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]

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.

I didn't say it wouldn't be familiar.

I said all of it wouldn't be appealing.

Just how some people hate the idea of monks in their setting whereas others were angry that the elements monk was poorly made in the 2024 because they wanted fire benders in D&D for years.

 

[Imaro]

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 alrt

Eh, well I for one assumed a game named Nimble 5e that claims it's compatible with 5e... would be 5e and yet in this very thread it's been called out as not compatible by a few posters.

 

[Belen]

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.

I disagree.

I am fully fine to be proven wrong here but we have seen a lot of brands chase audiences based on social media trends etc without any real prove that those represent the audience as a whole or if they even represent the larger share of the audience.

IMO, It has nothing to do with age or generation. It seems to depend on who shouts the loudest or can direct their audience to mime/meme their preferences.

Then again, google's own data does suggest that Gen Z only listens to "facts" from their personal networks and followed influencers, which I find scary.

 

[mamba]

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.

again, this will largely depend on how successful 6e is. I don’t think the ones who did not jump onto 4e and went to PF1 instead felt left behind

If 6e repeats the success of 5e, they will be left behind, if a sizeable chunk sticks with 5e some 3pp is likely to meet the demand

 

[mamba]

Eh, well I for one assumed a game named Nimble 5e that claims it's compatible with 5e... would be 5e and yet in this very thread it's been called out as not compatible by a few posters.

it markets itself as compatible with D&D 5e too, as I said, you are no more insulated from this when you pretend that 5e and D&D are the same thing

I can even understand the marketing, it is basically offering a lot of alternative rules that you can use and replace the standard ones with, but in the aggregate, the end result to me no longer is 5e, even if the individual rules are interchangeable

 

[FrogReaver]

it markets itself as compatible with D&D 5e too, as I said, you are no more insulated from this when you pretend that 5e and D&D are the same thing

I can even understand the marketing, it is basically offering a lot of alternative rules that you can use and replace the standard ones with, but in the aggregate, the end result to me no longer is 5e, even if the individual rules are interchangeable

But 5e is d&d. 5e literally means 5th edition. Which begs the question - 5th edition of what? And the answer to that is d&d.

The reason a designer would say there game is 5e, compatible with 5e or derived from 5e is because they cannot legally say my game is compatible with 5e d&d. We all know that’s what they mean, but they just can’t say it that way.

 

[Minigiant]

I disagree.

I am fully fine to be proven wrong here but we have seen a lot of brands chase audiences based on social media trends etc without any real prove that those represent the audience as a whole or if they even represent the larger share of the audience.

IMO, It has nothing to do with age or generation. It seems to depend on who shouts the loudest or can direct their audience to mime/meme their preferences.

Then again, google's own data does suggest that Gen Z only listens to "facts" from their personal networks and followed influencers, which I find scary.

I'm not saying saying about chasing social media.

But Modern D&D has embraced species without real world cultural markers, lack of alignment in racial structure, and an influence of new ideas for classes, subclasses, and species.

Some of these don't mesh with old lore. Like if your orcs are anime knights with big swords who revere the Big Lady.

 

[DEFCON 1]

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.

I absolutely agree for all those designers/companies who are fully up on what their work is doing and what they know they are capable of with how audiences might come and go, their business decisions should keep them afloat. The stronger/smarter will survive, even if their audience ends up shrinking due to migrations following wherever WotC goes. Flexibility will be key if/when it comes to that. The question then just becomes who has that flexibility.

 

[Minigiant]

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…

It more than being compatible.

Nimble5e is technically compatible with 5e but not only removes attack rolls but also advantage.
Both are core identifiers of 5e. So I don't consider it 5e.

 

[DEFCON 1]

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.

Yeah, we know. But it's not ever actually happening so how you feel doesn't matter.