It is not possible. WOTC and D&D beyond are different companies, and just like buying a book from two different bookstores doesn't make the other bookstore give you one for free, D&D beyond and Amazon are the different bookstores, and you won't get one from DDB if you don't buy it a second time
My only issue is that I would like to have a book to look at (for the at and other things you can't get digitally)...
I'm sad... Torn between getting it through DnDBeyond (to play online with) and having the actual item in hand.
If you meant "art" by "at" you get the illustrations in the digital editions too. Some people complain that some adventures' pull out maps and the like need some tweaking to behave in the size as the physical map has been, but hasn't been an issue with me.
Your sadness just won't beat how publishing businesses work. A lot of people use the "I own the book and should just get the digital included" or vice versa. But the best analogy I think, since we're talking basically about editions and thereby formats is like saying "I got the book in hardcover, and I feel I should get a copy in softcover too because that will be easier to lug around". No one's going to do that at the price points these are currently offered at. Only Beedle and Grimm's (platinum, not sure about silver) editions provide a D&D Beyond code with the physical copy ... at least they did for Rime of the Frost Maiden; but that's a luxury market most players aren't going to enter.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah. I've seen about 5 threads about this and the general answer is "no, if you bought the books somewhere else you don't automatically get them on DDB. You have to buy them here."
As for physical versus online, the decisions vary, and with good reason. Personally I buy almost all of mine physical and prefer that format, but others will likely have different circumstances.
I find it much easier to carry over 40 books in a tablet or laptop than to break my back trying to lug that much source material to every session. I can also create characters on a whim with a powerful character creation tool and be back rolling in moments. Rather than flipping through dozens of books looking for the unique things I need for my characters.
Beyond is just better and easier. Unless you have a lonely bookshelf that you somehow feel self-conscious over, physical gaming books are very outdated.
All great points. I am just a bit OCD when it comes to certain things. I am just starting back into DnD after being away from it for what I assumed was 20-25 years but I think it has been longer (maybe 30-35 years). I just want to get the best knowledge going forward (one of my OCD thongs is way to much research, Lol). Also trying to tweak my character (which is as much fun as I remember) so I can get into an campaign with folks in my area (Las Vegas, NV area) or/and online game with some peeps (still looking for that)...
I think DnD Beyond maybe the better choice going forward, just to tie everything together under one DnD umbrella as it were, Lol
I get both hardcover and digital for everything. I've not regretted it. Especially now that WOTC is "changing" some things... they can't change my hard copies.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I find it much easier to carry over 40 books in a tablet or laptop than to break my back trying to lug that much source material to every session. I can also create characters on a whim with a powerful character creation tool and be back rolling in moments. Rather than flipping through dozens of books looking for the unique things I need for my characters.
Beyond is just better and easier. Unless you have a lonely bookshelf that you somehow feel self-conscious over, physical gaming books are very outdated.
I'm kind of in a different boat these days. The more I've worked digitally as a professional, the more analog appeals to me.
The more I understand, create, and explore through a digital medium -
wacom tablet + photoshop for art
D&D Beyond for browsing D&D inspiration
spotify for music
video games
The more I am interested in -
pencil and paper
flipping through my 5E monster manual on the couch
purchasing a record player and going all in on vinyls
playing a boardgame
It's not so much a nostalgia, old guy, do it the hard way sort of thing. I think it's more a case of working so much digitally - personally and professionally, that I miss the feel of a book in my hand and the feel of texture and paper rather than screen, screen, screen.
I remember carrying around bags full of books, binders full of notes, and folders full of characters to various locations to run games. I remember lending out books and eventually having to buy another copy because my original vanished in the shuffle. I remember times I didn’t expect to need all of that stuff and then not having them or having to run home to get them. I remember when I just started keeping all of it in my car and then the times it was a hassle when I need the space for something. I still have bookshelves full of my old books that I’ve had to move from house to house twice since then.
I miss none of that. And I honestly only ever look at them anymore to convert something to 5e. That’s why I went all digital this edition.
