thanks so much. I just bought the PHB and it appeared for me - along with a lot of other material as well. How do you just purchase the Drow subrace? Is it even worth it given the amount of additional content you have access to with a full PHB purchase? Seems like a good deal if you have dedicated players using the DDB system. thoughts?
thanks so much. I just bought the PHB and it appeared for me - along with a lot of other material as well. How do you just purchase the Drow subrace? Is it even worth it given the amount of additional content you have access to with a full PHB purchase? Seems like a good deal if you have dedicated players using the DDB system. thoughts?
If you purchased the full PHB, then you already have access to all the content in that book, as you've seen. For people who do NOT wish to buy a whole book, either due to monetary considerations, or simply because most of the content is things they have no interest in, DDB does offer the option to purchase content piecemeal. A single race or subrace, class or subclass, spell, monster or whatever.
If you choose one of the sourcebooks that you don't yet own in the Marketplace, scroll down the page and you'll find a section titled "Additional Purchase Options." There you can choose the bits you want, for $1.99 each. It adds up quickly, so depending on what you need it may or may not be more economical to buy the entire book.
The great thing about the “à la carte” option here at DDB is that each individual purchase you make from a given source counts toward the purchase of that source. If someone starts out buying elements from a book piecemeal and then decide they want the whole book, they only pay the difference between what they have already paid and the cost of the book. That’s what I did, for example, with the Monster Manual: slowly bought the monsters I needed, until it was only a few dollars to buy the rest of the MM. And, in most cases, you get to that point before you have purchased everything piecemeal.
The only exception I know to what I just laid out is that if someone lets the price of buying the rest of the book drop below $1.99, because $1.99 is the minimum payment possible in their payment system.
Unlocked content: Everything EXCEPT for Acquisitions Incorporated (looks silly) and a few of the adventures. Rick and Morty looks like a complete waste of time and money. Also taking a hard PASS on the new Strixhaven sourcebook. I did not care for the Magic:The Gathering sourcebooks such as Ravnica, but to each his or her own I guess.
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: I got into playing 5E in December of 2017 and found this site and was hooked. I also had some extra money burning a hole in my pockets and just had to get the legendary bundle at the time. The content here is less expensive than purchasing the hardcover books and let's face it, being able to search the compendium for whatever you are looking for and using the character sheet feature is very handy. I do also purchase most of the hardcover books, but when I go out to game, the books stay at home while everything I need to look at can be accessed through maybe a half-dozen browser tabs on my laptop and a few printed maps and notes that I bring with me.
Potential Next Purchases: I recently purchased the latest offering, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as all of the articles here on DDB piqued my curiosity, and am now waiting for Fizban's Treasury of Dragons to come out in October 2021.
Unlocked content: I've currently got all released content with the exception of Hunt for Thessalhydra, Locathah Rising and Infernal Machine Rebuild.
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: I DM a lot of games and so I like to have all potential content at my fingertips for when players ask if they can have a certain feature or item, I also like being able to pull small elements out of the written adventures to repurpose in my own way. I also have a fair number of friends that aren't able to spend money on things like D&D books, so it's nice to be able to share stuff with them.
Potential Next Purchases: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is next on my list.
Is there anything that anyone else regrets purchasing?
For me I'd say the only thing I probably shouldn't have purchased is the Rick and Morty adventure, I can't stand the cartoon and I am never going to run a D&D game using it so I don't know why I even considered picking it up.
Settingbooks: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Adventures: Curse of Strahd, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Out of the Abyss, Princes of the Apocalypse, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, Storm King's Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, Dragon of Icespire Peak, Lost Mine of Phandelver
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: First. I'll note I have bought 90% of everything during the DDB sales. I would probably not have invested in the books on DDB if I had not started DM'ing online for family.
I like the forgotten realms setting. I know it gets a lot of hate, and there are things about it I don't like either (I just change those :P), but I enjoy it. Ravenloft has also always held a soft spot for me. I currently Dm multiple games for various family groups and the published campaigns save me significant time on prep. The Master's sub allows me to share all of this content with my family without them having to invest also. It if was not for this I doubt many of them would play.
