D&D 5E D&D Beyond vs Print Books

[UngeheuerLich]

Since I play with my students, I actively use DnDBeyond at the table.
During our very limited time it serves as book, charbuilder and dice tool. And of course, due to my DM subscription, I can share the whole content with them easily and legally.
So overall it is a very useful tool.

My personal guideline is now:
Rulebooks like phb and xanathar and tasha default to dndbeyond. And then I buy the book in german too if available, so I can give translations to those who need it easily.

 

[MNblockhead]

I think there are two main decision points:

1. How much are your comfortable spending
2. Do you intended to play with a VTT

I personally am a fan of DDB. I also like having the books. For me the books are for browsing, something nice to have on the bookshelf, and as a "backup" in case the digital assets go away. But I don't use books in play or even to prep, even moreso now that I'm not playing in-person games. Also, starting with Mordenkainen's, I actually started reading through the books using the DDB app instead of the physical books.

I like having the web page and apps because looking things up across multiple books is much easier. Having things hyperlinked with pop-ups of content is very handy--something you are not going to get with PDFs.

Also, I just started to have to wear reading glasses for smaller print, but I don't like having to wear them if I don't have to. I find it difficult to read the print books without glasses, but I can increase the font size, etc. in the app or on the website.

I always have my phone with me, so I can read through the books when waiting in lines, at the doctor's office, or on a plane and have read through much more material than I normally would with just the books.

When I was playing in person, I hated dragging a bunch of books to a friends house or the gaming store. Normally, I ran games from my house, so that wasn't a huge problem, but now that my job requires a lot of travel, it is nice to be able to carry all the books in my pocket, on my phone.

The character sheet is really well done and I prefer using it if I'm a player and when not using a VTTs character sheets.

BUT this brings us to the VTT question. If you have a preferred VTT and don't intend to change VTTs soon or often, AND if your preferred VTT has an official license (Roll20 or Fantasy grounds), I would recommend buying the content from the VTT provider, especially if you want the automations and other configurations done for you.

That said, DDB is the most supported in terms on connections to other tools. If you move from one VTT to another, there is a good chance that someone has created ways to integrate your DDB content with that VTT. But you are not going to easily take your official D&D content from Fantasy Ground and move it to Roll20 or vice versa.

For myself, I buy all the crunch books and some of the adventure/setting books in print form. I also buy the DDB versions along with some books that I only have DDB. I use Foundry, hosted by The Forge, for my VTT and use an add-in module to import DDB content into Foundry.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am planning on DMing my first 5e game. I have the PHB, but I don't have the Monster Manual yet. I was wondering if there would be any value in getting it in electronic format from D&D Beyond. My thought is that I don't need the whole book during play, I could print out the stat blocks of the monsters I intended to use in a session. That way I could reference multiple monsters without having to flip pages.

I have no experience with D&D Beyond's format, is what I am planning easy to do, will it save time?

You can use the free D&D Basic pdf for mostly the same benefit.

Given that this is going to be your first time as a DM, I assume it's likely you do not need non-core material, or those few monsters that are missing from Basic.

 

[Oofta]

I like having both, Beyond takes a little practice to get used to for an old grognard like me, though the monsters are the closest to what you'd see directly in the book.

Also note it is possible to buy individual components from the books (such as a single monster, spell, etc.), and it will give you a slight discount if you decide later to buy "the whole thing". For example, I bought only the monsters from Fizban's book, not the whole thing on Beyond.

Good point. I've gotten just the monsters from several modules.

 

[Naraku666]

I am planning on DMing my first 5e game. I have the PHB, but I don't have the Monster Manual yet. I was wondering if there would be any value in getting it in electronic format from D&D Beyond. My thought is that I don't need the whole book during play, I could print out the stat blocks of the monsters I intended to use in a session. That way I could reference multiple monsters without having to flip pages.

I have no experience with D&D Beyond's format, is what I am planning easy to do, will it save time?

dont get caught doing that as if u use it not on their site they have the right to remove access to the book even though u paid for it

 

[Naraku666]

I am planning on DMing my first 5e game. I have the PHB, but I don't have the Monster Manual yet. I was wondering if there would be any value in getting it in electronic format from D&D Beyond. My thought is that I don't need the whole book during play, I could print out the stat blocks of the monsters I intended to use in a session. That way I could reference multiple monsters without having to flip pages.

I have no experience with D&D Beyond's format, is what I am planning easy to do, will it save time?

dont get caught doing that as if u use it not on their site they have the right to remove access to the book even though u paid for it

I am planning on DMing my first 5e game. I have the PHB, but I don't have the Monster Manual yet. I was wondering if there would be any value in getting it in electronic format from D&D Beyond. My thought is that I don't need the whole book during play, I could print out the stat blocks of the monsters I intended to use in a session. That way I could reference multiple monsters without having to flip pages.

I have no experience with D&D Beyond's format, is what I am planning easy to do, will it save time?

dont get caught doing that as if u use it not on their site they have the right to remove access to the book even though u paid for it

 

[Naraku666]

I am planning on DMing my first 5e game. I have the PHB, but I don't have the Monster Manual yet. I was wondering if there would be any value in getting it in electronic format from D&D Beyond. My thought is that I don't need the whole book during play, I could print out the stat blocks of the monsters I intended to use in a session. That way I could reference multiple monsters without having to flip pages.

I have no experience with D&D Beyond's format, is what I am planning easy to do, will it save time?

on their disclaimer page they claim they will remove if you use the source / info off of the site in a way

 

[Morrus]

on their disclaimer page they claim they will remove if you use the source / info off of the site in a way

Yikes, I don't use DDB myself, but your post prompted me to check out their terms.

"Fandom reserves the right to deactivate a User from any Fandom service for any reason or no reason. Once a User has been deactivated, any digital goods accumulated by that User in connection with using D&D Beyond will be forfeited and may not be reinstated."

They can take away anything you've bought for any reason whatsoever?

 

[bedir than]

Yikes, I don't use DDB myself, but your post prompted me to check out their terms.

"Fandom reserves the right to deactivate a User from any Fandom service for any reason or no reason. Once a User has been deactivated, any digital goods accumulated by that User in connection with using D&D Beyond will be forfeited and may not be reinstated."

They can take away anything you've bought for any reason whatsoever?

Not an unusual digital term of service. I've been on forums that reserve the right to delete everything a user's ever posted, and that eliminated some of my paid work

 

[Reynard]

COMPLETLY ASIDE RANT: It would be super great if WotC joined the rest of the RPG publishing world and offered legal PDFs. I mean, I can get any book in PDF within seconds if I want it, but the fact that WotC still clings to this ridiculous notion it will kill sales is infuriating.