I also remember the smell of the books. Nothing smells quite like a fresh gaming book. I remember how the books and character sheets would pick up a “patina” from coffee stains and greasy fingers. That patina gives older books their own smell that there is also nothing quite like. I can still go back to those old books and see my hand written notes in the margins or bits crossed out and annotated that I wrote 20-30 years ago and still know what they meant and why I wrote them all these years later. I remember sitting at my desk surrounded by open books taking notes from all of them to write for campaigns and feeling like one of the wizards in the pictures in those books. I know I won’t have any of that from this edition.
I wonder if I will miss it in another 20-30 years....
I always get the book in a physical copy, and have only gotten one book (MOoT) in a digital form, which was on this website. I cannot read a book in a digital form, for some reason. My brain just doesn't absorb the information like it would in a physical book. I also prefer to have a book to hold just so I can have a real physical thing, instead of just some text on a screen.
I am aware of the benefits that come from this website, and all of this is just my personal experience, but I would never give up my physical books for a copy on this website. Though the physical books are normally more expensive than the versions, for me it is worth getting the real, solid book.
Your mileage may vary, though.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I find it much easier to carry over 40 books in a tablet or laptop than to break my back trying to lug that much source material to every session. I can also create characters on a whim with a powerful character creation tool and be back rolling in moments. Rather than flipping through dozens of books looking for the unique things I need for my characters.
Beyond is just better and easier. Unless you have a lonely bookshelf that you somehow feel self-conscious over, physical gaming books are very outdated.
I'm kind of in a different boat these days. The more I've worked digitally as a professional, the more analog appeals to me.
The more I understand, create, and explore through a digital medium -
wacom tablet + photoshop for art
D&D Beyond for browsing D&D inspiration
spotify for music
video games
The more I am interested in -
pencil and paper
flipping through my 5E monster manual on the couch
purchasing a record player and going all in on vinyls
playing a boardgame
It's not so much a nostalgia, old guy, do it the hard way sort of thing. I think it's more a case of working so much digitally - personally and professionally, that I miss the feel of a book in my hand and the feel of texture and paper rather than screen, screen, screen.
to each their own I guess.
Myself I have my Chromebook, Android Tablet and Phone for when I game carry all my books on them with the DDB apps for books and PCs
I prefer having the physical book to read through, but dndbeyond is great for quick checking stuff on the fly during games and I have the master tier so my gaming group gets the book that way too, we play online through Fantasy Grounds, so to have the character options in FG as well, I've already faced the fact that I'll be buying Tasha's Cauldron 3 times, but then I've got my paper copy and everyone else can use the digital one.
Physical books??? At the present moment, visiting my nearing FLGS would involve clearances from at least two governments and a month's quarantine - if I could get flights. And since the country I live in is currently not too keen to handle international mail, shipping options are either via a courier company if I want it any time soon ($$$), or a very long wait to get things by ship.
So yeah, I have reason to appreciate the existence of D&D Beyond.
I prefer having the physical book to read through, but dndbeyond is great for quick checking stuff on the fly during games and I have the master tier so my gaming group gets the book that way too, we play online through Fantasy Grounds, so to have the character options in FG as well, I've already faced the fact that I'll be buying Tasha's Cauldron 3 times, but then I've got my paper copy and everyone else can use the digital one.
I agree... reading for me is better in physical form... lookup may at times be better in digital form, but it all depends (sometimes using the physical index is actually faster -- depends on what I am looking for).
As for buying on FG... if I were using FG (I'm not -- I use Foundry), I would not buy electronic resources both here and there. I'd just buy it on FG.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There is really no reason why you don't get the electronic copy when you buy the physical book. A lot of publishing company's do this, particularly with text book. The irony is, Wizards does this too. When you buy a Beadle's and Grim box, it comes with a code to get the electronic copy on DnDBeyond. Even Blu-rays now come with a digital copy.
The only reason I can understand for Wizards to not to offer Digital copy is to squeeze out a little more money. Sure, people could photo the code, but its also possible to include the code in an attached an envelope, much the maps, or email it too you with a purchase.
Of course it's to squeeze more money out of us. That's what they do... their business goal is to make money. D&D is just the vessel by which they do it.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There is really no reason why you don't get the electronic copy when you buy the physical book. A lot of publishing company's do this, particularly with text book. The irony is, Wizards does this too. When you buy a Beadle's and Grim box, it comes with a code to get the electronic copy on DnDBeyond. Even Blu-rays now come with a digital copy.
