So I purchased physical copies of books. Is there any way for them to carry over to the website? I’m trying to make a character online but it won’t let me.
So I purchased physical copies of books. Is there any way for them to carry over to the website? I’m trying to make a character online but it won’t let me.
Unfortunately, any physical books you've purchased cannot be used to unlock any digital access on D&D Beyond. The developers behind D&D Beyond, Curse, were not involved in any fashion during the purchase of the physical books and as such, cannot issue a license without compensation. Wizards of the Coast is the owner of the D&D franchise and would have received funds for that purchase.
I would review this thread for further explanation:
No, there is no way to “carry over” physical copies to the website. This has been discussed extensively in the forums. Here’s a brief summary of why:
-Curse/DDB is a separate company from Wizards of the Coast; DDB’s workers deserve to be paid, and DDB must pay licensing fees to Wizards.
-There is currently no way to uniquely identify already published physical books; theoretically Wizards could decide to bundle digital access to DDB with their print books but it would increase the cost of the physical books and only apply to books purchased after such a system was put in place
What you can do is homebrew almost any character features from the books, as long as you keep those things private homebrew here. The only exceptions are “sub-sub class” features such as Warlock invocations, Barbarian totems, etc. Currently there is no way to homebrew those.
Note that it is also possible to purchase character options piecemeal. (For example, I didn’t buy all of Volo’s, but I did buy the Tabaxi race).
For more information on the myriad of purchase options (including homebrewing), see the Buyer’s guide linked in my signature.
Just here to say that it sucks and I use other tools for that reason and download some stuff elsewhere just since I do not agree with how it is handled.
Just here to say that it sucks and I use other tools for that reason and download some stuff elsewhere just since I do not agree with how it is handled.
Not going to buy those products twice.
A thread necromancer and a pirate. Interesting combo.
It's not piracy to point out that making someone buy the same published material twice is exploitative. Plenty of other RPG companies have no problem bundling digital pdf access codes with their physical books. it costs nothing to produce a digital copy of an already published work once it's been scanned and uploaded once which they still sell at the same price of the print version despite there being no cost of material sunk into it. And it's not piracy to use other tools if you've already paid for the books to begin with. I understand RPG writers need to be paid, but it's not like D&D Beyond doesnt have ways of making money, and it's not like their model is something that is some standard. Forcing people to pay piecemeal, or full price for something they already have a physical copy of is unethical and shrouding it beyond the "need to be paid" when effectively all of the proceeds from a sale of a digital book is profit as there's no overhead with a digital one is even more unethical.
...effectively all of the proceeds from a sale of a digital book is profit as there's no overhead with a digital one...
The costs of servers, data, offices, and staff, as well as contractual obligations say otherwise.
These operating costs however, would be there whether you sold the physical books as well or not. Server hosting is expensive, yes, so are the offices, the staff, however text and image data costs are negligible. it costs next to nothing to copy a pdf. There is no physical cost of printing, no cost of shipping ,no inventory maintenance to be concerned about, and when one is sold you can sell it again and again. But this is really just splitting hairs here. There are definitely ways to make money enough to be profitable without this double dipping model. If the issue is contractual obligations, There's little reason I see that a new contract cannot be negotiated that would meet a very real, very potentially lucrative demand for synergy. I understand why it is the way it is, I simply don't think it's efficient or a very wise strategy for Curse or WOTC. Nearly every other RPG outlet these days offers these kinds of deals. Although admittedly I do not know any with a service like D&DB, Roll20 MAYBE comes close, especially with the breadth and depth of the systems it hosts.
My original point was that calling someone a pirate for using alternative tools when they have physical copies of the book because D&D beyond does not serve their specific need is like calling someone a pirate for physical, third party dice instead of paying for a dice app. And it's is just plain wrong.
That much said, I do appreciate the ability to upload the material as homebrew content so you don't have to buy the other things, it just takes a lot more work to translate it, so the convenience fee is there. And if in the future D&DB offered the ability to buy physical copies from them with included codes for access on the website (In much the same way White Wolf's RPG distributors do) at an upsold price, I would greatly appreciate that and would buy it, especially given that the cost of the books in the 5th edition is significantly lower than it was 15 years ago when I first started playing D&D with 3.5
The other threads here have discussed in detail the issues around, "I would like access to D&D Beyond content because I purchased the physical book" so I won't dive back into that.
One thing to consider though is that Wizards of the Coast have multiple digital partners, from whom you can purchase official D&D books in a digital format: D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, Roll20 and possibly others - if you add the cost of a digital version on each platform to a physical Player's Handbook, it's now going to necessarily cost at least twice as much, for something many purchasers don't want.
Simply, asking for the costs to all be rolled into one purchase is anti-consumer, as it's not giving people the ability to choose what they want to buy.
... it costs next to nothing to copy a pdf. There is no physical cost of printing, no cost of shipping ,no inventory maintenance to be concerned about, and when one is sold you can sell it again and again.
You are not just buying a pdf when you make a purchase here, Looshoftheface. The website itself is an entire interactive system; you are paying for content that can then be used on this system. Your complaints are being directed towards the wrong company anyway. Fandom (not Curse) owns DnDBeyond and is not owned by Wizards of the Coast, which owns the content.
My original point was that calling someone a pirate for using alternative tools when they have physical copies of the book because D&D beyond does not serve their specific need is like calling someone a pirate for physical, third party dice instead of paying for a dice app. And it's is just plain wrong.
What need is that? What is your definition of a pirate? I ask since you take issue with the use of the term here.
You are correct in that it's not necessarily piracy to use other 5e digital tools. There are some that only contain the freely-available SRD/Basic Rules content. Those that DO contain other 5e content for free are illegal, of course. And certainly "download some stuff elsewhere" is since there are no legal PDFs of any 5e content.
