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.

 

[Zaukrie]

This is why I still buy physical. Fortunately they’re not taking the content of the books away from people who already bought them. For now. But I prefer to actually own my books, instead of paying to be allowed to access digital content.

You can literally copy and paste everything if that's a fear. I certainly have.

This makes sense to me. Supporting multiple versions of the same thing isn't very practical.

 

[Parmandur]

Ah yes, the 2024 release will be "fully compatible", when the preludes to it aren't even considered compatible any more. There's information in both of those books besides those stat blocks and racial write-ups.

Just because something isn't in print anymore doesn't mean it isn't compatible. If i can pick up my copy of Volo's and use the Monster stat blocks in an encounter with the 2024 rules, it is sufficient.

 

[Parmandur]

This is why I still buy physical. Fortunately they’re not taking the content of the books away from people who already bought them. For now. But I prefer to actually own my books, instead of paying to be allowed to access digital content.

Yeah, I prefer the physical copies for this reason, and because i like having physical books for my analog game time (even on Zoom, analog pen and paper is preferable to me).

I've cracked and preordered the multiverse book from my FLGS, both to support the store and to support WotC working on the problematic parts of their lore, and the new art. But I'm keepign my crusty old books, too.

 

[Jer]

Yeah, I prefer the physical copies for this reason, and because i like having physical books for my analog game time (even on Zoom, analog pen and paper is preferable to me).

I don't think they'll ever stop publishing physical books in my lifetime (which admittedly means less every passing day), but the day that Wizards stops producing actual books for D&D is the day that I've found my terminal edition of D&D to bother with. At least with PDF publications from other publishers I can back up my books or choose to have them printed if it's really important to me. I have trust issues and can't imagine relying on the DDB ecosystem.

 

[Parmandur]

(Glances over at bookshelf that has

I don't think they'll ever stop publishing physical books in my lifetime (which admittedly means less every passing day), but the day that Wizards stops producing actual books for D&D is the day that I've found my terminal edition of D&D to bother with. At least with PDF publications from other publishers I can back up my books or choose to have them printed if it's really important to me. I have trust issues and can't imagine relying on the DDB ecosystem.

I don't think they will ever fully abandon books, I recall Mearls in the past talking about how the big 5E books sell for the art object value. What I could see is more supplementary material like they are doing for Spelljammer, with physical products more on the tentpole side of things.

 

[Saracenus]

You can literally copy and paste everything if that's a fear. I certainly have.

This makes sense to me. Supporting multiple versions of the same thing isn't very practical.

I have off and on curated material in OneNote so I can organize it as I see fit, have a much more robust search feature, and read them offline. If you are gonna do this now (with your note app of choice), there is a ton off material to wade through, so break it up into manageable chunks.

 

[Blue]

This is why I still buy physical. Fortunately they’re not taking the content of the books away from people who already bought them. For now. But I prefer to actually own my books, instead of paying to be allowed to access digital content.

With 5e release schedule, I'm with you.

After getting burned doing the same for 3.5ed release schedule, I ended up with the subscription for 4e past some core books. Ended up being a good deal with the amount of errata.

 

[Zaukrie]

I have off and on curated material in OneNote so I can organize it as I see fit, have a much more robust search feature, and read them offline. If you are gonna do this now (with your note app of choice), there is a ton off material to wade through, so break it up into manageable chunks.

If I was really going to use most of this....I'd certainly organize it differently. For now, I've just saved it.

 

[Blue]

Just because something isn't in print anymore doesn't mean it isn't compatible. If i can pick up my copy of Volo's and use the Monster stat blocks in an encounter with the 2024 rules, it is sufficient.

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.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Cool. Exactly how I expected it to go when the new book was announced.