Hi. i had brought the last players handbook and seen that the 2024 copy was going to come out later this year and i was wondering if it would get updated when it does or will i have to buy a new digital copy through D&D beyond?
Wizards has not made any official announcement on how this will be handled, so there is no way of knowing what might happen. Any predictions are nothing more than mere speculation at this point.
The closest thing that has happened was when Volo's and the Tome of Foes were "updated and combined" into Monsters of the Multiverse, I am over-simplifying it. Volo's and Tome Foes were given the Legacy tags and no longer offered for sale. There was an announcement made a few months before they were no longer sold. If you bought them you can still use them. Whether you owned Volo's and/or Foes or not you still have to buy Monsters of the Multiverse with no discount, other than sales and/or bundle discounts you may have, if you want to use it on DDB
Lost Mine of Phandelver from the original starter set was handled pretty much the same except Lost Mines was free you just had to claim it before it was made Legacy when Phandelver and Below was released.
That doesn't mean the PHB will be handled the same, but is is what has happened to date.
Yeah, we don't know anything for certain; the popular theory is that the current core set will get the Legacy treatment as happened with VGtM and MToF when MotM dropped. It's extremely unlikely that they'll hand out free updates to people who own the current books, as these are not updates. These are new books containing thorough reworks of various core elements of the 5e system. And, more to the point, they're a business. You don't put this much R&D and PR into a product if you're going to hand it to a massive segment of your primary target audience free of charge.
I really doubt 2014 core book owners are going to get free updates to the new core. I can't think of a single TTRPG company that does this. Star Trek Adventures is coming out with a 2nd Edition, core rumored to debut a GenCon. I'm not expecting to be surprised with a new core pdf for free. When Pathfinder remastered it's core book last fall, same thing.
As others have said, they're highly unlikely to. Another reason for that is that the hard-core "I will never update to the new revision ever!" people will scream bloody murder if they do that.
And, more relevantly, all the old characters floating around would break if they updated the classes in-place.
Another reason for that is that the hard-core "I will never update to the new revision ever!" people will scream bloody murder if they do that.
Even without hard-core no-new-version people, I bought the PHB because I wanted the classes/races/spells in the PHB. So yeah, I'd be pretty ticked if the produce I paid for got changed on me as dramatically as 2014 to 2024 PHB.
My bet is that it won't get updated, and I think that is fair business.
It is a new iteration of the book; some won't want the upgrades, no matter the price, which means keeping two different data sets alive. There are people who still passionately play pre-5e rules systems, and there will be some who haven't updated to the D&D One rules. Given that you can't blanket update everyone in one clean sweep, it's not worth the dev time to try to opt people into a free upgrade as it'll need to be maintained for the life of this service (if someone changes their mind in a decade, they'd want to opt in).
Further, while it's fully backward compatible and isn't 6e, it's being treated as a new and self-standing product.
Last wild point: if digital books get a free update, you'll quickly find folks who only have the print books wanting the same free update.
tl;dr: This is a feel-good request, but I don't think it's realistic or logistically simple. Ultimately, it's not worth it, and we'll either buy the new books or we won't.
Digital books are updated in the sense that errata can be done easier with digital content, where physical books require printing books. Anything outside of errata and under a new title will likely be a new purchase. I think that is ok.
I wouldn't be surprised by some kind of combined model where if you're a subscription plus customer you get the PHB as long as you sub, or you can buy the book at almost retail (beyond is ssssuuuppper overpriced when it comes to book prices).
The 2014 rulebooks and the 2024 rulebooks are going to remain separate things, probably with their respective years added to their names for easier identification. (That's how I would do it)
I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
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I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea when you know for certain one way or another? I appreciate the reasoning behind your speculation, but I'm also thinking that the Monster Manual and DMG would likely be pretty much the same content and prone to legacy, so it would make sense IMO that the PHB would become legacy too if my assumptions on the MM and DMG are correct.
I'll be happy if it's not legacy'd. But just curious.
I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea when you know for certain one way or another? I appreciate the reasoning behind your speculation, but I'm also thinking that the Monster Manual and DMG would likely be pretty much the same content and prone to legacy, so it would make sense IMO that the PHB would become legacy too if my assumptions on the MM and DMG are correct.
I'll be happy if it's not legacy'd. But just curious.
I don't! I feel like the soonest we'd know would be when preorders start because both books would exist in theory on the site and some kind of delineation would be needed (in my humble opinion), and the latest would be once they're fully released.
