Seeking guidance for navigating multiple accounts and DMs.
Currently, our group is lucky enough to have three of us DMing multiple campaigns. DM E has a master tier level and an all inclusive bundle which they have shared with players, myself included. Currently, I am running an Eberron campaign which I would like to use DDB for. I currently have a heroic tier subscription and no purchased content. Am I assuming correctly that I need to: 1) bump up to a master tier level and 2) purchase my own access/license to products in order to design my own content/home-brew, keep private campaign notes, and in general run my own campaign.
I am assuming that if I have a master tier and start my own campaign, I can't use DM E's purchased bundle for books??
To run a campaign and use D&D beyond tools you will need a paid account. You can run that campaign with the basic rules for free. If you want to run anything out of a book you will need to buy it. Truthfully buying the players handbook gives you everything you need. Sure a monster manual could be fun but you can homebrew monsters. if you have access to other books through your friend you can decide if you want to spend more. I have spent way more than I should have ... lol
All the rules in the DM guide are in the free stuff. This of course limited characters to the core classes.
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My World Anvil account if you're interested. Work in progress.
Seeking guidance for navigating multiple accounts and DMs.
Currently, our group is lucky enough to have three of us DMing multiple campaigns. DM E has a master tier level and an all inclusive bundle which they have shared with players, myself included. Currently, I am running an Eberron campaign which I would like to use DDB for. I currently have a heroic tier subscription and no purchased content. Am I assuming correctly that I need to: 1) bump up to a master tier level and 2) purchase my own access/license to products in order to design my own content/home-brew, keep private campaign notes, and in general run my own campaign.
I am assuming that if I have a master tier and start my own campaign, I can't use DM E's purchased bundle for books??
Thanks.
The precise answer depends on whether or not 1) DM E will be part of your campaign and 2) how many campaigns DM E is currently sharing with. (Currently Master Tier subscribers can share with 5 campaigns. Before COVID, it was 3, and the rise to 5 was supposed to be temporary. But it’s been “temporary” for over a year, and current subscription information doesn’t say anything about it being temporary, so I think it may be permanent, but I could be wrong.)
So I’ll answer with a few scenarios. See also the notes at the end.
Scenario 1: DM E is willing and able to turn on content sharing for your campaign, and will be part of the campaign. In this case, you don’t need to change anything about your own subscription status, nor do you need to purchase additional content—at least not content that DM E or others in the campaigns have already purchased. You create a campaign, invite members of the group, and when DM E joins, they turn on content sharing, you decide what compendiums you don’t want the players to have access to, and you are good to go. [Note that any players who have purchased content here will be able to see it regardless of whether or not you turn it off]
Scenario 2: DM E does not have any more campaign sharing slots or is unwilling to use them for your game, but will be joining the game. In this case, you need to purchase a Master Tier subscription, so you can turn on content sharing. Everything else works as in #1 above.
Scenario 3: DM E will not be joining the game. In this case, you need to purchase a Master Tier subscription, and any content you need for your campaign. NOTE: if you are in a game with DM E where content sharing is on, you will have access to the compendiums they have purchased, unless they have turned them off. So you might only need to purchase character options you want players to have, monsters you need, and whatever published adventure you are using—if you are using one.
Notes on the other parts of your question not addressednabove:
-In terms of homebrewing, you can do so already; actually even those with free accounts can do so. However, you can only use content you have purchased yourself as a template for new homebrew or in homebrew itself. You cannot use content shared with you as templates in the homebrewed. So, for example, you can’t use a beholder as a template to make a new kind of beholder if you haven’t purchased the Monster Manual. (But you could create a beholder from scratch in the homebrew tools). And you can’t add Chromatic Orb to a magic item or a spell casing monster if you don’t have the Players Handbook. (But you could create a homebrew version of the spell and add that). Note that there are more restrictions on published homebrew; here I’m assuming the homebrew would only be private, and shared only with your games.
-in terms of campaign notes, and running a campaign, moving from hero to master tier doesn’t give you any additional access in this regard. In fact, for most of what is involved in running a campaign here, no subscription is necessary in terms of the tools (as opposed to the content). There are a few exceptions/caveats to that. Tools/features that are in alpha are subscriber only. Right now that is the combat tracker—and maybe the game log; I don’t remember its status. Once those tools move to beta, they are available to all users, regardless of subscription status, although there are sometimes limitations, For example, the encounter builder is beta, so available to everyone, but non-subscribers are limited to a certain number of encounters (I believe it is 8, but it might be 6); subscribers (both hero and master) can build unlimited encounters.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.
I'm trying to work something out, and this seems like a good place to ask: Does buying the Odysseys of Theros book give access to the Centaur race? I know it's listed as purchasable as a separate item under the Ravnica sourcebook, but does anyone know if buying Theros as a whole also give access to it in the character builder?
I'm trying to work something out, and this seems like a good place to ask: Does buying the Odysseys of Theros book give access to the Centaur race? I know it's listed as purchasable as a separate item under the Ravnica sourcebook, but does anyone know if buying Theros as a whole also give access to it in the character builder?
Yes. Because the race is included in the print version of Theros, if you buy the entire book you get the race. The restriction to buying the individual race from Ravnica apples only to à la carte purchases.
Not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but does anyone know if there are any currently active discount codes?
I don't believe there are. There used to be a thread that tracked them, but it hasn't been active for some time. Maybe because they haven't done discount codes for quite a while? (As opposed to sales, which do happen fairly frequently)
If you purchased the book on D&D Beyond (DDB), you will be able to read it in a couple of ways:
1. Go to the “Sources” menu near the top of the page, and tap/click on the title of the book you purchased. You will be able to read it from there.
