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.

 

[Parmandur]

Online complaints about an online tool...

Yes. Dozens of complaints about a tool used by millions.

 

[JEB]

Yes. Dozens of complaints about a tool used by millions.

Looks like a lot more than "dozens" of complaints from a quick search on Reddit, and that's just about the previous "errata" and the VGTM/MTOF removal...

 

[Parmandur]

Looks like a lot more than "dozens" of complaints from a quick search on Reddit, and that's just about the previous "errata" and the VGTM/MTOF removal...

Does it? Not from what I saw at the time. Maybe hundreds.

 

[Remathilis]

So by my count, outside of the PHB Races which will undoubtably be reworked, there are 31 Race options across 6 books in 5E that are not in the updated format at this point:

• 8 Tieflings in Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes (probably outmoded by Tasha's and the 2024 update to Core)
• 4 Subraces in Wildemount (probably outmoded by Tasha's ASI change)
• 3 Races in Ravnica
• 1 race in Theros (probably outmoded by the Tabaxi in Monsters of the Multiverse)
• 1 Race in Acquisitions Incorporated
• 14 Races and Subraces in Rising from the Last War

12 of those Eberron options, of course, are the Dragonmark Subraces/Variants, which reviewing them...would work very well as Strixhaven style Backgrounds with Level 1 Feats and small Feat trees instead of Races. So, assuming the Tiefling options are covered in the next Core, a Magic Setting book that addresses the Magic specific Races in question (Simic hybrid might be better as Background Feats, too) and an Eberron update would pretty much get everything up to speed...

I think the next M:TG book will sneak in updated for Veldakin, Simic Hybrid (perhaps as a lineage?), Leonin, and Loxodon. SImic's aside, each has appeared in other MTG settings.
Likewise, I can only image a new Eberron book will provide an update on the warforged, kalshatar, and dragonmarks.
And the tiefling subs were basically alternative infernal legacy's anyway, I can see them fixing it with a variant racial option or two.
That only leaves a few subraces from Exandria and one from SCAG (ghostwise halfling) to update. Kinda surprised the Exandria subraces didn't end up in the back of Netherdeep, tbh.
We stlll have all of 2023 and whatever of 2024 before the revision comes out, I imagine some of these will be addressed sooner rather than later.

 

[Parmandur]

I think the next M:TG book will sneak in updated for Veldakin, Simic Hybrid (perhaps as a lineage?), Leonin, and Loxodon. SImic's aside, each has appeared in other MTG settings.
Likewise, I can only image a new Eberron book will provide an update on the warforged, kalshatar, and dragonmarks.
And the tiefling subs were basically alternative infernal legacy's anyway, I can see them fixing it with a variant racial option or two.
That only leaves a few subraces from Exandria and one from SCAG (ghostwise halfling) to update. Kinda surprised the Exandria subraces didn't end up in the back of Netherdeep, tbh.
We stlll have all of 2023 and whatever of 2024 before the revision comes out, I imagine some of these will be addressed sooner rather than later.

it might even make sense for WotC to do a "Planeswalkers Guide to the Multiverse" or something combining player options and Monsters from across Magic worlds...

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

it might even make sense for WotC to do a "Planeswalkers Guide to the Multiverse" or something combining player options and Monsters from across Magic worlds...

It never fails to wound me that I have to mentally differentiate between "Planeswalker" and "Planewalker" to avoid getting my hopes up for something Planescape only for it to turn out to be another MtG set/book...

 

[Parmandur]

It never fails to wound me that I have to mentally differentiate between "Planeswalker" and "Planewalker" to avoid getting my hopes up for something Planescape only for it to turn out to be another MtG set/book...

Well, there are specific callouts to Sigil in the Monsters of the Multiverse book, I'd lay good odds that we are getting Planescape next year, as we know there is a classic Setting new to 5E in the works.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Well, there are specific callouts to Sigil in the Monsters of the Multiverse book, I'd lay good odds that we are getting Planescape next year, as we know there is a classic Setting new to 5E in the works.

To be sure, I still have hopes. Just a more general complaint that a word I strongly associate with one is so intimately tied to the other.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Pretty sure Legacy stuff in non legacy books will still come with them.

 

[Parmandur]

Pretty sure Legacy stuff in non legacy books will still come with them.

Yeah, they don't want to lay a trap for customers looking for the individual parts.