Honestly my issue is also simply the permanence. I don't think the subscription price is unreasonable at all, but there are some months when my budget is much tighter and if my subscription defaults because the fee happened to be due on one of those months, i just lose all the extra characters? or at least their slots? I understand losing access to like special features when you aren't subscribed vs the free version. But i'd hate to just be stuck with the subscription just to keep my character accessible. It's not expensive by any means, i guess it's more just the idea of them going away.
Though playing devil's advocate, EnderC makes a good point that I could just export the sheet. I like the features for being able to keep track of everything digitally though. And the dice roller is incredibly useful. Perhaps if there were also a way to import the character back in? So I wouldn't have to remake them on the site when i wanted to use the sheet digitally? Swapping would be much simpler then.
I had my subscription interrupted while my card was lost. The amount of slots you have are locked and you cannot create more. I was at "46/46" instead of "46/unlimited". When I deleted a character it went to "45/45" So no, you did not find a loop hole. Unless you pay for one month, create like 100 characters and then unsubscribe, you will essentially have reserved 100 slots.
Based on what this person says it appears so.
Eventually DDB makes you choose which 6 you're going to keep. Granted it took DDB about 4-6 months to hit me with that and I'm not sure if it was due to some preplanned housecleaning or if there is a specific timetable they give you after your subscription has expired.
I think each purchase should come with a few extra character slots. You need to give me a good reason to buy digital content when I already own the books. I’d even be willing to pay $9.99 or something for like 100 slots. Anything other than a subscription. Another great thing, which I haven’t checked to see if it exists already, is to make the exported pdf character sheets form fillable. That way, we can export the pdf of a new character and alter it at will without the need to save it on D&D Beyond’s servers. Another great option would be saving the characters locally on your phone or tablet for use with the mobile app. Then, D&D beyond wouldn’t have to be bothered with saving your data on their servers. They’re probably paying a fortune for the license and need the recurring income. But we’re also paying a fortune to buy books we already own. Nickel and diming customers is a great way to lose them. You want to keep us coming back so you can advertise new content to us. Sell some adds on the app to pay for the character slots or something.
I think each purchase should come with a few extra character slots. You need to give me a good reason to buy digital content when I already own the books. I’d even be willing to pay $9.99 or something for like 100 slots. Anything other than a subscription. Another great thing, which I haven’t checked to see if it exists already, is to make the exported pdf character sheets form fillable. That way, we can export the pdf of a new character and alter it at will without the need to save it on D&D Beyond’s servers. Another great option would be saving the characters locally on your phone or tablet for use with the mobile app. Then, D&D beyond wouldn’t have to be bothered with saving your data on their servers. They’re probably paying a fortune for the license and need the recurring income. But we’re also paying a fortune to buy books we already own. Nickel and diming customers is a great way to lose them. You want to keep us coming back so you can advertise new content to us. Sell some adds on the app to pay for the character slots or something.
The pdf is already exportable. I for one don't want adds in the app.
I'm against subscription services as a moral thing, so having a 1-time payment for some more slots would be much more appealing. I don't want to have to delete my characters, so it's have more slots purchaseable or I guess I'll make another account.
This still isnt a thing, right? DnD Beyond is awesome in so many ways. You can purchase every race, item, classes etc. for a small amount out of every source book.
But if you want to create more than 6 characters, you have to pay every month?! I would be totally fine to one-time pay for more slots, but subscribe for that is just nuts.
A sub is still required for more character slots. I don't think that is likely to change. Over the years they have added additional perks to being a subscriber, including alpha access to tools, an occasional dice set or other cosmetic perk and (as of may) Monthly perks like frames, backdrops, and (sometimes) dice. The monthly perks just started in May and last I knew June's hadn't dropped yet, so that's been a bit of a rocky start. But Subscribers are still the only ones with access to the Combat Tracker, as it is still in alpha. (That will change eventually).
the Hero Tier sub also includes the ability to add published homebrew to your collection, no limit on the number of encounters you can build, and no adds on the site (beyond the occasional banner announcing a new sourcebook for sale in the Marketplace), in addition to unlimited characters.
the master Tier sub adds the ability to share content.
