Is it possible to buy and play a module without owning the player's handbook, dungeon master's guide and/ or the monster manual? I noticed that each of them have an 'included' amount of content, for example every classes subclass are included in the PHB purchase, would I be able to buy a module and be able to fully experience the module without the purchase? Would my players be unable to select a subclass without the PHB or those individual purchases?
Never mind, I just found my answer in the subscription/pricing FAQ. I think this is a frankly disappointing way of nickel and diming your player base. It would be like charging for the ability to roll dice.
So you want to have the campaign without having the rules? I'm not sure how that's nickel and diming. The game is in the core books, hence "core". The rest is supplement books which aren't necessary for play. It's extra, not inclusive.
If I were to print out a character sheet right now I could fill it out without referring to the PHB, DMG, MM, etc. Then with my Out of the Abyss book, I could run a campaign. Sure it would be nice to have the books to know a lot of the information (i.e. how to actually USE those subclasses) but there's nothing restricting me from just playing.
With the current module, if I was going to buy Out of the Abyss and only Out of the Abyss, my wizard couldn't pick a magical school at level 2, he couldn't have a background, he couldn't have feats, he wouldn't have access to many spells... There's almost no game besides what actually comes with Out of the Abyss.
I think that the purchase of the PHB, MM, DMG, etc. should just be the compendium itself, it shouldn't gate the subclasses, backgrounds, feats, subraces and spells behind this purchase. I totally understand why content for modules like Out of the Abyss, Tales from the Yawning Portal, etc. would be gated behind those purchases. But to restrict so much of the core gameplay isn't great. Right now I have to pay $45 to buy digital copies of books I already own in print because of the content restrictions. All for a brand new site that I can't even create a custom campaign on so that I can test the DM and campaign management tools. I would have to pay at least $25 for Out of the Abyss so that I can get into an actual campaign to know what I'm working with. I could swallow that pill if I wasn't also restricted to the barest bones version of D&D 5th edition.
That whole thing has been explained by moderators and staff on numerous occasions. This isn't WotC, and there's no way to ensure your physical copy is actually your purchased copy. That would be Curse/Twitch putting over $70/person of WotC content online for free.
Yeah, like I said, I'd be totally fine with restricting the compendium behind the paywall, but the actual ability to use things on a character sheet that are in the player's handbook is... Bonkers. You're asking me to spend a lot of money for a new website that I can't even playtest from a DM's perspective.
With the current module, if I was going to buy Out of the Abyss and only Out of the Abyss, my wizard couldn't pick a magical school at level 2, he couldn't have a background, he couldn't have feats, he wouldn't have access to many spells... There's almost no game besides what actually comes with Out of the Abyss.
The free stuff includes one subclass (the School of Evocation for wizards), half a dozen backgrounds, most of the existent spells, and two feats, one of which is useful for a Deep Gnome wizard. Oh, and the rules--not all the content, but the rules--of 5th edition D&D.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
That's how it has always worked.. Anything that allows you to use anything beyond the free information either has a license agreement with WotC or is breaking the law ( which is most likely).
Never mind, I just found my answer in the subscription/pricing FAQ. I think this is a frankly disappointing way of nickel and diming your player base. It would be like charging for the ability to roll dice.
Can you roll dice without having a set of dice?
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
If i go to roll20 right now, create an account, create a campaign, create a character sheet and add acid arrow to my charlatan dark elf abjurer's character sheet, I have spent $0. The same process on this website would cost me $20 now, and $30 when the first week promotion expired.
I truly see no value in this site at all compared to competitors.
If i go to roll20 right now, create an account, create a campaign, create a character sheet and add acid arrow to my charlatan dark elf abjurer's character sheet, I have spent $0. The same process on this website would cost me $20 now, and $30 when the first week promotion expired.
I truly see no value in this site at all compared to competitors.
I know Roll20 is legal, so I'm going to guess that you have to enter all that information by hand.
Also, you could get just the spell, background, subrace, and subclass for $1.99 each, letting you create that character for a mere $7.96.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
That's $7.96 more than Roll20 (which is legal, and even has a built-in compendium! They're even partnered with WotC!). Yes, I have to enter all the information by hand, but that is not even an option on this website.
