for free if I don’t want to pay anything or Subscribe?
The D&D Basic Rules and the D&D System Reference Document (SRD - link to WotC Website). These rules allow you to play any of the standard races and classes and either DM or play the game of D&D.
Please note, the free rules do not have access to all of the Subraces, Subclasses and additional content from the source books, such as Forest Gnomes, Drow and Battlemaster Fighters.
Additionally, the Elemental Evil Players Companion is free as well which allows the access to the races of Aarakocra, Deep Gnome, Genasi, and Goliath – with some spells included as well. Active playtest and (certain) Critical Role content are also free to use.
One thing to note is that the Articifer class is not free in any form - this Class requires you to buy at least 1 Subclass to use it.
On this site, there are homebrew tools available that you can use to recreate things from the books you bought for free - this lets you use them privately for your own character sheets on here (and can share them with the campaign) without having to buy again, it just takes time * .
* (Please note that it is currently impossible to Homebrew any Eldritch Invocations, Pact Boons, Mystic Arcana, Fighting Styles, Maneuvers, Metamagic Options, or Infusions. We can also not homebrew Class Feature Options for the base Classes, only for Subclasses. As such, certain elements from both Xanathar’s and Tasha’s are not currently possible to recreate for free using the D&D Beyond Homebrewer)
If you don't want to do that then you need to purchase them again here, but if you don't want to pay for the whole book you can buy the individual things (like a certain race, or subclass or item, etc) instead. Anything paid towards the individual items discounts the overall book cost if you ever decide to rebuy the whole book.
I’m confused; it says I can buy the ‘Compendium Content’ of a book at a cheaper price. How is that different to the full Players Handbook?
The compendium content includes the full pages of content that you can read through - in essence all of the content of the physical book. Think of it like an online browsable version of the Player's Handbook.
It does NOT include digital assets that can be used with the character creator.
For example, if you purchase the PHB Compendium Content, you have the full Player's Handbook that you can read, reference and search through using D&D Beyond. However, you would not unlock the ability to use the additional subraces, subclasses, spells, feats etc for use in the character creator.
If you should later decide that you would like the digital assets as well, you can upgrade to the full Player's Handbook by paying the difference.
Here is what it states for the example of the Player's Handbook in the Marketplace (the Compendium version is located just below 'Spells')
'Purchasing this bundle unlocks the Player's Handbook book in digital format in the game compendium with all the artwork and maps, cross-linking, and tooltips.
The Compendium Content bundle does not grant access to all the content's options in the rest of the toolset, such as the searchable listings, character builder, or digital sheet.
In the future, we hope to offer more translations and features to make it easier to play the game in your native language.'
Why should I pay for access to the Digital Books?
Only you can answer that question.
The way I personally approach it is, you could put your own time and effort into creating everything yourself for FREE using the Homebrew tools on this site.
By paying for the books however, you get the convenience of having someone else do the hard work coding all the official stuff without having to put that hard work of homebrewing everything yourself. There are sometimes discount codes, marketplace bundles that give you ‘bulk buy’ discounts and, if you spread cost of the books between your players, anyone with a ‘Master Tier Subscription’ can share purchases between players in 3 campaigns (the DM must enable 'Content Sharing').
e.g. 4 People are playing together – Matthew owns the Players Handbook, Mark owns the Monster Manual, Luke is the Dungeon Master and John is a Master Tier Subscriber.
Luke can enable ‘Content Sharing’ in his campaign. Because John is on the Master Tier, every player now has access to the Players Handbook for character options and the DM has access to all the creatures in the Monster Manual.
In my personal opinion, spreading the cost and having access to digital tools that do the hard work for you is worth the price. Essentially, you are paying for convenience; why carry a dozen books in a bag when you can access all of it from a smartphone in the palm of your hand? And searching through a digital book can be faster than searching through a physical book. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear or misplacing the book. However, there are of course arguments that can be made for having just a physical book.
At the end of the day, it's about what you prefer.
What if I just wanted to buy some things? I only really want the (e.g. Light Domain Cleric) and don’t want to have to buy the whole Players Handbook again just to get it…
This is entirely possible through the Marketplace; you just have to buy ‘piecemeal’ from the books that the Race/Spell etc you want is from.
For instance, if I just wanted to buy the Samurai Subclass from Xanather’s Guide to Everything, you can find the Book in the Marketplace and simply scroll to the Subclasses and only add the Samurai to your cart for $1.99. Buying this also subtracts from the total cost of buying XgtE if you wished to buy it in the future.
For this specific example, you can find the Samurai on the Xanather’s Guide to Everything book in the Marketplace here (it's located down the page under 'Subclasses' - 'Individual Purchase Items')
Hopefully this thread has gone some way to clearing up any potential questions or misunderstandings about the relationship between the physical D&D books and the digital D&D books found here on this website.
