D&D 5E (2024) D&D Beyond's Development Roadmap Is A Complete Rebuild Of Platform

D&D Beyond has announced its roadmap for the future, including features in active development and those planned for later down the line. These include a full rebuild of the game platform's engine, a new character builder, tools for Dungeon Masters, and more.

Over the past few months, we’ve launched a new homepage, a revamped and more sortable content library, image reveals in the Maps VTT to help DMs immerse their players more easily, and several other quality-of-life improvements.

2026 is a year of refocusing and rebuilding D&D Beyond to make it easier to play D&D your way. Three major initiatives will drive most of our work:

• Rebuilding D&D Beyond’s Game Platform
• Improving Player Onboarding and Revamping the Character Builder Experience
• Launching a Suite of Dungeon Master Tools

 

[GarrettKP]

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to... oh, you know the drill!

Totally fair! Glad to know there is movement on the announcement end either way! Looking forward to the release.

 

[Junkyard Tornado]

Also, I would love a toggle that would let me decide that when I'm running a 2014 adventure using DDB, as I did the other day, when I click on a link for a monster or a spell or a magic item, I can go to the 2024 versions of instead. Otherwise, I need to stop, and do a manual search for the new version, which means I didn't actually save any time using the link.

And the further we get from the publication of the 2024 rulebooks, the more these links in legacy adventures will be outdated. I own the 2014 books, but what happens when someone tries running an adventure from Journeys Beyond the Radiant Citadel and does not? Do they get told to buy an outdated version of the Monster Manual, despite owning the 2024 one?

Access to 2014 rules is a big one for me. I don't use DDB but everyone else at my 5e table does. We have a mix of characters that are 2014 and 2024. The game is mostly run 2014 because we're usingv an adventure from then but the DM uses the 2024 MM sometimes.

This update seems like a prime opportunity for them to just try to move on from 2014 and I think that would be a mistake. People want both.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

There is a pretty big difference between saying that you 'need' to do something and that you 'are' doing something.

Okay, I'll clarify, you want to hammer on semantics.

They did say that they were doing it. Not just that they needed to.

And the WotC DDB team has been absolutely excellent in developing Maps so far so much so that it's success killed the Sigle 3DVTT.

That... is not what killed the 3D VTT.

Not even slightly. It died because it's fundamentally quite hard to do, and would require a decent-size team of properly-funded and lead developers, especially as it's basically novel, and there's no real roadmap for a what a successful 3D VTT looks like. Seems like either they didn't have all of those elements, or decided that it was too expensive to do "properly-funded" and "decently-sized".

Whereas maps is just an inferior and more limited version of something offered by many other companies, and which has existed in full and functional forms for literally decades at this point. Certainly when the 3D VTT died maps was not impressive tool, either.

I think the group they've got developing this site deserves the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Yeah I don't find your reasoning compelling here, given it's outright wrong in the one example you gave.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This update seems like a prime opportunity for them to just try to move on from 2014 and I think that would be a mistake. People want both.

I agree, that would be a terrible decision and a major self-own of the sort WotC has clearly been trying very hard to avoid recently.