The physical Essentials Kit has DDB codes to mirror content on the website already. IDK why ppl act like this is foreign, sure there's reasons why existing content wasn't shared, but copying text and moving it around on pages with hyperlinks isn't a $20-$30 dollar value if you already own the physical books.
No amount of explanation is going to make this interest go away, future books should do like comics and hybridize their media. IDK how high rez the images are on the maps and such, but the least they could do is sell some of the fold out material a la cart. I could take the images to a print shop, and then the value would increase.
Because 70% of the material in that box set is already provided by DDB and Wizards for free online, you can go online and get the basic rules from wizards own website, if anything the essentials kit is charging people for the adventure only.
A comic has a writer and an artist, a TTRPG book has multiple writers, many many playtesters, it has hours and hours of time poured into making it, then you have the time and money and effort to digitise it, make the rules available online in an easy to read format.
But, and this is a really key point, what happens to people who use Roll 20, or fantasy games, they won't get the digital version for free, and yet those companies are paying wizards for a licence that allows them to sell digital versions of the material. If wizards make it free on DDB then they are instantly missing out on that licensing money.
The compendium material is already cheap, I will be honest, I hope they never put codes in books, or provide material "free" if you buy the book, because it won't be free, it will come with a cost, either the "free tier" of DnD Beyond will go, or the tiers will be increased in cost, or they will stop letting people share material, meaning every person has to buy a copy.
They just spent 140 millions dollars, think about that a second, 140 million to buy DnD beyond, that probably does not include the costs of porting everything over under the wizards umbrella, from experiance giving the current dev team pay rises and golden handcuffs to ensure a smooth transition, it will not include the expected expansion of the dev team to allow the development of the application. I don't get why people find it so hard to wrap there head around the idea that they are not about to reduce there revenue by 50% byt giving away the thing they just paid a ton of money for, for free, they are not getting licensing fees anymore, why would they take a financial hit?
Let me state again that asking for/expecting free digital content just because you bought the physical book for free is entitlement, through and through. It is unfair to us who bought the digital content and aren't getting free physical books and it is unfair to those that only want paper books and would inevitably have to pay a premium on their books from then on. It's unfair to the developers who's work you're devaluing, and it 100% would break contracts with WotC's other retail partners (roll20, fantasy grounds, foundry, game shops, etc) and harshen their relationships (why would a retailer spend a bunch of money on say, nike shoes to sell if nike sells their shoes directly on their website at a bombastic discount that the retailer can't compete with? They don't, they sell something else instead).
Let me state again that asking for/expecting free digital content just because you bought the physical book for free is entitlement, through and through. It is unfair to us who bought the digital content and aren't getting free physical books and it is unfair to those that only want paper books and would inevitably have to pay a premium on their books from then on. It's unfair to the developers who's work you're devaluing, and it 100% would break contracts with WotC's other retail partners (roll20, fantasy grounds, foundry, game shops, etc) and harshen their relationships (why would a retailer spend a bunch of money on say, nike shoes to sell if nike sells their shoes directly on their website at a bombastic discount that the retailer can't compete with? They don't, they sell something else instead).
[REDACTED]
And yet people will just ignore all these very valid points because if they keep screaming about the thing then they will get there free stuff.
What I hope is that Wizards post a statement about this so when this question gets asked, every couple of weeks, we can just link to that statement but I imagine this topic will raise it's head continuously.
I like how everyone has this fantasy definition of free, including digital versions with physical versions isn't free, it's included. They should make it illegal to call content included in a purchase free, it's probably part of some ridiculous accounting and tax loophole to say you gave away something for free to write it off where you collected money for it elsewhere.
Free soda with your purchase of burger and fries, free glasses with your paid eye exam. It's not free, and nobody is asking for it for free, they are asking for their physical purchase to include digital access, acting like no money is exchanged and the cost is unbearable is self delusion.
I'm not saying this is a necessary for them to combine all physical and digital purchases, but there needs to be a better value proposition in some fashion. Avrae was actually free, someone made it on their own to support their games, it's time for Fandom to finish some of these tools that go beyond what some fans would actually offer for free, like all the Wiki cataloging of bygone D&D lore...
I like how everyone has this fantasy definition of free, including digital versions with physical versions isn't free, it's included. They should make it illegal to call content included in a purchase free, it's probably part of some ridiculous accounting and tax loophole to say you gave away something for free to write it off where you collected money for it elsewhere.
