As a frequent Forum reader, the amount of times I see a new thread regarding the subject of 'I bought the Hardcover Books - why is this site not free?' or some variation of that is quite staggering. Some are newbies who don't understand the relationship between DnDBeyond and Wizards of the Coast and usually go away happy with the answer. Other times, you get very......'passionate' people who are understandably frustrated about forking out twice for the same product.
As a suggestion, and to save the many helpful forum users from typing out the same responses to these queries over and over again, might I suggest a new pinned thread covering this subject?
I'm thinking it could be in the same vein as the awesome A Buyer's Guide for D&D Beyond posted by ArwensDaughter - this extremely useful breakdown format could answer the frequently asked questions as to why people can't just get free digital copies along with the purchase of their paper copies. In the future, when these threads inevitably pop up again, we could simply link to the new thread.
I think it would be worth the time making since it's sometimes barely a week before a new thread/resurrected thread on the subject comes up again.
Thoughts?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
+1. It's partially why I have my Xbox/Playstation quote in my signature.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
It seems that some people are on board with this. I'll draft something when I get the time and submit if for review by the Mods.
What would be really helpful is if anyone reading this has answered a question relating to the subject of 'WHY MY BOK NO 3 WTF?!'?, I'd appreciate if they could maybe copy/paste your answers to such questions here, then I could correlate that info with my draft for a more informative thread. (Many people on this site have far greater knowledge about the subject than I do and have explained it better than I can) :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
+1. It's partially why I have my Xbox/Playstation quote in my signature.
You see, this is something which really irritates me about computer games, too. I'm a PC gamer, my wife is a Playstation gamer. This means we end up having to buy a lot of games twice, which is highly annoying. I know there is extra work which goes into making the game available on multiple platforms, but still...
Could be worse; you could have kids who have an Xbox :P
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Absolutely what I'm hoping for - it saves the regular forum contributors from having to repeat themselves, plus it will just save time to say 'answers here (link)'.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Absolutely what I'm hoping for - it saves the regular forum contributors from having to repeat themselves, plus it will just save time to say 'answers here (link)'.
I love the idea but just want to point out as one of the typical people answering these threads. 4 are posted within an hour of each other so it is really unlikely a pinned thread will actually alleviate our need for response. But would give us something to link to instead of just retyping our responses.
I made a joke about this a few weeks ago in regard to Warlocks. Since apparently no warlock players were reading how spell casting worked for them and would make bug report threads about their lack of spells/spell slots.
I love the idea but frankly you can’t rely on people to read things prior to posting.
I love the idea but just want to point out as one of the typical people answering these threads. 4 are posted within an hour of each other so it is really unlikely a pinned thread will actually alleviate our need for response. But would give us something to link to instead of just retyping our responses.
A point very well made - hopefully just posting the link is easier than having to regurgitate a response.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
In the future, when these threads inevitably pop up again, we could simply link to the new thread.
Thoughts?
As you've mentioned, other mega-threads already exist with this exact information. Why write up a new post to pin when these previous threads can already be linked to; The end goal is already achievable. Here are a few others created by Staff/Moderators:
I remember a couple of weeks ago on the bugs forum - someone posted a bug about the Life Domain Cleric's Disciple of Life feature not being included. The thing is - the very next post underneath theirs - which was first until they posted - was the 'megathread' about it. Then when I pointed them to it - they claimed they'd searched first. I think you can imagine my disbelief.
Pinned threads only help the people who would search for the answer anyway. People who don't search won't find the pinned threads and will just make a new post anyway. There's no avoiding that trend - and as Sedge says - the information is plentifully available to point people toward.
As you've mentioned, other mega-threads already exist with this exact information. Why write up a new post to pin when these previous threads can already be linked to; The end goal is already achievable. Here are a few others created by Staff/Moderators:
Thanks for your comment! Indeed, some of the stuff is covered, although I feel that some of the more frequent questions that get asked could be answered in a more succint way with a more QUESTION - ANSWER format.
