Hey all,

I'm a very long-term subscriber to D&D Beyond and a Master Tier sub currently.  It's giving me a lot of pros that I use all the time, such as:

• Unlimited Characters (I use about 20 or so)
• Maps access for DMing (tried this last night for the first time)
• Sigil access (tried, but it's not mature enough to use in-game for me yet)
• Web access to all my rules and adventures (PHB, DMG, MM, a ton of adventures - I use all the time)
• Only I can DM as no one else in my group is subscribed.

I also use Foundry, which was a one-time purchase.  It gives me:

• Unlimited characters
• Foundry access for DMing
• Web access to all my rules and adventures (PHB, DMG, MM, my homebrew adventures - none purchased)
• All my group can DM, one at a time, for free after that initial purchase.
• Foundry is much harder to access on non-Windows devices like my phone.

As I say I have bought PHB, DMG, and MM on both platforms.  I have bought a ton of adventures on D&D Beyond.

If I decide to unsub from D&D Beyond totally and pay nothing, what would be the effect?

Obviously, I'd keep all of Foundry, which is where I'd run my games.  I assume I'd also keep all the content in D&D Beyond that I have paid for, like PHB, MM, adventures, etc?  And I could buy more adventures as they are released if I wanted to?

To be clear, I have no major issues with D&D Beyond.  There are a few niggling things but every platform has that. This is not a rage-quit or anything like that.  Overall, it's good value for money I feel, but if I am not using Maps or Sigil and have everything I need inside Foundry, is there any point spending $5 a month on this?

Thanks for any considered advice and opinion in advance.

Cheers
Blakey

I've not tried Foundry for D&D, but it was cool for STA.

It does seem you're duplicating features, rather than gaining much by having both. Does "not being DM" on DDB actually change anything, though? Can't other players just run it, and let the official DM just manage back end stuff like sheets? Maybe there's something unofficial DMs can't do on DDB, I've not tried it. But if not, then I'd not worry about that.

Another issue with Foundry is that it runs off of your computer, so if you can't make a session...the table is screwed. Obviously, most of the time that's fine, but if you're unable to make it and they want to run a one-shot or something, or someone else becomes DM, they're in trouble. You can get Forge and effectively hire their servers instead...but that brings you back to the sub problem again.

The main effects of not subbing to DDB are that you'd lose content sharing, be limited to 6 characters and lose any perks you've unlocked from subbing. If you've got the first two on Foundry, then the last is cosmetic and there's not a lot of difference - assuming Foundry is independent of DDB. Sigil isn't Sub-only. You'll get new releases (of you preorder from DDB) two weeks later. All pretty meh when you've got stuff on Foundry.

Personally, I'd drop the sub. Unless you're going to go to Roll20 with an free account or something...it's probably not worth keeping.

Thanks for the responses - they are helping me with my thought process.

Some clarifications:

• You can't DM Maps without a Master sub, and you can't have the Master give that ability to someone else to DM. So it is only me who can DM on Maps.
• I host Foundry on Oracle Cloud, which is free,e and my whole game table has access to it.  It's always on, and the DMs all have access to the admin password, so any DM in our group can get on and fire up their "world" to do prep or run a session.  The only restriction there is that we can only have one world live at any given time - but that is fine for us.

Cheers!

If I decide to unsub from D&D Beyond totally and pay nothing, what would be the effect?

You'd lose access to the following:

• Unlimited character slots
• Ability to content share
• Maps
• Some features of Sigil

You made one comment which is inaccurate

• Only I can DM as no one else in my group is subscribed.

This isn't accurate, you don't need to be subscribed to DM. Being a DM (owner of a campaign) is separate from activating content sharing in a campaign. So for example, let's say you've got Annie, Beth, and Charlie:

• Annie wants to DM and owns all the adventures, but no subscription
• Beth has a master tier subscription but doesn't want to DM, and owns all books with player facing content
• Charlie has no subscription nor desire to DM, but owns all the setting books

Annie makes a campaign and Beth and Charlie join. Beth uses her sub to activate content sharing in the campaign. Now Annie can access Beth and Charlies shared books, Beth can access Annie and Charlies, and Charlie can access Annie and Beths. Annie, as DM, still has controls over the campaign such as resetting the invite link, viewing character sheets, editing them, and setting what compendium content is visible to those people in the campaign who are accessing it through sharing (she can't block people from seeing compendium for books they own)

Sorry, I wasn't being clear there, when I said "Only I can DM" I meant "Only I can use Maps to DM".  As far as I know you need Master Sub to run a Maps session.

