D&D Beyond brings back a la carte purchases in the form of Starter Packs

D&D Beyond is returning to piecemeal purchases in the form of new Starter Packs that allow for access to class rules, as well as a limited number of subclasses and species rules. The new Starter Packs, available for all 12 core classes, and now available for sale on D&D Beyond. Each Starter Pack comes with character rules for a specific core class, three subclasses (the three from the Player's Handbook that are not available via the Basic Rules), and two species from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. Also included are seven feats, including several general feats.

D&D Beyond originally had a la carte purchases in which users could individually purchase subclasses, spells, or even monsters for a modest fee. Wizards of the Coast removed this site feature in 2024, meaning that a user needed to purchase an entire rulebook if they wanted to access to any single bit of content from that rulebook. While these Starter Packs aren't quite the same as true a la carte purchases, this does mark the first time in years where individual chunks of content have been available at a lower price point for users.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Subclass specific spells were not included in these packs, but after receiving feedback on this, the DDB team has included them. Nice!

So, no doom today. Doom tomorrow.

 

[Sulicius]

So, no doom today. Doom tomorrow.

Doom? Doom why?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Doom? Doom why?

There is always a doom tomorrow.

 

[Weiley31]

Its all backwards compatible anyway.

 

[Weiley31]

Doom? Doom why?

There is always a doom tomorrow.

 

[Azzy]

So, no doom today. Doom tomorrow.

So says Ivanova?

 

[SothFan]

Is this the current replacement format? 2014 edition is no longer being made so ending those packs makes sense if these are the new version for 5.5 and tge are ceasing sales of the previous books.

 

[Weiley31]

Is this the current replacement format? 2014 edition is no longer being made so ending those packs makes sense if these are the new version for 5.5 and tge are ceasing sales of the previous books.

I think the packs are a mix of 2014/2024.

 

[SothFan]

I think the packs are a mix of 2014/2024.

As people have said they will probably update the material so you have to buy it again, so these pack may be the new way to get the material when it uodates. I just mean they stopped selling part of the books, because it was all the old books they are moving away from. The previous "5.5" arguement.

 

[rabirin]

So for a lark, I went through the feat options of the starter packs, expecting stupidity. And oh boy did I find it.

• The most popular feat within the Starter Packs? War Caster. Every single pure-caster class gets War Caster.
• The Barbarian and Druid packs come with the Thrown Weapon Fighting feat—since they're now considered feats, not all the Fighting Styles come as part of the core classes in the SRD and thus there's only four picks without the PHB. The two problems here are:
  • Thrown Weapon Fighting is the only Fighting Style feat included in the Starter Packs, so no Blind Fighting, no Dueling, no Interception or Protection or Unarmed Fighting;
  • since taking a Fighting Style feat has the Fighting Style feature as a prerequisite, Barbarians and Druids can't even take Thrown Weapon Fighting by default.
• Incidentally, Barbarians don't get Great Weapon Master as an option. (The Starter Pack cover shows a dual-wielding Barbarian, despite Barbarians being one of the worst classes for two-weapon fighting.)
• Clerics get Durable even though Clerics are unlikely to have the ASIs to invest in Constitution.
• Fighters and Rangers inexplicably get Tavern Brawler as a feat. (Remember, Fighters and Rangers without the PHB have no access to Unarmed Fighting!)
• The Monk gets Healer as an origin feat even though it's largely useless for a character without healing spells.
  • And on the subject of Monks, one of their feats included is Weapon Master, i.e. the feat that's a worse version of what every other martial gets at level 1. 2024 Monk Tax is somehow a thing even in microtransactions.
• The Paladin gets Heavily Armored as a feat...even though Paladins have heavy armor by default.
• Highlighting how shield access was taken from Moderately Armored to Lightly Armored purely for the benefit of Sorcerers and Wizards, those two classes get that feat in their starter packs. (Bards and Warlocks get Moderately Armored, even though if you're playing a martial Bard, they probably get medium armor from their subclass.)
• Aside from all the missing Fighting Styles, three non-SRD feats are unavailable in any of the Starter Packs: Martial Weapon Training, Polearm Master, and Tough.