D&D 5E Should 3PP upgrade their books to 2024 versions?

[Distracted DM]

My initial answer was "no," since full redos seem quite unnecessary. However after a moment I realized that that's sort of what errata can be for.

 

[mellored]

Unless you made something like an anti-magic paladin subclass that prevents spells and relied on divine smite not being one, I don't see the need. Things haven't shifted that much, and I doubt it will be worth the extra publishing cost.

Though if you have digital distribution, then it wouldn't cost much to update it either. A quick run though to tweak wording and release a new .pdf along side the old one would probably be worth it.

 

[SkidAce]

No for redoing older books to 2024.
Yes for new books coming out for 2024.

 

[dave2008]

A 3pp could update to 2024 design sensibilities, but I see no need to do that. 2914 & 2024 play together just fine.

 

[Morrus]

What changes do you have in mind? A 5E adventure and a 5.5 adventure looks pretty much identical. A 5E monster and a 5.5 monster are just two different 5E monsters, both compatible with each other. Even a new class is just that--a new class. The two fighters are different classes, and your new Wagon Master is another class.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If a publisher thought that a product of theirs that they made in the decade of 5E14 was no longer generating the type of revenue they thought they might still get out of it... assuming cost was not going to be onerous I don't see any reason why the publisher wouldn't produce an updated second version to it that could include your standard "Usable with the 2024 5th edition rules" plus perhaps updating a little bit of their cover/printing to closer match the change to red-primary color scheme of the the revision's trade dress.

Of course I'd also leave the 5E14 version available for purchase too, so that customers could choose which one they wanted. Heck... if this was a digital product to purchase and slight editing was not going to be that much of an issue, I might even create versions of the same product that were aimed towards A5E and TotV in addition to versions for 5E14 and 5E24. Might as well aim for specific customers playing specific base games with how you write your cover pages and interior game identification. I think there is something to be said for targeted marketing rather than hoping your singular "One product fits all" product can convince a customer that it will work with whatever base game they are using.

But of course I'm not a publisher, so maybe having multiple versions of the same product just aimed at different customer bases isn't economically viable? I dunno. But I do know that if I was a Tales of the Valiant customer and a particular 3PP said right on its digital cover "for use with Tales of the Valiant", I'd probably be more inclined to get it with a belief that it will work with that game specifically and not require editing/adaptation on my part than some other product that said it was compatible with 5E in general.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If a publisher thought that a product of theirs that they made in the decade of 5E14 was no longer generating the type of revenue they thought they might still get out of it... assuming cost was not going to be onerous I don't see any reason why the publisher wouldn't produce an updated second version to it that could include your standard "Usable with the 2024 5th edition rules" plus perhaps updating a little bit of their cover/printing to closer match the change to red-primary color scheme of the the revision's trade dress.

Of course I'd also leave the 5E14 version available for purchase too, so that customers could choose which one they wanted. Heck... if this was a digital product to purchase and slight editing was not going to be that much of an issue, I might even create versions of the same product that were aimed towards A5E and TotV in addition to versions for 5E14 and 5E24. Might as well aim for specific customers playing specific base games with how you write your cover pages and interior game identification. I think there is something to be said for targeted marketing rather than hoping your singular "One product fits all" product can convince a customer that it will work with whatever base game they are using.

But of course I'm not a publisher, so maybe having multiple versions of the same product just aimed at different customer bases isn't economically viable? I dunno. But I do know that if I was a Tales of the Valiant customer and a particular 3PP said right on its digital cover "for use with Tales of the Valiant", I'd probably be more inclined to get it with a belief that it will work with that game specifically and not require editing/adaptation on my part than some other product that said it was compatible with 5E in general.

This is true. A5e has its own constellation of 3pp that specifically claims compatibility with that system. It's really been a boon to me, as someone who loves 5e 3pp but not 5.5.

 

[Corinnguard]

This is true. A5e has its own constellation of 3pp that specifically claims compatibility with that system. It's really been a boon to me, as someone who loves 5e 3pp but not 5.5.

It also helps when you know that some of A5e's designers frequent these forums and give you a chance to interact with them.

 

[bedir than]

I may suggest conversion docs, specifically for things like a subclass designed with the 5.1 SRD but now being used with 5.2. These are also handy in the pre-hero portion of life (Species/Ancestry/Heritage/Background/etc).

These will be tiny and not need much work.

 

[Parmandur]

The third party stuff going up on Beyond doesn't seem to be changed. It all still works together.