Free soda with your purchase of burger and fries, free glasses with your paid eye exam. It's not free, and nobody is asking for it for free, they are asking for their physical purchase to include digital access, acting like no money is exchanged and the cost is unbearable is self delusion.
I'm not saying this is a necessary for them to combine all physical and digital purchases, but there needs to be a better value proposition in some fashion. Avrae was actually free, someone made it on their own to support their games, it's time for Fandom to finish some of these tools that go beyond what some fans would actually offer for free, like all the Wiki cataloging of bygone D&D lore...
pay 30 bucks to have access to tools, the book's contents, any updates later in the cycle, etc
versus 50-60 bucks for a hard copy that can't be updated (potentially necessitating another 50-60 buck hard copy purchase to have updated rules, but potentially not), and doing stuff by hand.
there's already a value difference?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
I like how everyone has this fantasy definition of free, including digital versions with physical versions isn't free, it's included. They should make it illegal to call content included in a purchase free, it's probably part of some ridiculous accounting and tax loophole to say you gave away something for free to write it off where you collected money for it elsewhere.
Free soda with your purchase of burger and fries, free glasses with your paid eye exam. It's not free, and nobody is asking for it for free, they are asking for their physical purchase to include digital access, acting like no money is exchanged and the cost is unbearable is self delusion.
I'm not saying this is a necessary for them to combine all physical and digital purchases, but there needs to be a better value proposition in some fashion. Avrae was actually free, someone made it on their own to support their games, it's time for Fandom to finish some of these tools that go beyond what some fans would actually offer for free, like all the Wiki cataloging of bygone D&D lore...
They ARE asking for stuff for free. Every single one of these folk has said "I already bought the paper books. Can I get the digital book without paying since I already bought the physical copy? So I don't have to buy the book a second time." That's asking for free shit. They are literally saying "I don't want to pay for it, can you give it to me for free?" They are saying their purchase of some other, separate product makes it so they are owed some different product. Since you currently have to pay for both versions of the content, saying "Give me the digital version since I bought the physical book" IS saying "give it to me for free".
People who have hundreds and thousands of posts reply why that's not a viable request.
I can't help but wonder if this common topic could be mitigated by making people participate in the forums much more before starting a new thread.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
People who have hundreds and thousands of posts reply why that's not a viable request.
I can't help but wonder if this common topic could be mitigated by making people participate in the forums much more before starting a new thread.
This is actually a very good suggestion, and perhaps one we could get onto the suggestions thread. ten posts would be enough, just to make people active before they make their own!
but copying text and moving it around on pages with hyperlinks isn't a $20-$30 dollar value if you already own the physical books.
There is far more to D&D Beyond than text with hyperlinks. You should try out some of the searches & filter options “Game Rules.” Also the Character Builder in particular is amazing!
With 240 posts here, I have to assume Bahamut is being purposefully argumentative and is well aware it's FAR more than that.
I like how everyone has this fantasy definition of free, including digital versions with physical versions isn't free, it's included. They should make it illegal to call content included in a purchase free, it's probably part of some ridiculous accounting and tax loophole to say you gave away something for free to write it off where you collected money for it elsewhere.
Free soda with your purchase of burger and fries, free glasses with your paid eye exam. It's not free, and nobody is asking for it for free, they are asking for their physical purchase to include digital access, acting like no money is exchanged and the cost is unbearable is self delusion.
I'm not saying this is a necessary for them to combine all physical and digital purchases, but there needs to be a better value proposition in some fashion. Avrae was actually free, someone made it on their own to support their games, it's time for Fandom to finish some of these tools that go beyond what some fans would actually offer for free, like all the Wiki cataloging of bygone D&D lore...
well Fandom don't own Avrae anymore so, that isn't happening
I really wouldn't mind buying both physical and digital separately if the digital version would at least feature the ability to switch languages (which actually is just uploading additional text files).
As a non native speaker that would enable me to run campaigns with people who do not have the same ability to speak and read english at a decent level... (specifically the German version if that matters for the discussion)
Not everything in D&D English language base has actually been translated last I checked. Moreover, it's not a simple upload. Online document and tool design has a bit more quality assurance to it than that. Lastly, to be a good faith provider of D&D digital tools in languages other than English would obligate D&D Beyond/WotC/Hasbro to invest in a customer service resources in those languages. The existing English customer service system seems pretty easily stressed when a system wide bug arises.
5e is indeed a streamlined game, but the real world around the furnishing of that game just isn't that simple.