That's $7.96 more than Roll20 (which is legal, and even has a built-in compendium! They're even partnered with WotC!). Yes, I have to enter all the information by hand, but that is not even an option on this website.
DDB is legal, is partnered with WotC, has a built-in compendium, supports homebrew spells, will support homebrew backgrounds very soon, will support homebrew races and subclasses, and is cheaper if you want to buy stuff. They don't mind if you recreate paid content in homebrew, as long as you don't try to publish it.
What's in Roll20's free compendium?
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
If i go to roll20 right now, create an account, create a campaign, create a character sheet and add acid arrow to my charlatan dark elf abjurer's character sheet, I have spent $0. The same process on this website would cost me $20 now, and $30 when the first week promotion expired.
I truly see no value in this site at all compared to competitors.
The content Roll20 offers for free is only what's under OGL, aka. the same content that is free here as well.
That said, Roll20 does not require a subscription to play however you will be inputting everything manually. This is no different than recreating content Homebrew to add to your character sheets.
Forgive me, but I figured that being "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" (described on the front page of this website) implied more than simply being partnered with WotC. Is this not a WotC product? Their branding is everywhere. I don't see an 'About Us' or anything otherwise to imply this is not a Wizards product.
But I think I'm starting to see where you're coming from and I apologize for some of the confusion on my end. I was not aware that D&D had free player's and DM's rules that was a bit more basic and barebones compared to what you find in the paid books. I believed that the Player's Handbook was what you needed to play the game as a player, and the Dungeon Master's Guide is what you needed to play the game as a dungeon master. From that perspective it was bizarre that I could have some of the spells contained within the PHB but not all of them.
With that in mind, I'm a little quicker to forgive DDB for some of the issues that I have with it. It still doesn't change the fact that in its current state, I cannot employ this site as well as I can employ Roll20 unless I shell out a pretty penny. Because currently I cannot create the same character sheet in DDB that I can create in Roll20. At least, not until some of those homebrew options are added (I thought DDB was supposed to be live on the 15th?), which seems inconvenient at best.
I suppose it's a separate argument now, but I think it's a poor decision for "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" to restrict its free offerings to these basic rulebooks. You'd think that the official thing could go a mile farther than Roll20. Heck, I would pay a monthly subscription just to have the ability to use what's normally included in a core rulebook. But if I wanted to run a campaign of Storm King's Thunder with my friends, $85 for the three core rulebooks and the module itself is more expensive than the $50 I'd pay for the same module on Roll20 and the ability to do everything I need to do, even if I'd have to reference my physical books to set everything up. That $35 gulf is even larger if you consider the fact that I can create a blank campaign in Roll20 and see and feel the tools given to the DM, whereas DDB gives me a few richtext boxes. Yes, I know it's coming, I've been scouring the forum, but it's disappointing that we left beta three days ago but it doesn't feel any different.
EDIT: Bios is correct, I don't need to pay a subscription to use Roll20, though they offer subscriptions for additional features of course.
The content Roll20 offers for free is only what's under OGL, aka. the same content that is free here as well.
That said, Roll20 does not require a subscription to play however you will be inputting everything manually. This is no different than recreating content Homebrew to add to your character sheets.
I just tried to make a game and character on Roll20. It wouldn't let me, saying the Vault was limited access and required a subscription.
The content Roll20 offers for free is only what's under OGL, aka. the same content that is free here as well.
That said, Roll20 does not require a subscription to play however you will be inputting everything manually. This is no different than recreating content Homebrew to add to your character sheets.
I just tried to make a game and character on Roll20. It wouldn't let me, saying the Vault was limited access and required a subscription.
I have no subscription and I was able to create a campaign and a character sheet since I first read your comment. The subscription offerings are listed here
As Roll20 describes it, "The Character Vault allows you to store your own Characters so that you can use them in multiple games without the need to re-create them from scratch each time". That is not the same thing as creating a character sheet from scratch in a single game.
The content Roll20 offers for free is only what's under OGL, aka. the same content that is free here as well.
That said, Roll20 does not require a subscription to play however you will be inputting everything manually. This is no different than recreating content Homebrew to add to your character sheets.
I just tried to make a game and character on Roll20. It wouldn't let me, saying the Vault was limited access and required a subscription.