I would agree to not having the thread be pinned as many have pointed out it will not make much of a difference.
I have drafted my thread anyway - have a look at the spoiler and, if Mods think it's worth putting up, that would be great! Even if a Mod makes their own edits and posts it under their name, I don't care - just happy to assist :)
If not, no worries! Just happy to help in whatever way is best as this is a frequent forum issue (and in fairness, unless my memory serves incorrectly, I don't think I've seen any user link the 'D&D Beyond vs Physical Books: An Explanation' thread when confronted with a WHY THIS NO FREE?!? topic - it still has Curse listed as the owner which I think is incorrect?)
Greetings traveller! Welcome to the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ! (TITLE TBD)
Here you should find the answers to the many frequently asked questions regarding Hardcover copies of 5 Edition books and their relationship with D&D Beyond. This thread was created in response to the many occasions where similar questions have been asked multiple times – hopefully this will result in a de-clutter of the message boards.
This thread is designed to fulfil a couple of functions:
To easily point newcomers with questions regarding Hardcover books/this website in the right direction
Hopefully prevent the creation of numerous threads asking the same questions (though this may of course still occur).
This FAQ is a compilation of questions from different forum users and answers given by a combination of D&D Beyond staff and other Forum users. However, anything in this FAQ may be superseded by more recent posts by D&D Beyond staff. Where that happens, I will attempt to update the FAQ to reflect those changes but I am just humble site user myself – this is a compilation of Official Site rules and opinions.
When it comes to posts on this thread, please take the time to review the Site Rules & Guidelines, as warnings/infraction points will be issued upon a stricter scale by the moderators (Flaming, Non-constructive posting, trolling, harassment, and so forth).
I would also like to give my thanks to the following Mods/Users who I have borrowed/lovingly ripped off responses to the most asked questions. Without their better knowledge and clearer explanations, this thread would simply act as a ‘but my friend Dave at the Pub said-’ ramble.
Site Members: BioWizard, Cyb3rM1nd, DevanAvalon, DxJxC, Emmber, Hardvice, hollowtpm, Houligan, JoeltheWalrus, LangyMD - And anyone else that I have not acknowledged! I bow to your higher Intelligence scores!
So I have the Hardcover Books – Can I get them free Digitally here?
The short answer is no.
Basically, this Website is owned by the company Fandom, whereas the brand Dungeons and Dragons is owned by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond is essentially a ‘digital bookstore’ that sells the ‘books’ in electronical form on behalf of Wizards of the Coast.
To use a Video Game analogy, Dungeons and Dragons is a game published by Bethesda, your physical book is the PlayStation copy, D&D Beyond is the Xbox copy, and there are also Switch, Stadia and PC copies. You can't convert your purchases just like you can't convert your books.
To use a Book analogy, if you walk into a Barnes and Noble and buy a paperback, would you expect Amazon to give you a free copy of the same book on Kindle? It’s the same content, yes, but it’s in a different format, has different features, and it’s being sold by a different company.
Some people buy the paperback, some people buy the ebook, and some people buy both.
Buying a book in Hardcover entitles you to the Hardcover version and NOT the Digital version.
On the surface, it appears that D&D Beyond is the official toolset and must be working as part of Wizards of the Coast. Whilst there is of course good company relations, D&D Beyond and WotC are two separate companies.
Remember that D&D Beyond isn't 'D&D'; it's a site owned and run by a different company (Fandom) to the one that makes D&D (Wizards of the Coast). D&D Beyond is on the same level as your local gaming store, Amazon, Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds; they are a merchant selling one form of access to the D&D rules as licensed from WotC. So D&D Beyond is more like this.
From this, you can see that similar sites that have D&D content actually DO do this – WotC has other digital partners in Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, who also have digital tools that you would need to purchase to use.
Just like D&D Beyond, purchasing digital books from these other sites does not allow you to redeem a physical book in return for free.
