Okay I'm confused... what is the point of buying the digital version of the book through this site... if I can't use the features and digital tools on this site? I might as well just buy a physical copy and call it a day at that point. There's no point in buying a digital version is that doesn't unlock all the benefits of having purchased it HERE, as opposed to anywhere else.
If you're referring to the compendium content, purchased content will be indexed and searchable, giving you an interactive version of the books including high resolution versions of art and maps.
But the full purchase of each book (which is still cheaper than MSRP) includes the content optimised for the tools
I just don't see the purpose of buying that HERE, on THIS website, if it doesn't unlock THESE tools. Just seems silly.
Also what are you basing the MSRP on? The Amazon page IS the publisher's storefront. Why would you argue with their own price?
Because DDB is owned by a company that is not WotC selling a product that you absolutely don't need to buy if you don't want to. It is not required to play D&D, you can just buy the physical books and play allllll day long, forever, without ever needing to come back to DDB.
I should like to point out that DDB is not the only place to buy digital versions of the books. For example, you can buy digital versions on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. Yup, you would have to buy them again on each of those platforms if you wanted to use them there. The point is that these are all separate companies, and the product they are selling is a digital copy of the books. None of those companies are WotC. That's why you have to pay "again".
Or, you know, just buy digital versions, and don't buy hardcopies.
Also, as far as Amazon is concerned, it is not the digital storefront of WotC. You are not buying those books from WotC with the help of Amazon. Amazon bought those books from WotC and is reselling them just like if you go to a real life bookstore. WotC already has the money for them. Amazon sells them cheaper than game/comic stores because they can, because they have the power to buy in huge bulk discounts, and use that discount to get people onto Amazon to buy lots and lots of peripheral stuff, just like any big chain retailer has "loss leader" items to get you into the store.
Why should you buy digital books here? I don't know, that's up to you, but it sounds like you're asking people here to justify why you should have to "pay again", when that isn't even the issue.
You're completely missing my point and ignoring what I said. What I said is that it is silly to specifically pay $20 for a digital format of a book, which it has now been pointed out many times can be bought anywhere else on or off the internet, on this particular website, when doing so does not unlock the features that this website has to offer. Yes, I'd say $30 is too much just to unlock some features, when you're not receiving a hard copy of the book, nor is DDB the actual creator of the material.
As to the Amazon not being their storefront... then why does it literally say on the official homepage of Wizards https://dnd.wizards.com/, "Amazon Storefront?" That appears to be the only way to purchase their products, other than by hunting them down in a brick and mortar store.
The point of all this is to say that I wish D&D was a bit more accessible. DDB may not be "required" to play the game, but it certainly makes it a lot more accessible. Unless you happen to want to access most of the material, and don't happen to have a bunch of extra money lying around. Then, not so much. It's just unfortunate.
Okay I'm confused... what is the point of buying the digital version of the book through this site... if I can't use the features and digital tools on this site? I might as well just buy a physical copy and call it a day at that point. There's no point in buying a digital version is that doesn't unlock all the benefits of having purchased it HERE, as opposed to anywhere else.
If you're referring to the compendium content, purchased content will be indexed and searchable, giving you an interactive version of the books including high resolution versions of art and maps.
But the full purchase of each book (which is still cheaper than MSRP) includes the content optimised for the tools
I just don't see the purpose of buying that HERE, on THIS website, if it doesn't unlock THESE tools. Just seems silly.
Also what are you basing the MSRP on? The Amazon page IS the publisher's storefront. Why would you argue with their own price?
Because DDB is owned by a company that is not WotC selling a product that you absolutely don't need to buy if you don't want to. It is not required to play D&D, you can just buy the physical books and play allllll day long, forever, without ever needing to come back to DDB.
I should like to point out that DDB is not the only place to buy digital versions of the books. For example, you can buy digital versions on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. Yup, you would have to buy them again on each of those platforms if you wanted to use them there. The point is that these are all separate companies, and the product they are selling is a digital copy of the books. None of those companies are WotC. That's why you have to pay "again".
Or, you know, just buy digital versions, and don't buy hardcopies.
Also, as far as Amazon is concerned, it is not the digital storefront of WotC. You are not buying those books from WotC with the help of Amazon. Amazon bought those books from WotC and is reselling them just like if you go to a real life bookstore. WotC already has the money for them. Amazon sells them cheaper than game/comic stores because they can, because they have the power to buy in huge bulk discounts, and use that discount to get people onto Amazon to buy lots and lots of peripheral stuff, just like any big chain retailer has "loss leader" items to get you into the store.
