i dont know if it is just me but i prefer having my books irl compared to reading on a screen so i bought some books irl and then later found out if i want to use anything from these books on the dnd beyond character creator i would have to buy them again on the app am i the only one that feels i shouldnt be locked out of the content i technically already have bought.

and i know i can just use pen and paper character sheets and circumvent this whole issue but i do like using dnd beyond and have now started buying the books on here exclusively but i also find this a sad solution cus i really do prefer having my books in my own hands.

anyways thanks for listening to me rant

i shouldnt be locked out of the content i technically already have bought.

You aren't because you haven't

You purchased the physical copy, you have access to the physical copy

If you wanted the digital copy, you should've purchased the digital copy (either here, or on roll20 or fantasy grounds)

If you wanted both the physical copy and digital copy here on D&D Beyond, you should've purchased the digital+physical bundle from dndstore.wizards.com

You can also use homebrew tools to recreate options for free.

So you don't need to buy things twice or be locked out of anything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

You can also use homebrew tools to recreate options for free.

So you don't need to buy things twice or be locked out of anything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alternatively, if it is too much work to transcribe everything across to DDB using the homebrew tools, you can instead pay somebody for that work by buying the DDB version of the book.

What you're comparing to is like saying "I bought this game on Xbox, I should get a free Playstation copy too!"

no what im saying  would be more like ''i bought this game on xbox 360 i should be able to play it on xbox one'' which is a thing but also not really the point, that point im trying to make isnt that i should be allowed to get the book in here for free (i shouldnt get the book here for free) what i am saying is i should just be able to put in the feats and subclasses it contains into my character page (just like i would if i had a physical character page)
what you are saying would be  as if i said that pathfinder books should work here for free (implying they could be bought here) which is not the point im making

(xbox and playstationg are 2 different companies, dndbeyond and well normal dnd is not, its owned by the same guys whom i already paid for said content)

well yes but i feel like it shouldnt be necessary to try and ''cheat the system'' like that

its not that i want the digital version of the book (i already own the book) i just want to be able to insert the subclasses from said book into my character page (like i would if i had a physical version of a character page) it just seems weird that i cant i already own the book.

i agree that i shouldnt just get the digital version of the book for free just because i bought it physically but i dont see why it should restrict me that i didnt buy it virtually.

Quote from Kaplan73240 >>

well yes but i feel like it shouldnt be necessary to try and ''cheat the system'' like that

It's not cheating the system, as you can't publish it.

The thing to consider is that the reason people want stuff on DDB is because it's easily accessable, linked, half-automated, and so on. That's a lot more work than just a digital copy of the book.

To put it another way, it's like saying "I bought the book, so I should be able to see the movie for free, because I already bought the story in a book". Whilst what you get is the content (or the story in this analogy), what you pay for is the delivery - in the case of the movie, the actors, screenwriting, score, etc. which accompanies the story. In DDB, this is all those convenient things which make you want to use it instead of a blank character sheet and a pencil (which IMHO is still the best way!)

well no because the film is a different version of said book made by different people (even if it is the same people making it it is still 2 different products)
this book digital or not is still the very same damn book and im still not making the point that i should get the book for free on here i am saying it should allow me to play with the classes and feats that are in said book here on dndbeyond since i do own the book.

i do get that coding that wouldnt be the easiest and etc etc but i do find it very hard to believe it couldnt be done

and if i can just make homebrew content from the book on here then they obviously dont care about people playing with content from books they dont own because who stops someone from just well doing that without owning the book at all so wtf is the point of shooting people who do own the book in the foot anyways.

Tl,dr let people play with the books they own physically on dndbeyond without the access to read it online and etc on dndbeyond is what im preaching.

and if i can just make homebrew content from the book on here then they obviously dont care about people playing with content from books they dont own because who stops someone from just well doing that without owning the book at all so wtf is the point of shooting people who do own the book in the foot anyways.

