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

 

[Imaro]

I agree in principle, but I believe you can mostly mix and match these too. Not sure if eg Symbaroum offers a full set of classes and subclasses or just a few thematic subclasses, many settings do the latter

It offers its own classes and subclasses. One of the defining features is its balancing of magic through gaining corruption by its use. Not sure how that what play out at the same table as a regular spellcaster from 5e, TotV or any other 5e based game.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Again, 4e was and is much harder to play after WotC pulled the plug than any version of 5e will be. One advantage of our digital age.

Yes and no (in my opinion). People would say it was harder because so many players used the Character Builder and Monster Builder to create things that not having them would appear to make things more difficult. But in truth, all they did was giving players and DMs more options to have at their fingertips. But if people just use the books as-is... playing 4E is no different than playing any other game using hardcover books online.

Granted, lots of players nowadays want their books available online through whatever VTT they use to make it easier, and in that regard the number of 5E players who would play online would indeed be larger than the number of 4E players current who wish to keep playing online (which I believe is your point) because there are more 5E books available to bought through the various VTTs than 4E books are. I agree with that point.

However, while I agree there would be more remaining 5E players online after 6E gets released than there are right now of 4E players with 5E having been released... that total number of 5E players who don't move to 6E I believe would still be very small in the grand scheme of total D&D playerbase. Yes, a place like EN World where it is self-selecting to a more hardcore RPG gamer base would have a good amount of folks here stating they are playing/remaining with 5E after 6E's release, but that would be but a small segment of most of the D&D Universe. And in my opinion would return all the various 5E products to the levels of players right now playing World of Darkness or GURPS or Mutants & Masterminds. Small and determined playerbases for sure... I make no disparaging remarks about the players who continue with those games... but the games themselves are small pockets in the community overall (because WotC is so large). And a system like Tales of the Valiant will join those games once they are no longer part of the WotC umbrella of working off the primary game in the gaming space.

 

[Minigiant]

This is another issue with the... its all 5e thought process... the standard for deciding what does or doesn't fall into it isn't clear cut. Apparently it's not actually whether it cites/includes the 5e SRD... its not if it has 5e in its name...or if the designer/owner claims its based off 5e. So how are we really deciding whether it's 5e or not and what does it's all 5e even mean if you have to individually vet everything?

It's not an issue if you are honest.

If your PC options arent compatible, you are not 5e.

The monster side is only tolerated because WOTC themselves didn't build their monsters on the 5e guidelines and only for noob tactics and builds.

But even then there is likely a limit to how far you can go on monsters.

 

[DEFCON 1]

that depends on how popular 6e will turn out to be. I agree the aggregate will, but that does not mean all individual TTRPGs will lose at the same rate, some might even gain players


4e was not a popular edition (some strong fans notwithstanding) and had already fallen off a cliff. 5e otoh turned out to be very popular.

At a minimum 5e will have a much larger base left, even if 6e were to manage the same conversion rates.

I absolutely agree that those who remain with some 5E game of some sort once 6E is released will be larger in numbers than 4E players did once 5E came into being. 100%. My only reason for bringing 4E up to begin with was not to draw parallels in total numbers between the two, but merely in the attitudes and feelings of players who got "left behind" as it were. Those will likely remain similar. The way 4E players feel as 5E has drawn all the oxygen out of their room will most likely (in my opinion) be what 5E players will feel if/when a 6E gets released-- especially for those players who aren't even playing foundational WotC-designed D&D 5E, but one the off-shoots. I have a feeling that players of Level Up for example will see their numbers dwindle quite a bit upon a release of 6E, and thus the producers of that game (Morrus et. al.) will need to adapt to that loss in playerbase and revenue.

Which of course is certainly doable! Don't get me wrong... those game designers who are also good business people should be able to weather those kinds of fluctuations in the marketplace... but the whole reason they decided to make 5E games rather than their own independent RPGs (like MCDM is doing now) in the first place is because they knew there was already a built-in audience of 5E players willing to spend money to try something different and they would make more money following that trail. But once that trail disappears.... will that audience still be there? Certainly not in the same numbers. So while some companies will be able to survive the pivot... a number of other ones might not. Which has always been my point-- more designers/companies could make money following WotC's 800 gorilla than they could on their own with their own games... but the question is how many can survive after that 800 gorilla goes away?

 

[SlyFlourish]

As I said above... Pathfinder was the exception that proves the rule. So many disparate things happened that allowed Pathfinder to not only come into being but also flourish, that I don't believe anyone actually thinks that will ever happen again.

I'd argue the exact same thing happened to Kobold Press who has risen quite well over the 5e time and now has their own flavor of 5e to build off of for as long as they choose. They're not as big as Paizo, obviously, but they seem to be doing fine.

Look, if you honestly think that people are going to stick with variant 5E rules if/when WotC actually produces an eventual 6E (which has been my point in all of this)... you certainly can do so. I myself would not take that bet however.

I absolutely believe people will stick to 5e if WOTC goes to a 6e (which isn't a forgone conclusion. Who knows what they're going to do hereon out). I know this because people stuck to older versions of D&D. The OSR seems to be doing great. Shadowdark made a million and a half dollars and has a strong community of people who play. Other old-school variants like Knave and Cairn and Dolmenwood did great as well. Dragonbane, an update to a Swedish version of D&D from the 80s, is an awesome and popular RPG.

I suspect when you say "people" that you mean "most people" or something like that – a number we can never actually know. No doubt D&D will likely remain most popular but who cares? Why does that matter? We don't need to convince the world to play whatever RPG we want to play. We only need to convince four to six of our friends.