Now I realize that none of that may be worth it for a sub for you, and that's absolutely your choice to make. You are the only one who can decide what it is worth to you.
Its not worth it for me personaly, because its hard for me and my friends to get together. So I would pay monthly for a service I only use 1-2x/month. Combat tracker etc. were not needed so far, because we use Roll20 for combat and DDB for character tracking, equipment managing, rolling modifiers etc.
Of course it is my choice. I just gave feedback as a customer under what circumstances I would pay for another service.
Edit: How does it work if I subscribe for a month and create a character over the limit of 6. Can I still use/play/edit the 7th character if my subscription ends? If so, i totally got this wrong and it would be the perfect solution.
Edit: How does it work if I subscribe for a month and create a character over the limit of 6. Can I still use/play/edit the 7th character if my subscription ends? If so, i totally got this wrong and it would be the perfect solution.
If you have a subscription with 7+ characters and that subscription ends, all your characters will be locked
You can then unlock up to 6 characters which can be viewed/edited normally
The locked characters will not be viewable or editable until you resubscribe
Edit: How does it work if I subscribe for a month and create a character over the limit of 6. Can I still use/play/edit the 7th character if my subscription ends? If so, i totally got this wrong and it would be the perfect solution.
If you have a subscription with 7+ characters and that subscription ends, all your characters will be locked
You can then unlock up to 6 characters which can be viewed/edited normally
The locked characters will not be viewable or editable until you resubscribe
Okay, but they wont get deleted? That would be totally fine, because I just dont want to delete older chars for the memory :D ...
That sound like a good compromise. Thanks for the info.
Nope, the intended functionality is that characters are preserved but not deleted. If it did, it wouldn't really incentivise people to resubscribe to DDB, and would also be real crappy
I figure I'll add my voice into the mix, not that it matters. After all of these years, if they have not listened to the numerous people all wanting the same thing, I doubt they will change anything now.
That being said, I have absolutely no interest in paying for a subscription. 99% of the benefits would either do nothing for me or I just have no interest in the nonsense that is digital dice, frames, etc.
The only thing that I need, or even want, is additional character slots, and I absolutely refuse to pay for a subscription just for that. I would, however, be willing to pay a one-time fee for a few additional slots.
Welcome to dndbeyond friend! I think you'll like it here. That being said, the current only way for more slots is to become a subscriber, which there are two different levels. One for players and one for DMs, but I'm pretty sure either subscription gives you unlimited slots, as well as several other perks each month and whatnot.
Now that WotC owns DDB, the argument that DDB needs the revenue from subscriptions to survive is null and void. WotC made more money from licensing their books to DDB than they did selling physical ones. They already made a lot of money just selling books here, and now they're making even more. DDB no longer needs subscription money to survive, it's now the most profitable asset of WotC. The DDB staff is now getting their salary directly from WotC.
All I want, and many other consumers as well, is a way to permanently increase the number of character slots without having to pay for a subscription. I currently own every single book, including the ones that are yet to be released, here on DDB. I'm basically giving a steady stream of revenue. I don't like subscription models, especially ones that offer nothing of value to me. I don't care about the monthly perks like digital dice and backgrounds, and I don't care about using published homebrew content when I can just make my own. I can see myself benefiting from content sharing, but for that I need a steady supply of players willing to cover the costs instead of individually purchasing the books, which I currently don't have.
Lately, I'm been hosting CYOA type play by post games for readers with little to no experience with D&D rules. I'm basically handling all dice rolling and other logistics myself. I must have the entire party of player characters on my own account, which obviously causes issues. But wait, there's a workaround! You just need to create multiple accounts. As for not being able to use paid sources, there's also a workaround! All you have to do is create the character with your main account and then have it claimed by another. You won't be able to change or add options from paid sources, but you'll still be able to use the character. See how ridiculous and pointless the character limit is? You can't get infinite characters with this method, but the increased campaign limit is much more generous.
So instead of being forced to use this convoluted method and bloating the server with dummy accounts, why not simply give users the ability to create more characters on a single account?