Seems to me like some people are not familiar with how college books and manuals work. Many of the books I had to buy came with a code that I had to scratch or peel open, which then allowed me to register said book copy on the publisher's website in order to access extra digital content such as detailed solutions to problems/equations or extra exercices.
Of course, you don't have access to these extra resources if you choose to buy the book used, but that's also part of why they're cheaper. Now, people do not rush in college bookshops to secretly copy these codes, since it would amount to vandalizing them just as if you had ripped and stolen a page. Cashiers and bookstores aren't crumbling under the immense pressure of having to navigate with this system either.
Disregarding the obvious moneyprinting advantage the current situation provides WotC, it would be reeeeally easy for them to put in place, much more than you think, and will hopefully become common practice in the future. As of right now, I am resorting to not spending a single dollar on physical copies of anything they publish, since they're pointless for any game using DNDBeyond's characters (which sucks, because I love books).
Also, some have pointed out the fact that books and PDFs aren't on the same server, aren't made by the same people, and "requice an entirely separate and unique logistical framework behind both products that would make doing so impossible" and that this alone serves as a good reason for WotC to not implement this practice. To say this amounts to being too easy on WotC.
Seems to me like some people are not familiar with how college books and manuals work. Many of the books I had to buy came with a code that I had to scratch or peel open, which then allowed me to register said book copy on the publisher's website in order to access extra digital content such as detailed solutions to problems/equations or extra exercices.
Of course, you don't have access to these extra resources if you choose to buy the book used, but that's also part of why they're cheaper. Now, people do not rush in college bookshops to secretly copy these codes, since it would amount to vandalizing them just as if you had ripped and stolen a page. Cashiers and bookstores aren't crumbling under the immense pressure of having to navigate with this system either.
Disregarding the obvious moneyprinting advantage the current situation provides WotC, it would be reeeeally easy for them to put in place, much more than you think, and will hopefully become common practice in the future. As of right now, I am resorting to not spending a single dollar on physical copies of anything they publish, since they're pointless for any game using DNDBeyond's characters (which sucks, because I love books).
Also, some have pointed out the fact that books and PDFs aren't on the same server, aren't made by the same people, and "requice an entirely separate and unique logistical framework behind both products that would make doing so impossible" and that this alone serves as a good reason for WotC to not implement this practice. To say this amounts to being too easy on WotC.
I think the issue becomes - if you go to a gaming shop (or book store) - unless each book is wrapped in someway (which currently, no D&D books are) - what stops someone from opening the book - taking a photo with their phone of the code. Going home, redeeming the code.
Then someone buys that book after you, gets the "Invalid - Code already used"....
People stealing codes is not really the problem. All they have to do is offer a voucher for a free physical copy when you buy the digital book.
The real problem is that no matter how you slice it, a lot of people are just going to sell the physical book anyway and end up with a free (or nearly free) digital copy. The person buying the used book gets screwed out of a digital copy (even though no one broke any rules), and of course WotC loses a sale.
The real solution is to recognize that the digital books are hugely overpriced. There is no way they should cost the same as the physical books -- that's Beyond insane.
People stealing codes is not really the problem. All they have to do is offer a voucher for a free physical copy when you buy the digital book.
The real problem is that no matter how you slice it, a lot of people are just going to sell the physical book anyway and end up with a free (or nearly free) digital copy. The person buying the used book gets screwed out of a digital copy (even though no one broke any rules), and of course WotC loses a sale.
The real solution is to recognize that the digital books are hugely overpriced. There is no way they should cost the same as the physical books -- that's Beyond insane.
WotC doesn't price the books "the same" as the DnD Beyond Editions. Amazon, most notoriously, deeply discounts D&D books (if you look at the Amazon price you'll see they acknowledge its 44% off suggested retail, a suggestion most retailers actually adhere to). Using Amazon's deep discount to maintain market dominance at all costs business strategy as an argument for DnD Beyond lowering its own prices isn't the zinger you think you're offering.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It's wild to me that people look at Amazon prices and think that is the standard, then these same people wonder why they can only buy from Amazon and not a local store.
I propose that If you have the Physical D&D Adventurers and DMs Guide, There should be something on the back that you can type into the redeem section for the Digital copy
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
yeah this has been discussed a million times over the course of the last 3 years at least, as per those convos : its essentially never gonna happen simply cuz of the fact it allows businesses to double dip in the pool of money
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Bladegod, I hear you, But why would I want to spend even more money to unlock the rest of the Backgrounds and such, When I already Have a Physical Hardback Copy?
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
It's not that you would want to, it's that up until recently, it was completely impossible, and now it's proving to be somewhat of a logistics nightmare. There are a lot of factors that make it really difficult. Plus, why wouldn't WotC want to make more money from people who want physical and digital books? They are a business, after all....