2. Download the DDB app onto a smartphone or tablet, sign-in using the account you purchased the book with, and then download the book. You can then even read it offline.
Sources Menu > click the title that matches the one you purchased.
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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.
Thanks for the answers posted below by @ArwensDaughter, @XXXGammaRay, @Cyb3rM1nd
I am grateful for your time and full answers to my long questions so promptly! I am inspired to organize our group to rise from the ashes of Covid and start playing again! I also understand now better the benefit of getting the PHB and feel more secure about buying source books in general from this site. I think this will help my friends not misplace their character sheets and access their stuff easier it will save me time from sorting through post-it marked pages and multiple decks of spell cards when they forgot a rule or what they even had!!! : )
I wish you all great adventures and awesome adventure memories with your friends.
Update on 8/25/21: I ended up purchasing all the available source books to take advantage of ease of use for my friends. I do have hardcovers of some already to support my local game store but the answers provided and flexibility for my friends was of great value. And also added a couple of modules with permissions set only to me.
(original questions below) original post 8/1/21 and the great community responded same day.
Background (looking to see if this is worth it)
I am considering between D&D Beyond and using Dungeon Master's Vault for sheets. I am willing to pay but don't understand certain things (wish you had a chat line). I am trying to make game character management and some rules access for my small group of friends easier. My friends and I are casual and I have been the one running a game and make physical book purchases but if there is some value I don't mind some limited repurchase through this site if the benefits are worth it.
My friends want to make very few decisions mostly the only ones they want to make are related to the craft beer they are buying to bring to our game. We play table top with a table map and minis. This will continue. But they always lose their sheets and can't remember rules. But they know how to use a cel phone. So, I am thinking about trying a master tier subscription. I doubt they will ever purchase anything accept some dice and more drinks.
Questions: (I need to know these things before I will spend my money)
If I buy a book with DND Beyond, is it mine in perpetuity (my property) or is it just use of the content?
Do I get a download of the book or just access of these books through the account?
Does my use or ownership depend on any subscription on top of the price for the book or portion thereof?
If I invest into 5e material, and, say, 6e comes out does DND Beyond continue to support/maintain any 5e character sheets and or books, or, I just have to play the new rules (and commensurately be obliged to buy the new content) if I use want to continue to use DND Beyond through an expansion?
If I buy a master tier subscription are the slot and campaign caps about concurrent campaigns and slots (and so therefor I can delete no longer used characters and campaigns to reuse those slots?)
If I buy content and I take a hiatus and end my subscription do I still retain my purchased content? And what, if anything, gets restored if I resume my subscription.
I want to understand the benefit SPECIFICALLY of buying say a Player's Handbook. It seems like the free part of the service that is included has a lot. I guess I am asking for examples of what else do I get? I am considering just doing some source books such as Xanathar's for the class options for our group but maybe there is a reason to re-invest in digital versions of some of the hardbound books I already own(Player's Handbook , DM Guide) but I don't understand what the benefit would be. What does it do for character sheets to own the Player's Handbook above what is already included in the base service? If I just did one of the add on source books eg (Xanathar's, Volo) what would I be missing if I skipped also purchasing the Player's Handbook?
Thanks in advance for your time. These may have been answered (I apologize if so) but I surfed the first few pages and did not see any such answers and I don't have time to read every page.
1) I think the answer is in between the two options you listed, but I’m just a fellow customer, and one who doesn’t know a lot about legal jargon. Hopefully someone who knows more can provide a clearer answer.
2) Books can be downloaded into the DDB app on mobile, but not on computers. (Some folks know how to simulate android on a computer and have been able to download into the DDB app that way). The books are a only readable in the DDB app and on the website; they aren’t a pdf, ePub or other file that other apps can read.
3) No. The subscriptions provide additional benefits (e.g. unlimited characters and encounters, access to alpha features, and, for the Master Tier, content sharing). I started out here just with some purchased content and no sub.
4) I don’t think anyone (not even DDB staff) can answer that one: it is an unknown.
5) Yes, they are concurrent. If you are sharing content with 5 campaigns, and turn off content sharing on one of the campaigns, you can turn on content sharing with another. You don’t even need to delete campaigns to do so. Some people who have more than 5 campaigns juggle their sharing this way. NOTE (although I think I said this in the OP): Currently the campaign limit is 5; this was increased from 3 when the COVID pandemic began to create major disruptions in the US. At that time, the bump up to 5 was supposed to be temporary. The end date for the increase kept moving forward; At one point it was supposed to be Dec 31, 2020, but that was scratched and no new end date was announced. I have the impression that 5 is now a permanent change, but that is only a guess on my part; I have seen no official corroboration of that.
6) Yes, you still retain your purchased content. When a subscription is terminated/lapsed, if the user has more than 6 characters, all characters are locked until the user chooses which 6 they want to be able to access. Remaining characters are stored but locked. If the sub is resumed, the characters are unlocked. There is also a limit to encounters for non-subscribers; I don’t remember how many for user, I’m thinking it is 8. I presume the same thing would apply here, but I have not seen staff spell that out. Any subscriber perks (special dice sets, background frames, etc) are also locked when a subscription ends, but access to those return when/if the user becomes a subscriber again. NOTE: this only applies to those items that are specifically subscriber perks given out each month. Purchased dice and pre-order perks are not affected by subscription status. Presumably when a subscription lapses/ends, users would also lose access to alpha features (right now that is the combat tracker).