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
All I want, and many other consumers as well, is a way to permanently increase the number of character slots without having to pay for a subscription. I currently own every single book, including the ones that are yet to be released, here on DDB. I'm basically giving a steady stream of revenue. I don't like subscription models, especially ones that offer nothing of value to me...
The rest of your post explains exactly why this function you want is valuable to you. I don't see whatever parent company saying "Hmm this revenue stream isn't really worth it, give everyone unlimited this or that"
Creating character sheets for newbies for them to claim out of the campaign sounds like a great way to set them up to fit in the game you're running in the role you've worked out with or just gave them. It encourages new people to visit and use the site and you've given them a helping hand into using this toolset in playing this game for the first time. This is not a valid argument for giving all users unlimited character slots.
That database costs money to run even if all our info is floating around the cloud, someone is paying that bill. Giving unlimited character slots to everyone would encourage so many more people to just create, create, create. How many iterations of your favorite character could you dream up? Do that for 20 levels. Maybe a different feat at 4 will change them up, do that for another 16 levels. How many characters do you really need? How big is that database of you, and him, and her, and those people over there. All making dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of characters. You want to eat the exponential cost increase while giving this feature away for free?
A master tier subscription costs a little more than 1 new WOTC source book does and lasts for a year ($54.99+tax / 12 months). The hero tier subscription is less and gives you the functionality you want, why not help support the tool you obviously love?
Because it's not worth the money. Let's say you like grape juice a lot. Are you willing to pay $10 per liter of it? No? Then you can't say you like grape juice. See how bad that last sentence sounds? Not only is the subscription model vastly overpriced compared to what it costs them to operate the server data, but I wouldn't actually be owning anything. The only kind of thing I don't mind paying a subscription for is something like the Internet, which can't actually be a one time purchase, or a streaming service that significantly reduces the cost of having to purchase everything. If I'm watching over 100 hours of movies and series each month, then I'm saving thousands of dollars of individual purchases for the very low price of $10. I hope you understand why I find no value in the subscription model of DDB.
And this is made even worse by the fact that I can already get much more than six character slots due to the workaround I already explained. Why would I pay a monthly subscription for a mere convenience? It's so absurd that actually letting me create more characters on a single account for free would actually let them save money. Why? Because right now I can already use more than six character slots if I use multiple accounts. Those extra accounts cost them data on their server. It's data they could save by allowing me to only use a single account for all of my characters.
And why would I tell my readers to use DDB in order to play a CYOA? That's not how a CYOA works. I'm the writer, they're the readers. They just so happen to be able to vote for decisions and actions the protagonist of the story should take, as well as the actions used by the entire party in combat. My CYOAs are not regular games of D&D, they're CYOAs that use D&D rules in the background. I've done regular PbP games, but I found them to be too slow.
As for how many characters, how does one slot per purchased book sounds? Due to the minimum default of six, you'd need to buy at least seven books to get more than six. It's actually really reasonable. With that amount, I wouldn't need to go through the hassle of linking multiple accounts by campaign and having the secondary accounts claim unassigned characters created on the main account.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
If whatever the annual cost of a hero tier subscription (something less than $54.99/yr, I'm not sure the exact amount) is too much for what you see as valuable, then why are you griping about something you don't feel the need to pay for?
You reasoning they would save money by allowing this is flawed. Account management is not driven by dndbeyond as they use Google, Twitch, or whatever other service to handle a majority of their account management, Character management is exclusive to dndbeyond.
It sounds like using dndbeyond as a player tool in your COYA game is a bit overkill. Why not just make simple stat blocks for your non-dnd players to use? You don't need to make entire characters using the toolset for such a simple function as giving directions to non familiar players.
As for how many characters, how does one slot per purchased book sounds? Due to the minimum default of six, you'd need to buy at least seven books to get more than six. It's actually really reasonable. With that amount, I wouldn't need to go through the hassle of linking multiple accounts by campaign and having the secondary accounts claim unassigned characters created on the main account.
This is actually a pretty decent idea. Buy a digital book, get 1 free character slot to manage. I'd support this idea.