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Lamoon01 already provided the link.
So here's the problem.
I walk into Barnes & Noble. The DM's Guide is there. I crack it open. Get the bar code. Log into D&D Beyond and redeem. I now have the DM's Guide.
Someone else comes in after me, buys that book - and they get "Your Code Has Already Been Used."
Or say someone buy's the DM's Guide. Redeems. Sells it at some store.
Someone buys the used copy - they can't redeem the code, even though they too now have a physical copy (even if bought second hand).
Just TWO quick off the top of my head examples. But like I said, check the FAQ Lamoon01 linked to.
Going forward, I do believe (they've done it with Dragonlance) - if you buy directly from Wizards, they will honor physical and digital. But only through them, which makes sense. Because it's the sole way they know you have a legit copy of the book. But that's probably only going to be new books going forward. Not older books.
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Have you had any traction on this with Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry or Demiplane? No?
(Some, maybe most) Publishers only give out complimentary PDFs, that's very different from what D&D Beyond is. DemiPlane is the closest thing to D&D Beyond for other games (Pathfinder, a few Free League, a few others), started up by D&D Beyond alumna. Yeah, you don't get the content if you own the physical book there either.
You're arguing against an industry standard when it comes to digital tools that enhance the game, not simply reproduce the text as a PDF.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
All of your issues had been solved years before even 5E came out.
The B&N example, solved by having the Redemption code require being scratched off and be on a separate card which would be contained in a sealed container in the book. If the book is being sold the cashier checks it. Alternatively, the redemption cards can be kept at the cashier area and sent out with each purchase. A third option would be simply that the redemption code is not activated until that book is purchased at which point the cashier activates it same as they do with most modern redemption codes or have for pre-paid credit cards for at least the past 15+ years. The cashiers can even use a special stamp provided by WotC to mark the inside of the books as having been given their redemption codes. The return of these items would not be permitted unless the claim can be shown to have not been scratched off or otherwise redeemed.
A person buying a used book at a 2nd hand store is not going to expect any of the claims to have been valid. They did not buy the book new at full price. They bought it used at a reduced price in the case of any currently available game. They are not buying that for the redemption they are buying it to get the physical copy and just the physical copy.
There is zero reason for them to require buying through WotC to get a redemption code for D&D Beyond.
They could even retroactively provide a way for people who already own physical copies of 5E books to be able to claim digital copies and access to the D&D Beyond content. WotC would just have special times and places at conventions, game stores, book stores and the like where owners bring their 5E books in, the books are stamped or otherwise marked by WotC, and the owner is given the appropriate redemption code for the book or books that they have gotten marked; a requirement that the books being marked be in good condition with no damage which gives the appearance to have removed a previously existing redemption code claimed mark.
Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry, and Demiplane (of which none are publishers) do not have the legal authority to provide any of those things. WotC (and thus D&D Beyond) do. Aside from D&D Beyond, none of the services that you listed own the content which they offer VTTs for, they provide content covered by the OGL 1.0a (and now Creative Commons or ORC when it is released) to their users. Any further content is required to be purchased from WotC or the appropriate Game developer (such as Paizo). You don't get the content there for owning the physical book because they don't own the rights to it. Further WotC could easily provide an API that would allow all VTTs to link to D&D Beyond accounts and share access just like you would in actual games, similar to how Ultraviolet used to work. Digital access being widely granted has been around for well over 20 years now.
It is not an industry standard, because none of the service providers you mentioned are also the publishers of the content they share, and they have no central point that they could pull from. If they did I can guarantee you that Roll20, FantasyGrounds, Foundry, and Demiplane would all use it and allow their users to have access to everything that they own physically.
So for the first one being in a "sealed copy" of the book. That's almost laughable. It's much easier to crack open a sealed book than it is to steal it.
And the other solution? Putting it on the cashiers? That's even sillier.
That would work for "promotional" instances, maybe. But for ongoing? I'd be surprised any bookstore would put up with being responsible for remembering to give out a digital code.
And the Convention idea, while sure it would work - but Conventions do not travel to every city - and WotC doesn't attend every convention.
So what about all the people who don't go to Conventions or the Conventions don't go to their town? S.O.L.?
Hardly makes sense.
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It just Irritates me. I can'd do anything with my D&D adventure guide online, And I need to buy the Digital copy to unlock everything in character creation.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." -Sun Tzu
I am with you on the frustration - because I have way more books in physical form than I do in digital (and I have quite a bit in digital now). But I was playing in person so never used D&D Beyond for digital until the Pandemic hit. So all the physical books that came out before that - and even throughout the pandemic (like the Spelljammer book) - I was buying physical and also through digital. And thankfully with the Dragonlance bundle I was able to get both in one shot.