The MtG books I have zero interest in, and I've found if I wait long enough WotC will publish anything good in them in a book I am actually interested in. The same can be said for Eberron, though I hear good things about it, the magicpunkiness of it is just not my jam. Hard pass for me on the new Dragonomicon (Fizban's). Again I think anything good in it will be reprinted in the new Mordenkainen's.
Potential Next Purchases: I may pick up Witchlight at some point in the future, but only because my eight-year-old daughter would enjoy playing it. I'll probably end up getting the new Mordenkainen's when it is released as a separate book next year. I am betting that it will have the things I missed out on in the Fizban's/Witchlight/MtG books. As far as the teased setting books... I'm not interested in any new settings from WotC. I feel there are much better 3rd party options out there if I wanted to go that way. For classic settings, I think they are going to release a new Forgotten Realms setting book. SCAG has been a blemish I think they want to erase, which I'll pick up because, Forgotten Realms. I'd also probably get spelljammer or dark sun if they were released, for nostalgia and so I can complain about what changed like a grumpy old man :P.
DM or Player: Mostly DM, but I'm happy to play if someone else wants to try their hand at DM-ing.
Unlocked content: Sourcebook bundle, CK
Subscription: Master
Reasons: I started creating a game world 15 years ago and love to share that and other new adventures with players. Giving my players the option to play what they want how they want is important to me, and I'm always up for homebrewing if someone can't find another way to play what they want. I don't normally play more than two campaigns, so being able to share my content with my subscription is great. I do ask all of my players create characters on DDB, which took a bit of convincing, but it is a breeze to manage characters now. I don't miss re-writing character sheets that had drink/Cheeto stains one bit. Just thinking of the number of pencils and erasers we used to go through is mind boggling.
Potential Next Purchases: The next sourcebook, then the next.
DM or Player: Mostly player, but I am going to start running a game very soon. And I am also doing a conversion for a game I designed to fit the homebrew content here.
Unlocked Content: PHB
Reasons: The PHB is of course the basic book you need. I did not have a bunch of money for other books, but I surely will add them in time. DDB makes it easier for a disabled veteran who needs a bunch of books.
Potential Next Purchases: COS, VRGtR, FToD, MM, DMG. Hopefully all with my next pay check.
Unlocked content:Paid content: PHB, Warforged ancestry, Air Genasi ancestry (both versions), Armorer Subclass for Artificer
Free Content (unlocked during special access times or promotional periods): Acquisitions Inc., Baldur's Gate Gazetteer, Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Frozen Sick (CR adventure), Giants of the Star Forge, Intro to Stormwreck Isle, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Legendary Magic Items (Honour Among Thieves), Lightning Keep, Lost Mines of Phandelver, and Prisoner 13
Subscription: None
Reasons: To get virtually anything out of this website, you have to pay for something, and the PHB is the best place to start. I try to make the most of free content, and bought certain races/subclasses for specific characters. I kind of regret spending any money on this website: I don't regret the fun times I've had with my characters in games made a little smoother and more convenient by the digital toolset, but the small price of having to look something up in a book every now and then, or having to refer to a pencil and paper character sheet, doesn't seem like that much compared to the huge amounts of money you have to fork out to make good use of all of D&DBeyond's features.
I own a physical XGtE, one of my player's owns the PHB, and I've got by owning no other physical books at all, while DMing and playing in multiple campaigns for the last five years. If people see value and find use in the digital content, that's great, and I hope they continue enjoying D&D, but in my groups* we just don't need all this digital stuff to still have a great time and still play D&D.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you already play D&D, and especially if you already own any of the core books, you simply do not need to pay for this service.
* The groups I'm part of only partially overlap, I run in most of them for different people and across multiple campaigns; I play D&D with about 20 people total on a semi-regular basis. I think between all of us, we own maybe 8 PHB, 1 DMG, 3 MM, and a smattering of the other books.
Potential Next Purchases: I don't intend to purchase anything from Wizards of the Coast. I buy dice and accessories from independent companies, I can get actually good books from third-party creators who care about their customers like Ghostfire Gaming and Hit Point Press, and if I really want anything WotC puts out, I'll buy secondhand.
thanks so much. I just bought the PHB and it appeared for me - along with a lot of other material as well. How do you just purchase the Drow subrace? Is it even worth it given the amount of additional content you have access to with a full PHB purchase? Seems like a good deal if you have dedicated players using the DDB system. thoughts?