Quote from Blakey >>

Sorry, I wasn't being clear there, when I said "Only I can DM" I meant "Only I can use Maps to DM".  As far as I know you need Master Sub to run a Maps session.

 Ah yeah, sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, you're right about that

Unsubscribing is not permanent. You can always reactivate your sub if you miss it.

Quote from GnollitAll78450 >>

Unsubscribing is not permanent. You can always reactivate your sub if you miss it.

Indeed - this is a very good point.

And I could buy more adventures as they are released if I wanted to?

Yes.

I know this is not exactly the question you asked but, have you considered that a master teir subscription is only like $55 for an entire year? That's just fractions of a penny more than 15 cents a day. Now granted that's in the US I don't know it may be different in other countries. My point is though, that this seems one of those situations where you can kind of have your cake and eat it too because the cake only cost 15 cents a day.

I've never been subscribed here (doesn't seem worth the price), but have spent hundreds on sourcebooks. You can access all the books you own just fine without a subscription. The biggest limitation by far for me is being restricted to just six characters, but I've learnt to let go of them once I've completed a game.

In addition to the stuff already mentioned, not being subscribed also means you can't use other people's homebrew iirc. It's not something that I'm personally interested in, but I know it matters a lot to some.

Quote from Amanda42882 >>

I know this is not exactly the question you asked but, have you considered that a master teir subscription is only like $55 for an entire year? That's just fractions of a penny more than 15 cents a day. Now granted that's in the US I don't know it may be different in other countries. My point is though, that this seems one of those situations where you can kind of have your cake and eat it too because the cake only cost 15 cents a day.

 It's the equivalent of almost two books a year. If you're not using it, then the two books are a better choice. If you are...then maybe it is worth it.

Quote from Frachese >>

I've never been subscribed here (doesn't seem worth the price), but have spent hundreds on sourcebooks. You can access all the books you own just fine without a subscription. The biggest limitation by far for me is being restricted to just six characters, but I've learnt to let go of them once I've completed a game.

In addition to the stuff already mentioned, not being subscribed also means you can't use other people's homebrew iirc. It's not something that I'm personally interested in, but I know it matters a lot to some.

 You can use the homebrew of people in your campaign, bit not the sitewide library.

I think for me (the OP), the $5 a month, though not much and affordable, just isn't *worth it* if I'm not using Maps or Sigil.   I will be slightly restricted:

• I will lose some PCs (that I never play)
• I will not be able to DM in Maps or Sigil (I've tried both and prefer Foundry for now).
• I will lose the ability to share my books with my players (but I also own them in Foundry, which they can access, and they have the SRD)

Losing that but gaining $5 a month to spend elsewhere (maybe a well-targeted Paetron) seems worth it.

It's only since I tried Maps and Sigil and found that I don't want to replace Foundry with them (yet) that I've considered the idea.

Don't forget that just because you're DM doesn't mean you have to shoulder all the costs. Spread the load a bit. As Davyd said above anyone in a D&D Beyond campaign can turn on content sharing if they have a Master Tier subscription, they don't have to be the one who created the campaign, so if you've got a lot of stuff on here maybe ask one of your players to upgrade while you focus your spend on other things that will add value

Everyone should switch form this system. Now that it forces us to use the new rules in 2014 based adventures and campaigns I am unable to play or run any game properly due to all the conflicting design and implementation. 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Everyone should switch form this system. Now that it forces us to use the new rules in 2014 based adventures and campaigns I am unable to play or run any game properly due to all the conflicting design and implementation. 

 
by "system" do you mean D&D5E or DNDBeyond?

Cuase there are VTTs that let you run 2014 entirely, or even 2014 with some 2024 add ons that you can chose to add, like roll 20.

D&D Beyond. I like 5e. I hate what they are doing in the system here to force us off it or make it hard to use.