The character vault is their system for moving players from game to game which is a sub feature, but just creating a game using the D&D sheet is free to do. I'd contact their support if you're having issues as I'm not sure what you clicked but I just tried it on my unsubbed account and it works fine, albiet not nearly as beautifully as something like DNDBeyond does.
Forgive me, but I figured that being "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" (described on the front page of this website) implied more than simply being partnered with WotC. Is this not a WotC product? Their branding is everywhere. I don't see an 'About Us' or anything otherwise to imply this is not a Wizards product.
But I think I'm starting to see where you're coming from and I apologize for some of the confusion on my end. I was not aware that D&D had free player's and DM's rules that was a bit more basic and barebones compared to what you find in the paid books. I believed that the Player's Handbook was what you needed to play the game as a player, and the Dungeon Master's Guide is what you needed to play the game as a dungeon master. From that perspective it was bizarre that I could have some of the spells contained within the PHB but not all of them.
With that in mind, I'm a little quicker to forgive DDB for some of the issues that I have with it. It still doesn't change the fact that in its current state, I cannot employ this site as well as I can employ Roll20 unless I shell out a pretty penny. Because currently I cannot create the same character sheet in DDB that I can create in Roll20. At least, not until some of those homebrew options are added (I thought DDB was supposed to be live on the 15th?), which seems inconvenient at best.
I suppose it's a separate argument now, but I think it's a poor decision for "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" to restrict its free offerings to these basic rulebooks. You'd think that the official thing could go a mile farther than Roll20. Heck, I would pay a monthly subscription just to have the ability to use what's normally included in a core rulebook. But if I wanted to run a campaign of Storm King's Thunder with my friends, $85 for the three core rulebooks and the module itself is more expensive than the $50 I'd pay for the same module on Roll20 and the ability to do everything I need to do, even if I'd have to reference my physical books to set everything up. That $35 gulf is even larger if you consider the fact that I can create a blank campaign in Roll20 and see and feel the tools given to the DM, whereas DDB gives me a few richtext boxes. Yes, I know it's coming, I've been scouring the forum, but it's disappointing that we left beta three days ago but it doesn't feel any different.
EDIT: Bios is correct, I don't need to pay a subscription to use Roll20, though they offer subscriptions for additional features of course.
Totally makes sense mate, nothing to apologize for. It's a confusing system but honestly I think at the end of the day this is the best WOTC was willing to do. For what it's worth you can also buy individual spells and such from the books you need and that money spent is prorated from the cost of the entire book if you go back and buy it so that's not 'too' horrible, but it certainly is a really crummy system. Personally I find it an acceptable evil just to have the content digitally 'finally' but for people who already bought the content in the past it makes much less sense.
Well, I go to make a character and it sends me to the subscription purchase page. Maybe a site issue? Either way, the content is still blocked behind paywalls in the compendium, just like DDB, showing their marketplace links to the books right at the top to expand the compendium.
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Is it possible to buy and play a module without owning the player's handbook, dungeon master's guide and/ or the monster manual? I noticed that each of them have an 'included' amount of content, for example every classes subclass are included in the PHB purchase, would I be able to buy a module and be able to fully experience the module without the purchase? Would my players be unable to select a subclass without the PHB or those individual purchases?
Never mind, I just found my answer in the subscription/pricing FAQ. I think this is a frankly disappointing way of nickel and diming your player base. It would be like charging for the ability to roll dice.
So you want to have the campaign without having the rules? I'm not sure how that's nickel and diming. The game is in the core books, hence "core". The rest is supplement books which aren't necessary for play. It's extra, not inclusive.
If I were to print out a character sheet right now I could fill it out without referring to the PHB, DMG, MM, etc. Then with my Out of the Abyss book, I could run a campaign. Sure it would be nice to have the books to know a lot of the information (i.e. how to actually USE those subclasses) but there's nothing restricting me from just playing.
With the current module, if I was going to buy Out of the Abyss and only Out of the Abyss, my wizard couldn't pick a magical school at level 2, he couldn't have a background, he couldn't have feats, he wouldn't have access to many spells... There's almost no game besides what actually comes with Out of the Abyss.