Why should you buy digital books here? I don't know, that's up to you, but it sounds like you're asking people here to justify why you should have to "pay again", when that isn't even the issue.
You're completely missing my point and ignoring what I said. What I said is that it is silly to specifically pay $20 for a digital format of a book, which it has now been pointed out many times can be bought anywhere else on or off the internet, on this particular website, when doing so does not unlock the features that this website has to offer. Yes, I'd say $30 is too much just to unlock some features, when you're not receiving a hard copy of the book, nor is DDB the actual creator of the material.
As to the Amazon not being their storefront... then why does it literally say on the official homepage of Wizards https://dnd.wizards.com/, "Amazon Storefront?" That appears to be the only way to purchase their products, other than by hunting them down in a brick and mortar store.
The point of all this is to say that I wish D&D was a bit more accessible. DDB may not be "required" to play the game, but it certainly makes it a lot more accessible. Unless you happen to want to access most of the material, and don't happen to have a bunch of extra money lying around. Then, not so much. It's just unfortunate.
D&D is the most accessible it has ever been. WotC puts out the Basic Rules completely for free, which is all you need to get started playing D&D. You could literally just use those rules and make up stats for any other character feature or NPC or monster and never pay for anything and play D&D for years. Furthermore, those same free rules are also completely free on this site, along with their use in the tools. And you can also use the homebrew to input those same additional rules you made up for the pen and paper version.
If you mean that they're not making the additional content they worked to create (or in this site's case, encode) "more accessible", idk what to tell you. You usually have to buy most products if you want them.
The impasse in this debate I think is that in my opinion, and the opinion of WotC and most of the happy customers here, D&D Beyond and the Dungeons & Dragons physical books are separate products, where as you would seem to disagree. But we see it as paying for the medium, not the content contained within it. We are allowed to use the content, but we can't make our own copies and sell them without a license from WotC, which then would be paying for the content. You may not like that policy, and you don't have to like it, but it's the reality of the situation. No one is being swindled.
Now let's all just be friends and go play D&D in the way we prefer the most! I mean, you're a D&D player so I would probably high five you IRL.
Okay I'm confused... what is the point of buying the digital version of the book through this site... if I can't use the features and digital tools on this site? I might as well just buy a physical copy and call it a day at that point. There's no point in buying a digital version is that doesn't unlock all the benefits of having purchased it HERE, as opposed to anywhere else.
If you're referring to the compendium content, purchased content will be indexed and searchable, giving you an interactive version of the books including high resolution versions of art and maps.
But the full purchase of each book (which is still cheaper than MSRP) includes the content optimised for the tools
I just don't see the purpose of buying that HERE, on THIS website, if it doesn't unlock THESE tools. Just seems silly.
Also what are you basing the MSRP on? The Amazon page IS the publisher's storefront. Why would you argue with their own price?
Because DDB is owned by a company that is not WotC selling a product that you absolutely don't need to buy if you don't want to. It is not required to play D&D, you can just buy the physical books and play allllll day long, forever, without ever needing to come back to DDB.
I should like to point out that DDB is not the only place to buy digital versions of the books. For example, you can buy digital versions on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. Yup, you would have to buy them again on each of those platforms if you wanted to use them there. The point is that these are all separate companies, and the product they are selling is a digital copy of the books. None of those companies are WotC. That's why you have to pay "again".
Or, you know, just buy digital versions, and don't buy hardcopies.
Also, as far as Amazon is concerned, it is not the digital storefront of WotC. You are not buying those books from WotC with the help of Amazon. Amazon bought those books from WotC and is reselling them just like if you go to a real life bookstore. WotC already has the money for them. Amazon sells them cheaper than game/comic stores because they can, because they have the power to buy in huge bulk discounts, and use that discount to get people onto Amazon to buy lots and lots of peripheral stuff, just like any big chain retailer has "loss leader" items to get you into the store.
Why should you buy digital books here? I don't know, that's up to you, but it sounds like you're asking people here to justify why you should have to "pay again", when that isn't even the issue.
You're completely missing my point and ignoring what I said. What I said is that it is silly to specifically pay $20 for a digital format of a book, which it has now been pointed out many times can be bought anywhere else on or off the internet, on this particular website, when doing so does not unlock the features that this website has to offer. Yes, I'd say $30 is too much just to unlock some features, when you're not receiving a hard copy of the book, nor is DDB the actual creator of the material.
