Welcome to the D&D Beyond Pricing and Purchase FAQ!

If you have any questions about the pricing or purchase options for D&D Beyond, please check the FAQ below. If this doesn't address your question, or if you feel it is still unclear, please post in this thread and a moderator or staff will be happy to help clear up any uncertainty.

To keep the discussion in one place, any new threads created to discuss the pricing or purchase of content on D&D Beyond will be moved to this thread. This fulfills several important functions: it means that those asking questions will find their post in a thread that contains all the answers they need; it prevents existing threads from being derailed by discussion of pricing.

The information in this FAQ is sourced from the following two places and they should be the first place you check, to read up on how pricing works for D&D Beyond:

• Full Pricing Details for D&D Beyond.
• Full Subscription Pricing Details for D&D Beyond with  Explanation.

If directed to this thread by staff or a moderator, please read down the list of questions and answers below, as there is a fair amount of information!

Introduction to Pricing

• Q1: Do I have to pay to use D&D Beyond?
• Q2: What can I access for free?
• Q3: So the free content is limited?

Source Books & Bundles

• Q4: What am I able to buy as one-off purchases?
• Q5: What is a digital sourcebook?
• Q6: What are the prices?
• Q7: If I purchase everything, can I get a discount?
• Q7b: If I buy the core books, like Player's Handbook, during a sale, does this change the price of the Legendary Bundle?

Partial Purchases

• Q8: You mentioned just purchasing a single class or race - how does that work?
• Q9: So what are all the partial purchases that are available and how much do they cost?
• Q10: Wait - I have to pay $2 for each magic item?
• Q11: If I have purchased one or more magic items, then decide to purchase the Dungeon Master's Guide, do I get a discount?
• Q12: I already purchased some/all of the sourcebooks in hardback - can I get them for free/discount on D&D Beyond?
• Q13: I already purchased some/all of the sourcebooks on FantasyGrounds or Roll20 - can I get them for free/discount on D&D Beyond?
• Q14: In the future, will buying physical books unlock the content in D&D Beyond (voucher or code in the book)?

Subscriptions

• Q15: What about subscriptions - how do they work?
• Q15b: Does that mean I will see adverts on every page, if I don't have a subscription?
• Q15c: Can a Player in a campaign use the Master Tier subscription to share their unlocked official content?
• Q16: Do I have to pay for a subscription monthly? Can I pay once for the year instead?
• Q17: With the Master Tier subscription, how many people may the account holder share their digital sourcebooks with?
• Q18: Does a subscription give access to content in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide?
• Q19: Are you planning a higher tier subscription, that gives access to all content?
• Q20: Do I need a subscription to access homebrew?

General Questions on Pricing

• Q21: So I can add any homebrew I like, for free?
• Q22: <removed>
• Q23: I can't afford all of the books I would like immediately - will there be discounted sales later?
• Q24: Is the android/iOS mobile application available yet?
• Q25: Will there be an additional charge for the mobile application?
• Q26: Are the digital sourcebooks available offline?
• Q27: What is Compendium Content and how is that different to the full Sourcebook?

This FAQ is a compilation of questions we have received and answers given by D&D Beyond staff, so should be considered official responses, however, anything in this FAQ may be superseded by more recent posts by D&D Beyond staff. Where that happens, we will update this FAQ to reflect those changes as soon as possible.

EDIT: 07/09/2018
Personal attacks, criticisms, and non-constructive posting will not be tolerated in this thread.  Any direct conversation needs to be taken to Private Message and not posted in the thread.

This is a great time to review the Site Rules & Guidelines, as warnings/infraction points will be issued upon a stricter scale.  (Flaming, Non-constructive posting, trolling, harassment, and so forth)

Thank you!

Q1: Do I have to pay to use D&D Beyond?

No, you don't have to pay.

D&D Beyond is committed to allowing you to use this service, including the character creator and other tools, free of charge. The only restriction within that is that you only have access to the rules freely distributed by Wizards of the Coast (see Q2).

Q2: What can I access for free?

The can use all of the following on D&D Beyond for free:

• Use the Compendium to reference and read up on any rules from the D&D Basic Rules and D&D System Reference Document.
• Use the Spells listing, to access all spells from the D&D Basic Rules and D&D System Reference Document.
• Use the Magic Items listing and Equipment listing to access items from the D&D Basic Rules and D&D System Reference Document.
• Use the Monsters listing to view statistics and details of monsters from the D&D Basic Rules and D&D System Reference Document.
• Use the Search tool to find any of that information quickly and easily.
• Use the Character Builder to create and maintain up to 6 characters.
• Create or participate in Campaigns.
• Create your own homebrew spells, monsters, magic items, feats & backgrounds for private use and publish your homebrew, which can then be used by anyone with a subscription.
• Read and post on the D&D Beyond forums.

Q3: So the free content is limited?

Yes, as stated above, the freely available content is restricted to the D&D Basic Rules and D&D System Reference Document.

These rules allow you to play any of the standard races and classes and either DM or play the game of D&D.