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So I purchased physical copies of books. Is there any way for them to carry over to the website? I’m trying to make a character online but it won’t let me.
Unfortunately, any physical books you've purchased cannot be used to unlock any digital access on D&D Beyond. The developers behind D&D Beyond, Curse, were not involved in any fashion during the purchase of the physical books and as such, cannot issue a license without compensation. Wizards of the Coast is the owner of the D&D franchise and would have received funds for that purchase.
I would review this thread for further explanation:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/6230-d-d-beyond-vs-physical-books-an-explanation
No, there is no way to “carry over” physical copies to the website. This has been discussed extensively in the forums. Here’s a brief summary of why:
-Curse/DDB is a separate company from Wizards of the Coast; DDB’s workers deserve to be paid, and DDB must pay licensing fees to Wizards.
-There is currently no way to uniquely identify already published physical books; theoretically Wizards could decide to bundle digital access to DDB with their print books but it would increase the cost of the physical books and only apply to books purchased after such a system was put in place
What you can do is homebrew almost any character features from the books, as long as you keep those things private homebrew here. The only exceptions are “sub-sub class” features such as Warlock invocations, Barbarian totems, etc. Currently there is no way to homebrew those.
Note that it is also possible to purchase character options piecemeal. (For example, I didn’t buy all of Volo’s, but I did buy the Tabaxi race).
For more information on the myriad of purchase options (including homebrewing), see the Buyer’s guide linked in my signature.
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;
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This question is asked frequently, there should be a pinned thread for frequently asked questions (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/bugs-support/20491-d-d-beyond-pricing-purchase-faq). And it should either address this question or link to a thread that does (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/6230-d-d-beyond-vs-physical-books-an-explanation).
Just here to say that it sucks and I use other tools for that reason and download some stuff elsewhere just since I do not agree with how it is handled.
Not going to buy those products twice.
A thread necromancer and a pirate. Interesting combo.
It's not piracy to point out that making someone buy the same published material twice is exploitative. Plenty of other RPG companies have no problem bundling digital pdf access codes with their physical books. it costs nothing to produce a digital copy of an already published work once it's been scanned and uploaded once which they still sell at the same price of the print version despite there being no cost of material sunk into it. And it's not piracy to use other tools if you've already paid for the books to begin with. I understand RPG writers need to be paid, but it's not like D&D Beyond doesnt have ways of making money, and it's not like their model is something that is some standard. Forcing people to pay piecemeal, or full price for something they already have a physical copy of is unethical and shrouding it beyond the "need to be paid" when effectively all of the proceeds from a sale of a digital book is profit as there's no overhead with a digital one is even more unethical.
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D&D Beyond FoundersThe costs of servers, data, offices, and staff, as well as contractual obligations say otherwise.
We understand that it sucks to feel you're buying the same thing twice, to use it in a different medium.
There's a lot of valid discussion on that in the thread linked earlier in this thread.
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If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
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These operating costs however, would be there whether you sold the physical books as well or not. Server hosting is expensive, yes, so are the offices, the staff, however text and image data costs are negligible. it costs next to nothing to copy a pdf. There is no physical cost of printing, no cost of shipping ,no inventory maintenance to be concerned about, and when one is sold you can sell it again and again. But this is really just splitting hairs here. There are definitely ways to make money enough to be profitable without this double dipping model. If the issue is contractual obligations, There's little reason I see that a new contract cannot be negotiated that would meet a very real, very potentially lucrative demand for synergy. I understand why it is the way it is, I simply don't think it's efficient or a very wise strategy for Curse or WOTC. Nearly every other RPG outlet these days offers these kinds of deals. Although admittedly I do not know any with a service like D&DB, Roll20 MAYBE comes close, especially with the breadth and depth of the systems it hosts.
My original point was that calling someone a pirate for using alternative tools when they have physical copies of the book because D&D beyond does not serve their specific need is like calling someone a pirate for physical, third party dice instead of paying for a dice app. And it's is just plain wrong.
That much said, I do appreciate the ability to upload the material as homebrew content so you don't have to buy the other things, it just takes a lot more work to translate it, so the convenience fee is there. And if in the future D&DB offered the ability to buy physical copies from them with included codes for access on the website (In much the same way White Wolf's RPG distributors do) at an upsold price, I would greatly appreciate that and would buy it, especially given that the cost of the books in the 5th edition is significantly lower than it was 15 years ago when I first started playing D&D with 3.5
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View User Profile
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View Posts
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Send Message
D&D Beyond FoundersThe other threads here have discussed in detail the issues around, "I would like access to D&D Beyond content because I purchased the physical book" so I won't dive back into that.
One thing to consider though is that Wizards of the Coast have multiple digital partners, from whom you can purchase official D&D books in a digital format: D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, Roll20 and possibly others - if you add the cost of a digital version on each platform to a physical Player's Handbook, it's now going to necessarily cost at least twice as much, for something many purchasers don't want.
Simply, asking for the costs to all be rolled into one purchase is anti-consumer, as it's not giving people the ability to choose what they want to buy.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
You are not just buying a pdf when you make a purchase here, Looshoftheface. The website itself is an entire interactive system; you are paying for content that can then be used on this system. Your complaints are being directed towards the wrong company anyway. Fandom (not Curse) owns DnDBeyond and is not owned by Wizards of the Coast, which owns the content.
What need is that? What is your definition of a pirate? I ask since you take issue with the use of the term here.
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You are correct in that it's not necessarily piracy to use other 5e digital tools. There are some that only contain the freely-available SRD/Basic Rules content. Those that DO contain other 5e content for free are illegal, of course. And certainly "download some stuff elsewhere" is since there are no legal PDFs of any 5e content.