D&D 5E So when do you think the PDFs will go on sale? (Speculation)

[The Black Ranger]

I'm really hoping Wizards goes the intelligent route this time and releases all the books in PDF format. If they do, how long do you think it will be, after the books are out, will we see these PDFs?

 

[am181d]

I'm really hoping Wizards goes the intelligent route this time and releases all the books in PDF format. If they do, how long do you think it will be, after the books are out, will we see these PDFs?

I believe that the 4e PDFs came out the same day as the physical books.

If they were planning on doing PDF releases, I suspect they would have announced it by now.

 

[JEB]

Hard to say, as their PDF record is mixed. dndclassics.com has done rather well for them, reportedly, and they did post the D&D Next products. On the other hand, they haven't posted any of the classic products they published as premium reprints.

Furthermore, the core books are traditionally their bread-and-butter products. And they might feel Basic D&D covers the itch for rulebook PDFs.

That said, I could see them posting their adventure paths as PDFs, maybe a year after release.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I think the earliest the pdfs would be released is the "general availability" release date (Aug 19th for the PH(B)). I don't think they'd put them out during the special WPN store only window.

And I'm not even sure they'll put them out afterward.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Torg Smith]

Yeah, I think I will pull back from 5E until the 19th. I will check back then to see if WotC has an announcement to make.

 

[delericho]

I would really like to see PDFs (or another suitable electronic format), and would really like to see them released on the same "general release" date as the books themselves.

(And if they could find some way to give a discount for people who own the physical books but want the PDFs as well... though I'm not sure that's practical for them - other companies that do so tend to do it through direct sales only.)

Unfortunately...

If they were planning on doing PDF releases, I suspect they would have announced it by now.

I suspect this is right.

As others have noted, none of the books released as 'reprints' are currently available in PDF. That suggests that WotC's position might be that something is either available in print or as PDF (but not both). Or perhaps it only applies to the premium reprints.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I think (suspect/get the feeling) that any electronic 5e material (other than Basic) will be published through Codename: Morningstar.

Because, y'know, Trapdoor Tech's previous work.

 

[DMZ2112]

As others have noted, none of the books released as 'reprints' are currently available in PDF. That suggests that WotC's position might be that something is either available in print or as PDF (but not both). Or perhaps it only applies to the premium reprints.

This. Wizards has been saying for years that they want to support multiple versions of D&D, and they seem to be doing that by publishing expensive paper reprints of the core books and providing everything else online as a premium download. We /might/ see PDFs of D&D5 supplements and adventures as they come out (or perhaps as they go out of print, as delericho suggests), but I would not hold your breath on the PHB, DMG, or MM. They'll be supported by Morningstar.

 

[Tormyr]

It is possible that they may be a part of project morningstar

 

[Jake Johnson]

I hope you guys are right that there will be electronic versions of books and supplements coming as part of Project Morningstar. As a visually impaired player/DM, I have a much easier time magnifying content on my Mac or iPad than reading print under optical magnification. I know it's a specialized use case, but I suspect I'm not the only one affected. The Basic Rules work well for me, and Mike Schley's digital maps are much easier for me to see than the printed ones in the Starter Set booklet.