I'm fairly new to all of this still but have been making characters off and on for about 2 years now. I remember when I first started, you weren't limited to just 2 feat choices, and plenty of subclasses were available, still just the basic of creating 6 characters, which was fine. Now the group i'm part of is looking to do a few more one shots, which needless to say is a little tricky to even pretend to make creative characters when all the previously available free options have been removed. I thought to myself "alright, i'll sub and see, maybe that will unlock even just some of the basic content.. But it turns out I was rather mistaken. So my question is, what happened to all the content that was previously available that made creating characters even for beginner players feasible?
What you get is very clear in the description of the subscription. I don't know where in the description of the subscription you'd think you'd get more content.
The "free content" has always been the Basic Rules, and still makes character creations for beginner players. Each class got two subclasses, and the artificer isn't included in the Basic Rules. Six backgrounds. 9 races (with sub race options). I'm not sure where they were before but Feats are described as a possible option in the current Basic Rules with "a see PHB" note with no examples. Some quick googling indicates that Feats weren't in the Basic Rules as far back as 8 years ago. It seems the product logic locks Feats under the PHB leaving Basic Rules players with ASIs and the community buzz that Feats are also one of the easiest forms of content to homebrew. That's a lot of content for a beginner or non beginner to play with.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I'm fairly new to all of this still but have been making characters off and on for about 2 years now. I remember when I first started, you weren't limited to just 2 feat choices, and plenty of subclasses were available, still just the basic of creating 6 characters, which was fine. Now the group i'm part of is looking to do a few more one shots, which needless to say is a little tricky to even pretend to make creative characters when all the previously available free options have been removed. I thought to myself "alright, i'll sub and see, maybe that will unlock even just some of the basic content.. But it turns out I was rather mistaken. So my question is, what happened to all the content that was previously available that made creating characters even for beginner players feasible?
No free options have been removed, so you're likely misremembering or perhaps had content shared with you that has since been disabled. It's always been a limited set of free feats (grappler plus a few, random feats from other sources such as the Gunslinger homebrew and EEPC).
I'm fairly new to all of this still but have been making characters off and on for about 2 years now. I remember when I first started, you weren't limited to just 2 feat choices, and plenty of subclasses were available, still just the basic of creating 6 characters, which was fine. Now the group i'm part of is looking to do a few more one shots, which needless to say is a little tricky to even pretend to make creative characters when all the previously available free options have been removed. I thought to myself "alright, i'll sub and see, maybe that will unlock even just some of the basic content.. But it turns out I was rather mistaken. So my question is, what happened to all the content that was previously available that made creating characters even for beginner players feasible?
No free options have been removed, so you're likely misremembering or perhaps had content shared with you that has since been disabled. It's always been a limited set of free feats (grappler plus a few, random feats from other sources such as the Gunslinger homebrew and EEPC).
Davyd, this makes me think. Previously, I had access to the spell Gift of Alacrity on my Druid, which has been part of a campaign for over 5 years with content sharing, via the feat Fey Touched. But when I swapped it in the builder with Command I went back to switch it back before our next session and Gift of Alacrity is no longer an option to choose.
I also noticed that in the past I was able to look up monsters, races, etc and see the info but couldn’t do anything with it (like choose a race in the builder) but now I only get a link to the book to buy to get it. Like Lineages. Before if I looked up Lineages from Sources>Races I saw the descriptions but couldn’t use them. But now just goes to a link to buy Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
Maybe this is something the OP is experiencing too
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.
Yeah, you're right and the OP sent me some DMs pointing it out too. Only one subclass, which like the rest of the Basic Rules give you a sense of how a subclass is structured and thus the ability to homebrew other subclasses. Feats are just the grappler, I believe the gunslinger feat comes with some of the Critical Role content. I think you still get some Elemental Evil species too, and maybe some character options beyond the EE species?
Come to think of it, rather than misremembering maybe the cause for confusion here is UA back when it was supported in the character generator. You'd have additional content from that, though it was always in flux and you'd have to consciously keep "preservation" copies in your character builder to keep in your library. There was a period of time where UA was going up and not being taken down and I remember there were a lot of UA users who protested the DDB abandonment of hosting UA on those grounds. That, and that one 3rd party experiment that got retracted in short order. If you were on DDB when that release happened, between that and the UA that was lingering in the builder, there was quite a lot of content, though all of it was unofficial, though I could see a lot of users not recognizing that.
Yeah, Basic Rules and SRD + EEPC (races and a not insignificant spell list). UA has been off DDB support since August '21. Blood Hunter, Gunslinger, and I want to say there were two other Critical Role subclasses (but those two might have been in Neverdeep) I thought were free on registering too.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah, Basic Rules and SRD + EEPC (races and a not insignificant spell list). UA has been off DDB support since August '21. Blood Hunter, Gunslinger, and I want to say there were two other Critical Role subclasses (but those two might have been in Neverdeep) I thought were free on registering too.