The reason why I am hoping for this now, is that wizard of the coast is the publisher and license owner of the German books. So they could use those which they already translated to include into the service.
So basically they are already doing most of the work for the German language anyways and would only need to include the language into the online server.
I do not mind the service being English. I have no language barrier. But my players sometimes have issues. This little add on would make me pay the full premium service so my players can create their characters online (which we do manually at the moment because they need my German physical copies at the moment)...
The reason why I am hoping for this now, is that wizard of the coast is the publisher and license owner of the German books. So they could use those which they already translated to include into the service.
So basically they are already doing most of the work for the German language anyways and would only need to include the language into the online server.
They've done the translation work. The hard part of something like D&D beyond is layout, indexing, and the like.
As publisher of both the book and electronic form, there might be things Wizards can do to streamline the process that aren't available when the two forms come from separate corporations, but that sort of integration will take a while and would likely only apply to new products.
They've done the translation work. The hard part of something like D&D beyond is layout, indexing, and the like.
As publisher of both the book and electronic form, there might be things Wizards can do to streamline the process that aren't available when the two forms come from separate corporations, but that sort of integration will take a while and would likely only apply to new products.
I daresay they'll also do the 5 main rule books. They may not do previous adventures, but the rule books they will, and they are bound to do monster manuals - pointless having a new adventure in Mandarin if it refers to statblocks in English.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
They've done the translation work. The hard part of something like D&D beyond is layout, indexing, and the like.
As publisher of both the book and electronic form, there might be things Wizards can do to streamline the process that aren't available when the two forms come from separate corporations, but that sort of integration will take a while and would likely only apply to new products.
I daresay they'll also do the 5 main rule books. They may not do previous adventures, but the rule books they will, and they are bound to do monster manuals - pointless having a new adventure in Mandarin if it refers to statblocks in English.
I meant the process improvements would likely only apply to new books. They could still use the old process.
I think they could do it so they ask you for a word that is in a specific part of the book, like page 48, word 21, and have you have to do it 3-5 times, and they could have a lot of different ones you have to do, so each one is randomized.
Do you have any idea what a nightmare that would be once the first errata came out and the book had two different versions with minuscule differences.
They could always have it be a word that doesn’t change with each version, but I see how annoying that would be to go through it again and again. They could try for more specific words, like “Fizban” and “Tasha”, and not “a” and “the”
I think they could do it so they ask you for a word that is in a specific part of the book, like page 48, word 21, and have you have to do it 3-5 times, and they could have a lot of different ones you have to do, so each one is randomized.
Do you have any idea what a nightmare that would be once the first errata came out and the book had two different versions with minuscule differences.
They could always have it be a word that doesn’t change with each version, but I see how annoying that would be to go through it again and again. They could try for more specific words, like “Fizban” and “Tasha”, and not “a” and “the”
Still, even if the word was something like Fizban it could go from page 48 word 21 to page 48 word 87, or page 52 word 3. Probably too much of a headache
They've done the translation work. The hard part of something like D&D beyond is layout, indexing, and the like.
As publisher of both the book and electronic form, there might be things Wizards can do to streamline the process that aren't available when the two forms come from separate corporations, but that sort of integration will take a while and would likely only apply to new products.
I daresay they'll also do the 5 main rule books. They may not do previous adventures, but the rule books they will, and they are bound to do monster manuals - pointless having a new adventure in Mandarin if it refers to statblocks in English.
I meant the process improvements would likely only apply to new books. They could still use the old process.
Fair enough, I'd misinterpreted what you'd written.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
again though when you buy certain games like DnD essentials kit you get a code for free of all that content in digital form so with WoTC owning D&D Beyond it does make sense that if you purchase the physical copy you get the digital copy. Also a physical copy will always be worth more so it makes sense to give free digital content once physical copies are purchased but not free physical copies when digital are purchased which doesn't even mention would they have to ship the physical copy to you for free if they were to do free physical copies for paid digital. At most I could see charging $2 to be able to download the digital with a special code from physical copy so multiple people cant download with exact same code. Having to pay another $30+ for a digital version after buying the $50 physical is just a bad deal.
again though when you buy certain games like DnD essentials kit you get a code for free of all that content in digital form so with WoTC owning D&D Beyond it does make sense that if you purchase the physical copy you get the digital copy. Also a physical copy will always be worth more so it makes sense to give free digital content once physical copies are purchased but not free physical copies when digital are purchased which doesn't even mention would they have to ship the physical copy to you for free if they were to do free physical copies for paid digital. At most I could see charging $2 to be able to download the digital with a special code from physical copy so multiple people cant download with exact same code. Having to pay another $30+ for a digital version after buying the $50 physical is just a bad deal.