Look, I know where you're coming from. I didn't have a subscription for a long time and was frustrated by being limited to the number of characters I could play. I wanted to make more and more and see how they progressed from 1 to 20 and so forth. Figuring out creative ways to foresee a characters progression helped me immensely in figuring out where I wanted a character to grow as I was learning the game. I've come to recognize the value of both subscription models in supporting the expanded tools dndbeyond provides for it's for each tier subscriber. If you cannot recognize that, then by all means continue the childish rant "I WANT FREE STUFF!"
You reasoning they would save money by allowing this is flawed. Account management is not driven by dndbeyond as they use Google, Twitch, or whatever other service to handle a majority of their account management, Character management is exclusive to dndbeyond.
Those accounts are stored on the DDB servers. The Google or Twitch thing is just for authentification. What, did you really believe Google and Twitch are actually storing our DDB accounts on their servers?
It sounds like using dndbeyond as a player tool in your COYA game is a bit overkill. Why not just make simple stat blocks for your non-dnd players to use? You don't need to make entire characters using the toolset for such a simple function as giving directions to non familiar players.
Because the virtual dice rolling and character and inventory management is infinitely more convenient here than the archaic pen and paper method. I'm the one using them. That said, my readers do have access to a Google Document in which I include simplified stats for them to work with. My readers created the point of view protagonist from scratch one step at a time. I integrated the character creation into the narrative by basically starting the story inside a moving caravan with a blind man asking his co-passenger questions for the sake of conversation. I made him blind in order to justify questions such as asking for race. I took inspiration from Animal Crossing in that regard.
The protagonist later met several (more than eight) other adventurers and a party of five was formed. The others either died fast (something happened and many people died), were dismissed for being untrustworthy or were simply ignored. One member in the party is the employer who must be escorted somewhere (the entire campaign is an escort mission). She's an NPC with a player character sheet that I minmaxxed as a tank (highest possible AC at level one with starting gear) so that protecting her isn't a chore. I have a hidden rule that the adventuring party must consist of four to six player characters. If the number is reduced to less than four, I come up with a way to quickly introduce a replacement. I make additional adventurers that I introduce during key points in the story. It's up to my readers to recruit them or not. If the party is full, their employer refuses by stating that a larger party would attract too much attention (the mission is incognito and low profile). As long as there are at least four adventurers, I don't force a new character into the party.
I also made a Death Cleric villain, which requires the use of a character slot. I don't think I'll need to make another NPC with player character rules. It's just that a Death Cleric thematically works with the protagonist (my readers made a Grave Cleric). So I need a minimum of six slots for a full party, one more for the villain, and another one for testing purposes. That makes a minimum of eight slots, which will drop to seven if the villain is killed. I don't see the point in keeping characters I won't be using anymore, although I may archive them by exporting them to a PDF. But that's just the bare minimum, as I do like keeping an extra character around in case I would need it instead of being forced to create one at the last minute when it becomes necessary.
I'm currently not a player in another game, so I don't need more slots than that. But that could certainly change. As a player in a single game, I only need two slots: one for my character and one for its replacement if necessary. Having infinite slots would be overkill. Unlike you, I don't need 20 copies of the same character for each level. I only ever need one slot for all of my testing purposes. Heck, if my idea of giving an extra slot per purchased book starting with the seventh is realized, I would have more than I would ever need for my entire life.
Honestly my issue is also simply the permanence. I don't think the subscription price is unreasonable at all, but there are some months when my budget is much tighter and if my subscription defaults because the fee happened to be due on one of those months, i just lose all the extra characters? or at least their slots? I understand losing access to like special features when you aren't subscribed vs the free version. But i'd hate to just be stuck with the subscription just to keep my character accessible. It's not expensive by any means, i guess it's more just the idea of them going away.
Though playing devil's advocate, EnderC makes a good point that I could just export the sheet. I like the features for being able to keep track of everything digitally though. And the dice roller is incredibly useful. Perhaps if there were also a way to import the character back in? So I wouldn't have to remake them on the site when i wanted to use the sheet digitally? Swapping would be much simpler then.
Eventually DDB makes you choose which 6 you're going to keep. Granted it took DDB about 4-6 months to hit me with that and I'm not sure if it was due to some preplanned housecleaning or if there is a specific timetable they give you after your subscription has expired.