Oath of the Open Sea paladin (which I'm going to be honest never felt like it actually made sense for a paladin oath) and Way of the Cobalt Soul monk.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I have a theory the whole Oath of the Open Seas was some effort/challenge to design a subclass around the dude Looking Glass was talking about in "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," the one who leaves Brandy behind, and asserting he's actually a good guy with a code and all that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I have a theory the whole Oath of the Open Seas was some effort/challenge to design a subclass around the dude Looking Glass was talking about in "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," the one who leaves Brandy behind, and asserting he's actually a good guy with a code and all that.
I believe that Star Lord would dispute that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It does get a bit more complicated. For instance, I got Acquisitions, Inc. for free in one of the giveaways, and that gives a couple of options. But that's getting into pedantry and generally yeah, just enough to let you play a few games to try the game out and understand how it works.
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.
Something must have changed. I picked up Gift of Alacrity for my level 12 ASI probably a year ago. Now I don't have access to it and searching it takes me to a page to buy the book. I will check with my DM to see if sharing changed, but we are on hiatus until next year so will be a while.
And there were other things I could search and view in DDB that now no longer works and takes me to a page to buy the book for what I'm searching for.
Either your or the person sharing those books Account Entitlements are out of sync, or content sharing has become disabled for that campaign. The person who activated content sharing for the campaign might have had their subscription lapse, or else they just need to turn sharing off and back on again. You can check your Account Entitlements here: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/marketplace).
Either your or the person sharing those books Account Entitlements are out of sync, or content sharing has become disabled for that campaign. The person who activated content sharing for the campaign might have had their subscription lapse, or else they just need to turn sharing off and back on again. You can check your Account Entitlements here: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/marketplace).
Looked, and my account entitlements are in sync so will check with my DM who has the Master tier account with sharing. And something like this might be what the OP is experiencing as well.
It's a little more confusing than that. Yes they only get one now, but it mentions more in the text which confuses some new people when they go to build and it's not there. In older basic rules, there were fewer classes but each had two subclasses. So depending on when someone last looked at the basic rules, it can be different.
In older basic rules, there were fewer classes but each had two subclasses. So depending on when someone last looked at the basic rules, it can be different.
The Basic Rules/SRD for D&D fifth edition (the only Basic Rules that matters to this conversation) has only ever had 12 classes with 1 subclass each
It's a little more confusing than that. Yes they only get one now, but it mentions more in the text which confuses some new people when they go to build and it's not there. In older basic rules, there were fewer classes but each had two subclasses. So depending on when someone last looked at the basic rules, it can be different.
Not quite, no. The “basic rules“ only includes four classes with one subclass for each. The SRD includes all of the classes with one subclass for each. DDB combines the basic rules and SRD together, and just cause it the basic rules.
In older basic rules, there were fewer classes but each had two subclasses. So depending on when someone last looked at the basic rules, it can be different.
The Basic Rules/SRD for D&D fifth edition (the only Basic Rules that matters to this conversation) has only ever had 12 classes with 1 subclass each
Not trying to be argumentative, but I'm looking at an offical physical copy (5e) with two subclasses for Wizard, Rouge, Fighter, and Cleric. I don't know what to tell you other than it's out there somewhere and people can get confused when it doesn't match online. I had one player in a group I ran that brought it up because they couldn't find the subclass they swore was in the basic rules. I validated that I was seeing the same thing, but figured it was just updates since the rules were older and they played something else. So when people say they can't find something in the basic rules they think should be there, I always think of this scenario.
Also, the basic rules downloaded from Wizards only has 4 classes (v1 released 2018 but only lists 1 subclass each). Here it has more, and while it lists two subclasses available, it only details one which leads to confusion (some quick ref links here and here so ya know what I'm talking about). So something changed which is fine, but this can confuse new players if they're not looking at updated sources.
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I'm fairly new to all of this still but have been making characters off and on for about 2 years now. I remember when I first started, you weren't limited to just 2 feat choices, and plenty of subclasses were available, still just the basic of creating 6 characters, which was fine. Now the group i'm part of is looking to do a few more one shots, which needless to say is a little tricky to even pretend to make creative characters when all the previously available free options have been removed. I thought to myself "alright, i'll sub and see, maybe that will unlock even just some of the basic content.. But it turns out I was rather mistaken. So my question is, what happened to all the content that was previously available that made creating characters even for beginner players feasible?
What you get is very clear in the description of the subscription. I don't know where in the description of the subscription you'd think you'd get more content.
The "free content" has always been the Basic Rules, and still makes character creations for beginner players. Each class got two subclasses, and the artificer isn't included in the Basic Rules. Six backgrounds. 9 races (with sub race options). I'm not sure where they were before but Feats are described as a possible option in the current Basic Rules with "a see PHB" note with no examples. Some quick googling indicates that Feats weren't in the Basic Rules as far back as 8 years ago. It seems the product logic locks Feats under the PHB leaving Basic Rules players with ASIs and the community buzz that Feats are also one of the easiest forms of content to homebrew. That's a lot of content for a beginner or non beginner to play with.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
No free options have been removed, so you're likely misremembering or perhaps had content shared with you that has since been disabled. It's always been a limited set of free feats (grappler plus a few, random feats from other sources such as the Gunslinger homebrew and EEPC).