If you purchased the full PHB, then you already have access to all the content in that book, as you've seen. For people who do NOT wish to buy a whole book, either due to monetary considerations, or simply because most of the content is things they have no interest in, DDB does offer the option to purchase content piecemeal. A single race or subrace, class or subclass, spell, monster or whatever.
If you choose one of the sourcebooks that you don't yet own in the Marketplace, scroll down the page and you'll find a section titled "Additional Purchase Options." There you can choose the bits you want, for $1.99 each. It adds up quickly, so depending on what you need it may or may not be more economical to buy the entire book.
The great thing about the “à la carte” option here at DDB is that each individual purchase you make from a given source counts toward the purchase of that source. If someone starts out buying elements from a book piecemeal and then decide they want the whole book, they only pay the difference between what they have already paid and the cost of the book. That’s what I did, for example, with the Monster Manual: slowly bought the monsters I needed, until it was only a few dollars to buy the rest of the MM. And, in most cases, you get to that point before you have purchased everything piecemeal.
The only exception I know to what I just laid out is that if someone lets the price of buying the rest of the book drop below $1.99, because $1.99 is the minimum payment possible in their payment system.
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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thanks so much!
for sure, that's great info. thanks!
DM or Player: Both
Unlocked content: Everything EXCEPT for Acquisitions Incorporated (looks silly) and a few of the adventures. Rick and Morty looks like a complete waste of time and money. Also taking a hard PASS on the new Strixhaven sourcebook. I did not care for the Magic:The Gathering sourcebooks such as Ravnica, but to each his or her own I guess.
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: I got into playing 5E in December of 2017 and found this site and was hooked. I also had some extra money burning a hole in my pockets and just had to get the legendary bundle at the time. The content here is less expensive than purchasing the hardcover books and let's face it, being able to search the compendium for whatever you are looking for and using the character sheet feature is very handy. I do also purchase most of the hardcover books, but when I go out to game, the books stay at home while everything I need to look at can be accessed through maybe a half-dozen browser tabs on my laptop and a few printed maps and notes that I bring with me.
Potential Next Purchases: I recently purchased the latest offering, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as all of the articles here on DDB piqued my curiosity, and am now waiting for Fizban's Treasury of Dragons to come out in October 2021.
DM or Player: Mostly DM
Unlocked content: I've currently got all released content with the exception of Hunt for Thessalhydra, Locathah Rising and Infernal Machine Rebuild.
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: I DM a lot of games and so I like to have all potential content at my fingertips for when players ask if they can have a certain feature or item, I also like being able to pull small elements out of the written adventures to repurpose in my own way. I also have a fair number of friends that aren't able to spend money on things like D&D books, so it's nice to be able to share stuff with them.
Potential Next Purchases: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is next on my list.
Is there anything that anyone else regrets purchasing?
For me I'd say the only thing I probably shouldn't have purchased is the Rick and Morty adventure, I can't stand the cartoon and I am never going to run a D&D game using it so I don't know why I even considered picking it up.
DM or Player: DM
Unlocked content:
Sourcebooks: Core 3, Volo's, Xanathar's, Mordenkainen's, Tasha's
Settingbooks: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Adventures: Curse of Strahd, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Out of the Abyss, Princes of the Apocalypse, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, Storm King's Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, Dragon of Icespire Peak, Lost Mine of Phandelver
Subscription: Master Tier
Reasons: First. I'll note I have bought 90% of everything during the DDB sales. I would probably not have invested in the books on DDB if I had not started DM'ing online for family.
I like the forgotten realms setting. I know it gets a lot of hate, and there are things about it I don't like either (I just change those :P), but I enjoy it. Ravenloft has also always held a soft spot for me. I currently Dm multiple games for various family groups and the published campaigns save me significant time on prep. The Master's sub allows me to share all of this content with my family without them having to invest also. It if was not for this I doubt many of them would play.