As to the Amazon not being their storefront... then why does it literally say on the official homepage of Wizards https://dnd.wizards.com/, "Amazon Storefront?" That appears to be the only way to purchase their products, other than by hunting them down in a brick and mortar store.
The point of all this is to say that I wish D&D was a bit more accessible. DDB may not be "r offline with the beyondequired" to play the game, but it certainly makes it a lot more accessible. Unless you happen to want to access most of the material, and don't happen to have a bunch of extra money lying around. Then, not so much. It's just unfortunate.
I just purchased the theros book from here for $25 and change so that when the book is released later I can use it here for character creation monster/treasure/npc stats for actual games, as well as reading it here online and Offline in the Beyond app. So I really don't get your issue, If I purchased the content from like roll20 I couldn't use it here.
Okay I'm confused... what is the point of buying the digital version of the book through this site... if I can't use the features and digital tools on this site? I might as well just buy a physical copy and call it a day at that point. There's no point in buying a digital version is that doesn't unlock all the benefits of having purchased it HERE, as opposed to anywhere else.
Some people prefer digital to physical. Why carry a dozen books in a bag when you can access all of it from a smartphone in the palm of your hand? And searching through a digital book can be faster than searching through a physical book. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear or misplacing the book. However, arguments can be made for having a physical book. At the end of the day it's about what you prefer.
Why do people keep saying it's overpriced here when everytime I go check this is the cheapest place to get them?
Tip: to compare prices look at the "compendium only" prices at the bottom. The compendium only is the digital version of the book. The rest of the other cost is for inclusion of the features into the digital tools.
You can get a sourcebook here, compendium only for like $20, where elsewhere it's $25-$50.
Literally the cheapest place to get books anywhere, but still gets complained it's overpriced. People baffle me. O.o
$20 for a digital copy of a book is not cheap. Also, that's just one book, and in order to fully enjoy the game, you need multiple resources that add up to hundreds of dollars. It's just not affordable, we don't all have hundreds of dollars to throw around.
Whether $20 is cheap is subjective to the individual. My point was it is the cheapest place - so therefore it is not overpriced compared to other places. Now if you're on about D&D in general being overpriced that's something you can address with Wizards of the Coast and has nothing to do with D&D Beyond.
I must also disagree with you. The Basic Rules and Elemental Evil Player's Companion and Unearthed Arcana all provide you plenty of content to play with and everything you actually need to play D&D. And it's all free. The digital tools offered by this website - the character sheet and homebrew making tools - are also free. If you have the physical book you could use the homebrew tools to recreate stuff for personal use - free. The purchasing of books just gives extra options and more lore if wanted - totally unncessary, but useful. Most other TTRPGs don't offer so much free and their books are typically more expensive and usually don't come with such consolidated digital tools either (and usually those that do charge for those tools).
By getting stuff through D&D Beyond, I have almost everything official and have saved over $200 than if I got the same content elsewhere - AND my purchases here unlock options for the tools making it all even better.
D&D Beyond with the tools, digital content and being the cheapest place for sourcing all official material has greatly improved my D&D gaming without breaking my bank. So hopefully you can understand why I'm not seeing merit to the argument of D&D beyond being overpriced. Especially since you can start playing entirely for free.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
In terms of making D&D “accessible,” it all depends on what one means by that. I presume, given the context, you aren’t talking about accessibility for differently-abled persons, but accessible to folks with limited budgets. If I’m wrong about that, please correct me.
From my perspective, DDB has done a lot to make things accessible to those of us on a budget, in two main ways: 1) The homebrew tools and explicit permission to homebrew content from the books for private use here. (We just can’t publish it). 1) The ability to purchase things piecemeal.
When DDB first started, I bought just the PHB, and did so during the initial sale period. I made do with that here for some time. I did eventually purchase a Hero Tier sub to have more characters. (If memory serves, I used Christmas money to do so). I homebrewed a few spells, the Firbolg race, and at least one of the half-elf variants from SCAG. When my mother wanted to try D&D and wanted to be a Tabaxi, I bought just the Tabaxi race from Volos to build her character for her. (She doesn’t have a DDB account; I keep her character and print it out for her when we are going to play). Similarly, when I joined a PBP game here and wanted to play a Storm Sorcerer, I bought just that.
I inched my way into purchasing both the Monster Manual and Xanathar’s, buying just the monsters I needed for upcoming encounters and just the spells or subclasses my players or I were using. I only bought the “compendium” part of the Monster Manual when a combination of already owning the monsters and a sale or coupon code brought the cost to $3 or less; I took advantage of the same sale/discount to get the rest of Xanathar’s. All meaning I could have the content I most needed accessible for far less cost than an entire “book” whether digital or print, any only picked up the rest when it was a good deal for me.