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
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I think each purchase should come with a few extra character slots. You need to give me a good reason to buy digital content when I already own the books. I’d even be willing to pay $9.99 or something for like 100 slots. Anything other than a subscription. Another great thing, which I haven’t checked to see if it exists already, is to make the exported pdf character sheets form fillable. That way, we can export the pdf of a new character and alter it at will without the need to save it on D&D Beyond’s servers. Another great option would be saving the characters locally on your phone or tablet for use with the mobile app. Then, D&D beyond wouldn’t have to be bothered with saving your data on their servers. They’re probably paying a fortune for the license and need the recurring income. But we’re also paying a fortune to buy books we already own. Nickel and diming customers is a great way to lose them. You want to keep us coming back so you can advertise new content to us. Sell some adds on the app to pay for the character slots or something.
The pdf is already exportable. I for one don't want adds in the app.
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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Paying for character slots is a good idea. I be up for that instead of subscription.
I'm against subscription services as a moral thing, so having a 1-time payment for some more slots would be much more appealing.
I don't want to have to delete my characters, so it's have more slots purchaseable or I guess I'll make another account.
This still isnt a thing, right?
DnD Beyond is awesome in so many ways.
You can purchase every race, item, classes etc. for a small amount out of every source book.
But if you want to create more than 6 characters, you have to pay every month?!
I would be totally fine to one-time pay for more slots, but subscribe for that is just nuts.
A sub is still required for more character slots. I don't think that is likely to change. Over the years they have added additional perks to being a subscriber, including alpha access to tools, an occasional dice set or other cosmetic perk and (as of may) Monthly perks like frames, backdrops, and (sometimes) dice. The monthly perks just started in May and last I knew June's hadn't dropped yet, so that's been a bit of a rocky start. But Subscribers are still the only ones with access to the Combat Tracker, as it is still in alpha. (That will change eventually).
the Hero Tier sub also includes the ability to add published homebrew to your collection, no limit on the number of encounters you can build, and no adds on the site (beyond the occasional banner announcing a new sourcebook for sale in the Marketplace), in addition to unlimited characters.
the master Tier sub adds the ability to share content.
Now I realize that none of that may be worth it for a sub for you, and that's absolutely your choice to make. You are the only one who can decide what it is worth to you.
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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Its not worth it for me personaly, because its hard for me and my friends to get together. So I would pay monthly for a service I only use 1-2x/month.
Combat tracker etc. were not needed so far, because we use Roll20 for combat and DDB for character tracking, equipment managing, rolling modifiers etc.
Of course it is my choice. I just gave feedback as a customer under what circumstances I would pay for another service.
Edit:
How does it work if I subscribe for a month and create a character over the limit of 6.
Can I still use/play/edit the 7th character if my subscription ends?
If so, i totally got this wrong and it would be the perfect solution.
If you have a subscription with 7+ characters and that subscription ends, all your characters will be locked
You can then unlock up to 6 characters which can be viewed/edited normally
The locked characters will not be viewable or editable until you resubscribe
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Okay, but they wont get deleted?
That would be totally fine, because I just dont want to delete older chars for the memory :D ...
That sound like a good compromise. Thanks for the info.
Nope, the intended functionality is that characters are preserved but not deleted. If it did, it wouldn't really incentivise people to resubscribe to DDB, and would also be real crappy
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
I figure I'll add my voice into the mix, not that it matters. After all of these years, if they have not listened to the numerous people all wanting the same thing, I doubt they will change anything now.
That being said, I have absolutely no interest in paying for a subscription. 99% of the benefits would either do nothing for me or I just have no interest in the nonsense that is digital dice, frames, etc.
The only thing that I need, or even want, is additional character slots, and I absolutely refuse to pay for a subscription just for that. I would, however, be willing to pay a one-time fee for a few additional slots.
That's exactly what I want!
Six character slots?!
Not enough for someone like ME!
Welcome to dndbeyond friend! I think you'll like it here. That being said, the current only way for more slots is to become a subscriber, which there are two different levels. One for players and one for DMs, but I'm pretty sure either subscription gives you unlimited slots, as well as several other perks each month and whatnot.