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Honestly at the current sale price it would be hard to pass them up if you don't own them and your budget can accommodate the purchase, I don't use the DMG very much, but I am glad to have it. Then there is no rush or wait for the 2024 books, and if they do get the legacy tag you have them.
The 2014 rulebooks and the 2024 rulebooks are going to remain separate things, probably with their respective years added to their names for easier identification. (That's how I would do it)
I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
That's absolutely fair, but I think the reason people are expecting some form of... "Legacy-fication?"... is that it's difficult to imagine they'd want to keep selling new instances of the 2014 PHB alongside the new one instead of steering all traffic to the latter. Especially when the old one contains things they've said they don't want in the game anymore like fixed racial ASIs, and half-orcs as a distinct mechanical species.
Note too that I'm only talking about the three core books here. I think they already confirmed that Xanathar's and Tasha's would continue to be fully compatible and therefore sold; I don't expect them to be "Legacy." But I'm guessing we won't know for sure until September.
I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea when you know for certain one way or another? I appreciate the reasoning behind your speculation, but I'm also thinking that the Monster Manual and DMG would likely be pretty much the same content and prone to legacy, so it would make sense IMO that the PHB would become legacy too if my assumptions on the MM and DMG are correct.
I'll be happy if it's not legacy'd. But just curious.
I don't! I feel like the soonest we'd know would be when preorders start because both books would exist in theory on the site and some kind of delineation would be needed (in my humble opinion), and the latest would be once they're fully released.
Since you have more of the right people's ears than I do, can I recommend that they announce their vision sooner rather than later? From what I've seen, the uncertainty is creating anxiety among some players, and while I appreciate that corporate often thinks that mysterious is cool and that not announcing stuff retains freedom for them, it's counterproductive when people don't know what their money is actually purchasing...and for those of us that have already spent our money, what precisely is going to happen to our investments. I get that we almost certainly won't lose them...but it would still be nice to know what it would look like.
Note too that I'm only talking about the three core books here. I think they already confirmed that Xanathar's and Tasha's would continue to be fully compatible and therefore sold; I don't expect them to be "Legacy." But I'm guessing we won't know for sure until September.
Worth noting that they said that they'd be bringing out updated versions of TCoE and XGtE. While they won't be legacy'd this year with the release, I'd expect that they'd get that status (or whatever treatment the core rules are getting) when they bring those out (whether they're called the same or whatever they're called for 2024e).
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They have promised that from day 1 the 2024 version will be in Creative Commons... so access to that content will be free...
No, they didn't. The SRD is going up when the Monster Manual goes up. That's in Feb of 25. So from Sep to Feb there will not be any sort of way for creators to make 2024 content legally.
Hi. i had brought the last players handbook and seen that the 2024 copy was going to come out later this year and i was wondering if it would get updated when it does or will i have to buy a new digital copy through D&D beyond?
Wizards has not made any official announcement on how this will be handled, so there is no way of knowing what might happen. Any predictions are nothing more than mere speculation at this point.
The closest thing that has happened was when Volo's and the Tome of Foes were "updated and combined" into Monsters of the Multiverse, I am over-simplifying it. Volo's and Tome Foes were given the Legacy tags and no longer offered for sale. There was an announcement made a few months before they were no longer sold. If you bought them you can still use them. Whether you owned Volo's and/or Foes or not you still have to buy Monsters of the Multiverse with no discount, other than sales and/or bundle discounts you may have, if you want to use it on DDB
Lost Mine of Phandelver from the original starter set was handled pretty much the same except Lost Mines was free you just had to claim it before it was made Legacy when Phandelver and Below was released.
That doesn't mean the PHB will be handled the same, but is is what has happened to date.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Yeah, we don't know anything for certain; the popular theory is that the current core set will get the Legacy treatment as happened with VGtM and MToF when MotM dropped. It's extremely unlikely that they'll hand out free updates to people who own the current books, as these are not updates. These are new books containing thorough reworks of various core elements of the 5e system. And, more to the point, they're a business. You don't put this much R&D and PR into a product if you're going to hand it to a massive segment of your primary target audience free of charge.
I really doubt 2014 core book owners are going to get free updates to the new core. I can't think of a single TTRPG company that does this. Star Trek Adventures is coming out with a 2nd Edition, core rumored to debut a GenCon. I'm not expecting to be surprised with a new core pdf for free. When Pathfinder remastered it's core book last fall, same thing.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
As others have said, they're highly unlikely to. Another reason for that is that the hard-core "I will never update to the new revision ever!" people will scream bloody murder if they do that.