I think that the purchase of the PHB, MM, DMG, etc. should just be the compendium itself, it shouldn't gate the subclasses, backgrounds, feats, subraces and spells behind this purchase. I totally understand why content for modules like Out of the Abyss, Tales from the Yawning Portal, etc. would be gated behind those purchases. But to restrict so much of the core gameplay isn't great. Right now I have to pay $45 to buy digital copies of books I already own in print because of the content restrictions. All for a brand new site that I can't even create a custom campaign on so that I can test the DM and campaign management tools. I would have to pay at least $25 for Out of the Abyss so that I can get into an actual campaign to know what I'm working with. I could swallow that pill if I wasn't also restricted to the barest bones version of D&D 5th edition.
That whole thing has been explained by moderators and staff on numerous occasions. This isn't WotC, and there's no way to ensure your physical copy is actually your purchased copy. That would be Curse/Twitch putting over $70/person of WotC content online for free.
Yeah, like I said, I'd be totally fine with restricting the compendium behind the paywall, but the actual ability to use things on a character sheet that are in the player's handbook is... Bonkers. You're asking me to spend a lot of money for a new website that I can't even playtest from a DM's perspective.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
That's how it has always worked.. Anything that allows you to use anything beyond the free information either has a license agreement with WotC or is breaking the law ( which is most likely).
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
If i go to roll20 right now, create an account, create a campaign, create a character sheet and add acid arrow to my charlatan dark elf abjurer's character sheet, I have spent $0. The same process on this website would cost me $20 now, and $30 when the first week promotion expired.
I truly see no value in this site at all compared to competitors.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
That's $7.96 more than Roll20 (which is legal, and even has a built-in compendium! They're even partnered with WotC!). Yes, I have to enter all the information by hand, but that is not even an option on this website.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Actually you're both wrong.
The content Roll20 offers for free is only what's under OGL, aka. the same content that is free here as well.
That said, Roll20 does not require a subscription to play however you will be inputting everything manually. This is no different than recreating content Homebrew to add to your character sheets.
Forgive me, but I figured that being "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" (described on the front page of this website) implied more than simply being partnered with WotC. Is this not a WotC product? Their branding is everywhere. I don't see an 'About Us' or anything otherwise to imply this is not a Wizards product.
But I think I'm starting to see where you're coming from and I apologize for some of the confusion on my end. I was not aware that D&D had free player's and DM's rules that was a bit more basic and barebones compared to what you find in the paid books. I believed that the Player's Handbook was what you needed to play the game as a player, and the Dungeon Master's Guide is what you needed to play the game as a dungeon master. From that perspective it was bizarre that I could have some of the spells contained within the PHB but not all of them.
With that in mind, I'm a little quicker to forgive DDB for some of the issues that I have with it. It still doesn't change the fact that in its current state, I cannot employ this site as well as I can employ Roll20 unless I shell out a pretty penny. Because currently I cannot create the same character sheet in DDB that I can create in Roll20. At least, not until some of those homebrew options are added (I thought DDB was supposed to be live on the 15th?), which seems inconvenient at best.
I suppose it's a separate argument now, but I think it's a poor decision for "the official digital toolset for D&D 5th Edition" to restrict its free offerings to these basic rulebooks. You'd think that the official thing could go a mile farther than Roll20. Heck, I would pay a monthly subscription just to have the ability to use what's normally included in a core rulebook. But if I wanted to run a campaign of Storm King's Thunder with my friends, $85 for the three core rulebooks and the module itself is more expensive than the $50 I'd pay for the same module on Roll20 and the ability to do everything I need to do, even if I'd have to reference my physical books to set everything up. That $35 gulf is even larger if you consider the fact that I can create a blank campaign in Roll20 and see and feel the tools given to the DM, whereas DDB gives me a few richtext boxes. Yes, I know it's coming, I've been scouring the forum, but it's disappointing that we left beta three days ago but it doesn't feel any different.
EDIT: Bios is correct, I don't need to pay a subscription to use Roll20, though they offer subscriptions for additional features of course.
Well, I go to make a character and it sends me to the subscription purchase page. Maybe a site issue? Either way, the content is still blocked behind paywalls in the compendium, just like DDB, showing their marketplace links to the books right at the top to expand the compendium.