WotC D&D Beyond Reveals 'Partnered Content' Schedule

D&D Beyond has published a release schedule for partnered content in the first quarter of 2026. This includes products from Eberron creator Keith Baker, Beadle & Grimm's, and Kickstarter favourites Loot Tavern and The Griffon's Saddlebag.

Partnered content is existing D&D books from third-party publishers on D&D Beyond.

• Exploring Eberron (Visionary Production & Design)
• The Pugilist Class (Benjamin Huffman)
• Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol. 1 (Beadle & Grimm’s Pandemonium Warehouse)
• Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting: Part 2 (Loot Tavern)
• The Griffon’s Saddlebag: Book One (The Griffon’s Saddlebag)

 

[Reynard]

I wonder if dndbeyond is the future of sales and growth in D&D and if so by how much? If it helps the player base grow by a magnitude I think the other boats would be much higher than now, maybe even if they are 90% of the market.

Would we be in a terrible place if that happened? How much higher do the other boats have to be lifted?

I am not sure Beyond lifts any boats besides WotC's. It isn't going to draw new people into the hobby. It will probably help those 3rd parties who are allowed in (how much depending on the specifics of the license) but it is a closed system.

 

[mamba]

I wonder if they had the technical capacity to make it TTRPG Steam, would they?

I would definitely make that a longterm goal if I were WotC, and start with bringing the 5e-adjacent ones on board

 

[Morrus]

I wonder if dndbeyond is the future of sales and growth in D&D and if so by how much? If it helps the player base grow by a magnitude I think the other boats would be much higher than now, maybe even if they are 90% of the market.

If DDB had 90% of the 3PP market, that would kill anybody not on the platform. WotC would effectively control the market.

Remember, back in the 4E days it was near impossible to sell player options as a third party producer because the first thing potential customers would ask was if it was on the character builder of the time. With a VTT and game management platform, that issue would include everything, not just player options.

That said, this is all a very hypothetical discussion. These days there are emerging competitors on a technical level--there's Roll20/Demiplane/DTRPG which is a potent combination with massive potential if they integrate it all right, and there are some smaller platforms coming.

 

[darjr]

I’m not talking about dndbeyond lifting other boats, but the magnitude larger player base it might grow.

As for 4e choking out others, the player base was much smaller then. And there were still third parties in RPGs if not 4e, Goodman Games being an example in both.

But yea. It’s probably pointless speculation. Just something i thought about.

 

[mamba]

If DDB had 90% of the 3PP market, that would kill anybody not on the platform. WotC would effectively control the market.

Remember, back in the 4E days it was near impossible to sell player options as a third party producer because the first thing potential customers would ask was if it was on the character builder of the time.

looks like the 3pp content does not find its way into the character builder. Someone asked in the posts below the article whether the Tamer class would be included in Heliana’s Guide and the answer was

“Currently, we are not planning to include the Tamer class. This is because we can't support any integrated Character Builder options, so it would live only in the Compendium.”

If that is generally true and not just for a new class, that might severely hamper the usefulness of some 3pp content on DDB

Does anyone know if this is a general rule or how widespread it is?

 

[Reynard]

I’m not talking about dndbeyond lifting other boats, but the magnitude larger player base it might grow.

As for 4e choking out others, the player base was much smaller then. And there were still third parties in RPGs if not 4e, Goodman Games being an example in both.

But yea. It’s probably pointless speculation. Just something i thought about.

I am curious why you think Beyond might have such a dramatic effect on the size of the playerbase. Does anyone come to Beyond and THEN discover D&D?

 

[darjr]

I am curious why you think Beyond might have such a dramatic effect on the size of the playerbase. Does anyone come to Beyond and THEN discover D&D?

It was a “what if”. I’m not really convinced it, in and of itself, is a growth vector.

 

[Remathilis]

The one thing I can say with some certainty is that DnDBeyond integration has helped with legitimizing 3pp content with a larger selection of the player base. The blood hunter was essentially the D&D 13th class for a while, and there are people who will look at Grim Hollow or Crooked Moon or Varda's content in the same light as 1pp supplements. It at least resembles a mark of quality that the product is well known enough to have WotC recognize it. It's not an indicator of quality per se (WotC's own products run the gamut on that) but it does show it's at least good enough to have gotten their attention. And that's worth a lot when convincing a DM to allow it.

 

[Reynard]

The one thing I can say with some certainty is that DnDBeyond integration has helped with legitimizing 3pp content with a larger selection of the player base. The blood hunter was essentially the D&D 13th class for a while, and there are people who will look at Grim Hollow or Crooked Moon or Varda's content in the same light as 1pp supplements. It at least resembles a mark of quality that the product is well known enough to have WotC recognize it. It's not an indicator of quality per se (WotC's own products run the gamut on that) but it does show it's at least good enough to have gotten their attention. And that's worth a lot when convincing a DM to allow it.

Hence the "picking winners" thing that feels weird for WotC to do.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I assume classes / subclasses are the worst part. Adding an adventure with some custom monsters and items should be pretty simple however

In their forums they've basically said they can't tool brand new classes.