D&D General Can you still buy individual items from D&D Beyond?

[ArwensDaughter]

Phandelver isn't available in component parts. (In contrast, you can buy the individual monsters and magic items from Storm King's Thunder, for instance.)

So, maybe, maybe not.

In any case, we have no choice but to wait, unless WotC wants to come out and say "so, remember how you were all worried about microtransactions last year? It turns out, absolutely not."

I can see à la carte purchase options for Phandelver the Shattered obelisk. Not for book of many things, though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Back when Adam was still in charge of DDB, he said in a dev update that-to their surprise-very few people bought a la carte items. I love the option, and was surprised at this tidbit as well. If this is still the case, It’s possible that WOTC has decided it’s not worth it to set up the individual items on new products.

Wow, that surprises and saddens me as well.

There is a lot of content that I'm sure is very nice, but I can't justify paying $30 for, when what I really want is just three or four paragraphs from it. (Theros is a great example, for instance -- I bought the satyr PC race, but had no interest in the campaign or the setting itself.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I can see à la carte purchase options for Phandelver the Shattered obelisk. Not for book of many things, though.

Hmmm. Maybe it's just a bug.

 

[darjr]

It’s there for planescape too. I think it’s too early to assume anything.

 

[beta-ray]

It’s there for planescape too. I think it’s too early to assume anything.

Yeah I was looking at planescape the other day so am surprised that other recent books don't have the option. Hopefully that changes soon.

 

[Rabulias]

I have not really taken advantage of the individual items either. I looked at buying monsters, spells, feats, backgrounds, and magic items, and it quickly got to be cheaper to buy the whole book. I guess it would be more of a player-facing thing, but since DMs can share their purchases with their players, that seems to cut into the usefulness. >shrug<

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Yeah I was looking at planescape the other day so am surprised that other recent books don't have the option. Hopefully that changes soon.

Aside from Book of Many Things, what other books do you not see individual purchase items for? Asking because I thought I’d check whether or not I can see them.

 

[Umbran]

I hope this is an oversight on their part, because if it's a change in direction, it's a bad one.

I would expect them to start with sale of the full product, and roll out piecemeal later.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I hope this is an oversight on their part, because if it's a change in direction, it's a bad one.

There's a measure of irony here because when D&D Beyond was set up, one of the major criticisms was that they were gouging people, price-wise, for buying bits of content. And absolutely that was a correct criticism - the sum cost of the content is far, far, far higher than the book in most cases. Many people suggested that simply only allowing the books to be sold would make more sense and be less greedy, and indeed the D&D Beyond PR guy at the time really didn't help matters by presenting some incredibly jargon-filled corporate-speak to defend their decision.

But once the prices got nailed down and Beyond agree that what you spent on content from a book acted as a discount to the price of the book should you buy it (still the case, AFAIK), that largely sorted things out.

And the now the complaint is that we can't buy stuff piecemeal! I'm not saying that's a wrongheaded opinion or anything - I get it - it's just interesting to see how it goes full-circle.

I would expect them to start with sale of the full product, and roll out piecemeal later.

Yeah that's what I was wondering about. Though maybe this is the first to launch without it?

 

[Umbran]

Yeah that's what I was wondering about. Though maybe this is the first to launch without it?

I certainly haven't been going to check, "Hey, with every single release, did they open up with piecemeal sales as well?"