Since you (beebliophile) are most interested in the toolset and not the compendiums, I would suggest that you compare the cost of buying the toolset elements here to the cost of Gale Force 9’s spell/monster/magic item cards sets, which come as close as any physical tools I’m aware of to providing some (but only some) of the utility of the tools here.
In the end, only you can decide if 1) the tools here are worth it to you at the cost they are asking for and 2) if your budget will allow for that.
You're completely missing my point and ignoring what I said. What I said is that it is silly to specifically pay $20 for a digital format of a book, which it has now been pointed out many times can be bought anywhere else on or off the internet, on this particular website, when doing so does not unlock the features that this website has to offer. Yes, I'd say $30 is too much just to unlock some features, when you're not receiving a hard copy of the book, nor is DDB the actual creator of the material.
As to the Amazon not being their storefront... then why does it literally say on the official homepage of Wizards https://dnd.wizards.com/, "Amazon Storefront?" That appears to be the only way to purchase their products, other than by hunting them down in a brick and mortar store.
The point of all this is to say that I wish D&D was a bit more accessible. DDB may not be "required" to play the game, but it certainly makes it a lot more accessible. Unless you happen to want to access most of the material, and don't happen to have a bunch of extra money lying around. Then, not so much. It's just unfortunate.
I haven't missed your point. You are asking us to convince you why you should buy it here rather than somewhere else. The point of the $20 compendium is for people who want to save some money, and don't need/want to use it in conjunction with the other tools of the site, who just want a digital reference version.
Guess what, when you buy the physical book, it comes with NO extra tools. You have to do everything yourself, so the $20 compendium on DDB is a much better comparison, since you don't get the tools, and even then it's better because it is searchable and hyperlinked!
At the end of the day, it's not up to anyone to convince you to buy it here. It sounds like you don't want to, so why are you even in this thread complaining about it? If you don't think it's useful to you, don't buy it.
As for wishing D&D was more "accessible", I'm going to assume you mean you wish it was "more free", because this site literally makes it accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection, and if you have the app, anywhere you don't have an internet connection.
Finally, if your issue is that you wish there was a cheaper or free digital version of D&D, then you've come to the wrong place to complain. D&D Beyond is not owned by WotC, and under no obligation to offer their product for any less than they want to (as long as the market will bear such a price). If you want to complain about how D&D should have a cheaper (or free) digital version, you need to go complain to WotC. Guess what... they aren't here.
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"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I think a large part of this whole "if I own the physical books I should be able to use it on D&D Beyond for free" thing is that people don't understand what actually goes into D&D Beyond.
D&D Beyond isn't just an e-reader. You can't just take the text of the PHB and put it on the servers that power D&D Beyond and it suddenly will populate all of the spells, monsters, magic items, etc that can immediately work with the D&D Beyond character sheet or other tools.
D&D Beyond is a software product. It requires programming. Programming in each individual spell, each character race or class, etc., all takes time, effort, and money. The baseline book text is cheap on D&D Beyond - usually the cheapest place to purchase it aside from used book stores or friends (and then you have a nice digital copy of the books, which personally I prefer over a hardcover because I can carry a single small digital device and have my entire D&D library available and searchable while I have to carry a suitcase to fit all my D&D 5e hardcovers).
Integrating the book text into the D&D Beyond toolset costs extra. Not enough extra to make the "compendium" (book text) cost plus the toolset integration cost more expensive than just buying the hardcover at MSRP, but still more than the basic compendium cost. This makes purchasing a book plus toolset integration from D&D Beyond comparable in cost or slightly more than the cost to buy a hardcover from Amazon - but you also get more than what Amazon is selling you. Plus, after the (very common) discounts D&D Beyond products are usually cheaper than buying from Amazon anyways, and they're always less than buying from your local gaming store.
Okay I'm confused... what is the point of buying the digital version of the book through this site... if I can't use the features and digital tools on this site? I might as well just buy a physical copy and call it a day at that point. There's no point in buying a digital version is that doesn't unlock all the benefits of having purchased it HERE, as opposed to anywhere else.
If you're referring to the compendium content, purchased content will be indexed and searchable, giving you an interactive version of the books including high resolution versions of art and maps.
But the full purchase of each book (which is still cheaper than MSRP) includes the content optimised for the tools
I just don't see the purpose of buying that HERE, on THIS website, if it doesn't unlock THESE tools. Just seems silly.