Not really, if you don't want to pay for a book both digitally and physically, then you don't have to.
But codes would introduce theft problems, and get rid of the amount of money WoTC makes from people who buy both.
Do you think WoTC payed loads to buy DDB, just so they could give you free copies of their books?
Physical to digital codes won't work, and thusly, they won't ever happen.
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BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
again though when you buy certain games like DnD essentials kit you get a code for free of all that content in digital form so with WoTC owning D&D Beyond it does make sense that if you purchase the physical copy you get the digital copy. Also a physical copy will always be worth more so it makes sense to give free digital content once physical copies are purchased but not free physical copies when digital are purchased which doesn't even mention would they have to ship the physical copy to you for free if they were to do free physical copies for paid digital. At most I could see charging $2 to be able to download the digital with a special code from physical copy so multiple people cant download with exact same code. Having to pay another $30+ for a digital version after buying the $50 physical is just a bad deal.
Also this is not just a digital copy of the book (like Paizo's PDFs). This is an entirely different product based on the same material. It is fully integrated and parsed into data structures, has programming code written to turn the prose text into computer rules, an extremely robust character building tool, searchable databases, etc. etc. etc. It is taking the ideas in the text of that book and making into something more. A closer analogy is getting a free copy of a movie if you bought the book it was based on.
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Because 70% of the material in that box set is already provided by DDB and Wizards for free online, you can go online and get the basic rules from wizards own website, if anything the essentials kit is charging people for the adventure only.
A comic has a writer and an artist, a TTRPG book has multiple writers, many many playtesters, it has hours and hours of time poured into making it, then you have the time and money and effort to digitise it, make the rules available online in an easy to read format.
But, and this is a really key point, what happens to people who use Roll 20, or fantasy games, they won't get the digital version for free, and yet those companies are paying wizards for a licence that allows them to sell digital versions of the material. If wizards make it free on DDB then they are instantly missing out on that licensing money.
The compendium material is already cheap, I will be honest, I hope they never put codes in books, or provide material "free" if you buy the book, because it won't be free, it will come with a cost, either the "free tier" of DnD Beyond will go, or the tiers will be increased in cost, or they will stop letting people share material, meaning every person has to buy a copy.
They just spent 140 millions dollars, think about that a second, 140 million to buy DnD beyond, that probably does not include the costs of porting everything over under the wizards umbrella, from experiance giving the current dev team pay rises and golden handcuffs to ensure a smooth transition, it will not include the expected expansion of the dev team to allow the development of the application. I don't get why people find it so hard to wrap there head around the idea that they are not about to reduce there revenue by 50% byt giving away the thing they just paid a ton of money for, for free, they are not getting licensing fees anymore, why would they take a financial hit?
Let me state again that asking for/expecting free digital content just because you bought the physical book for free is entitlement, through and through. It is unfair to us who bought the digital content and aren't getting free physical books and it is unfair to those that only want paper books and would inevitably have to pay a premium on their books from then on. It's unfair to the developers who's work you're devaluing, and it 100% would break contracts with WotC's other retail partners (roll20, fantasy grounds, foundry, game shops, etc) and harshen their relationships (why would a retailer spend a bunch of money on say, nike shoes to sell if nike sells their shoes directly on their website at a bombastic discount that the retailer can't compete with? They don't, they sell something else instead).
[REDACTED]
Er ek geng, þat er í þeim skóm er ek valda.
UwU









And yet people will just ignore all these very valid points because if they keep screaming about the thing then they will get there free stuff.
What I hope is that Wizards post a statement about this so when this question gets asked, every couple of weeks, we can just link to that statement but I imagine this topic will raise it's head continuously.
I like how everyone has this fantasy definition of free, including digital versions with physical versions isn't free, it's included. They should make it illegal to call content included in a purchase free, it's probably part of some ridiculous accounting and tax loophole to say you gave away something for free to write it off where you collected money for it elsewhere.
Free soda with your purchase of burger and fries, free glasses with your paid eye exam. It's not free, and nobody is asking for it for free, they are asking for their physical purchase to include digital access, acting like no money is exchanged and the cost is unbearable is self delusion.
