First of all thanks in advance for answering my question. I'm sure this has been discussed on these forums but I couldn't find an exact answer.
How can I have the online character builder give me all the options from all the official sources. I don't need the actual sourcebooks just to be able to create a character using all the available options. Where do I sign up for that and how much will it cost.
To expand on buying them separately, go to each sourcebook, and scroll below the product description. You will see piecemeal options where you can buy individual options (like a subclass or a race/lineage/species) or you can buy them as bundles (so all the subclasses for a book, etc.). To have all the character options, you'll need to buy every bundle of subclasses and every bundle of races, and every bundle of backgrounds, and eventually every bundle of feats if feats are allowed in your game. Then you need to think whether you want to buy every bundle of spells (they're not as necessary for character creation, but your spell caster will be limited to what's in the SRD unless you pick up bundles of those too). In some cases, you might was well just buy the book, but on each product page you can do your own cost evaluation.
There's also bang for your buck. For example, buying the Players Handbook subclasses for 9.99 gives you 28 subclasses. Buying the Van Richten's Guide to Ravensloft subclass for 2.99 gets you 2. There's some good guides pinned to the top of the forum, you might want to review those to see what you get with particular purchases.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Definitely late to the party here, but our DM is basically letting us use the books that he purchased in order to create characters. So I had literally all of the options when I went to create my first character. I saw that I had 6 characters slots total, and just for fun, I wanted to create a couple of characters from my character's past, in addition to a backup for in case my character dies at some point.
But when I go to create a second character, I have nearly no options. It is incredibly frustrating, and I don't feel like the other people in my party are having this issue at all when they go to create new characters either for fun or as backups.
If you're relying on content sharing, you'll want to go to the Campaign and choose 'Create an Unassigned Character' - that should give you access to all of your DM's shared content.
Characters that you build straight from the 'My Characters' tab will only use the content you have unlocked, unfortunately.
I have all of the books, and current books, but nothing on DND beyond. My players want me to get them because I am the DM and they would like a digital portrait, as.such they've been using my physical books for years form 3e onwards.
However I have asked DND beyond, wotc, Hasbro is there anything I can do to cut the cost a sit looks like my only option is to buy all the content again for a third time (don't ask) and in truth this now feels like extortion.
We have had fun for years but do think would it be easier to move to another platform and option to save on costs, and manpower to accommodate all of this again.
Unfortunately, your only options are buying it all again or using homebrew tools to recreate options for free - which will take quite some time. Homebrew options are automatically shared with everyone in your campaign.
And in case it helps and ya don't mind some shameless self-promotion by me, I made some videos about resources for playing D&D for free and about using Campaigns on here and sharing content.
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.
I have all of the books, and current books, but nothing on DND beyond. My players want me to get them because I am the DM and they would like a digital portrait, as.such they've been using my physical books for years form 3e onwards.
However I have asked DND beyond, wotc, Hasbro is there anything I can do to cut the cost a sit looks like my only option is to buy all the content again for a third time (don't ask) and in truth this now feels like extortion.
We have had fun for years but do think would it be easier to move to another platform and option to save on costs, and manpower to accommodate all of this again.
Please advise.
Outside of waiting for a sale of some kind, no. You are not so much rebuying content as you are buying access for that content on the character builder platform and access to the quick-search library. My suggestion is, if you don't need the material digitally, don't buy it. It is purely convenience if you already have the books physically. However, if you want to play with the digital tools and that seems like a good value proposition for the convenience, then you will need to just pay to unlock the content (again, I would wait for some good sales).
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I have all of the books, and current books, but nothing on DND beyond. My players want me to get them because I am the DM and they would like a digital portrait, as.such they've been using my physical books for years form 3e onwards.
However I have asked DND beyond, wotc, Hasbro is there anything I can do to cut the cost a sit looks like my only option is to buy all the content again for a third time (don't ask) and in truth this now feels like extortion.
We have had fun for years but do think would it be easier to move to another platform and option to save on costs, and manpower to accommodate all of this again.
Please advise.
