D&D 5E D&D Beyond Phase 2 and 3 are open beta!

[Dausuul]

I wonder if people realise yet that, once the extra features are added like the ability to build your own classes, feats, backgrounds and races, that if you put in the work, you could literally have a free account with all supplements in it. I mean, sure, that's a fair bit of grunt, but so far, I can't see any reason why you need to purchase any of their content.

This kinda worries me about their future...

I think you vastly overestimate how many people want to spend hours and hours on data entry to save a paltry few bucks. Convenience is worth money.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I think you vastly overestimate how many people want to spend hours and hours on data entry to save a paltry few bucks. Convenience is worth money.

You're making a character. The feat you want is in a book that costs $5. It takes you two minutes to make the feat.

How many people do you think will buy the book?

 

[MNblockhead]

I'll continue using Hero Lab for the time being, but I like the progress that I'm seeing with DnD Beyond.

After I wrap up a homebrew campaign that I'm running now, I'm thinking of running Curse of Straud. If DnD Beyond has the CoS AP material that wil be nice. But without a combat tracker, the character builder doesn't have much use for me. It will be difficult for me to give up Hero Labs's Encounter Builder and Combat Tracker. Have all rules, monsters, magic items, spells, etc. readily available from a universal search box is very helpful, but I'm not sure I would pay a monthly subscription just for that.

Right now, it seems that DnD Beyond will be more useful for players and than DMs.

 

[Dausuul]

You're making a character. The feat you want is in a book that costs $5. It takes you two minutes to make the feat.

How many people do you think will buy the book?

The same number of people who would buy a $50 physical book instead of spending two minutes copying the feat onto a paper character sheet.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

The same number of people who would buy a $50 physical book instead of spending two minutes copying the feat onto a paper character sheet.

Maybe you haven't been following the conversations about DDB but there is a very strong antipathy towards it based on the notion that people already owning the PHB shouldn't have to pay, or should at least get a discount, for the material in DDB.

I am not one of those people, however I do observe and recognise trends, not to mention the fact that equating the two as similar is also a false equivalency.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I'll continue using Hero Lab for the time being, but I like the progress that I'm seeing with DnD Beyond.

After I wrap up a homebrew campaign that I'm running now, I'm thinking of running Curse of Straud. If DnD Beyond has the CoS AP material that wil be nice. But without a combat tracker, the character builder doesn't have much use for me. It will be difficult for me to give up Hero Labs's Encounter Builder and Combat Tracker. Have all rules, monsters, magic items, spells, etc. readily available from a universal search box is very helpful, but I'm not sure I would pay a monthly subscription just for that.

Right now, it seems that DnD Beyond will be more useful for players and than DMs.

My feelings as well. I'm mad keen on the idea of a website/app where my players can create nice, automated, easy to use characters and then I can slot them into combats, with the players able to adjust their HP and have that visible to everyone else on the app; in other words, I want to have the best of a combat tracker AND a character creator in one place. If they manage that, I'll look upon their subscription models with benevolence and munificence, since it will directly make my life easier and be a boon for the players. If they just make a character creator and it isn't linked into a combat tracker, it'll be a much harder sell.

 

[fjw70]

I love DDB as a reference tool to look up monsters, spells, rules, etc. very quickly and when I am away from my books. That is the main thing I want and that is already built very nicely (just waiting for the paid content). Everything else is secondary for me.

 

[MNblockhead]

I love DDB as a reference tool to look up monsters, spells, rules, etc. very quickly and when I am away from my books. That is the main thing I want and that is already built very nicely (just waiting for the paid content). Everything else is secondary for me.

I also like this about DDB and is the only thing from DDB that I've used in game as a DM. But I'm not sure how much I want to pay to subscribe to all that content. 5e isn't that difficult that I'm constantly looking up rules in play. As for monsters, well I have everything I need, except for Volo's Guide to Monsters in the HeroLab encounter builder, which includes official Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts content.

That's another thing I'm waiting to see—will DnD Beyond go beyond WoTC content and offer content from third-party publishers like Kobold Press, ENWorld's En5ider, and others?