If D&DBeyond is an ‘Official Tool Set’ to play 5 Edition, why isn’t it free? Surely it’s just a copy and paste job from the files of Wizards of the Coast?
Again, this comes down to D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast being separate companies. Because of this, there are costs involved:
You can't just take the text of the PHB and put it on the servers that power D&D Beyond and it suddenly will populate all of the spells, monsters, magic items, etc that can immediately work with the D&D Beyond character sheet or other tools.
D&D Beyond is a software product. It requires programming. Programming in each individual spell, each character race or class, etc., all takes time, effort, and money. The baseline book text is cheap on D&D Beyond - usually the cheapest place to purchase it aside from used book stores or friends
Integrating the book text into the D&D Beyond toolset costs extra. Not enough extra to make the "compendium" (book text) cost plus the toolset integration cost more expensive than just buying the hardcover at MSRP, but still more than the basic compendium cost. This makes purchasing a book plus toolset integration from D&D Beyond comparable in cost or slightly more than the cost to buy a hardcover from Amazon - but you also get more than what Amazon is selling you. Plus, after the (very common) discounts D&D Beyond products are usually cheaper than buying from Amazon anyways, and they're always less than buying from your local gaming store.
Further Information regarding the Business Model and Pricing Structure can be found in this very detailed thread: D&D Beyond vs Physical Books: An Explanation
Isn’t there a way to redeem a code found within the Hardcover Book?
Whilst it seems a fairly simple request, there are some complications. Here’s the main ones as to why it will be unlikely to be implemented:
Putting codes in books requires sealing books which deters sales as people like to look through books in stores (less of a thing now, but is still a consideration)
Not sealing books means people can just snapshot the codes and redeem without purchase (this is a problem that plagued Nintendo Club back in the Gamecube and Wii era; people would just write down the codes in the game cases and redeem them)
Printing codes in books increases printing costs (you need a two stage system)
Point of Sale code verification systems have an overhead that smaller gaming stores can't afford
Point of Sale coupons are insecure and can be trivially stolen (interesting factlet; this is why Subway moved over to an app, their stamps were being stolen by the fist full and costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars)
Doesn't help people who have purchased books prior to D&D Beyond existing
If this was to happen, D&D Beyond would receive no income from any purchased books as, again, D&D Beyond is not owned by Wizards of the Coast.
What if I Subscribe? Does that get me my content for free?
No, here is what the two subscriptions allow (as of DATE):
Master Tier:
Removes Ads
Allows you to create unlimited characters
Allows you to share content you own on D&D Beyond with players in your campaigns (up to 3 campaigns of 12 players each)
Hero Tier:
Removes Ads
Allows you to create unlimited characters
Subscribing to ANY Tier does NOT allow you to get any part of the Digital Books for free.
So what do I get for free if I don’t want to pay anything or Subscribe?
The D&D Basic Rules and the D&D System Reference Document (SRD). These rules allow you to play any of the standard races and classes and either DM or play the game of D&D.
Please note, the free rules do not have access to all of the subraces, subclasses and additional content from the source books, such as Forest Gnomes, Drow and Battlemaster Fighters.
Additionally, the Elemental Evil Players Companion is free as well which allows the access to the races of Aarakocra, Deep Gnome, Genasi, and Goliath – with some spells included as well. Active playtest and (certain) Critical Role content are also free to use.
On this site, there are homebrew tools available that you can use to recreate things from the books you bought - this lets you use them privately for your own character sheets on here (and can share them with the campaign) without having to buy again, it just takes time.
If you don't want to do that then you need to purchase them again here, but if you don't want to pay for the whole book you can buy the individual things (like a certain race, or subclass or item, etc) instead. Anything paid towards the individual items discounts the overall book cost if you ever decide to rebuy the whole book.
More information can be found here on the ‘D&D Beyond - Pricing & Purchase FAQ & Discussion’ thread:
I’m confused; it says I can buy the ‘Compendium Content’ of a book at a different price. How is that different?