You will have to buy everything again. Like videogames and movies and books, even if you have access to the content in one medium, you still have to pay for it to use it in another medium. It costs money to run and maintain the site, and just like you and me, developers have bills to pay and mouths to feed too.
If you really need to save on money, your best bet is to wait for the holidays for potential sales.
Alternatively, talk to another GM you know who has bought to a lot of books on Beyond, and have them join your campaign, and someone in the campaign needs a Master Tier subscription and have content sharing enabled in that campaign. Once content sharing is enabled, everyone in that campaign will have access to all the content that everyone else owns (meaning everything the other GM has bought). In this scenario, the only thing somebody needs to pay for is the Master Tier subscription.
And definitely shop around. You can also check out other official digital tools, as Beyond is not the only option. Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry are the other official digital tool partners.
I have found that roll 20 have offered a very substantial discount on jsut the character creation items, Which is fantastic. But with a few of my younger players using DND beyond I don't want them to have that financial burden.
The issue I have is having to purchase content three times, once for the content, secondly for the update to the content then tertiarilly for a digital update.
I completely understand the different mediums completely and utterly. However that is a feeble way of dismissing that you are paying $180 a book loosely. Once for the item then for the update then for the item to be added to your library.
I do feel irked by this as I'm not particularly pocket pinched however other players are, and it makes the medium a ridiculous spend that in truth should not be the case.
I'm middle aged and I've seen the rise of the internet and owner ship and mediums, however in the terms and conditions of wotc we are technically paying for a rental of the goods, they can remove us at any time or update content forcing us to buy the units again...that really irks me to know that you do not own anything u purchase digitally, the reason I have the books twice is due to updates etc. so finding that I have to purchase another medium is irksome and in truth it's clear why people are moving to pathfinder and daggerheart etc.
But being a DND vet I am being punished for my loyalty, with wotc, DND beyond and all staff not able or willing to help, while other third parties not only offer help, but assistance, setup and more.
Sorry rant over, back to original point: I have had no response apart from their team saying purchase again, and now they've removed the option to purchase just races feats subclasses etc so I do think business wise they are just squeezing the consumer out of every penny without a care. Thank you for your response, do you believe this will change in the future or in any way offer sales large enough for me to justify for my players, or should I jsut move on
Hello,
First of all thanks in advance for answering my question. I'm sure this has been discussed on these forums but I couldn't find an exact answer.
How can I have the online character builder give me all the options from all the official sources. I don't need the actual sourcebooks just to be able to create a character using all the available options. Where do I sign up for that and how much will it cost.
Thank you!
You either have to buy all of the options which you can do by going to each book and only buying those options Or you have to buy every book.
To expand on buying them separately, go to each sourcebook, and scroll below the product description. You will see piecemeal options where you can buy individual options (like a subclass or a race/lineage/species) or you can buy them as bundles (so all the subclasses for a book, etc.). To have all the character options, you'll need to buy every bundle of subclasses and every bundle of races, and every bundle of backgrounds, and eventually every bundle of feats if feats are allowed in your game. Then you need to think whether you want to buy every bundle of spells (they're not as necessary for character creation, but your spell caster will be limited to what's in the SRD unless you pick up bundles of those too). In some cases, you might was well just buy the book, but on each product page you can do your own cost evaluation.
There's also bang for your buck. For example, buying the Players Handbook subclasses for 9.99 gives you 28 subclasses. Buying the Van Richten's Guide to Ravensloft subclass for 2.99 gets you 2. There's some good guides pinned to the top of the forum, you might want to review those to see what you get with particular purchases.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Ok, great advice, thanks!
Definitely late to the party here, but our DM is basically letting us use the books that he purchased in order to create characters. So I had literally all of the options when I went to create my first character. I saw that I had 6 characters slots total, and just for fun, I wanted to create a couple of characters from my character's past, in addition to a backup for in case my character dies at some point.
But when I go to create a second character, I have nearly no options. It is incredibly frustrating, and I don't feel like the other people in my party are having this issue at all when they go to create new characters either for fun or as backups.
If you're relying on content sharing, you'll want to go to the Campaign and choose 'Create an Unassigned Character' - that should give you access to all of your DM's shared content.