7) The content that is available for free is that found in the Basic Rules, the SRD, the Elemental Evil Players’ Companion and a few other miscellaneous items that WOTC or Matt Mercer have made available for free. All the character options (races, classes, spells, etc.) in the SRD are also in the PHB, but the reverse is not true. In terms of subclasses, the SRD contains only one subclass per class. (Thief for Rogue, Champion for Fighter, Life Cleric for Cleric, etc.) A few sub-races (the Forest Gnome among them) are PHB only, and not all the spells in the PHB are in the SRD. If you don’t need the text of the PHB compendium, you might want to look at purchasing character options you need from the PHB on an a la carte basis. [Side NOTE: DDB combines the Basic Rules and the SRD into one “document” which they refer to as the Basic Rules]. In terms of the DMG, if you don’t need the compendium content here, you might just want to purchase magic items. Like the SRD/PHB relationship, all the magic items in the SRD are in the DMG, but not everything in the DMG is in the SRD.]
If I buy a book with DND Beyond, is it mine in perpetuity (my property) or is it just use of the content?
I believe purchasing things on here just gives you a license to access the information. In practice, there is nothing stopping you from downloading all the webpages and saving it onto your hard drive to keep it forever. Even if Beyond goes down one day, you will still have all the info on your hard drive. While you may not own the intellectual property on the harddrive, you still own the harddrive; this is no different from physical books where you do not own the intellectual property in the book even though you own the book physically.
Do I get a download of the book or just access of these books through the account?
On a the PC, there is no downloads. You access everything via internet browser. If you are really worried about not having access to the information, you can just download the webpages for your own private use as mentioned above.
On the phone, you can download the app, and then you can download the books onto the app. Using the app does not require an active internet connection, so once you have downloaded your books, you would not need the internet ever again unless you want to any updates/erratas or download any new books. From what I understand, I believe you can have a person with the Legendary Bundle and Master Tier subscription to turn on Content Sharing for you, you can then download all the books onto the app for free, disable your device's internet connection, and then the other person can disable Content Sharing with you. Since the app cannot access the internet and check whether or not you still have Content Sharing enabled, I believe you basically have those books on the app forever.
Does my use or ownership depend on any subscription on top of the price for the book or portion thereof?
Subscription and licenses to content are two separate things. Subscriptions do not unlock any content. For most people, the main purpose of subscriptions is to have unlimited character slots, and the Master Tier subscription adds Content Sharing. Licenses are what unlocks content. Once you have the license you have access to the information "forever", or at least as long as Beyond is in business. Again, if you are worried about Beyond going away, you can just download the webpages.
If I invest into 5e material, and, say, 6e comes out does DND Beyond continue to support/maintain any 5e character sheets and or books, or, I just have to play the new rules (and commensurately be obliged to buy the new content) if I use want to continue to use DND Beyond through an expansion?
I do not know for sure, but I believe Beyond is stuck with 5e unless Wizards says otherwise. If Beyond does support 6e, I do not think they will end support for 5e, or at least not for a long while.
If I buy content and I take a hiatus and end my subscription do I still retain my purchased content? And what, if anything, gets restored if I resume my subscription.
Again, subscription and licenses are two separate things. Whether you own one or not does not affect whether you own the other or not. For most people, the main that subscription affects is their character slots. If you have 100 characters during subscription, but you end it, you will only be able to pick 6 of those characters to use when you end your subscription; the other 94 characters are still on your account, you just cannot access them.
If you bought a license to the content, you basically have access to it until the world ends, nuclear war happens, Beyond goes out of business, or something along those lines.
I want to understand the benefit SPECIFICALLY of buying say a Player's Handbook. It seems like the free part of the service that is included has a lot. I guess I am asking for examples of what else do I get? I am considering just doing some source books such as Xanathar's for the class options for our group but maybe there is a reason to re-invest in digital versions of some of the hardbound books I already own(Player's Handbook , DM Guide) but I don't understand what the benefit would be. What does it do for character sheets to own the Player's Handbook above what is already included in the base service? If I just did one of the add on source books eg (Xanathar's, Volo) what would I be missing if I skipped also purchasing the Player's Handbook?
If you buy the PHB on here, you get access to the compendium content (basically the ebook; on the computer, it is presented as webpages; on the app, it is more like a traditional ebook) and the integration of all the information in the PHB with the digital tools (character sheets, databases, encounter builder, homebrew tools, etc.).
The main difference between the physical books and Beyond's digital books is that you get access to the digital tools that makes playing the game in real life (or online) easier. As a player, the best thing about Beyond is the character builder and character sheet. As a GM, I guess it is just the sheer convenience of it all and the relatively cheap price (I highly recommend waiting for a sale during Thanksgiving; I think I got my Legendary Bundle for half off or somewhere around that) that made me support to Beyond.
"If I buy a book with DND Beyond, is it mine in perpetuity (my property) or is it just use of the content?"
Just use of content, same with everything that exists digitally. Technically, also the same with physical books: even with a physical book, you don't own the content. You would own the physical material, but the content is not owned by you - it remains the property of the authors/publisher (in this case WotC), which is why you cannot legally reproduce it publicly. For digital services, you own a right to access subject to terms of service but just like with physical books, you don't actually own the content.
"Do I get a download of the book or just access of these books through the account?"
You get access on the website. The D&D Beyond app can let you download content for offline reading.
"Does my use or ownership depend on any subscription on top of the price for the book or portion thereof?"
Nope. One-time purchase unlocks content permanently. The subscriptions offer different benefits, they don't offer access to content.
"If I invest into 5e material, and, say, 6e comes out does DND Beyond continue to support/maintain any 5e character sheets and or books, or, I just have to play the new rules (and commensurately be obliged to buy the new content) if I use want to continue to use DND Beyond through an expansion?"
D&D Beyond will continue to support 5th Edition as long as is possible.
