Our group has been using D&D Beyond for almost a year now, and we love how convenient it is to have everyone's character sheets in one spot, as well as being able to share any homebrew content that we make with one another. However, one gripe that we have is the way that content sharing works. We have all pitched in so that one of our accounts could hold our online source books, and at this point we have bought quite a few sources on that account. However, when we want to experiment with characters or certain features, we have to add it to a campaign, and since the Master account can only share content with three campaigns, there are only thirty-six available character slots. Though this may seem like a lot, when divided among six people (and occasionally other players that we bring in for one shots or that join us on occasion) these thirty-six slots fill up fast. We are constantly having to manage how full our campaigns are, as any time we do a one shot or just have a fun idea for a character, we have to first take up one of these thirty-six slots. It is also ridiculous that we need to have a "campaign" set apart to dump one shot characters into, because instead of actually using the campaign feature as a helpful way for the DM to look at and manage characters, it is being used because it is the only way we can use the content we are paying for.
This slot management system isn't just hurting the users however, it is hurting D&D Beyond. Because I am not able to create characters outside of our limited thirty-six slots (which boils down to six characters per person due to the size of our group), I have refrained from purchasing a Hero subscription. The main draw of buying this subscription is that you can make an unlimited amount of characters, but I would still be limited to the six characters that I am allowed in our thirty-six content sharing slots. I would love to purchase this subscription, as it is a wonderful feature at a wholly worthwhile price, but the way that content sharing currently works almost completely negates the benefits offered by the Hero pack. In addition, if at any point I desire to make characters outside of D&D Beyond using physical character sheets, I can very easily do that, as the current system allows anyone who has a character in a campaign with shared content to have full access to each source book owned by the Master account. Even though I have complete access to every source book that we have purchased through the Master account, which opens up the opportunity to play without restriction using these shared source books and physical character sheets, there are still restrictions on players using the actual website to create characters. This system is absurd, as D&D Beyond is essentially encouraging players to avoid their website's main feature, character creation, in favor of doing it elsewhere. Even when extra money is spent on subscriptions, there are still restrictions that hold back players and Dungeon Masters from a truly free, creative D&D experience.
Obviously, D&D Beyond is a business, and businesses have to make money, so I am not saying that features being locked behind a subscription is in any way a bad thing. The prices and features offered with a subscription are very fair, but because of how the system currently works, the features advertised are not truly given to people who buy subscriptions. If you rely on shared content, the six Character limit is still in place whether or not you buy the Hero subscription. My recommendation would be to get rid of content sharing through campaigns and instead have the feature tied to accounts. For instance, someone who purchases the Master subscription is allowed to put other accounts on their content sharing plan, and these accounts are each given full benefits of owning the source books that the Master account owns. These benefits include making characters with shared content without having to add them to a campaign or allowing shared content to be used as a template when making homebrew creations. There might be a limited number of accounts on the plan, and after that limit is reached, there could be a fee for each additional account that the Master account wishes to share content with. After that, each of these accounts could use the full benefits of the source books that the Master account has access to without the limit of the thirty-six character slots, making the purchase of a Hero subscription much more appealing to them. Another option would be to keep the content sharing system as it is, but incorporate the additional feature of allowing certain accounts full access to shared sources via a fee to either the Master account or that player's account. There could even be a tier of subscriptions between Hero and Master that allowed a user to receive content sharing benefits on their account as opposed to just through campaigns. There are multiple options that could work around the issue of the thirty-six campaign slots, many of which could bring D&D Beyond extra money and allow for a more user friendly model.
There are obviously multiple issues with the current content sharing system on D&D Beyond that are not only hindrances to users but also potential detriments to business on the website. There are many benefits to using the services that D&D Beyond offers, as it is a very user friendly way to manage each intricate aspect of a Dungeons & Dragons game. Our group owns physical copies of each source book we have purchased on D&D Beyond, meaning it is entirely optional that we spend hundreds of extra dollars on sources and features on this site. We could pull away from D&D Beyond at any point, but because this site is such an amazing tool I would rather see it truly become the most user friendly version of itself it can be. This website provides an excellent user experience aside from the glaring issue of how content sharing is handled. If this feature is changed to allow for users to enjoy all content purchased without the limits of the current campaign system, D&D Beyond would be a near flawless resource that I would recommend to anyone.