The MtG books I have zero interest in, and I've found if I wait long enough WotC will publish anything good in them in a book I am actually interested in. The same can be said for Eberron, though I hear good things about it, the magicpunkiness of it is just not my jam. Hard pass for me on the new Dragonomicon (Fizban's). Again I think anything good in it will be reprinted in the new Mordenkainen's.
Potential Next Purchases: I may pick up Witchlight at some point in the future, but only because my eight-year-old daughter would enjoy playing it. I'll probably end up getting the new Mordenkainen's when it is released as a separate book next year. I am betting that it will have the things I missed out on in the Fizban's/Witchlight/MtG books. As far as the teased setting books... I'm not interested in any new settings from WotC. I feel there are much better 3rd party options out there if I wanted to go that way. For classic settings, I think they are going to release a new Forgotten Realms setting book. SCAG has been a blemish I think they want to erase, which I'll pick up because, Forgotten Realms. I'd also probably get spelljammer or dark sun if they were released, for nostalgia and so I can complain about what changed like a grumpy old man :P.
DM or Player: Mostly DM, but I'm happy to play if someone else wants to try their hand at DM-ing.
Unlocked content: Sourcebook bundle, CK
Subscription: Master
Reasons: I started creating a game world 15 years ago and love to share that and other new adventures with players. Giving my players the option to play what they want how they want is important to me, and I'm always up for homebrewing if someone can't find another way to play what they want. I don't normally play more than two campaigns, so being able to share my content with my subscription is great. I do ask all of my players create characters on DDB, which took a bit of convincing, but it is a breeze to manage characters now. I don't miss re-writing character sheets that had drink/Cheeto stains one bit. Just thinking of the number of pencils and erasers we used to go through is mind boggling.
Potential Next Purchases: The next sourcebook, then the next.
DM or Player: Mostly player, but I am going to start running a game very soon. And I am also doing a conversion for a game I designed to fit the homebrew content here.
Unlocked Content: PHB
Reasons: The PHB is of course the basic book you need. I did not have a bunch of money for other books, but I surely will add them in time. DDB makes it easier for a disabled veteran who needs a bunch of books.
Potential Next Purchases: COS, VRGtR, FToD, MM, DMG. Hopefully all with my next pay check.
Project Manager of Haphazard Projects
DM or Player: Mostly DM, occasional Player
Unlocked content: Paid content: PHB, Warforged ancestry, Air Genasi ancestry (both versions), Armorer Subclass for Artificer
Free Content (unlocked during special access times or promotional periods): Acquisitions Inc., Baldur's Gate Gazetteer, Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Frozen Sick (CR adventure), Giants of the Star Forge, Intro to Stormwreck Isle, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Legendary Magic Items (Honour Among Thieves), Lightning Keep, Lost Mines of Phandelver, and Prisoner 13
Subscription: None
Reasons: To get virtually anything out of this website, you have to pay for something, and the PHB is the best place to start. I try to make the most of free content, and bought certain races/subclasses for specific characters. I kind of regret spending any money on this website: I don't regret the fun times I've had with my characters in games made a little smoother and more convenient by the digital toolset, but the small price of having to look something up in a book every now and then, or having to refer to a pencil and paper character sheet, doesn't seem like that much compared to the huge amounts of money you have to fork out to make good use of all of D&DBeyond's features.
I own a physical XGtE, one of my player's owns the PHB, and I've got by owning no other physical books at all, while DMing and playing in multiple campaigns for the last five years. If people see value and find use in the digital content, that's great, and I hope they continue enjoying D&D, but in my groups* we just don't need all this digital stuff to still have a great time and still play D&D.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you already play D&D, and especially if you already own any of the core books, you simply do not need to pay for this service.
* The groups I'm part of only partially overlap, I run in most of them for different people and across multiple campaigns; I play D&D with about 20 people total on a semi-regular basis. I think between all of us, we own maybe 8 PHB, 1 DMG, 3 MM, and a smattering of the other books.
Potential Next Purchases: I don't intend to purchase anything from Wizards of the Coast. I buy dice and accessories from independent companies, I can get
actually goodbooks from third-party creatorswho care about their customerslike Ghostfire Gaming and Hit Point Press, and if I really want anything WotC puts out, I'll buy secondhand.