"If I buy a master tier subscription are the slot and campaign caps about concurrent campaigns and slots (and so therefor I can delete no longer used characters and campaigns to reuse those slots?)"
You get unlimited character slots and can have as many campaigns active as you want. Each campaign supports a DM and 12 players with unlimited characters. For 3 of the campaigns you can enable Content Sharing to share any purchased content between the players.
"If I buy content and I take a hiatus and end my subscription do I still retain my purchased content? And what, if anything, gets restored if I resume my subscription."
Subscription doesn't affect your purchased content. Content Sharing will disable which means the players cannot add purchased content but can continue to use content already added to characters. If your subscription is restored you can re-enable Content Sharing. That's for Master subscriptions. For Hero and Master if you had more than 6 characters your characters become locked and you choose 6 to unlock and keep using. The rest unlock when your Hero/Master subscription renews.
"I want to understand the benefit SPECIFICALLY of buying say a Player's Handbook. It seems like the free part of the service that is included has a lot. I guess I am asking for examples of what else do I get? I am considering just doing some source books such as Xanathar's for the class options for our group but maybe there is a reason to re-invest in digital versions of some of the hardbound books I already own(Player's Handbook , DM Guide) but I don't understand what the benefit would be. What does it do for character sheets to own the Player's Handbook above what is already included in the base service? If I just did one of the add on source books eg (Xanathar's, Volo) what would I be missing if I skipped also purchasing the Player's Handbook?"
There are subclasses, feats, backgrounds and more in the PHB not provided by the free Basic Rules.
If you have a physical handbook, you can certainly recreate character options using the homebrew tools for free. You can use these for private use for your own characters and any homebrew made can be shared with those in the same campaign as you - no subscriptions required. So, with a bit of work you can use all character options from a book for free on here if you already own it, as can the people in the same campaign. The only restriction is to not share it publicly. You never need to pay for anything twice, if you don't mind putting a bit of work in.
However, a lot of people still get the digital version as well so not only do they not need to recreate using homebrew tools, but also because of the convenience it offers. Why thumb through a book for 1 to 2 minutes, when you can just type and get to what you need in less than 10 seconds? Why cart several physical books, when you can just take a phone/tablet - much lighter and easier. There's pros and cons to both but many do find benefit of owning both.
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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.
"If I buy a book with DND Beyond, is it mine in perpetuity (my property) or is it just use of the content?"
Just use of content, same with everything that exists digitally. Technically, also the same with physical books: even with a physical book, you don't own the content. You would own the physical material, but the content is not owned by you - it remains the property of the authors/publisher (in this case WotC), which is why you cannot legally reproduce it publicly. For digital services, you own a right to access subject to terms of service but just like with physical books, you don't actually own the content.
Actually, you can. If I buy a copy of a best selling novel and choose to then sit in the public city park and read it out loud to anyone who wants to listen to it, I'm within my legal rights to do so. The illegality begins and ends with me charging those people money for my reading the book to them, as then I am making monetary profit off someone else's work. Once I have purchased any content, whether digital or physical, that content belongs to me. It no longer belongs to WotC, it is MY book, and I am legally allowed to share it with whoever I want, which includes scanning every single page and uploading it [REDACTED] This has been quite constantly and vigorously cemented in state and federal courts for literally as long as copyright law has existed; And yes this does mean that if I go to [REDACTED] and snag a PDF of Witchlight that someone else uploaded to it, that's also legal. That copy ultimately originated from a legal and legitimate purchase, and that purchaser then chose to upload it to the archive.
And ultimately this is where DND beyond fails. I'm one of those guys that 95% of what I own are physical books. [REDACTED] I have about $480 of physical books that I bought from Hastings. The fact is DND beyond refuses to implement any type of system where my purchased product, which has it's own individual product key assigned to it and written on the back of the book OR on the receipt, which would allow me to use my products on the website. [REDACTED] I would be able to use my physical XgtE, PHB, MM, DMG, VGTM, TcoE, ToD, MtoF's and NOT have to rebuy every single one of them. These very systems have been implemented in the past, have always been popular, and are also very lucrative for the companies as pro-consumer practices tends to attract consumers (go figure).
If we really want to get down to the nitty gritty of the legality of using published TTRPG materials, which includes anything WotC has ever written, then the only people actually doing anything illegal are paid DM's running modules. Copyright law exclusively deals with other people making profit off your work, not merely having access to it as public fair use law is intricately tied to copyright law and patent law. So anyone charging other people to play in their games is profiting off the content WotC has published, and committing a crime under copyright law. Anyone sharing the content around after they themselves bought it is not. You may disagree with that, but that just means you have no understanding of copyright law.
Oh and just to point this out since I'm sure it'll come up and I don't intend to respond, no the EULA cannot negate that legal precedent. Just like an NDA cannot penalize you if you break it to expose criminal activity, because an NDA by the legal definition cannot be used to protect illegal behavior; ONLY legal content is protected by an NDA. It's the same way contract law works, you and I can make a contract - COMPLETELY at our own free will with no coercion - that we will meet in 9 days on the golden gate bridge with 1600's era muskets and have a duel to the death. If we then do this and you kill me in that duel, my family would still be able to prosecute you for murder, as you and I signing the contract cannot negate the act of murder. Killing another person with malice aforethought (knowingly and willingly, and intention to harm or kill) is murder. We signed a contract and then, knowingly and willingly, attempted to bring harm or death to each other. Whichever one of us walks away is guilty of murder under the law, and the contract we signed does nothing to change that even if we get it fully notarized and have a witness to sign it. This is why WotC has very little actual legal ground to stand on, and why all you can do is scream at such sites, and why DND beyond, while potentially amazing, ultimately is ******.
