My Character Builder is limiting all of my characters to what's provided in the Basic Rules found in "Lost Mine of Phandelver". When I purchased the 6-month subscription, I assumed I would gain access to the character-building options available in the Players Handbook, but I'm getting a minimal skeleton; Clerics are only Life Domain, Rogues are only Thief, Wizards are only Evocation. WHAT????

Do I have to make more purchases to gain access to character options available in the Players Handbook? I refuse to spend the outrageous sums to purchase these massive bundles found in the Marketplace.

Please advise. I'm disgruntled over the misleading advertising D&D Beyond is foisting on me.

Why did you assume it would give you all the options from paid source materials? There is nothing about this in the Subscription details. 

The Hero Tier gives you unlimited character slots and the option to add homebrew released by others to your collection for your use. 

The Master Tier gives you everything from the Hero Tier plus the ability to enable Content Sharing on up to 3 campaigns. Content Sharing allows everything in the campaign to share all purchased content with everyone else in the campaign.

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There is absolutely nothing even remotely misleading. [REDACTED]

The prices in the marketplace are among the cheapest you can find. The average cost of a physical book is between $30 to $50. The same equivalent as digital version can be bought here for around $20 ("Compendium Only" versions), or you can pay the full listed price to also unlock the options for the Character Builder and other tools. 

If you don't have the money for the full books and are more interested in the character builder options you can just buy the individual item. Anything paid will be discounted against the cost of the full book should you want to pay for the book later. Anything paid towards a book will discount towards the relevant book bundles. You therefore only pay for what you specifically want to use.

If you already have the physical books, or have it available digitally elsewhere, you can use the site's free-to-use Homebrewing tools to recreate the option for your free personal use. 

D&D Beyond actually is cheaper than all others, gives you more options and control of your purchases and is very clear about what you are buying. 

Quote from Ish_Kabibal >>

My Character Builder is limiting all of my characters to what's provided in the Basic Rules found in "Lost Mine of Phandelver". When I purchased the 6-month subscription, I assumed I would gain access to the character-building options available in the Players Handbook, but I'm getting a minimal skeleton; Clerics are only Life Domain, Rogues are only Thief, Wizards are only Evocation. WHAT????

Do I have to make more purchases to gain access to character options available in the Players Handbook? I refuse to spend the outrageous sums to purchase these massive bundles found in the Marketplace.

Please advise. I'm disgruntled over the misleading advertising D&D Beyond is foisting on me.

 The details on what the hero tier subscription provides are listed clearly on https://www.dndbeyond.com/subscribe. It doesn't mention anywhere you get access to content in books, I'm not sure what advertising you feel has mislead you.

Dave,

I "assumed" that the phrase "create and progress characters" meant that I could create and progress characters. I also assumed that the previos phrase applied to the content in the Players Handbook, NOT just the Basic Rules. I did not try out all the various options of the Character Builder to discover the fact that it's limited to a small subset of character options I was expecting; I apparently didn't look hard enough.

So Dave, how do I get access to the character options found in the Players Handbook? I have no problem purchasing the digital version of the Players Handbook, but I don't want to spend the $30 if that STILL won't give me and my players access to something as simple as creating a Wizard Illusionist.

I double-checked my subscription, and it states that I subscribed to "D&D Beyond Master Semi-Annually ($29.99) billed every 6 months". Does this mean that my players can access the Players Handbook character options when they build THEIR OWN characters in my campaign? Or do they ALSO have to purchase their own digital copies of the Players Handbook.

This isn't what's clear to me from the documentation.

Your advise would be much appreciated. Thanks beforehand.

Ish Kabibal

Quote from Ish_Kabibal >>

Dave,

I "assumed" that the phrase "create and progress characters" meant that I could create and progress characters. I also assumed that the previos phrase applied to the content in the Players Handbook, NOT just the Basic Rules. I did not try out all the various options of the Character Builder to discover the fact that it's limited to a small subset of character options I was expecting; I apparently didn't look hard enough.