Also what are you basing the MSRP on? The Amazon page IS the publisher's storefront. Why would you argue with their own price?
Because DDB is owned by a company that is not WotC selling a product that you absolutely don't need to buy if you don't want to. It is not required to play D&D, you can just buy the physical books and play allllll day long, forever, without ever needing to come back to DDB.
I should like to point out that DDB is not the only place to buy digital versions of the books. For example, you can buy digital versions on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. Yup, you would have to buy them again on each of those platforms if you wanted to use them there. The point is that these are all separate companies, and the product they are selling is a digital copy of the books. None of those companies are WotC. That's why you have to pay "again".
Or, you know, just buy digital versions, and don't buy hardcopies.
Also, as far as Amazon is concerned, it is not the digital storefront of WotC. You are not buying those books from WotC with the help of Amazon. Amazon bought those books from WotC and is reselling them just like if you go to a real life bookstore. WotC already has the money for them. Amazon sells them cheaper than game/comic stores because they can, because they have the power to buy in huge bulk discounts, and use that discount to get people onto Amazon to buy lots and lots of peripheral stuff, just like any big chain retailer has "loss leader" items to get you into the store.
Why should you buy digital books here? I don't know, that's up to you, but it sounds like you're asking people here to justify why you should have to "pay again", when that isn't even the issue.
Personally, the issue here for me is that the cost of the books here is more or less the same cost as buying a physical copy of the book. A physical copy that I can use any time, anywhere. Whereas if I buy the book here, I can only use it here. Internet goes out? Can't use your book. Site crashes? Can't use your book. Half the world logged onto DDB because they are quarantined and the site can't handle the load? Can't use your book.
The obvious answer would be to charge far less than a physical copy for the material available on DDB. After all, I'm not getting a physical copy or even a downloadable PDF. I'm getting access to a limited use database. And it's not like they have to re-code the data for every user, so once it's there, it's there. They simply (via automated process) flag an account as having access to said data.
A digital version is already cheaper than the physical books (the digital version is the Compendium Only version, the rest of the main price is integration into the tools). And you can download to a device like a phone or tablet using the app for offline reading.
If they lower the price too much they'll start going bankrupt. Remember, every purchase you make is a license they have to buy from WotC.
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Personally, the issue here for me is that the cost of the books here is more or less the same cost as buying a physical copy of the book. A physical copy that I can use any time, anywhere. Whereas if I buy the book here, I can only use it here. Internet goes out? Can't use your book. Site crashes? Can't use your book. Half the world logged onto DDB because they are quarantined and the site can't handle the load? Can't use your book.
The obvious answer would be to charge far less than a physical copy for the material available on DDB. After all, I'm not getting a physical copy or even a downloadable PDF. I'm getting access to a limited use database. And it's not like they have to re-code the data for every user, so once it's there, it's there. They simply (via automated process) flag an account as having access to said data.
You're missing the point that neither WotC or DDB is obligated to provide you with a cheaper digital version, regardless of whether or not you believe it is worth less than the physical copy. If you don't feel it is worth the price, you are welcome to not buy it. DDB (nor any of the other digital versions like Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds) is not needed to play D&D.
Clearly enough people disagree with you to make it a viable business model for DDB (and by extension Fandom, their owner).
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"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
You said that if the internet goes out, you cant read your book, but you can with the mobile app and you certainly can if you made a ripped copy for your own use. DDB is asking you to pay for their work in doing that for you. Either make the fried chicken yourself or pay for someone else to do it.
If you are heavily into D&D 5E, the hardcover book's wear out (especially the cheap bindings these day).
With DnDBeyond I can have multiple sections of multiple books open at the same time. No wear n tear. I have an older iPad (iOS 10.3) that handles the app fine and I use it for offline access. Soon we will have a character app for offline character access also.
I first saw DnDBeyond advertised on a Nerdarchy video and tried it. A month later I bought the Legendary Bundle and have seldom been unhappy that I did..
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
This is completely irrelevant to the discussions, but related to the thread.
I'm currently trying to homebrew things as an alternative to not buy the books digitally. Unfortunately the homebrew designing system is hard so having some trouble, and might reconsider. James Incatroso's design workshop(and James Haeck's homebrewing subclass guide) helps, but both of them skip important details, like "you add this modifier and..." They don't go into details, just add this and that, it doesn't show how you add this and that. Also the Juggernaut doesn't go into Spells or Creatures, but Spells are complicated and Creatures have a bug(have to add it manually). Backgrounds are easy enough, haven't homebrewed any monsters yet. This doesn't seem like the right thread but I couldn't find a relevant thread that was open. Also this is kind of related in the way I'm suggesting homebrewing as an alternative not to buy the digital books.
the actual d&d handbooks are hardcover and officially licensed products, thats why they're worth $30+. why the hell i should pay $30 to look through a "fully indexed and searchable" ONLINE version of a book ive already spent, im pretty sure, over $30 on is beyond me...