That is... a very unique take on how copyright, trademark and patent law works, friend. Good luck defending most of that in court. Regardless of all that, if you want some sort of system that allows you to access the content from your physical books here on Beyond, you'll need to advocate for that with Wizards. The contract that Beyond has doesn't include any mechanism to allow for that, or to reimburse Fandom for their expenses in providing it to you after you paid Amazon or your FLGS for your physical copy.
Also, note that the OP has specifically asked that these discussions be taken elsewhere as they are irrelevant to the purpose of the thread. There are numerous other threads on these forums to argue those points.
That is... a very unique take on how copyright, trademark and patent law works, friend. Good luck defending most of that in court.
It's literally how every court has ruled on Copyright up till now, including challenges to the DMCA which is 9 times out of 10 used as a cudgel to make a false copyright claim. There's this wonderful thing called the "First Sale Doctrine" which cements into law that once you have authorized the first sale or distribution of a particular copy or phonorecord (audiobooks and the such), you have no say over how that copy or phonorecord is further distributed in the territory of the relevant country. In other words, a copyright owner can control nearly every detail of the "first sale" of the works, including timing, price and conditions. But, once sold, the purchaser can then resell the copy or phonorecord, lend it to a library, or give it away, etc. However, the purchaser cannot make copies or prepare derivative works based on it. WotC has no legal say in where and how you use your PDF once you buy it from them, they can only limit where the first sale occurs, E.G. they can choose to allow the PDF to be distributed through Amazon but not Best Buy if they so choose, but they cannot stop anyone who purchases a copy from Amazon from doing whatever they choose with it, so long as they aren't trying to make money from it. And yes, there is a portion of Title 17 that deals with internet archives as an exception from Copyright Protection. Title 17 is publicly available my dude, go read it.
thanks for the information XXXGammaRay
Seeking guidance for navigating multiple accounts and DMs.
Currently, our group is lucky enough to have three of us DMing multiple campaigns. DM E has a master tier level and an all inclusive bundle which they have shared with players, myself included. Currently, I am running an Eberron campaign which I would like to use DDB for. I currently have a heroic tier subscription and no purchased content. Am I assuming correctly that I need to: 1) bump up to a master tier level and 2) purchase my own access/license to products in order to design my own content/home-brew, keep private campaign notes, and in general run my own campaign.
I am assuming that if I have a master tier and start my own campaign, I can't use DM E's purchased bundle for books??
Thanks.
To run a campaign and use D&D beyond tools you will need a paid account. You can run that campaign with the basic rules for free. If you want to run anything out of a book you will need to buy it. Truthfully buying the players handbook gives you everything you need. Sure a monster manual could be fun but you can homebrew monsters. if you have access to other books through your friend you can decide if you want to spend more. I have spent way more than I should have ... lol
All the rules in the DM guide are in the free stuff. This of course limited characters to the core classes.
Discord: MasterWitch#2965
My World Anvil account if you're interested. Work in progress.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/land-of-the-fallen-7Blandfall7D-masterwitch
The precise answer depends on whether or not 1) DM E will be part of your campaign and 2) how many campaigns DM E is currently sharing with. (Currently Master Tier subscribers can share with 5 campaigns. Before COVID, it was 3, and the rise to 5 was supposed to be temporary. But it’s been “temporary” for over a year, and current subscription information doesn’t say anything about it being temporary, so I think it may be permanent, but I could be wrong.)
So I’ll answer with a few scenarios. See also the notes at the end.
Scenario 1: DM E is willing and able to turn on content sharing for your campaign, and will be part of the campaign. In this case, you don’t need to change anything about your own subscription status, nor do you need to purchase additional content—at least not content that DM E or others in the campaigns have already purchased. You create a campaign, invite members of the group, and when DM E joins, they turn on content sharing, you decide what compendiums you don’t want the players to have access to, and you are good to go. [Note that any players who have purchased content here will be able to see it regardless of whether or not you turn it off]
Scenario 2: DM E does not have any more campaign sharing slots or is unwilling to use them for your game, but will be joining the game. In this case, you need to purchase a Master Tier subscription, so you can turn on content sharing. Everything else works as in #1 above.
Scenario 3: DM E will not be joining the game. In this case, you need to purchase a Master Tier subscription, and any content you need for your campaign. NOTE: if you are in a game with DM E where content sharing is on, you will have access to the compendiums they have purchased, unless they have turned them off. So you might only need to purchase character options you want players to have, monsters you need, and whatever published adventure you are using—if you are using one.
Notes on the other parts of your question not addressednabove:
-In terms of homebrewing, you can do so already; actually even those with free accounts can do so. However, you can only use content you have purchased yourself as a template for new homebrew or in homebrew itself. You cannot use content shared with you as templates in the homebrewed. So, for example, you can’t use a beholder as a template to make a new kind of beholder if you haven’t purchased the Monster Manual. (But you could create a beholder from scratch in the homebrew tools). And you can’t add Chromatic Orb to a magic item or a spell casing monster if you don’t have the Players Handbook. (But you could create a homebrew version of the spell and add that). Note that there are more restrictions on published homebrew; here I’m assuming the homebrew would only be private, and shared only with your games.
-in terms of campaign notes, and running a campaign, moving from hero to master tier doesn’t give you any additional access in this regard. In fact, for most of what is involved in running a campaign here, no subscription is necessary in terms of the tools (as opposed to the content). There are a few exceptions/caveats to that. Tools/features that are in alpha are subscriber only. Right now that is the combat tracker—and maybe the game log; I don’t remember its status. Once those tools move to beta, they are available to all users, regardless of subscription status, although there are sometimes limitations, For example, the encounter builder is beta, so available to everyone, but non-subscribers are limited to a certain number of encounters (I believe it is 8, but it might be 6); subscribers (both hero and master) can build unlimited encounters.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.