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
New content only comes from books you have purchased. Or, as Davyd mentioned, from shared content via a campaign you are part of.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Davyd, this makes me think. Previously, I had access to the spell Gift of Alacrity on my Druid, which has been part of a campaign for over 5 years with content sharing, via the feat Fey Touched. But when I swapped it in the builder with Command I went back to switch it back before our next session and Gift of Alacrity is no longer an option to choose.
I also noticed that in the past I was able to look up monsters, races, etc and see the info but couldn’t do anything with it (like choose a race in the builder) but now I only get a link to the book to buy to get it. Like Lineages. Before if I looked up Lineages from Sources>Races I saw the descriptions but couldn’t use them. But now just goes to a link to buy Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
Maybe this is something the OP is experiencing too
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
It's just the one subclass.
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.
Yeah, you're right and the OP sent me some DMs pointing it out too. Only one subclass, which like the rest of the Basic Rules give you a sense of how a subclass is structured and thus the ability to homebrew other subclasses. Feats are just the grappler, I believe the gunslinger feat comes with some of the Critical Role content. I think you still get some Elemental Evil species too, and maybe some character options beyond the EE species?
Come to think of it, rather than misremembering maybe the cause for confusion here is UA back when it was supported in the character generator. You'd have additional content from that, though it was always in flux and you'd have to consciously keep "preservation" copies in your character builder to keep in your library. There was a period of time where UA was going up and not being taken down and I remember there were a lot of UA users who protested the DDB abandonment of hosting UA on those grounds. That, and that one 3rd party experiment that got retracted in short order. If you were on DDB when that release happened, between that and the UA that was lingering in the builder, there was quite a lot of content, though all of it was unofficial, though I could see a lot of users not recognizing that.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Al the free content (other than some Critical Role content) comes from the Basic Rules & SRD: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules), and the EEPC: (https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/EE_PlayersCompanion.pdf). Nothing else is or ever has been free content. The UA content used to be available here on DDB for free, but that was all stuff in the experimental phase and DDB stopped supporting it ages ago.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Yeah, Basic Rules and SRD + EEPC (races and a not insignificant spell list). UA has been off DDB support since August '21. Blood Hunter, Gunslinger, and I want to say there were two other Critical Role subclasses (but those two might have been in Neverdeep) I thought were free on registering too.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Oath of the Open Sea paladin (which I'm going to be honest never felt like it actually made sense for a paladin oath) and Way of the Cobalt Soul monk.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I have a theory the whole Oath of the Open Seas was some effort/challenge to design a subclass around the dude Looking Glass was talking about in "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," the one who leaves Brandy behind, and asserting he's actually a good guy with a code and all that.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I believe that Star Lord would dispute that.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It does get a bit more complicated. For instance, I got Acquisitions, Inc. for free in one of the giveaways, and that gives a couple of options. But that's getting into pedantry and generally yeah, just enough to let you play a few games to try the game out and understand how it works.
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.
Something must have changed. I picked up Gift of Alacrity for my level 12 ASI probably a year ago. Now I don't have access to it and searching it takes me to a page to buy the book. I will check with my DM to see if sharing changed, but we are on hiatus until next year so will be a while.
And there were other things I could search and view in DDB that now no longer works and takes me to a page to buy the book for what I'm searching for.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Either your or the person sharing those books Account Entitlements are out of sync, or content sharing has become disabled for that campaign. The person who activated content sharing for the campaign might have had their subscription lapse, or else they just need to turn sharing off and back on again. You can check your Account Entitlements here: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/marketplace).
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Looked, and my account entitlements are in sync so will check with my DM who has the Master tier account with sharing. And something like this might be what the OP is experiencing as well.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
It's a little more confusing than that. Yes they only get one now, but it mentions more in the text which confuses some new people when they go to build and it's not there. In older basic rules, there were fewer classes but each had two subclasses. So depending on when someone last looked at the basic rules, it can be different.
The Basic Rules/SRD for D&D fifth edition (the only Basic Rules that matters to this conversation) has only ever had 12 classes with 1 subclass each
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Not quite, no. The “basic rules“ only includes four classes with one subclass for each. The SRD includes all of the classes with one subclass for each. DDB combines the basic rules and SRD together, and just cause it the basic rules.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Not trying to be argumentative, but I'm looking at an offical physical copy (5e) with two subclasses for Wizard, Rouge, Fighter, and Cleric. I don't know what to tell you other than it's out there somewhere and people can get confused when it doesn't match online. I had one player in a group I ran that brought it up because they couldn't find the subclass they swore was in the basic rules. I validated that I was seeing the same thing, but figured it was just updates since the rules were older and they played something else. So when people say they can't find something in the basic rules they think should be there, I always think of this scenario.
Also, the basic rules downloaded from Wizards only has 4 classes (v1 released 2018 but only lists 1 subclass each). Here it has more, and while it lists two subclasses available, it only details one which leads to confusion (some quick ref links here and here so ya know what I'm talking about). So something changed which is fine, but this can confuse new players if they're not looking at updated sources.