In most case, when in heavy use, the hardcover books aren't worth the price. I have lost count of how many hardcovers I, and my players, went through before I switched to DnDBeyond. The bindings just don't hold up to heavy use.
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
the price of a hardcover book is because it costs more to make and is, no matter the use, more durable than paperback. i also haven't got much of a chance to use it yet, and don't get to play this game as often as id like in normal times anyways. i don't have $30 to waste on a digital copy of a [borderline] mint condition book i already have
I can't speak to that. If your game currently runs fine as is, DDB may not be for you.
Why have other people bought them?
I can't speak to that either. There are lots of great responses on pretty much any forum where it's been brought up.
What I can say is that to me, the convenience is worth the price. Yes, I already have several hardcover books that I still use. But I also use the digital tools regularly.
Why do some people buy new cars when the one they already have drives fine? Because they wanted to.
You're completely missing my point and ignoring what I said. What I said is that it is silly to specifically pay $20 for a digital format of a book, which it has now been pointed out many times can be bought anywhere else on or off the internet, on this particular website, when doing so does not unlock the features that this website has to offer. Yes, I'd say $30 is too much just to unlock some features, when you're not receiving a hard copy of the book, nor is DDB the actual creator of the material.
As to the Amazon not being their storefront... then why does it literally say on the official homepage of Wizards https://dnd.wizards.com/, "Amazon Storefront?" That appears to be the only way to purchase their products, other than by hunting them down in a brick and mortar store.
The point of all this is to say that I wish D&D was a bit more accessible. DDB may not be "required" to play the game, but it certainly makes it a lot more accessible. Unless you happen to want to access most of the material, and don't happen to have a bunch of extra money lying around. Then, not so much. It's just unfortunate.
D&D
D&D is the most accessible it has ever been. WotC puts out the Basic Rules completely for free, which is all you need to get started playing D&D. You could literally just use those rules and make up stats for any other character feature or NPC or monster and never pay for anything and play D&D for years. Furthermore, those same free rules are also completely free on this site, along with their use in the tools. And you can also use the homebrew to input those same additional rules you made up for the pen and paper version.
If you mean that they're not making the additional content they worked to create (or in this site's case, encode) "more accessible", idk what to tell you. You usually have to buy most products if you want them.
The impasse in this debate I think is that in my opinion, and the opinion of WotC and most of the happy customers here, D&D Beyond and the Dungeons & Dragons physical books are separate products, where as you would seem to disagree. But we see it as paying for the medium, not the content contained within it. We are allowed to use the content, but we can't make our own copies and sell them without a license from WotC, which then would be paying for the content. You may not like that policy, and you don't have to like it, but it's the reality of the situation. No one is being swindled.
Now let's all just be friends and go play D&D in the way we prefer the most! I mean, you're a D&D player so I would probably high five you IRL.
I just purchased the theros book from here for $25 and change so that when the book is released later I can use it here for character creation monster/treasure/npc stats for actual games, as well as reading it here online and Offline in the Beyond app. So I really don't get your issue, If I purchased the content from like roll20 I couldn't use it here.
Some people prefer digital to physical. Why carry a dozen books in a bag when you can access all of it from a smartphone in the palm of your hand? And searching through a digital book can be faster than searching through a physical book. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear or misplacing the book. However, arguments can be made for having a physical book. At the end of the day it's about what you prefer.
Whether $20 is cheap is subjective to the individual. My point was it is the cheapest place - so therefore it is not overpriced compared to other places. Now if you're on about D&D in general being overpriced that's something you can address with Wizards of the Coast and has nothing to do with D&D Beyond.
I must also disagree with you. The Basic Rules and Elemental Evil Player's Companion and Unearthed Arcana all provide you plenty of content to play with and everything you actually need to play D&D. And it's all free. The digital tools offered by this website - the character sheet and homebrew making tools - are also free. If you have the physical book you could use the homebrew tools to recreate stuff for personal use - free. The purchasing of books just gives extra options and more lore if wanted - totally unncessary, but useful. Most other TTRPGs don't offer so much free and their books are typically more expensive and usually don't come with such consolidated digital tools either (and usually those that do charge for those tools).