Tl,dr let people play with the books they own physically on dndbeyond without the access to read it online and etc on dndbeyond is what im preaching

D&D Beyond already does that; you are perfectly entitled to copy content from the books you own into D&D Beyond using the homebrew tools. There are two caveats, one obvious and one not:

1. It takes your time and effort, rather than paying for the convenience of having someone else do it for you (that's what you're paying for on D&D Beyond)
2. You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to publish it. It's for your use and yours alone and sharing with the community content you didn't create yourself is against the homebrew rules and guidelines

The analogies above all miss the most applicable and clearly most apt one - buying a copy of a book does not give you an eBook version.  They might be the same product, published by the same publisher, but just because I bought a spiffy new physical copy of The Eye of the World does not mean Tor should also give me a digital copy of the work for my e-reader.

Maybe you think that is unfair - many people do - but that is the industry standard.  And it is the industry standard for some pretty common sense reasons. Different teams are required for the development of one product versus the other.  Different expenditures must be made for overhead—storing content in warehouses versus the cost of digital storage.  They are geared at different audiences - even if there is some overlap between the two. With D&D Beyond specifically, you get added functionalities with the digital product, such as usage within the digital tools. Etc.

What if each physical book had a one-use copy-specific code to get the digital version free(or at a discount) on Beyond? As an idea for the future.

If that is not possible (which I highly doubt) or not marketable (which I also doubt) or simply “too hard”. Then we will have to be limited to the homebrew copying option as Davyd suggests.

I’d imagine WotC and Beyond would actually end up making a larger profit if enacting my proposal. They’re not just selling the book, but a digital copy as well, and so will be allowed to ramp up the price.

Why can you buy a physical book at a real-world store but not get a code for the D&D Beyond content unlock? The answer is simple and a logistical thing. There are many factors in that, though.

5e D&D was published before D&D Beyond existed. The D&D team at Wizards of the Coast didn't have the option to partner with D&D Beyond and have an unlock code in the initial print run for all the books as they came out. The individual books lack personal identifiers - meaning my 5e Player's Handbook is functionally the same as yours and every other 5e PHB purchased in that print run. There's no way to give a retroactive code to legitimate first-time buyers of the books. It's all for free to everyone, or nothing.

You might think, "Well, why didn't WotC build that at the launch of 5e?" Again, the answer is in logistics. If WotC and Hasbro had budgeted online digital access to go with the launch of 5e D&D, they would have had to delay that launch, possibly by years. Why? To build the digital infrastructure to host the content, make it available to the right people, and unlock unique physically printed digital codes - securely and accurately - all before launching the game. D&D Beyond, as you see it now, is the result of several years of work by an independent team for most of that time.

They probably explored that path and decided to wait on it because 4e wasn't selling well enough to justify slowing 5e.

Here's What's Fun (to me)

WotC bought D&D Beyond, and as of late, all the new books have been released with the option to get physical only, digital only, or digital + physical at the release. They are doing what you are asking for now because they have all the infrastructure to do it well. I've wanted that and waited patiently, and now I have it. When the Deck of Many Things preview drops tomorrow, I'll be here reading it. Later in November, I'll have my book and all the goodies inside the box!

That's lots of words, but what does it mean? It means this problem is solved going forward. I fully expect the new and updated core books (PHB, DMG, etc.) to offer the same digital + physical purchase options and will be going for them instantly.

Quote from DragonRiderHN >>

What if each physical book had a one-use copy-specific code to get the digital version free(or at a discount) on Beyond? As an idea for the future.

If that is not possible (which I highly doubt) or not marketable (which I also doubt) or simply “too hard”. Then we will have to be limited to the homebrew copying option as Davyd suggests.

I’d imagine WotC and Beyond would actually end up making a larger profit if enacting my proposal. They’re not just selling the book, but a digital copy as well, and so will be allowed to ramp up the price.

The "bundle" idea already exists today - all books since Dragonlance have digital+physical bundles that cost a little more but give you both the printed and DnDBeyond versions. All you have to do is purchase them from dndstore.wizards.com. For example, here is the digitial+physical bundle for the recent Planescape release.