The compendium content includes the full pages of content that you can read through - in essence all of the content of the physical book. Think of it like an online browsable version of the Player's Handbook.
It does NOT include digital assets that can be used with the character creator.
For example, if you purchase, PHB Compendium Content, you have the full Player's Handbook that you can read, reference and search through using D&D Beyond. However, you would not unlock the ability to use the additional subraces, subclasses, spells, feats etc for use in the character creator.
If you should later decide that you would like the digital assets as well, you can upgrade to the full Player's Handbook by paying the difference
Why should I pay for access to Digital Books?
Only you can answer that question.
The way I personally approach it is, you could put your own time and effort into creating everything yourself for FREE using the Homebrew tools on this site.
By paying for the books however, you get the convenience of having someone else do the hard work coding all the official stuff without myself having to put that hard work of homebrewing everything. There are sometimes discount codes, marketplace bundles that give you ‘bulk buy’ discounts and, if you spread cost of the books between your players, anyone with a ‘Master Tier Subscription’ can share purchases between players in 3 campaigns (the DM must enable 'Content Sharing').
e.g. 4 People are playing together – Matthew owns the Players Handbook, Mark owns the Monster Manual, Luke is the Dungeon Master and John is a Master Tier Subscriber.
Luke can enable ‘Content Sharing’ in his campaign. Because John is on the Master Tier, every player now has access to the Players Handbook for character options and the DM has access to all the creatures in the Monster Manual.
In my personal opinion, spreading the cost and having access to digital tools that do the hard work for you is worth the price. Essentially, you are paying for convenience; why carry a dozen books in a bag when you can access all of it from a smartphone in the palm of your hand? And searching through a digital book can be faster than searching through a physical book. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear or misplacing the book. However, there are arguments that can be made for having just a physical book.
At the end of the day, it's about what you prefer.
What if I just wanted to buy some things? I only really want the (e.g. Light Domain Cleric) and don’t want to have to buy the whole Players Handbook again just to get it…
This is entirely possible through the Marketplace; you just have to buy ‘piecemeal’ from the books that the Race/Spell etc you want is from.
For instance, if I just wanted to buy the Samurai subclass from Xanather’s Guide to Everything, you can find the Book in the Marketplace and simply scroll to the Sublasses and only add the Samurai to your cart for $1.99. Buying this also subtracts from the total cost of buying XgtE if you wished to buy it in the future.
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Pinned threads only help the people who would search for the answer anyway. People who don't search won't find the pinned threads and will just make a new post anyway.
^^^ This.
The people who need to see it won't. Also, I don't think they are asking how to do it so much as coming here to gripe about having to "pay twice."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 remember a couple of weeks ago on the bugs forum - someone posted a bug about the Life Domain Cleric's Disciple of Life feature not being included. The thing is - the very next post underneath theirs - which was first until they posted - was the 'megathread' about it. Then when I pointed them to it - they claimed they'd searched first. I think you can imagine my disbelief.
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
I have drafted my thread anyway - have a look at the spoiler and, if Mods think it's worth putting up, that would be great! Even if a Mod makes their own edits and posts it under their name, I don't care - just happy to assist :)
You are certainly welcome to create such a post and link needful users to it. I was only curious about the thoughts behind the initiative.
Back during the earlier days of D&D Beyond, we had the related threads pinned on the board(s). After some time, this resulted in a circular debate on the merits, legality, licensing, and luxury of the digital offering - roughly 45 pages worth, if I recall. As the pricing/business model became established and the services understood, we unpinned the threads (as they continued to stir the debate). I wouldn't anticipate pinning the topic once more, being as I could envision a negative experience for users who don't understand/ask a question and are confronted by numerous long-tenured community members. If your post can help a few people land a successful search on the topic though, it's well worth it!
I have drafted my thread anyway - have a look at the spoiler and, if Mods think it's worth putting up, that would be great! Even if a Mod makes their own edits and posts it under their name, I don't care - just happy to assist :)
You are certainly welcome to create such a post and link needful users to it. I was only curious about the thoughts behind the initiative.