You will find that the free rules do not have access to all of the subraces, subclasses and additional content from the source books, such as Forest Gnomes, Drow and Battlemaster Fighters.

If you want access to the expanded content on D&D Beyond, you will need to purchase the relevant sourcebook (or other options for partial purchase - see below).

Q4: What am I able to buy as one-off purchases?

You are able to unlock official Dungeons & Dragons content in digital format for a one-time purchase that is integrated into the toolset.
Content that that is currently available includes:

Digital Sourcebooks

• Player's Handbook
• Dungeon Master's Guide
• Monster Manual
• Volo's Guide to Monsters
• Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
• Xanathar's Guide to Everything
• The Tortle Package
• Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
• Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
• Guildmasters' Gude to Ravnica
• Acquisitions Incorporated

Adventure Modules

• Curse of Strahd
• Hoard of the Dragon Queen
• Lost Mines of Phandelver
• Out of the Abyss
• Princes of the Apocalypse
• Rise of Tiamat
• Storm King's Thunder
• Tales from the Yawning Portal (compilation)
• Tomb of Annihilation
• Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
• Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
• Ghosts of Saltmarsh
• Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
• Hunt for the Thessalhydra

Maps

• Tactical Maps Reincarnated

 

You can also purchase individual game elements or bundled content within any official source. Like to play barbarians? You can unlock that class and all of its options only. Want to run "Tomb of Horrors" from Tales From the Yawning Portal? Unlock that single adventure.

Link to the D&D Beyond Marketplace

Q5: What is a digital sourcebook?

A digital sourcebook is a completely digital version of one of the published books, such as the Player's Handbook or adventures like Curse of Strahd.

 

You will get the book re-created in digital format, as well as unlock all of that book's content for use throughout the toolset - both for current tools and anything on the roadmap (such as encounter building/ combat tracking, etc.).

 

Here is a preview page from the Curse of Strahd to illustrate (click here to see full-size):

 

Q6: What are the prices?

You will always find the correct and current pricing in the D&D Beyond Marketplace.

Q7: If I purchase everything, can I get a discount?

Sure! How does 15% off sound? Oh and that 15% off - it will apply to future purchases too!

It's called the Legendary Bundle and was available from launch.

The Legendary Bundle is priced at 15% off the cost of purchasing all of the content individually.

In addition to this, if you ever purchase the Legendary Bundle, you will lock in a perpetual 15% discount for every other sourcebook or adventure that you unlock in the future.

For example, you buy the Legendary Bundle and get all current products. When the next official book is released, you will be able to unlock it for only 85% of it's cost (15% off the regular price), and on and on for all new releases.

The Legendary Bundle will always be updated to include ALL content. That means that buying in at any point has the same effect. If you ever buy the bundle, you receive the benefits.

The Legendary Bundle is available in the Marketplace.

Q7b: If I buy the core books, like Player's Handbook, during a sale, does this change the price of the Legendary Bundle?

In short, no.

If you, for example, pick up the Player's Handbook for $19.99 during a sale, then a month later wish to buy the Legendary Bundle, the cost of the bundle will be reduced by the amount you paid (not the current price).

Q8: You mentioned just purchasing a single class or race - how does that work?

This feature is aimed at players who are only interested in perhaps a single class or race from one of the core rulebooks and allows you to purchase the rules for that, without having to purchase each of the rulebooks that contain those rules.

As an example, say you love playing Rogues and want to create one with the Swashbuckler subclass, this is in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Rather than purchase the whole of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, you could instead just purchase the Class Options bundle that will unlock all the subclasses available in that book.

You might further decide that you want that character to be a Tabaxi, but that race is in Volo's Guide to Monsters. You can purchase just the Tabaxi race, unlocking all of the information, lore and rules for them.

You can now make your Tabaxi Swashbuckler!

Q9: So what are all the partial purchases that are available and how much do they cost?

These are designed as "minimum purchases" to allow you to get to play what you want, with as little expenditure as possible. You can find the partial purchases on the same page as the book they are from.

Full details are available here, though a summary is:

• Individual Races (e.g. Aasimar, Tabaxi): $2.99
• PHB Races Bundle (all Races from Player's Handbook): $5.99
• Individual Classes from PHB (e.g. Fighter, Cleric): $3.99
• PHB Class Bundle (all Classes from Player's Handbook): $9.99
• Magic Items (each): $1.99
• All Magic Items from the Dungeon Master's Guide: $12.99
• Spells (each) / Backgrounds (each) / Feat (each) / Monster (each) / Subrace (each) / Subclass (each): $1.99
• Adventure Book Content (whole book) / Adventure Book Monsters (whole book) / Adventure Book Items (whole book): $ varies (look here)

As an example, playing an Aasimar Paladin, with a City Watch background would normally require you to purchase the Player's Handbook, Volo's Guide to Monsters and the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but instead you could purchase just Aasimar, Paladin & the background for under $9.

The purpose is to have flexible options for players who want different ways to consume the content.

Note that the prices above may become out-of-date and the prices in the marketplace always take precedence over these.