And if we want to help break the hold that D&D has on the hobby, maybe we spend more time talking to people about all the other games out there – not to take D&D down (I love D&D) but to show how wide the hobby can be.

It is my personal belief that D&D 5E14, D&D 5E24, Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, and all the other books (for players, DMs and all manner of monster book) built upon the D&D 5E engine will find their audiences fall off a cliff if/when a 6E comes into being because their success and popularity is due directly to WotC's D&D 5E's success and popularity. Everyone making their bones off of WotC's base game will see that well dry up once most players have the new game to buy. But that's the risk they take by following in WotC's wake. They can make their money while the 5E game in all its permutations has its followers and popularity... and have to deal with the consequences if/when those followers and popularity go away. And hopefully they have now prepared for that.

There are so many factors that go into keeping a business afloat that what WOTC decides to do with a 6e in some number of years doesn't even come into it. Now we're speculating about complete fantasy lands. None of us have any idea what the next five years hold for the hobby. I bet Kobold Press, EN World publishing, Free League, Arcane Library, MCDM, and others aren't worried about that right now. They're busy making awesome games.

If you believe otherwise... that's fine. Hopefully there will be pockets of players still playing 5E variants while everyone else has moved on to 6E. But if our 4E players here on the boards are any indication... those pockets of players playing an older game can be few and far between,

4e was far more fragile than 5e is. 4e had no SRD. It had no open license. There's no alternative compatible version of 4e. But MCDM made almost five million dollars building a new RPG that definitely has inspiration from 4e. 13th Age is an incredible RPG built by the lead designer of 4e and I much prefer it. They have a new version coming out next year I think.

But then again... knock on wood that'll be a question most of us will not actually have to worry about any time soon, because for all we know this 5E24 "keep the game evergreen" strategy might actually work. And thus D&D 5E (and all the other 5Es out there) won't have to see what a 6E would do to their market share any time soon.

I don't think any of us need to worry about what a 6e will do, if there is one. I think we have plenty of things we can do right now to run awesome games for our friends and help expand the whole RPG hobby to everyone else to enjoy it.

That's my charge, anyway.

 

[Belen]

I don't think the 2024 version is that more complex or harder for new players.

The easy races and class are still easy. And the backgrounds come with the feat. And the subclasses are all pushed out of level 1.

Again to a new player They don't know the difference between the 2024 version and a 2014. So a refresh would solely be for the old-time players who already have the book.

Is there in lies the problem. No corporation is going to go on a full campaign to sell a book to someone who already has that same exact book.

They seemed to have gone the route of nuking flavor whenever possible or it may just be that the current trendy language clean up has killed a lot of flavor by accident.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I absolutely agree that those who remain with some 5E game of some sort once 6E is released will be larger in numbers than 4E players did once 5E came into being. 100%. My only reason for bringing 4E up to begin with was not to draw parallels in total numbers between the two, but merely in the attitudes and feelings of players who got "left behind" as it were. Those will likely remain similar. The way 4E players feel as 5E has drawn all the oxygen out of their room will most likely (in my opinion) be what 5E players will feel if/when a 6E gets released-- especially for those players who aren't even playing foundational WotC-designed D&D 5E, but one the off-shoots. I have a feeling that players of Level Up for example will see their numbers dwindle quite a bit upon a release of 6E, and thus the producers of that game (Morrus et. al.) will need to adapt to that loss in playerbase and revenue.

Which of course is certainly doable! Don't get me wrong... those game designers who are also good business people should be able to weather those kinds of fluctuations in the marketplace... but the whole reason they decided to make 5E games rather than their own independent RPGs (like MCDM is doing now) in the first place is because they knew there was already a built-in audience of 5E players willing to spend money to try something different and they would make more money following that trail. But once that trail disappears.... will that audience still be there? Certainly not in the same numbers. So while some companies will be able to survive the pivot... a number of other ones might not. Which has always been my point-- more designers/companies could make money following WotC's 800 gorilla than they could on their own with their own games... but the question is how many can survive after that 800 gorilla goes away?

Actually, in your scenario the gorilla isn't going away. If it did (or more accurately if it was in a closer weight class), I still think the whole jungle would be better off.

 

[Minigiant]

They seemed to have gone the route of nuking flavor whenever possible or it may just be that the current trendy language clean up has killed a lot of flavor by accident.

It's more that the core flavor wasn't that appealing to the main playing audience of 5e (45 and under) but WOTC wanted to sell the old flavor which was designed for another audience (46 and older).

So they removed the paint and said to paint it yourselves.

The idea that 50 year old flavor would be evergreen is silly.

 

[Daztur]

It's more that the core flavor wasn't that appealing to the main playing audience of 5e (45 and under) but WOTC wanted to sell the old flavor which was designed for another audience (46 and older).

So they removed the paint and said to paint it yourselves.

The idea that 50 year old flavor would be evergreen is silly.

Eh, a lot of the old flavor is going to be more familiar to most younger people then some of the new flavor. D&D has had a MASSIVE influence on computer games etc. so a lot of D&Disms are familiar to a lot of people who have never played D&D and a lot of new stuff just seems to come out of left field. World tree barbarians? Angry dude grabbing people with bits of Yggdrasil is not a character concept I've ever seen anyone even conceive of, it seems weirdly niche to be one of four core barbarian subclasses.

 

[mamba]

how are we really deciding whether it's 5e or not and what does it's all 5e even mean if you have to individually vet everything?

it’s not that hard, most that aren’t won’t claim to be to begin with. I assume that if you are interested in something you do a little bit of research into it, that generally will tell you that already.

This is no different from something claiming compatibility with D&D 5e, because as you keep pointing out there is little difference between the 5e SRD and D&D 5e…