D&D (2024) How D&D Beyond Will Handle Access To 2014 Rules

D&D Beyond has announced how the transition to the new 2024 edition will work on the platform, and how legacy access to the 2014 version of D&D will be implemented.

• You will still be able to access the 2014 Basic Rules and core rulebooks.
• You will still be able to make characters using the 2014 Player's Handbook.
• Existing home-brew content will not be impacted.
• These 2014 rules will be accessible and will be marked with a 'legacy' badge: classes, subclasses, species, backgrounds, feats, monsters.
• Tooltips will reflect the 2024 rules.
• Monster stat blocks will be updated to 2024.
• There will be terminology changes (Heroic Inspiration, Species, etc.)

D&D (2024) - Wizards of the Coast Backtracks on D&D Beyond and 2014 Content

Wizards of the Coast posted an overnight update stating that they are not going forward with previously released plans to require those wishing to use some 2014 content on D&D Beyond to use the Homebrew function to manually enter it. Instead, all the content including spells and magic items will...

www.enworld.org

 

[Minigiant]

Whether or not you WANT to is a matter of... wanting to. Here is someone selling new armor and weapon rules right now.

Armory Remix - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Armory Remix - Armory Remix (5e) A reimagining of the weapons and armor listed in the D&D 5e Player's Handbook to provide more flav

www.dmsguild.com

I haven't read their specific product, I just did a search. But whether or not someone has the will to make and sell a product is merely a case of individual desire. Nothing is preventing them from doing so.

And that product has no reviews

This is a thread about business decision.

And business wise, no major publisher and no major Kickstarter touches deep embedded 5e rules because not being backwards compatible is not desirable and loses access to 5e technology and product synergy.

 

[mamba]

Sure you can. I copied feats into the documents I made, to consolidate them all into one document. They moved over just fine.

you can skip this nonsense, you know what I mean, and if you really do not then this discussion is a waste of time

What do you mean by "Call it DnD"? Sure, I wouldn't call these rules "DnD"

But they are absolutely rules meant to be used with the game Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.

and that is the distinction I was making, took you long enough to get there

And other than "because they are not exactly identical" and "because the SRD allows you to legally copy it" you have never made a claim for WHY they are seperate.

they do not have the same content, you can freely use one but not the other, you have to buy the core books while the SRD is free, they are different things… I did not realize that them being separate entities even needed mentioning, it is that obvious… well, here they are anyway… virtually no one thinks they are one and the same, I doubt even you do

And neither of those is a reason why we should consider them seperate, when the SRD is the System Reference Document for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

of course they are reasons to consider them separate…. Are they the same thing? No. Then they are separate things, easy.

Fair enough, but they are rules for DnD 5e, not for 5e which is a legally distinct entity so we can claim that our new games are not based in DnD 5e.

do they work with 5e games or just with D&D 5e (and just to make it clear 5e here means with D&D 5e, A5e, or ToV)? If they work with all three (or four…) then they are 5e rules.

If you managed to create something that works with D&D 5e but breaks ToV or A5e then they are D&D compatible rules (and still not D&D rules…)

 

[Chaosmancer]

And that product has no reviews

This is a thread about business decision.

And business wise, no major publisher and no major Kickstarter touches deep embedded 5e rules because not being backwards compatible is not desirable and loses access to 5e technology and product synergy.

I have never limited my claims to major publishers or major Kickstarters. My part in this discussion started with "5e is different than DnD" and the associated claims that came out of that. I don't care if all the big boys and girls decide not to make a set of rules. Deciding not to do it does not mean no one does it, and it does not mean they could not do it if they wanted.

And of course, there is the possibility that many people on this site might find unpalatable. They might not touch those rules because... they like those rules and think they work well. Just because these changes would address "the biggest problems with Z" doesn't mean the majority of people actually dislike how Z works right now.

 

[Chaosmancer]

you can skip this nonsense, you know what I mean, and if you really do not then this discussion is a waste of time

What you meant seems to consistently be "you wouldn't do this if you were big enough to be worried about being taken to court for copying things wholesale that your audience already has and can get for free online anyways." Which is a pretty weak point about not being capable of doing something.

and that is the distinction I was making, took you long enough to get there

The distinction you wanted me to make is that DnD is more than a singular rule? Or even a set of rules?