Back during the earlier days of D&D Beyond, we had the related threads pinned on the board(s). After some time, this resulted in a circular debate on the merits, legality, licensing, and luxury of the digital offering - roughly 45 pages worth, if I recall. As the pricing/business model became established and the services understood, we unpinned the threads (as they continued to stir the debate). I wouldn't anticipate pinning the topic once more, being as I could envision a negative experience for users who don't understand/ask a question and are confronted by numerous long-tenured community members. If your post can help a few people land a successful search on the topic though, it's well worth it!
Thanks for the insight, it's especially helpful! Here's hoping it can help those who are looking for specific answers. Would it be correct to post under 'D&D Beyond Feedback'?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Don't think it's any benefit to pin such a thread, ultimately there will always be ppl who disapprove of a digital service which omits access to previously purchased material. Unlike an ebook or something of the like, the tools here are exclusive to digital purchasers. It's nothing short of unfortunate, beginners curious about the game will often purchase copies they can't later convert digitally, and paying for material you already have just to access digital tools is wasteful. This is further frustrated by the lack of VTTRPG support which many players would rather access even more so than the tools here. These tools are rather trivial compared to the full online VTT on Roll20 or fantasy grounds.
Unless you think there's something you can say that will dismiss the disappointment of wasted opportunity, there's no point in pinning this subject. Users can debate both sides endlessly, like they already have, and the only thing you can do is be apathetic or empathetic, the problem will still remain and new users will continually fall into the same dilemma.
Hopefully future installments will be designed with less dilemmas in mind. At least the new Icespire Peak comes with a digital code and a referral to use the online assets rather than the physical ones. When dndbeyond finally gets a full VTT functioning it will be a lot easier to demonstrate the value of spending money to utilize their service. But mark my words, this subject will reoccur whether you pin it or not, it will be full of arguements no matter what is said, and it will not be resolved with apathy and explanations.
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As a frequent Forum reader, the amount of times I see a new thread regarding the subject of 'I bought the Hardcover Books - why is this site not free?' or some variation of that is quite staggering. Some are newbies who don't understand the relationship between DnDBeyond and Wizards of the Coast and usually go away happy with the answer. Other times, you get very......'passionate' people who are understandably frustrated about forking out twice for the same product.
As a suggestion, and to save the many helpful forum users from typing out the same responses to these queries over and over again, might I suggest a new pinned thread covering this subject?
I'm thinking it could be in the same vein as the awesome A Buyer's Guide for D&D Beyond posted by ArwensDaughter - this extremely useful breakdown format could answer the frequently asked questions as to why people can't just get free digital copies along with the purchase of their paper copies. In the future, when these threads inevitably pop up again, we could simply link to the new thread.
I think it would be worth the time making since it's sometimes barely a week before a new thread/resurrected thread on the subject comes up again.
Thoughts?
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
+1. It's partially why I have my Xbox/Playstation quote in my signature.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
It seems that some people are on board with this. I'll draft something when I get the time and submit if for review by the Mods.
What would be really helpful is if anyone reading this has answered a question relating to the subject of 'WHY MY BOK NO 3 WTF?!'?, I'd appreciate if they could maybe copy/paste your answers to such questions here, then I could correlate that info with my draft for a more informative thread. (Many people on this site have far greater knowledge about the subject than I do and have explained it better than I can) :)
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
DaveDamon has a good summary here.
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;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
That's wonderful, thank you!
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
You see, this is something which really irritates me about computer games, too. I'm a PC gamer, my wife is a Playstation gamer. This means we end up having to buy a lot of games twice, which is highly annoying. I know there is extra work which goes into making the game available on multiple platforms, but still...
Could be worse; you could have kids who have an Xbox :P
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
I would like that, or make a sort of megathread where all other threads about the subject are locked and redirected to the megathread.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Absolutely what I'm hoping for - it saves the regular forum contributors from having to repeat themselves, plus it will just save time to say 'answers here (link)'.