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'm trying to work something out, and this seems like a good place to ask: Does buying the Odysseys of Theros book give access to the Centaur race? I know it's listed as purchasable as a separate item under the Ravnica sourcebook, but does anyone know if buying Theros as a whole also give access to it in the character builder?
Yes. Because the race is included in the print version of Theros, if you buy the entire book you get the race. The restriction to buying the individual race from Ravnica apples only to à la carte purchases.
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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That is exactly what I needed to know, thank you.
Not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but does anyone know if there are any currently active discount codes?
I don't believe there are. There used to be a thread that tracked them, but it hasn't been active for some time. Maybe because they haven't done discount codes for quite a while? (As opposed to sales, which do happen fairly frequently)
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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Where can i find the book i just purchasedand how do i read it
Hello there starweard,
If you purchased the book on D&D Beyond (DDB), you will be able to read it in a couple of ways:
1. Go to the “Sources” menu near the top of the page, and tap/click on the title of the book you purchased. You will be able to read it from there.
2. Download the DDB app onto a smartphone or tablet, sign-in using the account you purchased the book with, and then download the book. You can then even read it offline.
-- Arms are for hugging The Dandy Warhols --
Sources Menu > click the title that matches the one you purchased.
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.
Thanks for the answers posted below by @ArwensDaughter, @XXXGammaRay, @Cyb3rM1nd
I am grateful for your time and full answers to my long questions so promptly! I am inspired to organize our group to rise from the ashes of Covid and start playing again! I also understand now better the benefit of getting the PHB and feel more secure about buying source books in general from this site. I think this will help my friends not misplace their character sheets and access their stuff easier it will save me time from sorting through post-it marked pages and multiple decks of spell cards when they forgot a rule or what they even had!!! : )
I wish you all great adventures and awesome adventure memories with your friends.
Update on 8/25/21: I ended up purchasing all the available source books to take advantage of ease of use for my friends. I do have hardcovers of some already to support my local game store but the answers provided and flexibility for my friends was of great value. And also added a couple of modules with permissions set only to me.
(original questions below) original post 8/1/21 and the great community responded same day.
Background (looking to see if this is worth it)
I am considering between D&D Beyond and using Dungeon Master's Vault for sheets. I am willing to pay but don't understand certain things (wish you had a chat line). I am trying to make game character management and some rules access for my small group of friends easier. My friends and I are casual and I have been the one running a game and make physical book purchases but if there is some value I don't mind some limited repurchase through this site if the benefits are worth it.
My friends want to make very few decisions mostly the only ones they want to make are related to the craft beer they are buying to bring to our game. We play table top with a table map and minis. This will continue. But they always lose their sheets and can't remember rules. But they know how to use a cel phone. So, I am thinking about trying a master tier subscription. I doubt they will ever purchase anything accept some dice and more drinks.
Questions: (I need to know these things before I will spend my money)
Thanks in advance for your time. These may have been answered (I apologize if so) but I surfed the first few pages and did not see any such answers and I don't have time to read every page.
@Roxhara005
1) I think the answer is in between the two options you listed, but I’m just a fellow customer, and one who doesn’t know a lot about legal jargon. Hopefully someone who knows more can provide a clearer answer.
2) Books can be downloaded into the DDB app on mobile, but not on computers. (Some folks know how to simulate android on a computer and have been able to download into the DDB app that way). The books are a only readable in the DDB app and on the website; they aren’t a pdf, ePub or other file that other apps can read.
3) No. The subscriptions provide additional benefits (e.g. unlimited characters and encounters, access to alpha features, and, for the Master Tier, content sharing). I started out here just with some purchased content and no sub.
4) I don’t think anyone (not even DDB staff) can answer that one: it is an unknown.
5) Yes, they are concurrent. If you are sharing content with 5 campaigns, and turn off content sharing on one of the campaigns, you can turn on content sharing with another. You don’t even need to delete campaigns to do so. Some people who have more than 5 campaigns juggle their sharing this way. NOTE (although I think I said this in the OP): Currently the campaign limit is 5; this was increased from 3 when the COVID pandemic began to create major disruptions in the US. At that time, the bump up to 5 was supposed to be temporary. The end date for the increase kept moving forward; At one point it was supposed to be Dec 31, 2020, but that was scratched and no new end date was announced. I have the impression that 5 is now a permanent change, but that is only a guess on my part; I have seen no official corroboration of that.
6) Yes, you still retain your purchased content. When a subscription is terminated/lapsed, if the user has more than 6 characters, all characters are locked until the user chooses which 6 they want to be able to access. Remaining characters are stored but locked. If the sub is resumed, the characters are unlocked. There is also a limit to encounters for non-subscribers; I don’t remember how many for user, I’m thinking it is 8. I presume the same thing would apply here, but I have not seen staff spell that out. Any subscriber perks (special dice sets, background frames, etc) are also locked when a subscription ends, but access to those return when/if the user becomes a subscriber again. NOTE: this only applies to those items that are specifically subscriber perks given out each month. Purchased dice and pre-order perks are not affected by subscription status. Presumably when a subscription lapses/ends, users would also lose access to alpha features (right now that is the combat tracker).
