D&D 5E D&D Beyond Will Delist Two Books On May 17th

D&D Beyond will be permanently removing Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on May 17th in favor of the upcoming Monsters of the Multiverse book, which largely compiles and updates that material.

As per the D&D Beyond FAQ for Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse:

Can I still buy Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on D&D Beyond?
Starting on May 16, you can acquire the streamlined and up-to-date creatures and character race options, as well as a plethora of exciting new content, by purchasing Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. On May 17, Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes will be discontinued from our digital marketplace.

If you already own these two books you will still have access to your purchases and any characters or encounters you built with them. They won’t be removed from your purchased sourcebooks. Therefore, if you want the "fluff" and tables in those two tomes in D&D Beyond, you need to purchase them soon.

This is the first time books have been wholesale delisted from the D&D Beyond Platform rather than updated (much like physical book reprints are with errata and changes).

There’s no word from WotC on whether physical books will be discontinued and be allowed to sell out.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

When you changed my "fully compatible" to just "compatible", you change the nature of what's being discussed.

it wont be fully compatible... it can't be.

If in the future you are in an AL game and you try to use the un-updated races from Volos, you'll may find you aren't accepted.

most likely true in the next few months let alone 2024

Or in a game where the DM wants the latest versions.

home games DMs can call for what they want... but yeah, if they want to play with the newest rules you can't use the older ones.

Or the oddness when two players are the same race with different racial abilities and usage - that may be "compatible" as in it doesn't break if you use it, but it's not "fully compatible". It's like saying that pre-errata spells are compatible because they will work with the system.

right, the PHB from before today is dead. It was on life support with tasha's and it's in negatives making saves now but come 2024 it is 6 feet under

 

[Parmandur]

When you changed my "fully compatible" to just "compatible", you change the nature of what's being discussed.

If in the future you are in an AL game and you try to use the un-updated races from Volos, you'll may find you aren't accepted. Or in a game where the DM wants the latest versions. Or the oddness when two players are the same race with different racial abilities and usage - that may be "compatible" as in it doesn't break if you use it, but it's not "fully compatible". It's like saying that pre-errata spells are compatible because they will work with the system.

AL is an odd fringe use case, since they don't even allow everything from 5E as is. And a DM can already say "no, I don't like those options, because Reasons" anytime. Neither takes away from full compatibility. And yes, it is just like saying that pre-errata spells will work just fine, because they do. 5E is a modular, exceptions based system. Races, Classes, Spells, Monsters are all, always, exceptions to the rules. That's what full compatibility is.

 

[Weiley31]

That's especially bizarre because Volo's has content that doesn't show back up in Monsters of the Multiverse. What are they gonna do with all of those orcs they didn't bring over?

WoTC: I have no idea what you are talking about. Orcs are a multi-cultural group and heritage of beings who have nowhere been nor ever a savage race of morally and questionable wording and description. Therefore, the so called "all of those orcs" don't have to worry about being brought over because Orcs have already been brought over and are present in Monsters of the Multiverse. Which our wonderful customer base can look forward to purchasing on May 17th. No changes whatsoever were made to the Orcs. Nor have any changes been made been considered. EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!!

 

[Parmandur]

it wont be fully compatible... it can't be.

That depends entirely on what is meant by "Full" and "Compatible." First print versions of PHB spells that have received errata are still fully compatible with 5E. The Tasha's Race changes are fully compatible with the 2014 PHB rules. if by "compatible" we mean they can play side by side without the math breaking, and "fully" meaning the math won't break at all or even break a sweat. That's literally all that matters. Someone can be playing a PHB Dragonborn at the same table as a Dragonborn from Fizban's, and an Encounter can use Monsters from Volo's and Monsters fo the Multiverse, right now. Those options are all fully compatible, at least in terms of what WotC cares about and is aiming for.

 

[Weiley31]

So, I take it that means that if you're a DND Beyond customer, and you didn't purchase those books yet, your pretty much screwed outta the original versions of the Race stat block write ups for PCs.

 

[Parmandur]

So, I take it that means that if you're a DND Beyond customer, and you didn't purchase those books yet, your pretty much screwed outta the original versions of the Race stat block write ups for PCs.

As of 5/17, you can still do it now and they won't take them away. That's the point of the exercise, work on reducing some of the problematic ideas that were prevalent in early 5E.

 

[Jer]

So, I take it that means that if you're a DND Beyond customer, and you didn't purchase those books yet, your pretty much screwed outta the original versions of the Race stat block write ups for PCs.

It means if you want to own them on DDB you have less than a week to get them bought.

 

[Weiley31]

Well dang, I better buy the Physical copy version of Volo's soon. I already have Mord's Tome of Foes.

 

[Parmandur]

Well dang, I better buy the Physical copy version of Volo's soon. I already have Mord's Tome of Foes.

It's still pretty readily available, and WotC doesn't have the budget for book stealing ninjas yet.

 

[Jer]

Well dang, I better buy the Physical copy version of Volo's soon. I already have Mord's Tome of Foes.

I mean, the physical version is going to be floating around for a long time even after Wizards sells out of their last print run. In fact, I just saw a used copy of Volo's at a local half price books last week for $25 (right next to a couple of 3.5e PHBs and a couple of beat up 2nd edition adventures that seemed overpriced given their condition). You can get it new on Amazon for only a couple of bucks more than that right now.