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
I love the idea but just want to point out as one of the typical people answering these threads. 4 are posted within an hour of each other so it is really unlikely a pinned thread will actually alleviate our need for response. But would give us something to link to instead of just retyping our responses.
I made a joke about this a few weeks ago in regard to Warlocks. Since apparently no warlock players were reading how spell casting worked for them and would make bug report threads about their lack of spells/spell slots.
I love the idea but frankly you can’t rely on people to read things prior to posting.
A point very well made - hopefully just posting the link is easier than having to regurgitate a response.
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
As you've mentioned, other mega-threads already exist with this exact information. Why write up a new post to pin when these previous threads can already be linked to; The end goal is already achievable. Here are a few others created by Staff/Moderators:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/bugs-support/20491-d-d-beyond-pricing-purchase-faq
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/6230-d-d-beyond-vs-physical-books-an-explanation
I remember a couple of weeks ago on the bugs forum - someone posted a bug about the Life Domain Cleric's Disciple of Life feature not being included. The thing is - the very next post underneath theirs - which was first until they posted - was the 'megathread' about it. Then when I pointed them to it - they claimed they'd searched first. I think you can imagine my disbelief.
Pinned threads only help the people who would search for the answer anyway. People who don't search won't find the pinned threads and will just make a new post anyway. There's no avoiding that trend - and as Sedge says - the information is plentifully available to point people toward.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Thanks for your comment! Indeed, some of the stuff is covered, although I feel that some of the more frequent questions that get asked could be answered in a more succint way with a more QUESTION - ANSWER format.
I would agree to not having the thread be pinned as many have pointed out it will not make much of a difference.
I have drafted my thread anyway - have a look at the spoiler and, if Mods think it's worth putting up, that would be great! Even if a Mod makes their own edits and posts it under their name, I don't care - just happy to assist :)
If not, no worries! Just happy to help in whatever way is best as this is a frequent forum issue (and in fairness, unless my memory serves incorrectly, I don't think I've seen any user link the 'D&D Beyond vs Physical Books: An Explanation' thread when confronted with a WHY THIS NO FREE?!? topic - it still has Curse listed as the owner which I think is incorrect?)
Greetings traveller! Welcome to the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ! (TITLE TBD)
Here you should find the answers to the many frequently asked questions regarding Hardcover copies of 5 Edition books and their relationship with D&D Beyond. This thread was created in response to the many occasions where similar questions have been asked multiple times – hopefully this will result in a de-clutter of the message boards.
This thread is designed to fulfil a couple of functions:
This FAQ is a compilation of questions from different forum users and answers given by a combination of D&D Beyond staff and other Forum users. However, anything in this FAQ may be superseded by more recent posts by D&D Beyond staff. Where that happens, I will attempt to update the FAQ to reflect those changes but I am just humble site user myself – this is a compilation of Official Site rules and opinions.
When it comes to posts on this thread, please take the time to review the Site Rules & Guidelines, as warnings/infraction points will be issued upon a stricter scale by the moderators (Flaming, Non-constructive posting, trolling, harassment, and so forth).
I would also like to give my thanks to the following Mods/Users who I have borrowed/lovingly ripped off responses to the most asked questions. Without their better knowledge and clearer explanations, this thread would simply act as a ‘but my friend Dave at the Pub said-’ ramble.
Mods: ArwensDaughter, Davedamon, Sedge, Sillvva, Stormknight
Site Members: BioWizard, Cyb3rM1nd, DevanAvalon, DxJxC, Emmber, Hardvice, hollowtpm, Houligan, JoeltheWalrus, LangyMD - And anyone else that I have not acknowledged! I bow to your higher Intelligence scores!
So I have the Hardcover Books – Can I get them free Digitally here?
The short answer is no.
Basically, this Website is owned by the company Fandom, whereas the brand Dungeons and Dragons is owned by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond is essentially a ‘digital bookstore’ that sells the ‘books’ in electronical form on behalf of Wizards of the Coast.