7) The content that is available for free is that found in the Basic Rules, the SRD, the Elemental Evil Players’ Companion and a few other miscellaneous items that WOTC or Matt Mercer have made available for free. All the character options (races, classes, spells, etc.) in the SRD are also in the PHB, but the reverse is not true. In terms of subclasses, the SRD contains only one subclass per class. (Thief for Rogue, Champion for Fighter, Life Cleric for Cleric, etc.) A few sub-races (the Forest Gnome among them) are PHB only, and not all the spells in the PHB are in the SRD. If you don’t need the text of the PHB compendium, you might want to look at purchasing character options you need from the PHB on an a la carte basis. [Side NOTE: DDB combines the Basic Rules and the SRD into one “document” which they refer to as the Basic Rules]. In terms of the DMG, if you don’t need the compendium content here, you might just want to purchase magic items. Like the SRD/PHB relationship, all the magic items in the SRD are in the DMG, but not everything in the DMG is in the SRD.]
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 believe purchasing things on here just gives you a license to access the information. In practice, there is nothing stopping you from downloading all the webpages and saving it onto your hard drive to keep it forever. Even if Beyond goes down one day, you will still have all the info on your hard drive. While you may not own the intellectual property on the harddrive, you still own the harddrive; this is no different from physical books where you do not own the intellectual property in the book even though you own the book physically.
On a the PC, there is no downloads. You access everything via internet browser. If you are really worried about not having access to the information, you can just download the webpages for your own private use as mentioned above.
On the phone, you can download the app, and then you can download the books onto the app. Using the app does not require an active internet connection, so once you have downloaded your books, you would not need the internet ever again unless you want to any updates/erratas or download any new books. From what I understand, I believe you can have a person with the Legendary Bundle and Master Tier subscription to turn on Content Sharing for you, you can then download all the books onto the app for free, disable your device's internet connection, and then the other person can disable Content Sharing with you. Since the app cannot access the internet and check whether or not you still have Content Sharing enabled, I believe you basically have those books on the app forever.
Subscription and licenses to content are two separate things. Subscriptions do not unlock any content. For most people, the main purpose of subscriptions is to have unlimited character slots, and the Master Tier subscription adds Content Sharing. Licenses are what unlocks content. Once you have the license you have access to the information "forever", or at least as long as Beyond is in business. Again, if you are worried about Beyond going away, you can just download the webpages.
I do not know for sure, but I believe Beyond is stuck with 5e unless Wizards says otherwise. If Beyond does support 6e, I do not think they will end support for 5e, or at least not for a long while.
Again, subscription and licenses are two separate things. Whether you own one or not does not affect whether you own the other or not. For most people, the main that subscription affects is their character slots. If you have 100 characters during subscription, but you end it, you will only be able to pick 6 of those characters to use when you end your subscription; the other 94 characters are still on your account, you just cannot access them.
If you bought a license to the content, you basically have access to it until the world ends, nuclear war happens, Beyond goes out of business, or something along those lines.
If you buy the PHB on here, you get access to the compendium content (basically the ebook; on the computer, it is presented as webpages; on the app, it is more like a traditional ebook) and the integration of all the information in the PHB with the digital tools (character sheets, databases, encounter builder, homebrew tools, etc.).
The main difference between the physical books and Beyond's digital books is that you get access to the digital tools that makes playing the game in real life (or online) easier. As a player, the best thing about Beyond is the character builder and character sheet. As a GM, I guess it is just the sheer convenience of it all and the relatively cheap price (I highly recommend waiting for a sale during Thanksgiving; I think I got my Legendary Bundle for half off or somewhere around that) that made me support to Beyond.
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"If I buy a book with DND Beyond, is it mine in perpetuity (my property) or is it just use of the content?"
Just use of content, same with everything that exists digitally. Technically, also the same with physical books: even with a physical book, you don't own the content. You would own the physical material, but the content is not owned by you - it remains the property of the authors/publisher (in this case WotC), which is why you cannot legally reproduce it publicly. For digital services, you own a right to access subject to terms of service but just like with physical books, you don't actually own the content.
"Do I get a download of the book or just access of these books through the account?"
You get access on the website. The D&D Beyond app can let you download content for offline reading.
"Does my use or ownership depend on any subscription on top of the price for the book or portion thereof?"
Nope. One-time purchase unlocks content permanently. The subscriptions offer different benefits, they don't offer access to content.
"If I invest into 5e material, and, say, 6e comes out does DND Beyond continue to support/maintain any 5e character sheets and or books, or, I just have to play the new rules (and commensurately be obliged to buy the new content) if I use want to continue to use DND Beyond through an expansion?"
D&D Beyond will continue to support 5th Edition as long as is possible.
"If I buy a master tier subscription are the slot and campaign caps about concurrent campaigns and slots (and so therefor I can delete no longer used characters and campaigns to reuse those slots?)"
You get unlimited character slots and can have as many campaigns active as you want. Each campaign supports a DM and 12 players with unlimited characters. For 3 of the campaigns you can enable Content Sharing to share any purchased content between the players.
"If I buy content and I take a hiatus and end my subscription do I still retain my purchased content? And what, if anything, gets restored if I resume my subscription."
Subscription doesn't affect your purchased content. Content Sharing will disable which means the players cannot add purchased content but can continue to use content already added to characters. If your subscription is restored you can re-enable Content Sharing. That's for Master subscriptions. For Hero and Master if you had more than 6 characters your characters become locked and you choose 6 to unlock and keep using. The rest unlock when your Hero/Master subscription renews.
"I want to understand the benefit SPECIFICALLY of buying say a Player's Handbook. It seems like the free part of the service that is included has a lot. I guess I am asking for examples of what else do I get? I am considering just doing some source books such as Xanathar's for the class options for our group but maybe there is a reason to re-invest in digital versions of some of the hardbound books I already own(Player's Handbook , DM Guide) but I don't understand what the benefit would be. What does it do for character sheets to own the Player's Handbook above what is already included in the base service? If I just did one of the add on source books eg (Xanathar's, Volo) what would I be missing if I skipped also purchasing the Player's Handbook?"