The only reason I can understand for Wizards to not to offer Digital copy is to squeeze out a little more money. Sure, people could photo the code, but its also possible to include the code in an attached an envelope, much the maps, or email it too you with a purchase.
The points you're making you actually refute yourself. As I pointed out Beedle and Grimm's bundled a D&D Beyond Code (at least with Rime of the Frost Maiden I don't know if it was bundled with their other Platinum and Silver editions). That is not "Wizards doing it too." That is boutique publisher with a very controlled limited edition inventory apparently having an agreement with Wizards (and D&D Beyond) to do this bundle. I mean do you think all D&D adventures should be at that ~$500 price point, because that's around where a Beedle and Grim platinum editions sell for. If you go for the Silver edition (also a limited run) you're talking $175 but that does NOT include the Beyond code.
Your perspective doesn't really appreciate where publishing is at these days, and D&D books are somewhere in that niche of technical and art publishing. They don't work at the volume that textbook publishers do. Anyway you're still making the "I want a hardcover and free softcover (even though they come from different publishers)." If Wizards produced electronic editions in house, you'd have more of a case, but what you're advocating here just isn't within D&D Beyond's power.
Would you pay $80 or so for a hardcopy bundled with access to the digital edition? Because those textbooks bundled with digital editions or toolsets, at least in technical matters tend to be pricier than game manuals. But it sounds like you want to pay the Amazon hardcopy price and just assume you'd get all the additional tools at no further cost. Let's not get into the hurt Amazon has done to publishing's profit margins in general.
And I'll just end on saying Wizards clearly keeps tabs on Beedle and Grimm, and it doesn't look like digital bundling is the lessons they're taking away from B&Gs experiments. Curse of Strahd Revamped seems to be the lesson, basically produce an enhanced physical edition in a boxed set with props, etc. I'm guessing Wizards is not interested in maintaining the technological infrastructure that would entail doing digital editions in house. That said, they did ask about digital tools in the last survey. My guess is while there's a market that does embrace D&D Beyond, there's a lot of players who still play as old school as they can with paper and pencil, so Wizards just doesn't see a digital version of their print run an "essential" component.
There is really no reason why you don't get the electronic copy when you buy the physical book. A lot of publishing company's do this, particularly with text book. The irony is, Wizards does this too. When you buy a Beadle's and Grim box, it comes with a code to get the electronic copy on DnDBeyond. Even Blu-rays now come with a digital copy.
The only reason I can understand for Wizards to not to offer Digital copy is to squeeze out a little more money. Sure, people could photo the code, but its also possible to include the code in an attached an envelope, much the maps, or email it too you with a purchase.
I've never seen a physical book come with a code for an ebook, outside maybe some textbooks. But those textbooks are marked up 500%. But you buy a physical novel Amazon it doesn't come with access to the Kindle version. Blurays do it for movies, but that's because at this point nobody is buying physical movies so they have to do everything they can to get people to buy them.
I think if DDB had gone with a subscription model that included full access to the tools, you'd see all these questions disappear. Because in the end, that's all most people want. Full Access to the character builder and they'd feel a lot better about paying a subscription price to use tool than they would about 'buying content twice'. But alas, that's not the model they went for. But the idea that you should be able to pay Amazon the already super discounted price and also get access to everything on a completely different site is absurd.
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If I buy adventure books from Amazon, how do I transfer them over to D&D beyond or is that possible?
It is not possible. WOTC and D&D beyond are different companies, and just like buying a book from two different bookstores doesn't make the other bookstore give you one for free, D&D beyond and Amazon are the different bookstores, and you won't get one from DDB if you don't buy it a second time
Gotcha, I figured but need definitive answer. Thanks!
My only issue is that I would like to have a book to look at (for the at and other things you can't get digitally)...
I'm sad... Torn between getting it through DnDBeyond (to play online with) and having the actual item in hand.
If you meant "art" by "at" you get the illustrations in the digital editions too. Some people complain that some adventures' pull out maps and the like need some tweaking to behave in the size as the physical map has been, but hasn't been an issue with me.