To use a Video Game analogy, Dungeons and Dragons is a game published by Bethesda, your physical book is the PlayStation copy, D&D Beyond is the Xbox copy, and there are also Switch, Stadia and PC copies. You can't convert your purchases just like you can't convert your books.
To use a Book analogy, if you walk into a Barnes and Noble and buy a paperback, would you expect Amazon to give you a free copy of the same book on Kindle? It’s the same content, yes, but it’s in a different format, has different features, and it’s being sold by a different company.
Some people buy the paperback, some people buy the ebook, and some people buy both.
Buying a book in Hardcover entitles you to the Hardcover version and NOT the Digital version.
To buy the Digital Versions, you will need to visit the Marketplace - https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/sourcebooks
That seems unfair – nowhere else does this.
On the surface, it appears that D&D Beyond is the official toolset and must be working as part of Wizards of the Coast. Whilst there is of course good company relations, D&D Beyond and WotC are two separate companies.
Remember that D&D Beyond isn't 'D&D'; it's a site owned and run by a different company (Fandom) to the one that makes D&D (Wizards of the Coast). D&D Beyond is on the same level as your local gaming store, Amazon, Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds; they are a merchant selling one form of access to the D&D rules as licensed from WotC. So D&D Beyond is more like this.
From this, you can see that similar sites that have D&D content actually DO do this – WotC has other digital partners in Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, who also have digital tools that you would need to purchase to use.
Just like D&D Beyond, purchasing digital books from these other sites does not allow you to redeem a physical book in return for free.
If D&D Beyond is an ‘Official Tool Set’ to play 5 Edition, why isn’t it free? Surely it’s just a copy and paste job from the files of Wizards of the Coast?
Again, this comes down to D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast being separate companies. Because of this, there are costs involved:
Further Information regarding the Business Model and Pricing Structure can be found in this very detailed thread: D&D Beyond vs Physical Books: An Explanation
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/6230-d-d-beyond-vs-physical-books-an-explanation
Isn’t there a way to redeem a code found within the Hardcover Book?
Whilst it seems a fairly simple request, there are some complications. Here’s the main ones as to why it will be unlikely to be implemented:
What if I Subscribe? Does that get me my content for free?
No, here is what the two subscriptions allow (as of DATE):
Master Tier:
Hero Tier:
Subscribing to ANY Tier does NOT allow you to get any part of the Digital Books for free.
Details can be found here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subscriptions
So what do I get for free if I don’t want to pay anything or Subscribe?
On this site, there are homebrew tools available that you can use to recreate things from the books you bought - this lets you use them privately for your own character sheets on here (and can share them with the campaign) without having to buy again, it just takes time.
If you don't want to do that then you need to purchase them again here, but if you don't want to pay for the whole book you can buy the individual things (like a certain race, or subclass or item, etc) instead. Anything paid towards the individual items discounts the overall book cost if you ever decide to rebuy the whole book.
More information can be found here on the ‘D&D Beyond - Pricing & Purchase FAQ & Discussion’ thread:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/d-d-beyond-feedback/5743-d-d-beyond-pricing-purchase-faq-discussion
I’m confused; it says I can buy the ‘Compendium Content’ of a book at a different price. How is that different?
The compendium content includes the full pages of content that you can read through - in essence all of the content of the physical book. Think of it like an online browsable version of the Player's Handbook.
It does NOT include digital assets that can be used with the character creator.
For example, if you purchase, PHB Compendium Content, you have the full Player's Handbook that you can read, reference and search through using D&D Beyond. However, you would not unlock the ability to use the additional subraces, subclasses, spells, feats etc for use in the character creator.
If you should later decide that you would like the digital assets as well, you can upgrade to the full Player's Handbook by paying the difference
Why should I pay for access to Digital Books?
Only you can answer that question.
The way I personally approach it is, you could put your own time and effort into creating everything yourself for FREE using the Homebrew tools on this site.
