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

D&D Beyond will be permanently removing Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on May 17th in favor of the upcoming Monsters of the Multiverse book, which largely compiles and updates that material.

As per the D&D Beyond FAQ for Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse:

Can I still buy Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on D&D Beyond?
Starting on May 16, you can acquire the streamlined and up-to-date creatures and character race options, as well as a plethora of exciting new content, by purchasing Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. On May 17, Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes will be discontinued from our digital marketplace.

If you already own these two books you will still have access to your purchases and any characters or encounters you built with them. They won’t be removed from your purchased sourcebooks. Therefore, if you want the "fluff" and tables in those two tomes in D&D Beyond, you need to purchase them soon.

This is the first time books have been wholesale delisted from the D&D Beyond Platform rather than updated (much like physical book reprints are with errata and changes).

There’s no word from WotC on whether physical books will be discontinued and be allowed to sell out.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The MOTM Deep Gnome gets weakened versions of two components from the feat. Meanwhile, the Svirfneblin Magic feat is absent entirely from MOTM, despite being in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. And MOTM is very heavily implied to supersede Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, so the feat's omission from the newer book was most certainly intentional.

There aren't any feats in MOTM, are there?

They went out of their way to make the new writeup not obviate the feat. That seems both intentional, and much more significant, to me.

So yes, you can have your MOTM Deep Gnome take the feat, and still even benefit from the feat. But it's very difficult for me to believe that's the designers' intent, considering the overlapping traits, and the feat being relegated to "Legacy Content".

I mean, okay? I disagree but I also just don't care what their "intent" is, in regards to what official options people use. It doesn't matter. The feat is still part of the game, it's just not a "feat tax" to make your deep gnome function like a deep gnome. It's extra, like Wood Elf Magic, instead.

MOTM is full of new mechanical elements that obviate old ones - namely new versions of nearly every race 5E has produced outside the core, and nearly two full books of monsters. I don't see those new versions as incompatibilities, but they are blatantly intended to replace the old stuff despite being technically compatible. But if you see obsolete elements as signs of incompatibility, well, that's a book full of new elements making old ones obsolete...

You and I have different definitions of too many terms for this to be useful, I think. Errata is not the same thing as a new feature obviating an old one. You can't obviate Goliath with Goliath (updated).

Being even clearer, then: I doubt that any product after the 2024 revision will include racial feats. But again, I could be wrong.

Yes, I know that's what you mean. I knew that was what you meant the first time.

 

[JEB]

Hmm. Does any of the MOTM material include bonus action features?

Answering my own question... according to @Leatherhead's thread, monsters at least still have bonus actions. So looks like they're still around. (And being in MOTM probably means they're sticking around for 2024.)

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. Does any of the MOTM material include bonus action features?

Mearls walked himself back off of that ledge, and explained why he liked BA again on the Happy Fun. Hour. Of course, he isnin the team anymore, but Bonus Actions are safe I'm sure.

 

[Nikosandros]

For what is worth, material from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion is also listed as legacy on DDB.

 

[Parmandur]

For what is worth, material from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion is also listed as legacy on DDB.

Superceded between Xanathar's, Tasha's, and Monsters of the Multiverse.

 

[JEB]

For what is worth, material from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion is also listed as legacy on DDB.

Huh, did that just happen? Nothing about it on the Legacy Content page.

 

[Saracenus]

My wife wants to frame this post and put it in our game room. Thank you.

I saw the later post and did not realize your wife wanted to frame my response to your post and not the post itself... <facepalm>. BTW, your wife has exquisite taste and I approve of her desire put my review up on your wall...

 

[Nikosandros]

Huh, did that just happen? Nothing about it on the Legacy Content page.

I noticed it by looking up Svirfneblin Magic in the listing for feats.

 

[JEB]

I noticed it by looking up Svirfneblin Magic in the listing for feats.

Yeah, I see it's no longer listed as a sourcebook, though the content is still all viewable (for example).

So that's three sourcebooks, and their attendant rules and lore, now deemed "Legacy Content."

Also just realized: Wildemount still remains as a source for "classic" versions of the races in VGTM, MTOF, and EEPC, albeit with Wildemount lore adjustments.

Wonder which 5E products will be turned "Legacy" next?

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I see it's no longer listed as a sourcebook, though the content is still all viewable (for example).

So that's three sourcebooks, and their attendant rules and lore, now deemed "Legacy Content."

Also just realized: Wildemount still remains as a source for "classic" versions of the races in VGTM, MTOF, and EEPC, albeit with Wildemount lore adjustments.

Wonder which 5E products will be turned "Legacy" next?

Well, just looking st release timelines, SCAG seems likely: just about all the rules of note are in Xanathar's, Tasha's, or MotM. Xanathar's and Tasha's were just put in the Rules Expansion Set, so those probably have a decent shelf life. The various Seettings may get updated with rules errata to match Monsters of the Multiverse, and they have talked about revisiting a Setting in 2024, perhaps a chance to revamp the rules content.