Dhampir and Other Species To Be Included in Astarion's Book of Hungers

The dhampir will be among several playable species included in the digital exclusive Astarion's Book of Hungers, which is currently only available as part of a $159.99 "Ultimate Bundle." Announced today during a panel on the upcoming Forgotten Realms content at Gen Con, the dhampir will make its return in the upcoming "digital DLC" for the Forgotten Realms books. An Ultimate Bundle was also put up for pre-order on D&D Beyond, which includes 8 species. Assumably, the dhampir and seven other species will appear in Astarion's Book of Hungers and perhaps split with one other unnamed DLC that's also included in the bundle. A third DLC, Netheril's Fall, is an adventure of unspecified length.

The fact that the dhampir and other species content will be included as "digital DLC" is interesting for several reasons. D&D previously made three species - the grung, locathah, and tortle - available exclusively as digital content. However, all three were released to benefit charity, with the tortle eventually making its way into Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. So, while this wouldn't be the first time that D&D made player-facing content exclusive digitally, the intent (charity versus "Digital DLC") is certainly different. Additionally, it's unclear whether these digital DLCs will be available to purchase separately or if they'll only be available via the Ultimate Bundle, which includes physical and digital copies of the Forgotten Realms books, plus the three DLC packets.

 

[Azzy]

I'm just salty the content won't be in a physical book, not that I'm against digital as such.

Oh, I'm with you on that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They (and reborn and hex blood) were in VGR. If they reprinted them with changes (I highly suspect dhampir will be undead type) they will be in the next Ravenloft/horror book.

Here is the thing: nothing in VGR is required to run a game in Ravenloft. Curse of Strahd managed perfectly well without it for years. So can a follow-up. Adventures don’t go heavily into player options. One or two perhaps.

Oh, and dhampirs are not undead, that’s kind of the point.

 

[Chaltab]

Honestly if WOTC just offered their digital-only releases as PDFs I think it would alleviate a lot of the concern. PDFs are static files that last as long as the ones and zeroes, but DDB is a service and services eventually end.

Frankly I don't know why they don't. Allegedly piracy but... yeah not having PDFs doesn't stop piracy.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Honestly if WOTC just offered their digital-only releases as PDFs I think it would alleviate a lot of the concern. PDFs are static files that last as long as the ones and zeroes, but DDB is a service and services eventually end.

Frankly I don't know why they don't. Allegedly piracy but... yeah not having PDFs doesn't stop piracy.

What make you think ones and zeros will last? Or paper for that matter. Everything is ephemeral. So long as it lasts as long as I'm interested in using it that's not a problem. Might be an issue for historians, but that's something they can sort out for themselves.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

How can I explain it? We know you can find scanned version of sourcebooks from previous editions but WotC is earning money with DMGuild. The loyal fan customer will spend his money so the company publishes more titles. And Hasbro wants D&D to be a multigenre franchise, not only videogames and books but also other merchandising products like toys, t-shirts, posters...or licenced drinks.

 

[Distracted DM]

What make you think ones and zeros will last? Or paper for that matter. Everything is ephemeral. So long as it lasts as long as I'm interested in using it that's not a problem. Might be an issue for historians, but that's something they can sort out for themselves.

Someone expresses a concern about product ownership vs licensing for use, and your reply to them amounts to "nothing matters, we're all dust in the wind, enjoy it while it lasts."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Someone expresses a concern about product ownership vs licensing for use, and your reply to them amounts to "nothing matters, we're all dust in the wind, enjoy it while it lasts."

Sure. I bought the 1st edition rule books in paper form, but I don't have them now and I have no idea what happened to them. But it's not a big deal, I don't need them and at least they are not taking up space I don't have.

As for PDFs, I'm pretty sure that within a decade they will only be readable by hardcore historians.

And within 50 years I will be dead and wont have much need of anything.

 

[Chaltab]

What make you think ones and zeros will last? Or paper for that matter. Everything is ephemeral. So long as it lasts as long as I'm interested in using it that's not a problem. Might be an issue for historians, but that's something they can sort out for themselves.

This isn't a hypothetical. Services end. I relied on D&D Insider for 4E and it's gone. You don't have to care but don't be flippant that some people would prefer if WOTC couldn't just decide to EOL their expensive collections on a whim in 10 years.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This isn't a hypothetical.

Never said it was.

Services end. I relied on D&D Insider for 4E and it's gone.

And your efforts would be better spent joining those campaigning for better consumer protection when services end than trying to reverse the clock. There are a great many people for which print (or this PDF is forever nonsense) is not a valid option, who would still like to see better protections. If you pay for a service and it ends, you should get a full refund. Keep chopping down trees is not a better option.

You don't have to care but don't be flippant

I’m not being at all flippant, I am entirely serious about this. And I do care, I just see things differently.

that some people would prefer if WOTC couldn't just decide to EOL their expensive collections on a whim in 10 years.

WotC is a business, not a campaign organisation for preserving obsolete formats.

 

[Chaltab]

I’m not being at all flippant, I am entirely serious about this. And I do care, I just see things differently.

WotC is a business, not a campaign organisation for preserving obsolete formats.

You certainly sounded flippant.

Better consumer protections is the ideal, but that requires legislatures to both care and actually act on it. Releasing products as PDF (or whatever format is up to your standards of modernity) is trivially easy to produce and something that could be provided at a marginal-at-best cost to them (and they could just charge for it if even that's too much.)

As for digital tools, you're acting like it's an either-or situation. I'm not dismissing D&D Beyond, it's a useful tool. But I've been burned once by WOTC's stated intentions with their digital services, so you can forgive me if I'd prefer a format I can utilize offline and regardless of future profitablilty.