As for why you can't buy these bundles in a store, Kyle Brink spoke to this directly during one of his interviews. The short version is that being able to flip through the books in a store is valuable, but putting a code in them would mean you have to seal them up to keep someone from grabbing the code from the book you're about to purchase before you got it, which makes them lose twice (the stolen code, and the custserv hassle of making you whole.) They don't currently have a solution for that problem beyond selling the bundles directly themselves as above.

i disagree.

I think buying physical books is better now.

Quote from PsyrenXY >>

As for why you can't buy these bundles in a store, Kyle Brink spoke to this directly during one of his interviews. The short version is that being able to flip through the books in a store is valuable, but putting a code in them would mean you have to seal them up to keep someone from grabbing the code from the book you're about to purchase before you got it, which makes them lose twice (the stolen code, and the custserv hassle of making you whole.) They don't currently have a solution for that problem beyond selling the bundles directly themselves as above.

 Also, the physical books pay for the development and printing of the physical books, and the digital books pay for the development and costs of DDB. Are they both profitable? Sure (well, the physical books are. No idea about DDB). Would they be able to fund DDB entirely from the physical books? Maybe, but it'd cut heavily into the profits. So they'd want to raise prices, and that cuts sales, especially to the vast majority of people who still play entirely in paper.

From a business sense, it makes more sense to keep them separate, and provide a bundle for the relative few who want both. In an ideal world, the bundle would be a better deal than it is, but most of us have more pressing demands for our ideal world than that.

If you want both, you pay for both. If you think it is not worth the price, then do not buy both.

If you want to potentially save a little bit of money, you can buy physical-digital bundles straight from Wizards' website. You might not always save money buying the physical-digital bundles though, since there are shipping and handling costs to consider depending on where you are in the world. If you plan to collect books and want them to be in mint condition, I do NOT recommend buying the physical-digital bundle, since their packaging quality is not great (all my books/box set from Wizards got minor shipping damage: a few dents here, crumpled box corner there, book corners bumped a few times, etc.). And if you are willing to wait a couple of months after a new book releases, it may be cheaper to buy the physical and digital copies separately.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

i disagree.

I think buying physical books is better now.

 

I agree. Most notably, nobody can ever legally come around to your house and take them away.

Anything digital is relying on the digital source to be maintained, secured, and remain available. If DDB every went over to "streaming", they would likely give you 1 year free for owning the book, then start charging you monthly. Nobody can do that with a real book!

Always worth remembering that these businesses are committed to turning over more profit than last year. If you pay for a subscription, they don't feel compelled to make good content. If you only buy books, the only way they can keep making money is to make books which are good enough that people will buy them.

IE, if you want good books, buy books!

There are still bundles you can do to purchase both the the digital and physical copy for an increased price. But Wizards never would have spent well over 100 million buying D&DB if they completed wanted to obliterate their business model and ensure that next to no one pays for the Online version of books, because they can spend an equivalent amount of money on Amazon and get both that and the goofy physical hardcover copies that I like.

Ultimately, there would always have to be a price range for both, and Wizards has done that with the difference being that those that don't want both can choose to get things regularly and don't have to deal with what would be absurdly-ultra-omega-high prices for the typical customer's scenario. And you bought the physical copies separately from the digital ones, of course you have to pay if you want to have extra options in the character builder without using the homebrew tools.

And I'm surprised that nobody so far has mentioned THIS somewhat outdated thread that still has a number of explanations and answers to questions, should you want to explore whatcha you can and can't do/get regarding the physical vs digital D&D books conundrum.

A couple other things:

1. Using the homebrew tools to recreate official content - so long as it's not published - is literally something that staff have explicitly stated is allowed. If you dislike using this tool, so be it. But you feeling dirty about using an improved and allowed tool for it's intended purposes really isn't a justification for it not being relevant.

2. You aren't alone in complaining about this, over the years, though the tide of complaints has mostly been stemmed by the bundles Wotzy now offers. However, I would recommend clicking on THIS link to see all the 14 pages of threads that have physical in the title and that almost universally discuss this. I dunno why people reanswer this every time when we have a couple gajillion preexisting explanations, even if one might have to spend a bit of time combing through all the comments to understand what is and isn't useful info with all the updates and changes lol.