Characters that you build straight from the 'My Characters' tab will only use the content you have unlocked, unfortunately.
I have all of the books, and current books, but nothing on DND beyond. My players want me to get them because I am the DM and they would like a digital portrait, as.such they've been using my physical books for years form 3e onwards.
However I have asked DND beyond, wotc, Hasbro is there anything I can do to cut the cost a sit looks like my only option is to buy all the content again for a third time (don't ask) and in truth this now feels like extortion.
We have had fun for years but do think would it be easier to move to another platform and option to save on costs, and manpower to accommodate all of this again.
Please advise.
Unfortunately, your only options are buying it all again or using homebrew tools to recreate options for free - which will take quite some time. Homebrew options are automatically shared with everyone in your campaign.
There's also some stuff, from the Basic Rules and SRD, which can be used free : https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules
And in case it helps and ya don't mind some shameless self-promotion by me, I made some videos about resources for playing D&D for free and about using Campaigns on here and sharing content.
Play D&D Free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcZWyoOGTNQ
Campaigns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNMLfNFW8JY
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.
Outside of waiting for a sale of some kind, no. You are not so much rebuying content as you are buying access for that content on the character builder platform and access to the quick-search library. My suggestion is, if you don't need the material digitally, don't buy it. It is purely convenience if you already have the books physically. However, if you want to play with the digital tools and that seems like a good value proposition for the convenience, then you will need to just pay to unlock the content (again, I would wait for some good sales).
You will have to buy everything again. Like videogames and movies and books, even if you have access to the content in one medium, you still have to pay for it to use it in another medium. It costs money to run and maintain the site, and just like you and me, developers have bills to pay and mouths to feed too.
If you really need to save on money, your best bet is to wait for the holidays for potential sales.
Alternatively, talk to another GM you know who has bought to a lot of books on Beyond, and have them join your campaign, and someone in the campaign needs a Master Tier subscription and have content sharing enabled in that campaign. Once content sharing is enabled, everyone in that campaign will have access to all the content that everyone else owns (meaning everything the other GM has bought). In this scenario, the only thing somebody needs to pay for is the Master Tier subscription.
And definitely shop around. You can also check out other official digital tools, as Beyond is not the only option. Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry are the other official digital tool partners.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/marketplace >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I have found that roll 20 have offered a very substantial discount on jsut the character creation items, Which is fantastic. But with a few of my younger players using DND beyond I don't want them to have that financial burden.
The issue I have is having to purchase content three times, once for the content, secondly for the update to the content then tertiarilly for a digital update.
I completely understand the different mediums completely and utterly. However that is a feeble way of dismissing that you are paying $180 a book loosely. Once for the item then for the update then for the item to be added to your library.
I do feel irked by this as I'm not particularly pocket pinched however other players are, and it makes the medium a ridiculous spend that in truth should not be the case.
I'm middle aged and I've seen the rise of the internet and owner ship and mediums, however in the terms and conditions of wotc we are technically paying for a rental of the goods, they can remove us at any time or update content forcing us to buy the units again...that really irks me to know that you do not own anything u purchase digitally, the reason I have the books twice is due to updates etc. so finding that I have to purchase another medium is irksome and in truth it's clear why people are moving to pathfinder and daggerheart etc.
But being a DND vet I am being punished for my loyalty, with wotc, DND beyond and all staff not able or willing to help, while other third parties not only offer help, but assistance, setup and more.
Sorry rant over, back to original point: I have had no response apart from their team saying purchase again, and now they've removed the option to purchase just races feats subclasses etc so I do think business wise they are just squeezing the consumer out of every penny without a care. Thank you for your response, do you believe this will change in the future or in any way offer sales large enough for me to justify for my players, or should I jsut move on
Regardless of my opinion, folks in the forums thank you for your kind responses to an obviously irked GM
Question, is it possible to purchase the 2024 classes themselves or is that only possible by getting the whole book?
You have to buy the whole book now as they discontinued being able to purchase only specific parts of the book.
As said, you can't buy just the classes, but the free basic rules will have all the PHB classes, just with only one subclass for each.