Your sadness just won't beat how publishing businesses work. A lot of people use the "I own the book and should just get the digital included" or vice versa. But the best analogy I think, since we're talking basically about editions and thereby formats is like saying "I got the book in hardcover, and I feel I should get a copy in softcover too because that will be easier to lug around". No one's going to do that at the price points these are currently offered at. Only Beedle and Grimm's (platinum, not sure about silver) editions provide a D&D Beyond code with the physical copy ... at least they did for Rime of the Frost Maiden; but that's a luxury market most players aren't going to enter.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah. I've seen about 5 threads about this and the general answer is "no, if you bought the books somewhere else you don't automatically get them on DDB. You have to buy them here."
As for physical versus online, the decisions vary, and with good reason. Personally I buy almost all of mine physical and prefer that format, but others will likely have different circumstances.
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
I find it much easier to carry over 40 books in a tablet or laptop than to break my back trying to lug that much source material to every session. I can also create characters on a whim with a powerful character creation tool and be back rolling in moments. Rather than flipping through dozens of books looking for the unique things I need for my characters.
Beyond is just better and easier. Unless you have a lonely bookshelf that you somehow feel self-conscious over, physical gaming books are very outdated.
Lol, yes I meant art...
All great points. I am just a bit OCD when it comes to certain things. I am just starting back into DnD after being away from it for what I assumed was 20-25 years but I think it has been longer (maybe 30-35 years). I just want to get the best knowledge going forward (one of my OCD thongs is way to much research, Lol). Also trying to tweak my character (which is as much fun as I remember) so I can get into an campaign with folks in my area (Las Vegas, NV area) or/and online game with some peeps (still looking for that)...
I think DnD Beyond maybe the better choice going forward, just to tie everything together under one DnD umbrella as it were, Lol
Again, thanks for the input all!
I get both hardcover and digital for everything. I've not regretted it. Especially now that WOTC is "changing" some things... they can't change my hard copies.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm kind of in a different boat these days. The more I've worked digitally as a professional, the more analog appeals to me.
The more I understand, create, and explore through a digital medium -
The more I am interested in -
It's not so much a nostalgia, old guy, do it the hard way sort of thing. I think it's more a case of working so much digitally - personally and professionally, that I miss the feel of a book in my hand and the feel of texture and paper rather than screen, screen, screen.
to each their own I guess.
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
I remember carrying around bags full of books, binders full of notes, and folders full of characters to various locations to run games. I remember lending out books and eventually having to buy another copy because my original vanished in the shuffle. I remember times I didn’t expect to need all of that stuff and then not having them or having to run home to get them. I remember when I just started keeping all of it in my car and then the times it was a hassle when I need the space for something. I still have bookshelves full of my old books that I’ve had to move from house to house twice since then.
I miss none of that. And I honestly only ever look at them anymore to convert something to 5e. That’s why I went all digital this edition.
I also remember the smell of the books. Nothing smells quite like a fresh gaming book. I remember how the books and character sheets would pick up a “patina” from coffee stains and greasy fingers. That patina gives older books their own smell that there is also nothing quite like. I can still go back to those old books and see my hand written notes in the margins or bits crossed out and annotated that I wrote 20-30 years ago and still know what they meant and why I wrote them all these years later. I remember sitting at my desk surrounded by open books taking notes from all of them to write for campaigns and feeling like one of the wizards in the pictures in those books. I know I won’t have any of that from this edition.
I wonder if I will miss it in another 20-30 years....
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I always get the book in a physical copy, and have only gotten one book (MOoT) in a digital form, which was on this website. I cannot read a book in a digital form, for some reason. My brain just doesn't absorb the information like it would in a physical book. I also prefer to have a book to hold just so I can have a real physical thing, instead of just some text on a screen.
I am aware of the benefits that come from this website, and all of this is just my personal experience, but I would never give up my physical books for a copy on this website. Though the physical books are normally more expensive than the versions, for me it is worth getting the real, solid book.
