D&D 5E D&D Beyond Will Delist Two Books On May 17th

Saracenus said:

I am curious how this is going to interact with WotC's stated policy of Every Expression of D&D Has Its Own Canon (See D&D Studio Blog: D&D Canon). Just to be clear, this is a question of what WotC is going to use as "Canon" for their internal development because for a DM and their players, canon is whatever they decide for their campaign, period.

When that blog was written by Chris Perkins no 5e book had been superseded by another (Yes, elements of the Sword Coast Adventures Guide have been updated and republished in later material but they errata-ed that material in SCAG rather than delisting it). So, when you end a books life on D&D Beyond and presumably will let the last print run sell out does that mean that the material in VOLO'S GUIDE or MORDY'S TOME are no longer in play for the Dev Team?

The reality of this decision doesn't really bother me all that much, I have the books in both physical and digital versions and I can use or ignore them at will. More that likely I will use the updated statblocks because I like their ease of use. As for the lore, well I really use my own anyway. I like reading stuff for inspiration but I am no bound by it.

As a side note Adventure's League likely counts as an "expression" and thus can deviate from canon of the D&D dev team.

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JEB said:

1) I don't think everything will be delisted in 2024. Everything from Tasha's onward is likely being designed with forward compatibility in mind, for example. I imagine certain older products that aren't a PR problem, but also aren't likely to be updated, may stick around as well (Eberron, the MTG settings, certain adventures). But a lot probably will, yes, including the 2014 core rulebooks (and possibly even the original 5E Basic Rules material).

2) It's a biggie if you're playing with 2014 edition and can no longer acquire the books on DDB or other digital tools for online play... but I suppose it was going to happen eventually.

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embee said:

If there's one thing I know about computers its that online databases never ever go down for any reason and are as certain as death and taxes.

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embee said:

Any word on whether they'll be sending their goons around to confiscate existing physical books?

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Parmandur said:

Do you have a specific reference from Wizards of the Coast suggesting that you understanding matches their approach?

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JThursby said:

So this is the prelude to the new core rules. This is going to be 4e Essentials all over again isn't it?

I was already insulted they expected me to pay for an abridged version of content they already sold me in other books. It's nominally an update, but it's mostly just exclusions of text and minor tweaks that mostly just remove content, ie many spells from monsters. Putting it in a 3 pack of books that were already released to tempt people to get an early grab at it was even worse. This intra-edition tweaking never works, you need an entire edition refresh. I hope WotC gets all the bad press it deserves for treating their customers like this.

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Blue said:

This feels like "when all else fails, win on word games". But to give you the benefit of the doubt:

In the first video where they announced the 50th Anniversity Edition, they claimed it would be fully compatible. That has a meaning in the English language. I'm pointing out that it does not look like it will be fully compatible because even the things coming out now are invalidating some earlier material.

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Stormonu said:

It wasn't aimed at people who already have the books, it's meant for those who haven't picked them up yet as an incentive to get them all-in-one. Collectors might pick it up too but most of us who have the originals have no need to pick up the repackaged versions. The tweaks to the monsters are, in the end, minor changes to speed up play or slight fixes to mechanics. I'm willing to bet you can make the originals do the same thing the new ones can (and probably more with the originals).

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Parmandur said:

I think you are overanalyzing what Perkins said there, but what he did say was that any book ever published was open to them to pick from as they wished, and that will remain true of Volo's and MToF. But they won't ever require Paramount or HarperCollins to read anything beyond the Core books.

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