And, more relevantly, all the old characters floating around would break if they updated the classes in-place.
Even without hard-core no-new-version people, I bought the PHB because I wanted the classes/races/spells in the PHB. So yeah, I'd be pretty ticked if the produce I paid for got changed on me as dramatically as 2014 to 2024 PHB.
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My bet is that it won't get updated, and I think that is fair business.
It is a new iteration of the book; some won't want the upgrades, no matter the price, which means keeping two different data sets alive. There are people who still passionately play pre-5e rules systems, and there will be some who haven't updated to the D&D One rules. Given that you can't blanket update everyone in one clean sweep, it's not worth the dev time to try to opt people into a free upgrade as it'll need to be maintained for the life of this service (if someone changes their mind in a decade, they'd want to opt in).
Further, while it's fully backward compatible and isn't 6e, it's being treated as a new and self-standing product.
Last wild point: if digital books get a free update, you'll quickly find folks who only have the print books wanting the same free update.
tl;dr: This is a feel-good request, but I don't think it's realistic or logistically simple. Ultimately, it's not worth it, and we'll either buy the new books or we won't.
I am pretty sure they are going to call it a new version of some kind, possibly 5.5, just as they did with 3.5
As such it will be a different download.
Digital books are updated in the sense that errata can be done easier with digital content, where physical books require printing books. Anything outside of errata and under a new title will likely be a new purchase. I think that is ok.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I wouldn't be surprised by some kind of combined model where if you're a subscription plus customer you get the PHB as long as you sub, or you can buy the book at almost retail (beyond is ssssuuuppper overpriced when it comes to book prices).
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D&D StaffThe 2014 rulebooks and the 2024 rulebooks are going to remain separate things, probably with their respective years added to their names for easier identification. (That's how I would do it)
I know there's some speculation among the community that the 2014 books might get the Legacy tag, but given that they're gonna have subclasses in them that the 2024 books won't, I personally hesitate to call that Legacy when the goal is that people will still be able to use them with the new base classes.
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Out of curiosity, do you have any idea when you know for certain one way or another? I appreciate the reasoning behind your speculation, but I'm also thinking that the Monster Manual and DMG would likely be pretty much the same content and prone to legacy, so it would make sense IMO that the PHB would become legacy too if my assumptions on the MM and DMG are correct.
I'll be happy if it's not legacy'd. But just curious.
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D&D StaffI don't! I feel like the soonest we'd know would be when preorders start because both books would exist in theory on the site and some kind of delineation would be needed (in my humble opinion), and the latest would be once they're fully released.
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You can call me LT. :)
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Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5].
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Honestly at the current sale price it would be hard to pass them up if you don't own them and your budget can accommodate the purchase, I don't use the DMG very much, but I am glad to have it. Then there is no rush or wait for the 2024 books, and if they do get the legacy tag you have them.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
That's absolutely fair, but I think the reason people are expecting some form of... "Legacy-fication?"... is that it's difficult to imagine they'd want to keep selling new instances of the 2014 PHB alongside the new one instead of steering all traffic to the latter. Especially when the old one contains things they've said they don't want in the game anymore like fixed racial ASIs, and half-orcs as a distinct mechanical species.
Note too that I'm only talking about the three core books here. I think they already confirmed that Xanathar's and Tasha's would continue to be fully compatible and therefore sold; I don't expect them to be "Legacy." But I'm guessing we won't know for sure until September.
Since you have more of the right people's ears than I do, can I recommend that they announce their vision sooner rather than later? From what I've seen, the uncertainty is creating anxiety among some players, and while I appreciate that corporate often thinks that mysterious is cool and that not announcing stuff retains freedom for them, it's counterproductive when people don't know what their money is actually purchasing...and for those of us that have already spent our money, what precisely is going to happen to our investments. I get that we almost certainly won't lose them...but it would still be nice to know what it would look like.
Worth noting that they said that they'd be bringing out updated versions of TCoE and XGtE. While they won't be legacy'd this year with the release, I'd expect that they'd get that status (or whatever treatment the core rules are getting) when they bring those out (whether they're called the same or whatever they're called for 2024e).
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
They have promised that from day 1 the 2024 version will be in Creative Commons... so access to that content will be free...
The SRD will be, but that's a very pared down version of the PHB (e.g. a single subclass per class, a single feat etc.)
No, they didn't. The SRD is going up when the Monster Manual goes up. That's in Feb of 25. So from Sep to Feb there will not be any sort of way for creators to make 2024 content legally.