By getting stuff through D&D Beyond, I have almost everything official and have saved over $200 than if I got the same content elsewhere - AND my purchases here unlock options for the tools making it all even better.
D&D Beyond with the tools, digital content and being the cheapest place for sourcing all official material has greatly improved my D&D gaming without breaking my bank. So hopefully you can understand why I'm not seeing merit to the argument of D&D beyond being overpriced. Especially since you can start playing entirely for free.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
In terms of making D&D “accessible,” it all depends on what one means by that. I presume, given the context, you aren’t talking about accessibility for differently-abled persons, but accessible to folks with limited budgets. If I’m wrong about that, please correct me.
From my perspective, DDB has done a lot to make things accessible to those of us on a budget, in two main ways: 1) The homebrew tools and explicit permission to homebrew content from the books for private use here. (We just can’t publish it). 1) The ability to purchase things piecemeal.
When DDB first started, I bought just the PHB, and did so during the initial sale period. I made do with that here for some time. I did eventually purchase a Hero Tier sub to have more characters. (If memory serves, I used Christmas money to do so). I homebrewed a few spells, the Firbolg race, and at least one of the half-elf variants from SCAG. When my mother wanted to try D&D and wanted to be a Tabaxi, I bought just the Tabaxi race from Volos to build her character for her. (She doesn’t have a DDB account; I keep her character and print it out for her when we are going to play). Similarly, when I joined a PBP game here and wanted to play a Storm Sorcerer, I bought just that.
I inched my way into purchasing both the Monster Manual and Xanathar’s, buying just the monsters I needed for upcoming encounters and just the spells or subclasses my players or I were using. I only bought the “compendium” part of the Monster Manual when a combination of already owning the monsters and a sale or coupon code brought the cost to $3 or less; I took advantage of the same sale/discount to get the rest of Xanathar’s. All meaning I could have the content I most needed accessible for far less cost than an entire “book” whether digital or print, any only picked up the rest when it was a good deal for me.
Since you (beebliophile) are most interested in the toolset and not the compendiums, I would suggest that you compare the cost of buying the toolset elements here to the cost of Gale Force 9’s spell/monster/magic item cards sets, which come as close as any physical tools I’m aware of to providing some (but only some) of the utility of the tools here.
In the end, only you can decide if 1) the tools here are worth it to you at the cost they are asking for and 2) if your budget will allow for that.
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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I haven't missed your point. You are asking us to convince you why you should buy it here rather than somewhere else. The point of the $20 compendium is for people who want to save some money, and don't need/want to use it in conjunction with the other tools of the site, who just want a digital reference version.
Guess what, when you buy the physical book, it comes with NO extra tools. You have to do everything yourself, so the $20 compendium on DDB is a much better comparison, since you don't get the tools, and even then it's better because it is searchable and hyperlinked!
At the end of the day, it's not up to anyone to convince you to buy it here. It sounds like you don't want to, so why are you even in this thread complaining about it? If you don't think it's useful to you, don't buy it.
As for wishing D&D was more "accessible", I'm going to assume you mean you wish it was "more free", because this site literally makes it accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection, and if you have the app, anywhere you don't have an internet connection.
Finally, if your issue is that you wish there was a cheaper or free digital version of D&D, then you've come to the wrong place to complain. D&D Beyond is not owned by WotC, and under no obligation to offer their product for any less than they want to (as long as the market will bear such a price). If you want to complain about how D&D should have a cheaper (or free) digital version, you need to go complain to WotC. Guess what... they aren't here.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I think a large part of this whole "if I own the physical books I should be able to use it on D&D Beyond for free" thing is that people don't understand what actually goes into D&D Beyond.
D&D Beyond isn't just an e-reader. You can't just take the text of the PHB and put it on the servers that power D&D Beyond and it suddenly will populate all of the spells, monsters, magic items, etc that can immediately work with the D&D Beyond character sheet or other tools.
D&D Beyond is a software product. It requires programming. Programming in each individual spell, each character race or class, etc., all takes time, effort, and money. The baseline book text is cheap on D&D Beyond - usually the cheapest place to purchase it aside from used book stores or friends (and then you have a nice digital copy of the books, which personally I prefer over a hardcover because I can carry a single small digital device and have my entire D&D library available and searchable while I have to carry a suitcase to fit all my D&D 5e hardcovers).