Published Subclasses
Now that WotC owns DDB, the argument that DDB needs the revenue from subscriptions to survive is null and void. WotC made more money from licensing their books to DDB than they did selling physical ones. They already made a lot of money just selling books here, and now they're making even more. DDB no longer needs subscription money to survive, it's now the most profitable asset of WotC. The DDB staff is now getting their salary directly from WotC.
All I want, and many other consumers as well, is a way to permanently increase the number of character slots without having to pay for a subscription. I currently own every single book, including the ones that are yet to be released, here on DDB. I'm basically giving a steady stream of revenue. I don't like subscription models, especially ones that offer nothing of value to me. I don't care about the monthly perks like digital dice and backgrounds, and I don't care about using published homebrew content when I can just make my own. I can see myself benefiting from content sharing, but for that I need a steady supply of players willing to cover the costs instead of individually purchasing the books, which I currently don't have.
Lately, I'm been hosting CYOA type play by post games for readers with little to no experience with D&D rules. I'm basically handling all dice rolling and other logistics myself. I must have the entire party of player characters on my own account, which obviously causes issues. But wait, there's a workaround! You just need to create multiple accounts. As for not being able to use paid sources, there's also a workaround! All you have to do is create the character with your main account and then have it claimed by another. You won't be able to change or add options from paid sources, but you'll still be able to use the character. See how ridiculous and pointless the character limit is? You can't get infinite characters with this method, but the increased campaign limit is much more generous.
So instead of being forced to use this convoluted method and bloating the server with dummy accounts, why not simply give users the ability to create more characters on a single account?
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
The rest of your post explains exactly why this function you want is valuable to you. I don't see whatever parent company saying "Hmm this revenue stream isn't really worth it, give everyone unlimited this or that"
Creating character sheets for newbies for them to claim out of the campaign sounds like a great way to set them up to fit in the game you're running in the role you've worked out with or just gave them. It encourages new people to visit and use the site and you've given them a helping hand into using this toolset in playing this game for the first time. This is not a valid argument for giving all users unlimited character slots.
That database costs money to run even if all our info is floating around the cloud, someone is paying that bill. Giving unlimited character slots to everyone would encourage so many more people to just create, create, create. How many iterations of your favorite character could you dream up? Do that for 20 levels. Maybe a different feat at 4 will change them up, do that for another 16 levels. How many characters do you really need? How big is that database of you, and him, and her, and those people over there. All making dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of characters. You want to eat the exponential cost increase while giving this feature away for free?
A master tier subscription costs a little more than 1 new WOTC source book does and lasts for a year ($54.99+tax / 12 months). The hero tier subscription is less and gives you the functionality you want, why not help support the tool you obviously love?
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
My: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading WORKAROUND FIXED!!! (TY Jay_Lane for original instructions)
Because it's not worth the money. Let's say you like grape juice a lot. Are you willing to pay $10 per liter of it? No? Then you can't say you like grape juice. See how bad that last sentence sounds? Not only is the subscription model vastly overpriced compared to what it costs them to operate the server data, but I wouldn't actually be owning anything. The only kind of thing I don't mind paying a subscription for is something like the Internet, which can't actually be a one time purchase, or a streaming service that significantly reduces the cost of having to purchase everything. If I'm watching over 100 hours of movies and series each month, then I'm saving thousands of dollars of individual purchases for the very low price of $10. I hope you understand why I find no value in the subscription model of DDB.
And this is made even worse by the fact that I can already get much more than six character slots due to the workaround I already explained. Why would I pay a monthly subscription for a mere convenience? It's so absurd that actually letting me create more characters on a single account for free would actually let them save money. Why? Because right now I can already use more than six character slots if I use multiple accounts. Those extra accounts cost them data on their server. It's data they could save by allowing me to only use a single account for all of my characters.
And why would I tell my readers to use DDB in order to play a CYOA? That's not how a CYOA works. I'm the writer, they're the readers. They just so happen to be able to vote for decisions and actions the protagonist of the story should take, as well as the actions used by the entire party in combat. My CYOAs are not regular games of D&D, they're CYOAs that use D&D rules in the background. I've done regular PbP games, but I found them to be too slow.