There are subclasses, feats, backgrounds and more in the PHB not provided by the free Basic Rules.
If you have a physical handbook, you can certainly recreate character options using the homebrew tools for free. You can use these for private use for your own characters and any homebrew made can be shared with those in the same campaign as you - no subscriptions required. So, with a bit of work you can use all character options from a book for free on here if you already own it, as can the people in the same campaign. The only restriction is to not share it publicly. You never need to pay for anything twice, if you don't mind putting a bit of work in.
However, a lot of people still get the digital version as well so not only do they not need to recreate using homebrew tools, but also because of the convenience it offers. Why thumb through a book for 1 to 2 minutes, when you can just type and get to what you need in less than 10 seconds? Why cart several physical books, when you can just take a phone/tablet - much lighter and easier. There's pros and cons to both but many do find benefit of owning both.
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.
Thanks man although i just ended up buying all the beyond content
Actually, you can. If I buy a copy of a best selling novel and choose to then sit in the public city park and read it out loud to anyone who wants to listen to it, I'm within my legal rights to do so. The illegality begins and ends with me charging those people money for my reading the book to them, as then I am making monetary profit off someone else's work. Once I have purchased any content, whether digital or physical, that content belongs to me. It no longer belongs to WotC, it is MY book, and I am legally allowed to share it with whoever I want, which includes scanning every single page and uploading it [REDACTED] This has been quite constantly and vigorously cemented in state and federal courts for literally as long as copyright law has existed; And yes this does mean that if I go to [REDACTED] and snag a PDF of Witchlight that someone else uploaded to it, that's also legal. That copy ultimately originated from a legal and legitimate purchase, and that purchaser then chose to upload it to the archive.
And ultimately this is where DND beyond fails. I'm one of those guys that 95% of what I own are physical books. [REDACTED] I have about $480 of physical books that I bought from Hastings. The fact is DND beyond refuses to implement any type of system where my purchased product, which has it's own individual product key assigned to it and written on the back of the book OR on the receipt, which would allow me to use my products on the website. [REDACTED] I would be able to use my physical XgtE, PHB, MM, DMG, VGTM, TcoE, ToD, MtoF's and NOT have to rebuy every single one of them. These very systems have been implemented in the past, have always been popular, and are also very lucrative for the companies as pro-consumer practices tends to attract consumers (go figure).
If we really want to get down to the nitty gritty of the legality of using published TTRPG materials, which includes anything WotC has ever written, then the only people actually doing anything illegal are paid DM's running modules. Copyright law exclusively deals with other people making profit off your work, not merely having access to it as public fair use law is intricately tied to copyright law and patent law. So anyone charging other people to play in their games is profiting off the content WotC has published, and committing a crime under copyright law. Anyone sharing the content around after they themselves bought it is not. You may disagree with that, but that just means you have no understanding of copyright law.
Oh and just to point this out since I'm sure it'll come up and I don't intend to respond, no the EULA cannot negate that legal precedent. Just like an NDA cannot penalize you if you break it to expose criminal activity, because an NDA by the legal definition cannot be used to protect illegal behavior; ONLY legal content is protected by an NDA. It's the same way contract law works, you and I can make a contract - COMPLETELY at our own free will with no coercion - that we will meet in 9 days on the golden gate bridge with 1600's era muskets and have a duel to the death. If we then do this and you kill me in that duel, my family would still be able to prosecute you for murder, as you and I signing the contract cannot negate the act of murder. Killing another person with malice aforethought (knowingly and willingly, and intention to harm or kill) is murder. We signed a contract and then, knowingly and willingly, attempted to bring harm or death to each other. Whichever one of us walks away is guilty of murder under the law, and the contract we signed does nothing to change that even if we get it fully notarized and have a witness to sign it. This is why WotC has very little actual legal ground to stand on, and why all you can do is scream at such sites, and why DND beyond, while potentially amazing, ultimately is ******.
That is... a very unique take on how copyright, trademark and patent law works, friend. Good luck defending most of that in court. Regardless of all that, if you want some sort of system that allows you to access the content from your physical books here on Beyond, you'll need to advocate for that with Wizards. The contract that Beyond has doesn't include any mechanism to allow for that, or to reimburse Fandom for their expenses in providing it to you after you paid Amazon or your FLGS for your physical copy.
Also, note that the OP has specifically asked that these discussions be taken elsewhere as they are irrelevant to the purpose of the thread. There are numerous other threads on these forums to argue those points.
It's literally how every court has ruled on Copyright up till now, including challenges to the DMCA which is 9 times out of 10 used as a cudgel to make a false copyright claim. There's this wonderful thing called the "First Sale Doctrine" which cements into law that once you have authorized the first sale or distribution of a particular copy or phonorecord (audiobooks and the such), you have no say over how that copy or phonorecord is further distributed in the territory of the relevant country. In other words, a copyright owner can control nearly every detail of the "first sale" of the works, including timing, price and conditions. But, once sold, the purchaser can then resell the copy or phonorecord, lend it to a library, or give it away, etc. However, the purchaser cannot make copies or prepare derivative works based on it. WotC has no legal say in where and how you use your PDF once you buy it from them, they can only limit where the first sale occurs, E.G. they can choose to allow the PDF to be distributed through Amazon but not Best Buy if they so choose, but they cannot stop anyone who purchases a copy from Amazon from doing whatever they choose with it, so long as they aren't trying to make money from it. And yes, there is a portion of Title 17 that deals with internet archives as an exception from Copyright Protection. Title 17 is publicly available my dude, go read it.
https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#109