They've said on the Dev updates that they're working on separating content sharing from the concept of campaigns/characters in order to provide a more robust system
A potential, partial work-around for the moment would be for another member of your group to purchase the Master Tier subscription. Then anyone in the group could create a campaign, and invite that member (and the member with content if they aren't the "DM" or the sub person) to the campaign. They then could turn on content sharing in that campaign. It doesn't get you everything you want, I know, but it is one way to extend the character limit you are running into. I realize that increases the costs, and it's up to your group to decide if it's worth it.
It was mentioned in one of the recent dev update videos. I think Adam said something to the effect that they want to have a 36 user/account limit for sharing, rather than 3 campaign limit with 12 max in each campaign. They're still working out the details as it'd be a big overhaul of the currently limited, but robust system
Along the same lines, I'm having trouble with the items.
Right now I have one player how has bought most of all the books. He has sharing turned on and the others create characters under his campaign...except I'm the DM - however, I'm unable to spend a bunch of money on books I already own. It works save one big problem. Items. I like to create random items like a crossbow that shoots lighting damage bolts, or life-stealing warhammers or daggers with an increased crit range. It's a pain for my players to just jot down these things in the notes section rather than having an item that works in the sheet. Since I'm not the owner of the account with the campaign the only way to get items I've created into my players is to make the items public...which doesn't work because I don't want 1000+ people voting on it or looking at it....I just want to share it with specific people. Without having to just borrow my friend's password and sign into their account. Is there a workaround I'm not seeing? Would these sharing updates mentioned above address this?
Along the same lines, I'm having trouble with the items.
Right now I have one player how has bought most of all the books. He has sharing turned on and the others create characters under his campaign...except I'm the DM - however, I'm unable to spend a bunch of money on books I already own. It works save one big problem. Items. I like to create random items like a crossbow that shoots lighting damage bolts, or life-stealing warhammers or daggers with an increased crit range. It's a pain for my players to just jot down these things in the notes section rather than having an item that works in the sheet. Since I'm not the owner of the account with the campaign the only way to get items I've created into my players is to make the items public...which doesn't work because I don't want 1000+ people voting on it or looking at it....I just want to share it with specific people. Without having to just borrow my friend's password and sign into their account. Is there a workaround I'm not seeing? Would these sharing updates mentioned above address this? :
-If you are the DM, you should create a campaign here and send out invite links to your players. When the player the master tier subscription joins, they should turn on content sharing for the campaign. (They can do this with a total of 3 campaigns at a time; they don’t need to be the DM to turn on content sharing). Then everyone’s content is shared in the campaign.
-If you homebrew things, you don’t have to make them public for them to be shared in your campaign.
Our group has been using D&D Beyond for almost a year now, and we love how convenient it is to have everyone's character sheets in one spot, as well as being able to share any homebrew content that we make with one another. However, one gripe that we have is the way that content sharing works. We have all pitched in so that one of our accounts could hold our online source books, and at this point we have bought quite a few sources on that account. However, when we want to experiment with characters or certain features, we have to add it to a campaign, and since the Master account can only share content with three campaigns, there are only thirty-six available character slots. Though this may seem like a lot, when divided among six people (and occasionally other players that we bring in for one shots or that join us on occasion) these thirty-six slots fill up fast. We are constantly having to manage how full our campaigns are, as any time we do a one shot or just have a fun idea for a character, we have to first take up one of these thirty-six slots. It is also ridiculous that we need to have a "campaign" set apart to dump one shot characters into, because instead of actually using the campaign feature as a helpful way for the DM to look at and manage characters, it is being used because it is the only way we can use the content we are paying for.
This slot management system isn't just hurting the users however, it is hurting D&D Beyond. Because I am not able to create characters outside of our limited thirty-six slots (which boils down to six characters per person due to the size of our group), I have refrained from purchasing a Hero subscription. The main draw of buying this subscription is that you can make an unlimited amount of characters, but I would still be limited to the six characters that I am allowed in our thirty-six content sharing slots. I would love to purchase this subscription, as it is a wonderful feature at a wholly worthwhile price, but the way that content sharing currently works almost completely negates the benefits offered by the Hero pack. In addition, if at any point I desire to make characters outside of D&D Beyond using physical character sheets, I can very easily do that, as the current system allows anyone who has a character in a campaign with shared content to have full access to each source book owned by the Master account. Even though I have complete access to every source book that we have purchased through the Master account, which opens up the opportunity to play without restriction using these shared source books and physical character sheets, there are still restrictions on players using the actual website to create characters. This system is absurd, as D&D Beyond is essentially encouraging players to avoid their website's main feature, character creation, in favor of doing it elsewhere. Even when extra money is spent on subscriptions, there are still restrictions that hold back players and Dungeon Masters from a truly free, creative D&D experience.