Q10: Wait - I have to pay $2 for each magic item?

You are absolutely able to purchase the entire book's worth of digital content (the full book itself, as well as the content in all the things we've been working on pretty hard for the last few months the listings, builder, etc.) at a flat price ($29.99 for sourcebooks and $24.99 for adventures - again, the lowest digital prices I've seen).

 

If - and only if - you do not want to spend that amount on the entire source (such as Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) because you only want a single spell to use with your warlock (such as green-flame blade), then you have the option to buy that one spell for $1.99.

 

I didn't want to buy the entire Despicable Me 2 soundtrack for that one Happy song, so instead of buying the whole album for $9, I bought the one song for $2.

Q11: If I have purchased one or more magic items, then decide to purchase the Dungeon Master's Guide, do I get a discount?

The cost of any individual elements or bundles you unlock within a particular source will be credited toward the purchase of the full source.

Let's say you purchase 3 spells from the Player's Handbook for $2 each (rounding for easier math) for a total of $6, then the PHB Races bundle for $6. If you later decide to purchase the entire Player's Handbook, you will receive a credit on that purchase of $12, making the total remaining cost ~$18.

Full details here.

This is NOT A REFUND - you will see the "remaining cost" price for the product up front and make your purchase decision from there.

We hope this will further reinforce that providing these purchase options is not intended to be "microtransactions," but rather to provide flexibility for the community.

Q12: I already purchased some/all of the sourcebooks in hardback and have proof of purchase - can I get them for free/discount on D&D Beyond?

No - this is not something that is possible.

 

The D&D Beyond website is created, owned and maintained by Curse (a Twitch company), who have a license agreement with Wizards of the Coast to use the D&D content.

The hardback books are sold by Wizards of the Coast - none of the money from this goes to Curse.

Asking to have free access on D&D Beyond, due to already owning the hardback books, is asking to have it for free, from a company that has made no money from the books you already bought.

There have been many discussions on these forums about this, often with the presentation of analogies to compare pricing models of other products or markets, with the result that the discussion usually derails into counter-analogies.

The simple fact is that it is not possible to do this.

Please also see Q2 - What can I access for free?

Q13: I already purchased some/all of the sourcebooks on FantasyGrounds or Roll20 - can I get them for free/discount on D&D Beyond?

No. Sorry - this is also not possible.

Q14: In the future, will buying physical books unlock the content in D&D Beyond (voucher or code in the book)?

This is not something that is planned.

Q15: What about subscriptions - how do they work?

You can get the most out their D&D Beyond experience by signing up for one of two subscription tiers:

 

The Hero Tier at $2.99/ month is intended primarily for players. It removes ads on the site, allows players to create an unlimited number of characters, and add publicly-shared homebrew content to your collection to use within the toolset.

 

The Master Tier at $5.99/ month is intended primarily for Dungeon Masters and full groups. It grants all the benefits of the Hero Tier, and also allows the account holder to share all of their unlocked official content with other members of a campaign - so content does not have to be unlocked by every player. Note that the subscription holder does not have to be the DM.

 

Full details on that are here.

Q15b: Does that mean I will see adverts on every page, if I don't have a subscription?

Absolutely not - no adverts will be displayed on compendium pages for purchased content, even for free accounts.

 

This means that, if you purchase the Player's Handbook, you can browse that content, without seeing a single advert, regardless of whether you are paying for a subscription.

 

Adverts are being used as a source of revenue to reduce the costs that are passed on to those who use the site.

 Q15c: Can a Player in a campaign use the Master Tier subscription to share unlocked official content?

Yes - the holder of the Master Tier subscription can be anyone in the campaign, whether DM or Player.

The account holder enables Content Sharing for the campaign and then all official content that has been unlocked by anyone in the campaign, is shared with the other members of the campaign.

Q 16: Do I have to pay for a subscription monthly? Can I pay once for the year instead?

We have heard the request for longer subscription renewal options, so we will offer 1 month, 6 month, and 1 year buckets.

 

You also get a discount, when you purchase multiple months in advance!

 

Full details on that are here.

Q17: With the Master Tier subscription, how many players may a DM share their digital sourcebooks with?

The Master Tier subscription allows a subscriber to turn on content sharing for up to 3 campaigns in which she participates. Each campaign can have up to 12 participants (13 counting the DM).

Turning content sharing on for a campaign means that any content unlocked by any participant (player or DM) within that campaign is available for all players and the DM for use. We originally announced that a DM has to unlock the content in order to share, but that is no longer the case - anyone in that campaign can unlock content and share it with the other people in that campaign as long as one person (doesn't have to be the DM) has a Master Tier subscription and has used it to toggle content sharing on for that campaign.

Q18: Does a subscription give access to content in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide?

No - subscriptions give increased functionality, as described above - they do not give access to additional content.

To gain access to digital source books, such as the Player's Handbook, you will need to make a one-time purchase.

Q19: Are you planning a higher tier subscription, that gives access to all content?

No - that isn't planned.

Subscriptions give increased functionality.

One-time purchases give access to content.