But I get that in a business sense, it's nearly impossible to have a solid way to legitimately verify purchases - unless purchased from the Wizard store. (The Dragonlance is the first book I bought direct from Wizard; but I'd like to think that other physical books purchased directly through Wizard previously can be tied to the account and honored on D&D Beyond... not sure if that's something they considered... but I'd wager most people got their books at hobby shops or online, like through Amazon).
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It does rankle that one could potentially spend nearly $90.00 CDN on each damned book once one has bought both physical and digital.
First World problems are...expensive.
It's not the arrow with my name on it that worries me. It's the arrow that says, "To whom it may concern".
If you have the book, then just use the homebrew tools to recreate it for free. You can do this with everything except the main Artificer class (which could be bought for just $1.99).
If you don't want to buy the whole thing again, then just buy the specific things you need.
Seems simple enough to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I would like to point out, as a college student, there has never been a situation where buying a physical book gives you access to the corresponding e-book. Eventually, I got curious and started asking why.
Put simply, the vast majority of the time, there's an entirely separate and unique logistical framework behind both products that would make doing so impossible. You're literally asking them to pay obscene amounts of money to get a product made and then just give it to you for free because you bought an entirely separate product.
As an example, the people printing and warehousing the physical books are not the same people maintaining the server uploads\hosting for the E-book. As another example, the people determining the page length, page count, cover, and size of a physical book are not the same people running around to the different e-book distributors reformatting for compatibility.
I could go on but the point is the two products are made be separate departments with separate employees and costs. It is not as simple as "the book is already a word document that you just hit print on, why can't you just give me the document too?"
Edit: For redemption codes that give you digital versions, you are being charged more for the printed book to offset the cost. The book that usually costs 20$ would now cost 40$ as opposed to two separate products each costing 20$. You aren't saving any money. Actually, it complicates the process even further by requiring another entire framework to support the code process. Someone has to oversee the production of the codes, the redemption of the codes, a help line for when the codes don't work, etc. It might even end up costing you MORE money simply so you don't have to buy two items. It gets even worse when you consider that this wouldn't remove the digital\physical split because there are customers who want one but not the other so now there are 3 products being hosted in the form of physical, digital, and the bundle, which again adds cost to the business.
Tldr: Its not a simple thing to mass produce books.
Second Edit: There's actually a pinned thread in the Feedback section that explains literally all of this.
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Seems to me like some people are not familiar with how college books and manuals work. Many of the books I had to buy came with a code that I had to scratch or peel open, which then allowed me to register said book copy on the publisher's website in order to access extra digital content such as detailed solutions to problems/equations or extra exercices.
Of course, you don't have access to these extra resources if you choose to buy the book used, but that's also part of why they're cheaper. Now, people do not rush in college bookshops to secretly copy these codes, since it would amount to vandalizing them just as if you had ripped and stolen a page. Cashiers and bookstores aren't crumbling under the immense pressure of having to navigate with this system either.
Disregarding the obvious moneyprinting advantage the current situation provides WotC, it would be reeeeally easy for them to put in place, much more than you think, and will hopefully become common practice in the future. As of right now, I am resorting to not spending a single dollar on physical copies of anything they publish, since they're pointless for any game using DNDBeyond's characters (which sucks, because I love books).
Also, some have pointed out the fact that books and PDFs aren't on the same server, aren't made by the same people, and "requice an entirely separate and unique logistical framework behind both products that would make doing so impossible" and that this alone serves as a good reason for WotC to not implement this practice. To say this amounts to being too easy on WotC.
I think the issue becomes - if you go to a gaming shop (or book store) - unless each book is wrapped in someway (which currently, no D&D books are) - what stops someone from opening the book - taking a photo with their phone of the code. Going home, redeeming the code.
Then someone buys that book after you, gets the "Invalid - Code already used"....
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
People stealing codes is not really the problem. All they have to do is offer a voucher for a free physical copy when you buy the digital book.
The real problem is that no matter how you slice it, a lot of people are just going to sell the physical book anyway and end up with a free (or nearly free) digital copy. The person buying the used book gets screwed out of a digital copy (even though no one broke any rules), and of course WotC loses a sale.
The real solution is to recognize that the digital books are hugely overpriced. There is no way they should cost the same as the physical books -- that's Beyond insane.
WotC doesn't price the books "the same" as the DnD Beyond Editions. Amazon, most notoriously, deeply discounts D&D books (if you look at the Amazon price you'll see they acknowledge its 44% off suggested retail, a suggestion most retailers actually adhere to). Using Amazon's deep discount to maintain market dominance at all costs business strategy as an argument for DnD Beyond lowering its own prices isn't the zinger you think you're offering.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It's wild to me that people look at Amazon prices and think that is the standard, then these same people wonder why they can only buy from Amazon and not a local store.
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