Because you seemed to have missed the actual point. I wouldn't call the Fighter class and all its subclasses from the 2014 PHB "DnD" either. Because it isn't. It is the rules for the fighter class and all its subclasses, which is a part of DnD, but is not "DnD" itself as a whole entity.

This is a problem of aggregation. How much of a thing can you remove from it before it stops being that thing and starts being something else.

they do not have the same content, you can freely use one but not the other, you have to buy the core books while the SRD is free, they are different things… I did not realize that them being separate entities even needed mentioning, it is that obvious… well, here they are anyway… virtually no one thinks they are one and the same, I doubt even you do

You do not need to buy the core rulebooks of DnD or pay any money at all to play Dungeons and Dragons. You can actually the play the game perfectly fine with only the things in the SRD. You don't have everything, sure, but you have enough.

This is a pretty basic concept actually. I currently own the vast majority of the DnD 5e books that have been released by WoTC. My sister owns a subset of those books. The local highschool DnD club only has the core books. Despite us all having different content, content that is not "the same", we all have enough to play DnD.

And the SRD IS enough to play DnD. Sure, it has only 12 subclasses in total, one each for each class... but a character can't have more than one subclass. Sure, you don't have all the feats.... but you are not required to take feats for your game to be DnD. In fact many people on this forum play featless games. Heck, pulling a bit from the history of DnD, what about E6 games? Were those people not playing DnD because they stopped their character progression at level 6 instead of continuing to 20?

And for all the talk about what the SRD lacks... you never seem to consider what it has. It contains all the rules for combat, all the rules for equipment, all the rules for skill use, all the rules for ability scores, proficiencys, saving throws, spellcasting... Okay, sure, it doesn't have the Eldritch Knight subclass or the Mastermind Subclass, but it has the actual fundamental rules for how the game actually functions at the table. Which is the most vital part.

do they work with 5e games or just with D&D 5e (and just to make it clear 5e here means with D&D 5e, A5e, or ToV)? If they work with all three (or four…) then they are 5e rules.

If you managed to create something that works with D&D 5e but breaks ToV or A5e then they are D&D compatible rules (and still not D&D rules…)

So the rules in Tasha's and Xanathars are 5e rules and not DnD 5e rules, since they can work for all three sets of books?

 

[mamba]

What you meant seems to consistently be "you wouldn't do this if you were big enough to be worried about being taken to court for copying things wholesale that your audience already has and can get for free online anyways." Which is a pretty weak point about not being capable of doing something.

what I consistently mean is that you are not legally allowed to do so, it's just that no one notices it when you do it at your table. If nothing else that is at least much more consistent than your 'sometimes people manage to not get caught, so technically you can do it' excuse for an argument

The distinction you wanted me to make is that DnD is more than a singular rule? Or even a set of rules?

if you still have not figured out what we are even talking about, then I see no point in continuing. Apparently the only thing you are clear on is that you disagree with 'something'...

 

[Chaosmancer]

what I consistently mean is that you are not legally allowed to do so, it's just that no one notices it when you do it at your table. If nothing else that is at least much more consistent than your 'sometimes people manage to not get caught, so technically you can do it' excuse for an argument

There has been no legal case that has gone through the court system to answer this question. You assume it is illegal, but no one actually knows. And, while legal definitions can be useful, according to the state of California Bees are Fish and according to New York law a Burrito is a sandwich. So the idea of using legal definitions to fall back on what the reality of a situation is, especially on a subject that has never gone to court and is working on "understanding"... it doesn't have much weight for me.

if you still have not figured out what we are even talking about, then I see no point in continuing. Apparently the only thing you are clear on is that you disagree with 'something'...

Why do you continue to skip the rest of my post? I asked the question in a rhetorical style in an attempt to highlight the confusing elements of your response. Not because I don't understand what we are talking about. So, to repeat myself, you seem to have no clue what I was talking about if you think my example in anyway recognized a distinction between the 5e SRD and the TTRPG DnD 5e.