So Dave, how do I get access to the character options found in the Players Handbook? I have no problem purchasing the digital version of the Players Handbook, but I don't want to spend the $30 if that STILL won't give me and my players access to something as simple as creating a Wizard Illusionist.

I double-checked my subscription, and it states that I subscribed to "D&D Beyond Master Semi-Annually ($29.99) billed every 6 months". Does this mean that my players can access the Players Handbook character options when they build THEIR OWN characters in my campaign? Or do they ALSO have to purchase their own digital copies of the Players Handbook.

This isn't what's clear to me from the documentation.

Your advise would be much appreciated. Thanks beforehand.

Ish Kabibal

You can create and progress characters using the free-to-use Character Builder combined with the Basic Rules and Elemental Evil Player's Companion content. Other options for use in this builder can be purchased from the Marketplace. 

You can purchase the Player's Handbook from the Marketplace. If you get the full thing you get: a digital version of the book that you can read, plus all the options it presents for character options like all subclasses, races, feats and more. As mentioned you do have the option to purchase an option individually - like a specific spell or subclass, if you want.

The Master Tier Subscription means if you or your players have purchased extra options - like the Player's Handbook - you can all benefit and use the options. Let's say Fred got the Player's Handbook, Mary has the Xanathar's Guide to Everything book and you have the Master Tier. One of you creates a Campaign and invites the others. You join and enabled Content Sharing - now you, Mary and Fred can all use any option from the Player's Handbook or read it digitally or do the same with Xanathar's. 

I hope that makes it clearer.

You do not need a subscription to be able to use D&D Beyond. Without any purchases, you are limited to six characters and the basic rules only. If you want to use published material, you will need to either buy the book that has the material in it, or just that specific race / class / whatever.

I have found the book prices very reasonable versus their hardcover counterparts ($20 or $30 vs a $50 hardcover). There are costs when digitizing the books like adding all of the monster, spell, and action tooltips.

If you already own the hardcovers and are just interested in making a specific character, the individual purchase options might be the way to go. One note about those is that anything you spend is subtracted from the book's price if you buy it later.
Ex: You buy tabaxi from Volo's Guide for $1.99, then later you want to buy all of Volo's. It will only cost $28, rather than $29.99.

They just finished a massive sale to begin the year so there are not any current coupons, but keep an eye out on the coupon code thread. If there is a specific book you want, $10 off is a 33% discount.

As far as the subscription, all that does is remove the character slot limit and advertising. There are ongoing costs to maintaining the website and tools after all.

I don't think it is D&D Beyond's goal to be unreasonable or nickel and dime. They are just trying to provide the most options that will fit for the most players.

If you contact support and explain your situation, they should be able to refund most of the subscription cost to you (probably prorated for this month).

Hello Ish_Kabibal, welcome to D&D Beyond!

I'm sorry to hear that you're unhappy with the information provided about our subscriptions, we appreciate you including feedback with regards to where you feel the information provided was not sufficient. 

In reading this thread I see that various community members have tried to explain further, and I hope that their excellent explanations have helped! Please feel free to reach out to me if I can help answer any other questions you may have. 

As Houligan has mentioned, our Support team would be best able to assist you with this situation to make sure you're securing the services and content you're looking for. You can contact them here. 

And now a reminder to all of our community members: Please refrain from making personal commentary on your fellow members. We appreciate the efforts you all make to keep our community positive and welcoming. 

All,

YEEHAW. And there it is: I can create a wizard illusionist. I merely had to purchase the Players Handbook sourcebook. Easy Peasy, once I discovered this obscure fact. My bad for misunderstanding the base foundation source for the Master Tier; I assumed it was indeed the Players Handbook.

Now I know better, thanks much for the considerate and gracious feedback, second replies are cause for forgiveness. :-)

Ish Kabibal