D&D 5E Are You Planning on Subscribing to D&D Beyond

[Irda Ranger]

No.

Also, I wish the poll had check-boxes instead of "choose one" bullets. I would have voted for all of the below-

No, the one-time cost is too high. Digital prices should be at a discount to the physical books. They just should. There's zero production cost. I just can't justify buying a digital product for the same price (or more, if you consider the used book market) as a book that'll last for decades. Especially when I've already purchased the rules once in hardcover. It might sort-of makes sense for certain kinds of new players; it makes no sense at all for someone who's already bought the rules.

No, I don't use digital tools. More accurately, I don't pay for services on someone else's server. Especially when that someone is as flaky as Wizards of the Coast has been on digital tools. I have played D&D for over 20 years and still own and enjoy referencing my AD&D books from back when. I have no confidence any money I sink into this system will exist in even 5 years. I could be running my campaign, and one day, poof, all gone. No thanks.

No, I don't like subscriptions. This too. Not for D&D. Again, I've been playing 20 years. Can you imagine paying a monthly fee for the next 20 years? Nope.

5E is simple, but who wouldn't want simpler? I'd happily buy a D&D 5E rules reference/character generator tool if I could:
1) Download it to my PC
2) Buy expansion packs for as they released new rules at reasonable prices.
3) Write my own house rules/character options/equipment/spells into the database
4) Never lose sleep worrying some corporate Board will decide to take it all away

 

[SkidAce]

They say anything you buy is yours forever.

Not sure of all the specifics of that...need research.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I'd hate to play at any table where stuff is constantly being looked up, and players are unable to accept sensible on the spot rulings.

And I hate your style too.

 

[LordEntrails]

...
I'd happily buy a D&D 5E rules reference/character generator tool if I could:
1) Download it to my PC
2) Buy expansion packs for as they released new rules at reasonable prices.
3) Write my own house rules/character options/equipment/spells into the database
4) Never lose sleep worrying some corporate Board will decide to take it all away

I pretty much agree with all of this, that's why I bought all my 5E stuff on Fantasy Grounds (and have not bought anything printed). The only thing about FG is, except when on sale, the WotC products are at MSRP. But it does everything else you want.

I thought DDB was server based and that you had to be online to use it. Is that not correct?

 

[NotRussellCrowe]

I pretty much agree with all of this, that's why I bought all my 5E stuff on Fantasy Grounds (and have not bought anything printed). The only thing about FG is, except when on sale, the WotC products are at MSRP. But it does everything else you want.

I thought DDB was server based and that you had to be online to use it. Is that not correct?

There will be Android and iOS apps that will be offline. I don't know if there will be an offline desktop app though. Someone asked that on the DnDB forums but there was no response from the developers last time I looked.

Edit: here's the post but it's over a day old so likely won't be any response....
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/5409-offline-desktop-app

 

[Mistwell]

5E is simple, but who wouldn't want simpler? I'd happily buy a D&D 5E rules reference/character generator tool if I could:
1) Download it to my PC
2) Buy expansion packs for as they released new rules at reasonable prices.
3) Write my own house rules/character options/equipment/spells into the database
4) Never lose sleep worrying some corporate Board will decide to take it all away

You can download the stuff you buy and use it, without using their online services, without any subscription. You do buy expansion packs. And you can make house ruled custom stuff. Also, it's made by Curse Media, a Twitch company, which is an Amazon company.

 

[Jester David]

I wish the poll had check-boxes instead of "choose one" bullets. I would have voted for all of the below-

Deliberate decision.
If there were multiple options it would inflate the percentages. It'd distort the yes/no ratio.

 

[guachi]

6 Books to each game??? I guess it all depends on the type of game you want to run, when I DM I usually only need to have the adventure and associated notes actually on the table. I keep my PHB and MM beside it, and maybe refer to them once or twice in a 6 hour session. We don't use battlemaps, so no need for lots of those, or lots of minis - just a whiteboard, a couple of pens and 1 mini per PC. My players have 1 PHB on the table that they share around.

There's no need to keep looking up rules when playing 5E.. just ensure the DM knows the general mechanics and go with the flow!

I have my MM, PHB, and DMG at the game with me. I've never opened the DMG once at a session. I open the MM occasionally to look up monsters if there's an effect that's too complicated for me to write the shorthand of. Since I don't use the 5e published adventures all the nifty tools to access monsters isn't particularly useful. Making new monsters is as fast for me in Excel as it is with the D&DB toolset and takes up far less space.

I don't need 100 dice as DM despite any claims otherwise. Sure... I HAVE 100 dice but I currently use my two favorite sets. Any effect that uses more than 4 of the same dice (I can roll two sets of two dice fairly quickly and add it) gets the average damage value.

My notes are all printed up and some are bound. Though if I had my laptop with me I'd keep most of them as Excel or Word docs. No need for an internet connection or subscription fee!

As for minis... I have too many and really should only bring those minis (really just tokens...) I actually need for the adventure day.

Also, if I need rules looked up I ask my players. There's always one or two players that can take the time to look something up while I continue running the game.

The only thing I'd really like is a digital spellbook. The only positive of my PHB falling apart is I could separate out the spellbook portion for easy reference.

 

[CM]

Absolutely.

Just the ability to collect and distribute my homebrew content alone is worth the price of admission.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

- subscription
- online

Don't have to sub to get use from it, and it will be available offline.

I'm going to give it a month or two after lauch before subscribing. I want to make sure they get all those final bugs out.

I may wait a little, but I will almost certainly buy a couple discounted books. Also, most of what I want is already working. We shall see how improved he CB is by then. They are implementing fixes *very* quickly so far.

6$/mo for everything, is well worth it to me. Just the database with the fully parsed out metadata, and ability to make homebrew that integrates into that searchable database, and being able to put tool tip hyperlinks in an item that shows what the spell does without having to open a new tab...yeah, worth it.