D&D Beyond (DDB) is the official digital toolset and game companion for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition.[2][3] DDB hosts online versions of the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books, including rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and digital character sheet, monster and spell listings that can be sorted and filtered, an encounter builder, and an interactive overlay Twitch Extension.[4] In addition to official D&D content, it also provides the ability to create and add custom homebrew content.
D&D Beyond also publishes regular original video, stream, and article content, including interviews with Dungeons & Dragons staff, content previews and tie-ins, and weekly development updates.[5][not specific enough to verify]
D&D Beyond is operated by Curse LLC, formerly a subsidiary to Twitch. On December 12, 2018, Fandom, Inc. announced that it had acquired all of Curse's media assets, including D&D Beyond.[6][7]
History[]
D&D Beyond was launched on August 15, 2017,[8][2][9] after an initial beta test that started on March 21, 2017.[9]
On December 12, 2018, Fandom, Inc. announced that it had acquired all of Curse LLC's media assets, including D&D Beyond, for an undisclosed amount.[6][7]
Pricing[]
D&D Beyond derives its income from digital content purchases (revenue from which is shared with Wizards of the Coast, which publishes the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books), subscriptions, and advertising. Its tools are generally free to use, though some require an account (which can be made for free); however, viewing the full details of content from the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books requires owning that content on D&D Beyond or having it shared with you. This content can be bought as a one-time purchase; buying a subscription does not grant access to any content.
Content purchases[]
Books on D&D Beyond consist of the compendium content and access to that content's options in the rest of the toolset. The compendium content is a digital version of the book (as HTML, not a PDF), with all art and maps from the book as well; it includes cross-links and tooltips for monsters, mundane or magical items, spells, and relevant rules mentioned in the text.[10] Access to the book's options in the rest of DDB's toolset allows those purchased subclasses, spells, magic items, monsters, and the like to be used with the character builder and other tools, and allows the user to see the full descriptions of purchased content in those listings (i.e. outside the compendium).
In DDB's Marketplace, customers can either purchase a book as a whole – including both compendium content and access to that content in the rest of the toolset – or purchase individual portions of that book separately (getting just the compendium content, or just the individual spells or subclasses that they want to use in the character builder, for instance).[10] If portions of a book are purchased à la carte, then if the customer decides to purchase the full book later, the price of that book is discounted by the cost they have already paid for content from the book.[10]
D&D Beyond also offers 3 bundles of books: the Sourcebook Bundle, the Adventure Bundle, and the Legendary Bundle. The Sourcebook Bundle includes all released official sourcebooks for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, and grants a permanent 10% on all future sourcebook purchases on DDB; the Adventure Bundle does the same for official adventure books. The Legendary Bundle includes all released official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books of both kinds, and grants a 15% discount on all future sourcebook and adventure purchases. The price of each bundle is determined by simply adding the current price of all books in the bundle, then subtracting the cost the customer has previously paid for books in that bundle that they already own. These bundles are updated with each new official release.
Official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition content that is released for free by Wizards of the Coast is also accessible for free on D&D Beyond. This includes content from the basic rules[10] and the System Reference Document[11] (the "basic rules" on D&D Beyond are an inclusive combination of the two),[12] the races and spells from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion,[13] and active playtest content presented in the Unearthed Arcana column on the official Dungeons & Dragons website (starting in January 2018).[14][15] For this final category, Unearthed Arcana content is generally added to D&D Beyond approximately one week after it is released by Wizards of the Coast.[14][15] Once the playtest period has concluded for Unearthed Arcana content (whether it is published in a book or retired, as determined by Wizards of the Coast), it is archived on D&D Beyond; existing characters already using the content are able to continue doing so, but the archived playtest content can not be newly added to a character.[14]
Subscriptions[]
Most of D&D Beyond's functionality is free to use, other than the content purchases needed to view non-free content from the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books. However, D&D Beyond offers two subscription levels, Hero Tier and Master Tier, that expand the site's functionality.
The Hero Tier subscription grants a number of benefits. The site normally features ads, and the character builder limits free users to 6 active characters at any given time.[10] However, the Hero Tier subscription removes ads, and allows users to create an unlimited number of characters.[10] In addition, while homebrew content that users choose to publish on the site is free to view for anyone (even without an account), the Hero Tier subscription allows users to add published homebrew content to their collection; this content can then be used in the rest of the toolset, including the character builder.[10] Finally, this tier grants early access to some new tools as they are developed. For instance, before it was made available to everyone, the encounter builder went through an alpha testing phase, during which Hero and Master Tier subscribers could make use of it and provide feedback to help identify bugs and guide future development.
The Master Tier subscription primarily allows the user to share their purchased content with others in a campaign group with them on D&D Beyond, in addition to all the benefits of the Hero Tier subscription.[10] Though private homebrew content is automatically shared without a subscription, published homebrew content and official content requires a Master Tier subscription to be shared. With a Master Tier subscription, the user can enable content sharing for up to 3 campaigns they are in of up to 12 players each (as well as the Dungeon Master of each campaign).[11] If content sharing is enabled, any official content owned by any of the players or the Dungeon Master (DM), as well as any published homebrew content in any of their collections, is shared with the other members of the group. As of August 2019[update], the DM of a campaign group can enable or disable the sharing of compendium content from each specific book with players that do not own that content; more specific shared content management options are planned for the future.
Platforms[]
The content and character management system is primarily browser-based, and is fully functional on both mobile and desktop browsers. D&D Beyond is continually updated, based largely on input from users throughout the community.
On March 4, 2018, D&D Beyond's mobile app was first released into beta testing, focused on providing an e-reader for official Dungeons & Dragons content.[16][17] This is the only official app containing content for Dungeons & Dragons where the content can be downloaded offline. Some users have criticized the app's lack of a character sheet or builder, which is one of the main offerings of D&D Beyond; however, DDB has disclosed that character management functionality is planned.[18][not specific enough to verify]
References[]
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- ↑ dndbeyond.com Site Info. Alexa Internet. Retrieved on 2020-01-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 D&D Beyond's Launch Is Here.
- ↑ Announcing D&D Beyond. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2018-12-23.
- ↑ D&D Beyond Twitch Extension.
- ↑ D&D Beyond (in en).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fandom and Curse Media are joining forces. Wikia.com. Retrieved on 2018-12-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Curse Media and Fandom Are Joining Forces!. dndbeyond.com. Retrieved on 2018-12-21.
- ↑ D&D Beyond Now Available. Wizards of the Coast. (August 15, 2017).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Beta Report - The Week After. dndbeyond.com. Retrieved on 2018-12-21.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Luther, Andrew J. (May 20, 2018). D&D Beyond – Is it Worth It? (in en).
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 DiLeo, Adam (July 31, 2019). How to Play D&D for Free (in en).
- ↑ Whitson, Linda (January 14, 2019). Astral Projections – Try Before You Buy: D&D Beyond (Online Toolkit for 5e) (in en-US).
- ↑ Williams, Tommy (April 7, 2019). New D&D Players Shouldn't Overlook the ELEMENTAL EVIL PLAYER'S COMPANION (in en-US).
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Bradford, Adam (January 15, 2018). Unearthed Arcana Content on D&D Beyond (in en-us).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Zambrano, J. R. (January 16, 2018). D&D: Unearthed Arcana Comes to DND Beyond (in en-US).
- ↑ D&D Beyond - Apps on Google Play. Google Play. Retrieved on 2018-12-23.
- ↑ D&D Beyond on the Apps Store. Apple. Retrieved on 2018-12-23.
- ↑ D&D Beyond User Reviews - Apps on Google Play. Google Play. Retrieved on 2018-12-23.