D&D 5E D&D Beyond - What's it for?

[The Hierophant]

So I see D&D Beyond is coming out soon with a discount for early adopters. What I don't understand is its actual purpose. It can make characters. It is the books in an app. But what else is it? It's not a virtual tabletop is it?

I'm intrigued but I am also struggling to understand the purpose.

 

[schnee]

Ultimately it's a campaign management tool that will eventually tie into a Twitch virtual tabletop interface that will integrate character data into on-screen information - with animations and live updating of things like your HP and showing status effects - alongside your camera stream.

 

[The Hierophant]

Thanks, but I am not sure I understood anything after "campaign management tool".

 

[pukunui]

Thanks, but I am not sure I understood anything after "campaign management tool".

It sounds like what he's saying is that, if you use Twitch to livestream your D&D game, at some point you'll have the ability to have information from your D&D Beyond character sheet show up on the screen for the audience to see.

That said, I don't think the plan is to introduce any sort of VTT function to D&D Beyond. It's not roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. It's a character / monster builder and rules reference app.

 

[BoldItalic]

It's because pencils are make of wood and paper is made of wood and cutting down trees to make pencils and paper destroys the rainforest and causes global warming, so it's not politically correct to play pencil-and-paper any more and you have to use your phone instead. Also, books.

 

[schnee]

Thanks, but I am not sure I understood anything after "campaign management tool".

Sorry, I keep forgetting that they haven't done a good job of sending around their visionary stuff.

[video=youtube;cU7YoDBn9wM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU7YoDBn9wM[/video]

Watch their demo reel...

If it works, it will be really cool.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

We can all be rock stars!

 

[akr71]

I'll skip what it it will do or is supposed to eventually be and go right to 'How I expect to use it."

1. Looking up spell descriptions at the table. The PHB is fine for this, but I have one of those ones with the crapping binding that fell apart. I'm too lazy to get WotC to replace it and it is now in a binder and takes up more space than a regular book, let alone a tablet or laptop.

2. Looking up monsters. I don't have the entire MM memorized - I don't know what each creature does. During combat, I either have to have a copy of the stat block or the book in front of me and I am constantly shuffling papers around. Having monster stat blocks available to me at a click of the mouse sounds much more efficient.

 

[robus]

I'll skip what it it will do or is supposed to eventually be and go right to 'How I expect to use it."

1. Looking up spell descriptions at the table. The PHB is fine for this, but I have one of those ones with the crapping binding that fell apart. I'm too lazy to get WotC to replace it and it is now in a binder and takes up more space than a regular book, let alone a tablet or laptop.

2. Looking up monsters. I don't have the entire MM memorized - I don't know what each creature does. During combat, I either have to have a copy of the stat block or the book in front of me and I am constantly shuffling papers around. Having monster stat blocks available to me at a click of the mouse sounds much more efficient.

Those are exactly the two use cases that are making me consider it also.

 

[akr71]

[MENTION=6801558]robus[/MENTION] I know some people will complain about having to "buy the books again" but I look at it as investing in tools to make running the game more efficiently. 3 books x $20 (or $19.99 ) If I buy right out of the gate. I don't see myself bothering with a subscription - if I need a tabaxi or Oath of the Crown, etc I can probably 'homebrew' it

 

[Delazar78]

I use the 2 Lion's Den apps (Fight Club and Game Master), which only costed me 3 euro each, IIRC.

I still don't see what Beyond does that it's not included in these much cheaper alternatives.

 

[guachi]

2. Looking up monsters. I don't have the entire MM memorized - I don't know what each creature does. During combat, I either have to have a copy of the stat block or the book in front of me and I am constantly shuffling papers around. Having monster stat blocks available to me at a click of the mouse sounds much more efficient.

What bothers me most about this feature being added is there is no good reason you should need this. A well-written adventure would have inline monster stats right there in the encounter. That the current 5e published adventures don't is a sign of atrocious layout and design and a big reason I won't be purchasing any WoTC published adventures probably ever.

 

[akr71]

[MENTION=6785802]guachi[/MENTION], I can't argue with you there... however the increased page count and therefore the cost might prevent me from buying many as well - and I already don't own many.

I write a lot of the adventures/encounters for my players already - what I would really love is the ability to 'drag and drop' WotC stat blocks or otherwise import them into my session prep documents.

 

[schnee]

What bothers me most about this feature being added is there is no good reason you should need this. A well-written adventure would have inline monster stats right there in the encounter.

What if you write your own?

We run a sandbox campaign with a lot of player driven choices, wilderness, and regional randomness. Instead of a 'well-written adventure' we have a patchwork of adventure hooks, character goals, and re-skinned content lifted in small to large chunks from a huge library of content from all versions of the game.

I think D&D Beyond will be fantastic for our game, especially since one player is on a 2-year sabbatical and Skypes in from places like Bali.

That the current 5e published adventures don't is a sign of atrocious layout and design and a big reason I won't be purchasing any WoTC published adventures probably ever.

I dunno, as a grognard, they're pretty good. Like the rest of 5E - not as tight as Moldvay Basic, or as expansive as 3.X, or as meandering as AD&D, or as mechanically harmonious as 4E - it seems to hit the Venn diagram right in the middle.

Besides, if you don't have to flip to four places in the book to solve a rule dispute, is that really D&D?

If this is so awful, what game is good, then?

 

[MrHotter]

If you play a game online or play with a tablet/PC at the table, then D&D Beyond should save you a lot of book searching.

As someone who has already purchased the 5E Fight Club apps and another character creator app, I'm looking forward to having an online app that has official support from WotC.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Those are exactly the two use cases that are making me consider it also.

The same for me as well, along with:

3. With me getting the $6 subscription tier, I and my group can share all the books we purchase in DDB. Some of the people I play with can't even afford the PHB, let alone any of the other products, so this allows everyone access to everything, at a much lower cost.

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

 

[ninjayeti]

I write a lot of the adventures/encounters for my players already - what I would really love is the ability to 'drag and drop' WotC stat blocks or otherwise import them into my session prep documents.

You can cut and paste stat blocks (plus spells, etc.) into a document from one of the online versions of the 5E System Reference Docs (www.Open5E.com and www.5thSRD.org both work well). It is not perfect - you will need to tweak the formatting, and the SRD doesn't have everything, but it is free and easy. I have been using it for session prep for a while now and it is a big time saver.

 

[fjw70]

I use the 2 Lion's Den apps (Fight Club and Game Master), which only costed me 3 euro each, IIRC.

I still don't see what Beyond does that it's not included in these much cheaper alternatives.

DDB has all the character building stuff, all the monsters, and all the magic items, in addition to ebooks for all the official books (including adventures).

 

[akr71]

You can cut and paste stat blocks (plus spells, etc.) into a document from one of the online versions of the 5E System Reference Docs (www.Open5E.com and www.5thSRD.org both work well). It is not perfect - you will need to tweak the formatting, and the SRD doesn't have everything, but it is free and easy. I have been using it for session prep for a while now and it is a big time saver.

I'll have to give that a try - thanks.

 

[Ristamar]

...and the SRD doesn't have everything, but it is free and easy.

That's a bit of an understatement as it pertains to class archetypes, spells, or monsters. It's a handy tool as a basic rules reference, but it's sorely lacking as a comprehensive core manual.