After browsing the Bugs & Support Forum for a while, I've noticed that one of the most common causes of confusion on this site is the Source Toggles under Character Preferences in the Editor. Numerous "bug reports" involve a player stating the purchased a certain subclass, only to find it not selectable within the editor as they forgot or did not know to enable "Critical Role Content" or "Magic: The Gathering Content."
The policy currently on DND Beyond is "simple." If the content was first published in a source (such as MTG or Eberron), that source is the one that toggles its availability.
However, this is riddled with exceptions. MTG subclasses, such as those from Theros, are behind their MTG toggles, but Artificer is not in Eberron. The argument presented originally was that the Artificer became core material with its publishing in Tasha's, but some of the subclasses that used to be from MTG universes also got republished in Tasha's and kept their toggles.
Additionally, Critical Role Content covers both content from the Wildemount sourcebook and the unofficial Critical Role subclasses and Blood Hunter.
I propose for the toggles to be changed to individual sourcebooks. PHB, Volo's, Strixhaven, Descent into Avernus. This does create many more toggle switches, so it may be advantageous to instead group all adventures under a single "Adventures" toggle, although I do not find this preferable. Continue to include a "Critical Role" toggle for Blood Hunter and the like, and a "Homebrew" toggle for homebrew content.
Additionally, if a character option appears in ANY enabled source, it should be visible. Thus, enabling either Tasha's or Eberron: RftLW should reveal the Artificer, but Armorer will only be visible if Tasha's is enabled and Shifter only if Eberron is enabled. Enabling all toggles reveals all content. This will remove the inconsistency of Tasha subclasses remaining under the MTG toggle.
I'm open to feedback on this idea, but I feel it seems more straightforward for newer users. If you had all the books physically, to use a specific character option you would have to find the book it is printed in. The site already uses specific book toggles as part of the compendium content sharing options the DM may access from the campaign screen, so this would aid with parity between the two systems. If a DM does not want people playing with Acquisitions Incorporated's content for example, they can now tell players to keep that particular toggle off instead of informing players exactly what spells and backgrounds to avoid.
I agree with this, and honestly, all toggles for all content really should just default to "on" and then it would be up to the DM specifically to tell their players what they can/can't have. Rather than making it a D&D Beyond issue with help/support, make it a DM issue and have that person guide their group.
Gonna draw attention to this again now that (Mordenkainen Presents:) Monsters of the Multiverse is out. While prior to its release there was a vocal crowd who didn't want to lose their old content, the new vocal group is one looking to hide all of the old content as it clutters the race and monster lists. The former of the two could be solved and future proofed by using my system above, rather than simply including a legacy toggle.
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After browsing the Bugs & Support Forum for a while, I've noticed that one of the most common causes of confusion on this site is the Source Toggles under Character Preferences in the Editor. Numerous "bug reports" involve a player stating the purchased a certain subclass, only to find it not selectable within the editor as they forgot or did not know to enable "Critical Role Content" or "Magic: The Gathering Content."
The policy currently on DND Beyond is "simple." If the content was first published in a source (such as MTG or Eberron), that source is the one that toggles its availability.
However, this is riddled with exceptions. MTG subclasses, such as those from Theros, are behind their MTG toggles, but Artificer is not in Eberron. The argument presented originally was that the Artificer became core material with its publishing in Tasha's, but some of the subclasses that used to be from MTG universes also got republished in Tasha's and kept their toggles.
Additionally, Critical Role Content covers both content from the Wildemount sourcebook and the unofficial Critical Role subclasses and Blood Hunter.
I propose for the toggles to be changed to individual sourcebooks. PHB, Volo's, Strixhaven, Descent into Avernus. This does create many more toggle switches, so it may be advantageous to instead group all adventures under a single "Adventures" toggle, although I do not find this preferable. Continue to include a "Critical Role" toggle for Blood Hunter and the like, and a "Homebrew" toggle for homebrew content.
Additionally, if a character option appears in ANY enabled source, it should be visible. Thus, enabling either Tasha's or Eberron: RftLW should reveal the Artificer, but Armorer will only be visible if Tasha's is enabled and Shifter only if Eberron is enabled. Enabling all toggles reveals all content. This will remove the inconsistency of Tasha subclasses remaining under the MTG toggle.
I'm open to feedback on this idea, but I feel it seems more straightforward for newer users. If you had all the books physically, to use a specific character option you would have to find the book it is printed in. The site already uses specific book toggles as part of the compendium content sharing options the DM may access from the campaign screen, so this would aid with parity between the two systems. If a DM does not want people playing with Acquisitions Incorporated's content for example, they can now tell players to keep that particular toggle off instead of informing players exactly what spells and backgrounds to avoid.
I agree with this, and honestly, all toggles for all content really should just default to "on" and then it would be up to the DM specifically to tell their players what they can/can't have. Rather than making it a D&D Beyond issue with help/support, make it a DM issue and have that person guide their group.
Gonna draw attention to this again now that (Mordenkainen Presents:) Monsters of the Multiverse is out. While prior to its release there was a vocal crowd who didn't want to lose their old content, the new vocal group is one looking to hide all of the old content as it clutters the race and monster lists. The former of the two could be solved and future proofed by using my system above, rather than simply including a legacy toggle.