By paying for the books however, you get the convenience of having someone else do the hard work coding all the official stuff without myself having to put that hard work of homebrewing everything. There are sometimes discount codes, marketplace bundles that give you ‘bulk buy’ discounts and, if you spread cost of the books between your players, anyone with a ‘Master Tier Subscription’ can share purchases between players in 3 campaigns (the DM must enable 'Content Sharing').
e.g. 4 People are playing together – Matthew owns the Players Handbook, Mark owns the Monster Manual, Luke is the Dungeon Master and John is a Master Tier Subscriber.
Luke can enable ‘Content Sharing’ in his campaign. Because John is on the Master Tier, every player now has access to the Players Handbook for character options and the DM has access to all the creatures in the Monster Manual.
In my personal opinion, spreading the cost and having access to digital tools that do the hard work for you is worth the price. Essentially, you are paying for convenience; why carry a dozen books in a bag when you can access all of it from a smartphone in the palm of your hand? And searching through a digital book can be faster than searching through a physical book. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear or misplacing the book. However, there are arguments that can be made for having just a physical book.
At the end of the day, it's about what you prefer.
What if I just wanted to buy some things? I only really want the (e.g. Light Domain Cleric) and don’t want to have to buy the whole Players Handbook again just to get it…
This is entirely possible through the Marketplace; you just have to buy ‘piecemeal’ from the books that the Race/Spell etc you want is from.
For instance, if I just wanted to buy the Samurai subclass from Xanather’s Guide to Everything, you can find the Book in the Marketplace and simply scroll to the Sublasses and only add the Samurai to your cart for $1.99. Buying this also subtracts from the total cost of buying XgtE if you wished to buy it in the future.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/sourcebooks/xanathars-guide-to-everything
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
^^^ This.
The people who need to see it won't. Also, I don't think they are asking how to do it so much as coming here to gripe about having to "pay twice."
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.
That.... is hilarious
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
You are certainly welcome to create such a post and link needful users to it. I was only curious about the thoughts behind the initiative.
Back during the earlier days of D&D Beyond, we had the related threads pinned on the board(s). After some time, this resulted in a circular debate on the merits, legality, licensing, and luxury of the digital offering - roughly 45 pages worth, if I recall. As the pricing/business model became established and the services understood, we unpinned the threads (as they continued to stir the debate). I wouldn't anticipate pinning the topic once more, being as I could envision a negative experience for users who don't understand/ask a question and are confronted by numerous long-tenured community members. If your post can help a few people land a successful search on the topic though, it's well worth it!
Thanks for the insight, it's especially helpful! Here's hoping it can help those who are looking for specific answers. Would it be correct to post under 'D&D Beyond Feedback'?
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Thread is posted! Any feedback is welcome.
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Don't think it's any benefit to pin such a thread, ultimately there will always be ppl who disapprove of a digital service which omits access to previously purchased material. Unlike an ebook or something of the like, the tools here are exclusive to digital purchasers. It's nothing short of unfortunate, beginners curious about the game will often purchase copies they can't later convert digitally, and paying for material you already have just to access digital tools is wasteful. This is further frustrated by the lack of VTTRPG support which many players would rather access even more so than the tools here. These tools are rather trivial compared to the full online VTT on Roll20 or fantasy grounds.
Unless you think there's something you can say that will dismiss the disappointment of wasted opportunity, there's no point in pinning this subject. Users can debate both sides endlessly, like they already have, and the only thing you can do is be apathetic or empathetic, the problem will still remain and new users will continually fall into the same dilemma.
Hopefully future installments will be designed with less dilemmas in mind. At least the new Icespire Peak comes with a digital code and a referral to use the online assets rather than the physical ones. When dndbeyond finally gets a full VTT functioning it will be a lot easier to demonstrate the value of spending money to utilize their service. But mark my words, this subject will reoccur whether you pin it or not, it will be full of arguements no matter what is said, and it will not be resolved with apathy and explanations.