As for how many characters, how does one slot per purchased book sounds? Due to the minimum default of six, you'd need to buy at least seven books to get more than six. It's actually really reasonable. With that amount, I wouldn't need to go through the hassle of linking multiple accounts by campaign and having the secondary accounts claim unassigned characters created on the main account.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
If whatever the annual cost of a hero tier subscription (something less than $54.99/yr, I'm not sure the exact amount) is too much for what you see as valuable, then why are you griping about something you don't feel the need to pay for?
You reasoning they would save money by allowing this is flawed. Account management is not driven by dndbeyond as they use Google, Twitch, or whatever other service to handle a majority of their account management, Character management is exclusive to dndbeyond.
It sounds like using dndbeyond as a player tool in your COYA game is a bit overkill. Why not just make simple stat blocks for your non-dnd players to use? You don't need to make entire characters using the toolset for such a simple function as giving directions to non familiar players.
This is actually a pretty decent idea. Buy a digital book, get 1 free character slot to manage. I'd support this idea.
Look, I know where you're coming from. I didn't have a subscription for a long time and was frustrated by being limited to the number of characters I could play. I wanted to make more and more and see how they progressed from 1 to 20 and so forth. Figuring out creative ways to foresee a characters progression helped me immensely in figuring out where I wanted a character to grow as I was learning the game. I've come to recognize the value of both subscription models in supporting the expanded tools dndbeyond provides for it's for each tier subscriber. If you cannot recognize that, then by all means continue the childish rant "I WANT FREE STUFF!"
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
My: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
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Those accounts are stored on the DDB servers. The Google or Twitch thing is just for authentification. What, did you really believe Google and Twitch are actually storing our DDB accounts on their servers?
Because the virtual dice rolling and character and inventory management is infinitely more convenient here than the archaic pen and paper method. I'm the one using them. That said, my readers do have access to a Google Document in which I include simplified stats for them to work with. My readers created the point of view protagonist from scratch one step at a time. I integrated the character creation into the narrative by basically starting the story inside a moving caravan with a blind man asking his co-passenger questions for the sake of conversation. I made him blind in order to justify questions such as asking for race. I took inspiration from Animal Crossing in that regard.
The protagonist later met several (more than eight) other adventurers and a party of five was formed. The others either died fast (something happened and many people died), were dismissed for being untrustworthy or were simply ignored. One member in the party is the employer who must be escorted somewhere (the entire campaign is an escort mission). She's an NPC with a player character sheet that I minmaxxed as a tank (highest possible AC at level one with starting gear) so that protecting her isn't a chore. I have a hidden rule that the adventuring party must consist of four to six player characters. If the number is reduced to less than four, I come up with a way to quickly introduce a replacement. I make additional adventurers that I introduce during key points in the story. It's up to my readers to recruit them or not. If the party is full, their employer refuses by stating that a larger party would attract too much attention (the mission is incognito and low profile). As long as there are at least four adventurers, I don't force a new character into the party.
I also made a Death Cleric villain, which requires the use of a character slot. I don't think I'll need to make another NPC with player character rules. It's just that a Death Cleric thematically works with the protagonist (my readers made a Grave Cleric). So I need a minimum of six slots for a full party, one more for the villain, and another one for testing purposes. That makes a minimum of eight slots, which will drop to seven if the villain is killed. I don't see the point in keeping characters I won't be using anymore, although I may archive them by exporting them to a PDF. But that's just the bare minimum, as I do like keeping an extra character around in case I would need it instead of being forced to create one at the last minute when it becomes necessary.
I'm currently not a player in another game, so I don't need more slots than that. But that could certainly change. As a player in a single game, I only need two slots: one for my character and one for its replacement if necessary. Having infinite slots would be overkill. Unlike you, I don't need 20 copies of the same character for each level. I only ever need one slot for all of my testing purposes. Heck, if my idea of giving an extra slot per purchased book starting with the seventh is realized, I would have more than I would ever need for my entire life.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player