I'm not saying this is a necessary for them to combine all physical and digital purchases, but there needs to be a better value proposition in some fashion. Avrae was actually free, someone made it on their own to support their games, it's time for Fandom to finish some of these tools that go beyond what some fans would actually offer for free, like all the Wiki cataloging of bygone D&D lore...
pay 30 bucks to have access to tools, the book's contents, any updates later in the cycle, etc
versus 50-60 bucks for a hard copy that can't be updated (potentially necessitating another 50-60 buck hard copy purchase to have updated rules, but potentially not), and doing stuff by hand.
there's already a value difference?
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
They ARE asking for stuff for free. Every single one of these folk has said "I already bought the paper books. Can I get the digital book without paying since I already bought the physical copy? So I don't have to buy the book a second time." That's asking for free shit. They are literally saying "I don't want to pay for it, can you give it to me for free?" They are saying their purchase of some other, separate product makes it so they are owed some different product. Since you currently have to pay for both versions of the content, saying "Give me the digital version since I bought the physical book" IS saying "give it to me for free".
Er ek geng, þat er í þeim skóm er ek valda.
UwU









Someone who hasn't posted prior wants free stuff.
People who have hundreds and thousands of posts reply why that's not a viable request.
I can't help but wonder if this common topic could be mitigated by making people participate in the forums much more before starting a new thread.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
This is actually a very good suggestion, and perhaps one we could get onto the suggestions thread. ten posts would be enough, just to make people active before they make their own!
As for my response, see signature.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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With 240 posts here, I have to assume Bahamut is being purposefully argumentative and is well aware it's FAR more than that.
well Fandom don't own Avrae anymore so, that isn't happening
The reason why I am hoping for this now, is that wizard of the coast is the publisher and license owner of the German books. So they could use those which they already translated to include into the service.
So basically they are already doing most of the work for the German language anyways and would only need to include the language into the online server.
I do not mind the service being English. I have no language barrier. But my players sometimes have issues. This little add on would make me pay the full premium service so my players can create their characters online (which we do manually at the moment because they need my German physical copies at the moment)...
They've done the translation work. The hard part of something like D&D beyond is layout, indexing, and the like.
As publisher of both the book and electronic form, there might be things Wizards can do to streamline the process that aren't available when the two forms come from separate corporations, but that sort of integration will take a while and would likely only apply to new products.
I daresay they'll also do the 5 main rule books. They may not do previous adventures, but the rule books they will, and they are bound to do monster manuals - pointless having a new adventure in Mandarin if it refers to statblocks in English.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I meant the process improvements would likely only apply to new books. They could still use the old process.
They could always have it be a word that doesn’t change with each version, but I see how annoying that would be to go through it again and again. They could try for more specific words, like “Fizban” and “Tasha”, and not “a” and “the”
It pronounced Den Sake. It is not Japanese.
Website character sheet not working fix (Hopefully)
Semi-Expert at homebrew, just ask for my help.
Still, even if the word was something like Fizban it could go from page 48 word 21 to page 48 word 87, or page 52 word 3. Probably too much of a headache
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Fair enough, I'd misinterpreted what you'd written.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
again though when you buy certain games like DnD essentials kit you get a code for free of all that content in digital form so with WoTC owning D&D Beyond it does make sense that if you purchase the physical copy you get the digital copy. Also a physical copy will always be worth more so it makes sense to give free digital content once physical copies are purchased but not free physical copies when digital are purchased which doesn't even mention would they have to ship the physical copy to you for free if they were to do free physical copies for paid digital. At most I could see charging $2 to be able to download the digital with a special code from physical copy so multiple people cant download with exact same code. Having to pay another $30+ for a digital version after buying the $50 physical is just a bad deal.
Not really, if you don't want to pay for a book both digitally and physically, then you don't have to.
But codes would introduce theft problems, and get rid of the amount of money WoTC makes from people who buy both.
Do you think WoTC payed loads to buy DDB, just so they could give you free copies of their books?
Physical to digital codes won't work, and thusly, they won't ever happen.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Also this is not just a digital copy of the book (like Paizo's PDFs). This is an entirely different product based on the same material. It is fully integrated and parsed into data structures, has programming code written to turn the prose text into computer rules, an extremely robust character building tool, searchable databases, etc. etc. etc. It is taking the ideas in the text of that book and making into something more. A closer analogy is getting a free copy of a movie if you bought the book it was based on.