D&D 5E So, I kind of want to stay with 2014 rules. What are my longterm options?

[Clint_L]

Does every player need their own copy of the PHB? I don’t think I’ve ever played in (or DMed for) a group where that was the case. My current group has 3 full sets of the core books between the 5 of us, and that’s been a luxury compared to some groups I’ve been in. Back in the day we used to all share one PHB between the whole group and it made character creation slow but otherwise worked fine.

My 15 players in beginner campaigns last year owned exactly one PHB between them.

But they all used mine off DDB. Which should work for the OP, though it would mean maintaining a Master Tier subscription.