I wanted to buy the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons core rulebook in French and in PDF format on D&D Beyond, but to my surprise, it’s only available in English in that format.
Honestly, in the digital age, it’s hard to understand how such a major publisher hasn’t managed a proper international distribution. Many other RPG publishers offer their translated books in multiple languages digitally without any issue.
It’s really disappointing to see that Wizards of the Coast doesn’t seem to take its international communities seriously, especially considering the global excitement around the 5e edition and the 2024 updates.
Sadly we´ve never gotten PDFs and likely never will. It is double disappointing that official localizations are not digitally available (with no plans to translate the site in the near future) so yes, sadly only physical and almost no PR or info, or official social media accounts for other languages =) yay!
They used to sell PDFs of many of the books, a few years back, but that was before they also removed the a la carte purchases.
Small correction: we've never offered official PDFs for any of the fifth edition books. Older edition books are, however, available in PDF format through the DMsGuild/DriveThruRPG.
Also a general note on the subject of the thread, there are plans for site localization in the future (which I have mentioned before in a thread iSqualo started a few months ago), but we don't have a time frame or roadmap for that yet.
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They used to sell PDFs of many of the books, a few years back, but that was before they also removed the a la carte purchases.
Small correction: we've never offered official PDFs for any of the fifth edition books. Older edition books are, however, available in PDF format through the DMsGuild/DriveThruRPG.
Also a general note on the subject of the thread, there are plans for site localization in the future (which I have mentioned before in a thread iSqualo started a few months ago), but we don't have a time frame or roadmap for that yet.
What was the old option "You can just buy the book as a one time purchase, no digital integration" on D&D Beyond? Just accessing the text like normal, but nothing in the character builder?
They used to sell PDFs of many of the books, a few years back, but that was before they also removed the a la carte purchases.
Small correction: we've never offered official PDFs for any of the fifth edition books. Older edition books are, however, available in PDF format through the DMsGuild/DriveThruRPG.
Also a general note on the subject of the thread, there are plans for site localization in the future (which I have mentioned before in a thread iSqualo started a few months ago), but we don't have a time frame or roadmap for that yet.
What was the old option "You can just buy the book as a one time purchase, no digital integration" on D&D Beyond? Just accessing the text like normal, but nothing in the character builder?
I can't remember what it was officially called; I think DDB stopped that even before WOTC acquired it, but it let you have access to the material in the compendium only. DDB never sold PDFs.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Your Friendly Neighborhood Community Manager (she/her) You can call me LT. :)
CM Hat On| CM Hat Off Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5]. Thank you for your patience if you message me outside of those hours!
I think you're talking babout the Buy Compendium option that used to be on here. It wasn't a pdf, it just allowed you to read the book on the site or download it in the app but without adding the options to the character builder
Hi everyone,
I wanted to buy the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons core rulebook in French and in PDF format on D&D Beyond, but to my surprise, it’s only available in English in that format.
Honestly, in the digital age, it’s hard to understand how such a major publisher hasn’t managed a proper international distribution. Many other RPG publishers offer their translated books in multiple languages digitally without any issue.
It’s really disappointing to see that Wizards of the Coast doesn’t seem to take its international communities seriously, especially considering the global excitement around the 5e edition and the 2024 updates.
I truly hope this will change soon.
I'm afraid you'll be doubly disappointed even if they do release in French because D&D Beyond (in fact WotC as a whole) do not provide pdfs
Sadly we´ve never gotten PDFs and likely never will. It is double disappointing that official localizations are not digitally available (with no plans to translate the site in the near future) so yes, sadly only physical and almost no PR or info, or official social media accounts for other languages =) yay!
They used to sell PDFs of many of the books, a few years back, but that was before they also removed the a la carte purchases.
Small correction: we've never offered official PDFs for any of the fifth edition books. Older edition books are, however, available in PDF format through the DMsGuild/DriveThruRPG.
Also a general note on the subject of the thread, there are plans for site localization in the future (which I have mentioned before in a thread iSqualo started a few months ago), but we don't have a time frame or roadmap for that yet.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Community Manager (she/her)
You can call me LT. :)
CM Hat On | CM Hat Off
Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5].
Thank you for your patience if you message me outside of those hours!
Useful Links: Site Rules & Guidelines | D&D Educator Resources | Change Your Nickname | Submit a Support Ticket

What was the old option "You can just buy the book as a one time purchase, no digital integration" on D&D Beyond? Just accessing the text like normal, but nothing in the character builder?
I can't remember what it was officially called; I think DDB stopped that even before WOTC acquired it, but it let you have access to the material in the compendium only. DDB never sold PDFs.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Community Manager (she/her)
You can call me LT. :)
CM Hat On | CM Hat Off
Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5].
Thank you for your patience if you message me outside of those hours!
Useful Links: Site Rules & Guidelines | D&D Educator Resources | Change Your Nickname | Submit a Support Ticket

I think you're talking babout the Buy Compendium option that used to be on here. It wasn't a pdf, it just allowed you to read the book on the site or download it in the app but without adding the options to the character builder
Ah. I thought that was where all the PDFs floating around came from.