Your mileage may vary, though.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Myself I have my Chromebook, Android Tablet and Phone for when I game carry all my books on them with the DDB apps for books and PCs
I prefer having the physical book to read through, but dndbeyond is great for quick checking stuff on the fly during games and I have the master tier so my gaming group gets the book that way too, we play online through Fantasy Grounds, so to have the character options in FG as well, I've already faced the fact that I'll be buying Tasha's Cauldron 3 times, but then I've got my paper copy and everyone else can use the digital one.
Physical books??? At the present moment, visiting my nearing FLGS would involve clearances from at least two governments and a month's quarantine - if I could get flights. And since the country I live in is currently not too keen to handle international mail, shipping options are either via a courier company if I want it any time soon ($$$), or a very long wait to get things by ship.
So yeah, I have reason to appreciate the existence of D&D Beyond.
I agree... reading for me is better in physical form... lookup may at times be better in digital form, but it all depends (sometimes using the physical index is actually faster -- depends on what I am looking for).
As for buying on FG... if I were using FG (I'm not -- I use Foundry), I would not buy electronic resources both here and there. I'd just buy it on FG.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There is really no reason why you don't get the electronic copy when you buy the physical book. A lot of publishing company's do this, particularly with text book. The irony is, Wizards does this too. When you buy a Beadle's and Grim box, it comes with a code to get the electronic copy on DnDBeyond. Even Blu-rays now come with a digital copy.
The only reason I can understand for Wizards to not to offer Digital copy is to squeeze out a little more money. Sure, people could photo the code, but its also possible to include the code in an attached an envelope, much the maps, or email it too you with a purchase.
Of course it's to squeeze more money out of us. That's what they do... their business goal is to make money. D&D is just the vessel by which they do it.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The points you're making you actually refute yourself. As I pointed out Beedle and Grimm's bundled a D&D Beyond Code (at least with Rime of the Frost Maiden I don't know if it was bundled with their other Platinum and Silver editions). That is not "Wizards doing it too." That is boutique publisher with a very controlled limited edition inventory apparently having an agreement with Wizards (and D&D Beyond) to do this bundle. I mean do you think all D&D adventures should be at that ~$500 price point, because that's around where a Beedle and Grim platinum editions sell for. If you go for the Silver edition (also a limited run) you're talking $175 but that does NOT include the Beyond code.
Your perspective doesn't really appreciate where publishing is at these days, and D&D books are somewhere in that niche of technical and art publishing. They don't work at the volume that textbook publishers do. Anyway you're still making the "I want a hardcover and free softcover (even though they come from different publishers)." If Wizards produced electronic editions in house, you'd have more of a case, but what you're advocating here just isn't within D&D Beyond's power.
Would you pay $80 or so for a hardcopy bundled with access to the digital edition? Because those textbooks bundled with digital editions or toolsets, at least in technical matters tend to be pricier than game manuals. But it sounds like you want to pay the Amazon hardcopy price and just assume you'd get all the additional tools at no further cost. Let's not get into the hurt Amazon has done to publishing's profit margins in general.
And I'll just end on saying Wizards clearly keeps tabs on Beedle and Grimm, and it doesn't look like digital bundling is the lessons they're taking away from B&Gs experiments. Curse of Strahd Revamped seems to be the lesson, basically produce an enhanced physical edition in a boxed set with props, etc. I'm guessing Wizards is not interested in maintaining the technological infrastructure that would entail doing digital editions in house. That said, they did ask about digital tools in the last survey. My guess is while there's a market that does embrace D&D Beyond, there's a lot of players who still play as old school as they can with paper and pencil, so Wizards just doesn't see a digital version of their print run an "essential" component.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I've never seen a physical book come with a code for an ebook, outside maybe some textbooks. But those textbooks are marked up 500%. But you buy a physical novel Amazon it doesn't come with access to the Kindle version. Blurays do it for movies, but that's because at this point nobody is buying physical movies so they have to do everything they can to get people to buy them.
I think if DDB had gone with a subscription model that included full access to the tools, you'd see all these questions disappear. Because in the end, that's all most people want. Full Access to the character builder and they'd feel a lot better about paying a subscription price to use tool than they would about 'buying content twice'. But alas, that's not the model they went for. But the idea that you should be able to pay Amazon the already super discounted price and also get access to everything on a completely different site is absurd.