Integrating the book text into the D&D Beyond toolset costs extra. Not enough extra to make the "compendium" (book text) cost plus the toolset integration cost more expensive than just buying the hardcover at MSRP, but still more than the basic compendium cost. This makes purchasing a book plus toolset integration from D&D Beyond comparable in cost or slightly more than the cost to buy a hardcover from Amazon - but you also get more than what Amazon is selling you. Plus, after the (very common) discounts D&D Beyond products are usually cheaper than buying from Amazon anyways, and they're always less than buying from your local gaming store.
I am not trying to get anyone to convince me of anything, mjsoctober, simply stating my opinion.
Personally, the issue here for me is that the cost of the books here is more or less the same cost as buying a physical copy of the book. A physical copy that I can use any time, anywhere. Whereas if I buy the book here, I can only use it here. Internet goes out? Can't use your book. Site crashes? Can't use your book. Half the world logged onto DDB because they are quarantined and the site can't handle the load? Can't use your book.
The obvious answer would be to charge far less than a physical copy for the material available on DDB. After all, I'm not getting a physical copy or even a downloadable PDF. I'm getting access to a limited use database. And it's not like they have to re-code the data for every user, so once it's there, it's there. They simply (via automated process) flag an account as having access to said data.
A digital version is already cheaper than the physical books (the digital version is the Compendium Only version, the rest of the main price is integration into the tools). And you can download to a device like a phone or tablet using the app for offline reading.
If they lower the price too much they'll start going bankrupt. Remember, every purchase you make is a license they have to buy from WotC.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You're missing the point that neither WotC or DDB is obligated to provide you with a cheaper digital version, regardless of whether or not you believe it is worth less than the physical copy. If you don't feel it is worth the price, you are welcome to not buy it. DDB (nor any of the other digital versions like Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds) is not needed to play D&D.
Clearly enough people disagree with you to make it a viable business model for DDB (and by extension Fandom, their owner).
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
The Essentials Kit promo for the 1/2price PHB was my gateway into DnDBeyond actually. My gateway drug to D&D!
You said that if the internet goes out, you cant read your book, but you can with the mobile app and you certainly can if you made a ripped copy for your own use. DDB is asking you to pay for their work in doing that for you. Either make the fried chicken yourself or pay for someone else to do it.
If you are heavily into D&D 5E, the hardcover book's wear out (especially the cheap bindings these day).
With DnDBeyond I can have multiple sections of multiple books open at the same time. No wear n tear. I have an older iPad (iOS 10.3) that handles the app fine and I use it for offline access. Soon we will have a character app for offline character access also.
I first saw DnDBeyond advertised on a Nerdarchy video and tried it. A month later I bought the Legendary Bundle and have seldom been unhappy that I did..
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
This is completely irrelevant to the discussions, but related to the thread.
I'm currently trying to homebrew things as an alternative to not buy the books digitally. Unfortunately the homebrew designing system is hard so having some trouble, and might reconsider. James Incatroso's design workshop(and James Haeck's homebrewing subclass guide) helps, but both of them skip important details, like "you add this modifier and..." They don't go into details, just add this and that, it doesn't show how you add this and that. Also the Juggernaut doesn't go into Spells or Creatures, but Spells are complicated and Creatures have a bug(have to add it manually). Backgrounds are easy enough, haven't homebrewed any monsters yet. This doesn't seem like the right thread but I couldn't find a relevant thread that was open. Also this is kind of related in the way I'm suggesting homebrewing as an alternative not to buy the digital books.
If you want help with those thing then I suggest posting in the “Homebrew & House Rules” forum.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
the actual d&d handbooks are hardcover and officially licensed products, thats why they're worth $30+. why the hell i should pay $30 to look through a "fully indexed and searchable" ONLINE version of a book ive already spent, im pretty sure, over $30 on is beyond me...
In most case, when in heavy use, the hardcover books aren't worth the price. I have lost count of how many hardcovers I, and my players, went through before I switched to DnDBeyond. The bindings just don't hold up to heavy use.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
the price of a hardcover book is because it costs more to make and is, no matter the use, more durable than paperback. i also haven't got much of a chance to use it yet, and don't get to play this game as often as id like in normal times anyways. i don't have $30 to waste on a digital copy of a [borderline] mint condition book i already have
Why would you buy books on D&D Beyond?
I can't speak to that. If your game currently runs fine as is, DDB may not be for you.
Why have other people bought them?
I can't speak to that either. There are lots of great responses on pretty much any forum where it's been brought up.
What I can say is that to me, the convenience is worth the price. Yes, I already have several hardcover books that I still use. But I also use the digital tools regularly.
Why do some people buy new cars when the one they already have drives fine? Because they wanted to.