Obviously, D&D Beyond is a business, and businesses have to make money, so I am not saying that features being locked behind a subscription is in any way a bad thing. The prices and features offered with a subscription are very fair, but because of how the system currently works, the features advertised are not truly given to people who buy subscriptions. If you rely on shared content, the six Character limit is still in place whether or not you buy the Hero subscription. My recommendation would be to get rid of content sharing through campaigns and instead have the feature tied to accounts. For instance, someone who purchases the Master subscription is allowed to put other accounts on their content sharing plan, and these accounts are each given full benefits of owning the source books that the Master account owns. These benefits include making characters with shared content without having to add them to a campaign or allowing shared content to be used as a template when making homebrew creations. There might be a limited number of accounts on the plan, and after that limit is reached, there could be a fee for each additional account that the Master account wishes to share content with. After that, each of these accounts could use the full benefits of the source books that the Master account has access to without the limit of the thirty-six character slots, making the purchase of a Hero subscription much more appealing to them. Another option would be to keep the content sharing system as it is, but incorporate the additional feature of allowing certain accounts full access to shared sources via a fee to either the Master account or that player's account. There could even be a tier of subscriptions between Hero and Master that allowed a user to receive content sharing benefits on their account as opposed to just through campaigns. There are multiple options that could work around the issue of the thirty-six campaign slots, many of which could bring D&D Beyond extra money and allow for a more user friendly model.
There are obviously multiple issues with the current content sharing system on D&D Beyond that are not only hindrances to users but also potential detriments to business on the website. There are many benefits to using the services that D&D Beyond offers, as it is a very user friendly way to manage each intricate aspect of a Dungeons & Dragons game. Our group owns physical copies of each source book we have purchased on D&D Beyond, meaning it is entirely optional that we spend hundreds of extra dollars on sources and features on this site. We could pull away from D&D Beyond at any point, but because this site is such an amazing tool I would rather see it truly become the most user friendly version of itself it can be. This website provides an excellent user experience aside from the glaring issue of how content sharing is handled. If this feature is changed to allow for users to enjoy all content purchased without the limits of the current campaign system, D&D Beyond would be a near flawless resource that I would recommend to anyone.
Love it my man 👍
They've said on the Dev updates that they're working on separating content sharing from the concept of campaigns/characters in order to provide a more robust system
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
A potential, partial work-around for the moment would be for another member of your group to purchase the Master Tier subscription. Then anyone in the group could create a campaign, and invite that member (and the member with content if they aren't the "DM" or the sub person) to the campaign. They then could turn on content sharing in that campaign. It doesn't get you everything you want, I know, but it is one way to extend the character limit you are running into. I realize that increases the costs, and it's up to your group to decide if it's worth it.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Well this is very good news, where can I find this?
This is a very interesting solution, we might have to consider it.
It was mentioned in one of the recent dev update videos. I think Adam said something to the effect that they want to have a 36 user/account limit for sharing, rather than 3 campaign limit with 12 max in each campaign. They're still working out the details as it'd be a big overhaul of the currently limited, but robust system
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Awesome, thanks!
If you don't mind, can you link to that video where the content sharing limit is discussed?
Along the same lines, I'm having trouble with the items.
Right now I have one player how has bought most of all the books. He has sharing turned on and the others create characters under his campaign...except I'm the DM - however, I'm unable to spend a bunch of money on books I already own. It works save one big problem. Items. I like to create random items like a crossbow that shoots lighting damage bolts, or life-stealing warhammers or daggers with an increased crit range. It's a pain for my players to just jot down these things in the notes section rather than having an item that works in the sheet. Since I'm not the owner of the account with the campaign the only way to get items I've created into my players is to make the items public...which doesn't work because I don't want 1000+ people voting on it or looking at it....I just want to share it with specific people. Without having to just borrow my friend's password and sign into their account. Is there a workaround I'm not seeing? Would these sharing updates mentioned above address this?
-If you are the DM, you should create a campaign here and send out invite links to your players. When the player the master tier subscription joins, they should turn on content sharing for the campaign. (They can do this with a total of 3 campaigns at a time; they don’t need to be the DM to turn on content sharing). Then everyone’s content is shared in the campaign.
-If you homebrew things, you don’t have to make them public for them to be shared in your campaign.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk