How good is D&D Beyond?

[Mr Adventurer]

Hi all, how good is the native WotC offering really? What are your experiences and what do you wish it did better?

I'm thinking about it for myself rather than my current hardcopy books + SRD approach.

[GlenSmash!]

Well it's from Curse not from WotC directly but that being said it's very good. I use the free offering wich gives me access to SRD and UA which is pretty awesome for trying out new things. I've also homebrewed a few things on there.

In the campaign I'm in my DM is sharing his content with us which allows my character to use options from the content he has purchased.

I'm pretty much just waiting for the next sale before I start picking up more player options for myself.

[nickl_2000]

Our DM has all the books and a DM subscription where he is sharing it with all of us.

Pros:

1. The search is good
2. Character creation and updates are really, really good
3. The character sheet layout is pretty high quality
4. Can export the characters created to print.
5. Book listing is logical
6. Can download books for offline viewing within the app
7. You can buy parts of books. So, if you only need Arcana Cleric you can just buy that subclass. The amount paid for that subclass if deducted from the overall book if you choose to buy it later.

Cons:

1. If you don't log on through online regularly, your books expire and stop working offline.
2. Offline download of the books is a lot of memory for a phone/tablet.
3. There is no dynamic character sheet offline access. So, you are out of luck if you aren't online.
4. Homebrewing is rough, it is difficult to figure out and difficult to put in.
5. If the site is down, you are completely screwed for playing with your character.

[PhantomSoul]

Adding to the above, I found the site fairly clunky to use (getting to pages from google was usually more effective than navigating their site), and the lack of a dice roller and anything for running the game more broadly means if you'd be rolling online anyway you might as well use Roll20 or something like that. Levelling characters up seems to be a hassle (I just went to Roll20 since we're using it anyway after everything was a pain to navigate, but there have routinely been issues for other players who stuck with D&DB.) That's before touching that I'd have to buy the books I already have, which isn't going to happen.

The tags on spells would be great, if the implementation in the search weren't a pain. And unless it's changed, you can't even see a list of the tags unless scrolling through the drop-down menu counts as a "list" and there's no description anyway.

Note: I use(d) the browser version and wouldn't even consider getting the app (general personal preference). I also have access to most content on D&DB from a DM in a campaign I play in, and still would rather not use D&DB.

[jaappleton]

Hi there!

I have been playing 5E since its release.

I've made many, many characters by hand. I've scoured the books for information countless times.

Last September, I took the plunge on Beyond and went fully into it. Any content, I bought digitally from them. I use their character builder now.

There's absolutely zero doubt in my mind that Beyond is superior. Its absolutely spoiled me, in regards to how easy it is to make character sheets and edit them.

That said... Financially? I won't lie, it stings a bit, especially if you've already purchased a bunch of hardcover content. I really, really wish they'd come up with some way to create discounts of the digital versions for people that bought the physical copy, but alas...

If you can afford it? Beyond 100%.

[Randomthom]

Going to throw in my 2c here. I know this will make me sound like a fanboy or D&DB employee (I'm neither) but I really do love it.

I've gone full digital and I really don't regret it. I own a good number of the books and have the annual sub so I've gone in "balls-deep" on this. I own PHB, DMG, MM, XGTE, SCAG, VGTM & MToF as well as OotA.

The new encounter designer is a game-changer for me and it's in beta with lots of obvious ways they can and probably will improve upon it. They also have lots of confirmed "in the pipeline" updates tabled though without any timetable for completion.

The search function isn't great but the books are easy to navigate quickly anyway.

I rarely have trouble getting an internet connection where I play but other's criticism of no offline character management is legitimate. In-the-app characters is a planned feature though. Also, you can export to PDF if you're going to play somewhere where interwebz is not guaranteed.

Content Sharing is great, all those books I own, I can share them with the players in the game I DM along with any of my homebrewed content. They can now use
Content sharing is also not customisable so, frustratingly I was not able to prevent my players from perusing the Out of the Abyss book while we were doing it, thankfully they were mature enough to not do it themselves, I think...

Homebrew took a while to work out how to do some things but I'm not pretty handy at working it out or reverse engineering something similar elsewhere to understand how it's supposed to be done. The Wizard in my campaign is now level 2 and has picked my custom "School of Animancy".

[JellyPooga]

Never used it myself, but I hear that it's this good...

https://youtu.be/A4BuL886bJA

[MaxWilson]

Never used it myself, but I hear that it's this good...

https://youtu.be/A4BuL886bJA

I fully expected that link to be Rick Astley.

[Imbalance]

It's not just good; it's good enough.

[Pex]

If one person is willing to buy the books he can share use of it in a campaign so that others don't need to buy for characters created in that campaign.

[Randomthom]

If one person is willing to buy the books he can share use of it in a campaign so that others don't need to buy for characters created in that campaign.

This is true though the caveat is this requires the Master Subscription option, $54.99 a year.

I know of at least one group of friends who decided to just make an account they all shared, bought the core books and subscription together. They now do a round-robin to buy books as they're released (excluding adventures), taking it in turns.

New books are almost always $29.99 which is cheaper than the paper copies obviously.

[Great Dragon]

One of my Players got a full subscription and all the books ($500+)
and pre-ordered the (Eberron) Rise from the Ashes.

@nicki_2000:

Pros:
"The search is good" = yes. Although it can be frustrating.
Example: You must use the correct Full Name of the Spell/Monster to get it to display.
Also, a lot of the Book Content is only available in Character Creation.
Like only a few of the Archetypes/Subclasses are findable by Search.

"Character creation and updates are really, really good"
Yes. But - Limited to only 6 PCs, unless becoming a Paid Member.

"The character sheet layout is pretty high quality
Can export the characters created to print.
Book listing is logical
Can download books for offline viewing within the app
You can buy parts of books. So, if you only need Arcana Cleric you can just buy that subclass. The amount paid for that subclass if deducted from the overall book if you choose to buy it later."

All good.

Cons:
"If you don't log on through online regularly, your books expire and stop working offline."
This is especially true for the Phone App.

"Offline download of the books is a lot of memory for a phone/tablet."
I have a solution to that.

"There is no dynamic character sheet offline access. So, you are out of luck if you aren't online."
There is no access to Character Sheet or Creation on the phone app: online only


"If the site is down, you are completely screwed for playing with your character."
Correct. I always export a copy and save it to several locations.

"Homebrewing is rough, it is difficult to figure out and difficult to put in."

Homebrew

Well, in order to fully utilize this - I'd have to become a member.
The Homebrew listings I've seen are nice in that it offers everyone's version and you can choose the one you like.

I tend to be a little too Old School. I prefer Physical Books.
PDFs are a nice backup, but can be a pain to navigate, especially on my phone.
Switching between pages in a PDF is frustrating (and more so on my phone, which usually has to reload the PDF every time I switch pages), especially when I know where to go in the physical book.

That said, I do like DdB - in that I can usually get the information to all character information fairly quickly.
Both on the Net and on the App: Races, Classes, Feats, Spells.
Even Monsters (with pictures most of the time)

I put links to the information on DdB into Discord all the time.
Saves me the time of typing out all the info (one letter at a time on my phone!!) into the site, with the limit of 2,000 letter (including spaces) limit for each post that Discord has!!!

[JakOfAllTirades]

I found it much too complicated and non-intuitive for my use.

I'm still using a fillable 3pg pdf and likely to stick with that.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I have players swear by it, and I've seen enough to believe that it's the best option for any new-to-moderately-experienced D&D player to rapidly build characters, and a great tool for experts that like theorcrafting characters. All provided you can afford it, of course.

I just dislike the idea of paying for things I already own, and the Old Ways are already entrenched in my mind. For the price, I'll deal with paper and pen.

[nickl_2000]

I just dislike the idea of paying for things I already own, and the Old Ways are already entrenched in my mind. For the price, I'll deal with paper and pen.

Yup, I wouldn't be using it if my DM didn't have a DM subscription and one of our players hadn't won a legendary bundle through some contest.

[MilkmanDanimal]

I've been playing D&D and other TTRPGs since the early 80s, and DDB is the singly-best roleplaying-related tool I've ever used. I think it's incredibly intuitive and simple, and having all the monsters/spells/items from different sources in easily sortable/filter-able databases makes it incredibly useful, and I don't even bring my books to games anymore. I work in IT, and I've brought up the site a number of times at work to show off how a software-as-a-service site can work, and I think it's absolutely great. I don't work for Curse or with them in any way; as a longtime D&D player and somebody who has worked on a lot of sites, I think it's a really great example of how you can build a site.

[Garresh]

I don't care for it. I've had a newer DM and players use it as a reference, and they found it confusing. Or they couldn't find stuff. Or it took too long to look it up. My personal experience is limited, but I had a much easier time pulling up info using a mix of apps and free websites.

I also disagree with it on principle, as I'm not going to spend money on items twice.

Take what I say with a grain of salt, as I haven't used it heavily. But players I know who have used it have ultimately stopped using it because there were much better options, which were free to use. You're better off using specialized tools for what you need.

[cullynthedwarf]

Opinion (since apparently its required now)

I don't like it. If you have hard copies great. If you have e books awesome. But to use Beyond to the fullest you need to buy all those books again so that its database has the most current information.

Don't know if they supply rules and the like so you will still need to pick up the core books of the PHB and DMG and unless you get them on sale that's 100$. And then that same price again to have Beyond up to date for it. Nope, to rich for my blood.

[Imbalance]

Thing is, all of the critical content from the basic rules and the SRD - y'know, the totally free official documents from WotC - are hosted on Beyond for free, too. They're searchable just like everything else, and if you do want to look up something that is not found in the free material the search will at least tell you the source at the top of the paywall. There is a free character sheet, and the forum is also free (though not nearly as active). I use it all the time and have yet to pay a single red cent. So, even if you don't want to buy anything, there is no real reason to shun it.

Seems a lot of the comments putting it down are from folks who have never even tried it. Hide your credit card before you browse so's you're not tempted, but at least check it out before you judge.

[Lyracian]

I used the discount code in the Essentials Kit to get a cheap electronic PHB. It is a useful reference when I am work and playing around with character ideas I can build a character or check out what abilities do. I can use it to cut 'n' paste stuff for Roll20. I like that you can print the character sheets from the site.

We mostly play with half a dozen of us sitting in the same room so personally I would not pay to get any other books on the platform. We have started to use printed spell cards which was most of what we were using the PHB for anyway so one physical copy of the book is enough.

[Squark]

Opinion (since apparently its required now)

I don't like it. If you have hard copies great. If you have e books awesome. But to use Beyond to the fullest you need to buy all those books again so that its database has the most current information.

Don't know if they supply rules and the like so you will still need to pick up the core books of the PHB and DMG and unless you get them on sale that's 100$. And then that same price again to have Beyond up to date for it. Nope, to rich for my blood.

Every sourcebook is available in pseudo-ebook form through D&D, including the PHB and DMG, so if you don't mind needing to go online/deal with the App's... awkwardness, you can just buy on d&d beyond.

[GlenSmash!]

Thing is, all of the critical content from the basic rules and the SRD - y'know, the totally free official documents from WotC - are hosted on Beyond for free, too. They're searchable just like everything else, and if you do want to look up something that is not found in the free material the search will at least tell you the source at the top of the paywall. There is a free character sheet, and the forum is also free (though not nearly as active). I use it all the time and have yet to pay a single red cent. So, even if you don't want to buy anything, there is no real reason to shun it.

Seems a lot of the comments putting it down are from folks who have never even tried it. Hide your credit card before you browse so's you're not tempted, but at least check it out before you judge.

I'm with you on this one. I still haven't spent a red cent on D&D beyond and I'm using it almost entirely for looking up spells, rules, magic items etc. It's character builder and compendium are much easier than they used to be.

I can build a pretty wide variety of characters from the SRD, freely released campaign material like the haunted one background and Elemental Evil Companion, and all the UAs since the Brute.

[MilkmanDanimal]

My frequently-unpopular take is I'm not re-buying the books on D&D Beyond; I'm buying the content of those books, and being offered a series of tools to use that content in a different way. I don't look at the e-books when I want to look up a spell; instead, there's a Spells tab, and every spell is there, and I can with a few clicks sort by class, level, ritual, concentration, and everything else. I don't give a crap about the books; I give a crap about having a sortable, filter-able set of databases where I can easily find what I'm looking for, open them in a few tabs, and just go. I don't need to have the MM, Volo's, and MToF open on my desk, I just need a few tabs. That's what I'm paying for; screw the books. Buying the physical books is just like when I bought the physical copies of the MM, PHB, and DMG for AD&D in the early 80s, and I can play and manage the game today exactly like I did then. The character creator, databases, encounter builder, and other tools are a value-added service, and, when I'm getting something extra, I pay extra. It's how it works.

D&D Beyond isn't e-books; it's a set of game management tools. It makes my game far better, and it's been worth every penny.

[jaappleton]

They are a bit slow in adding Unearthed Arcana material, that's for damn sure...

[Chalkarts]

That's before touching that I'd have to buy the books I already have, which isn't going to happen.

That's why I don't use it.
If I could somehow be credited for the books I've already bought in hardcopy, I'd be more prone to use it.
I'm a gamer, I can't afford to buy two copies of every book, paper is superior to digital therefore I will always buy a hardcopy first.

[Bigmouth]

I use it for my campaign. I find it to be pretty useful. I buy all the books and share them with my players. Is it perfect? No. Thought about roll20, but I'd have to buy the books there and I didn't like the interface. We RP using skype, roll real dice.

I don't find doing homebrew to be terribly akward, though there was definitely a learning curve. Most things can be backwards engineered fairly easily.

[FrancisBean]

My table has a strong "no devices" taboo, so the only value D&D Beyond could have for us is as a character builder. We've found far too much delay in people checking facebook, playing Candy Crush on their off turns, etc. I've come to the point where if someone is futzing with a device (phone, tablet, laptop, abacus...) and can't declare an action within 10 seconds, we're going to forfeit that turn. It's one of those things which irritate most of my table beyond what's reasonable, because we've had too many bad experiences with it.

Which brings me to.... How's the character builder and export to dead tree process? How's the character sheet layout for offline use? I'm not trying to derail the thread, but I'm hoping to add a spur line to the overall discussion....

[Ravinsild]

I find it invaluable, and I buy a copy of the hard book and the digital book, but after awhile I found it obnoxious to carry around a practical library with me everywhere (my backpack got really heavy honestly) and I find the digital so light weight. It's also a lot faster to just use the search function to find what I am looking for. It's really great, plus it makes managing characters 40x easier to me than pencil and paper. I trust their math, I don't always trust mine, haha. Plus having to write out ALL the class features is often a pain and sometimes I run out of room.

I don't know, I just love dndbeyond personally, I have a master tier sub and share in all my campaigns and everyone else I know loves it because of that. It also is a lot easier to introduce new players with. So I use it every day, and I really use it a lot. I just love it.

[MilkmanDanimal]

My table has a strong "no devices" taboo, so the only value D&D Beyond could have for us is as a character builder. We've found far too much delay in people checking facebook, playing Candy Crush on their off turns, etc. I've come to the point where if someone is futzing with a device (phone, tablet, laptop, abacus...) and can't declare an action within 10 seconds, we're going to forfeit that turn. It's one of those things which irritate most of my table beyond what's reasonable, because we've had too many bad experiences with it.

Which brings me to.... How's the character builder and export to dead tree process? How's the character sheet layout for offline use? I'm not trying to derail the thread, but I'm hoping to add a spur line to the overall discussion....

It's essentially the desktop browser version printed out verbatim, and, well, since that's the layout I'm used to as a DDB user, I think it's great. To be fair, it's not like the 5e character sheet is super-complex, so it's pretty easy to do a logical layout, but I've taught the game to people my nephews and such, and I've made their characters on DDB and printed them out on hardcopy, and they had no issues following the content. My table is now all-digital, and we all use D&D Beyond; we're doing a big West Marches-style campaign with probably a solid 25-30 players, and we all just bring laptops. Well, one or two people bring hardcopies, but we make fun of them because reasons. Damn luddites.

[Great Dragon]

@FrancisBean - my table has almost the inverse.

Since everyone has some kind of device with internet, they usually find it fairly easy to use D&D Beyond as a reference for (mostly) quick uplook of various information types.
Including monster pictures, but honestly I'll just tell them to Image search on Google "Such and Such" Monster and they can get a picture faster that way most of the time.

DdB online = (1) open website (2) open Rules (3) click Monsters (4) type in exact Monster name [for fastest finding] (5) click on Picture to view.

DdB app = (1) open and wait for all info to upload and sync. (2) pull up menu and click [monsters];
(3) still type in exact name for fastest locating option, and click (4) scroll down in "stats" to see picture, if available.....

Oh, wait? are you a paid (or at least sharing) member?
AND have shared/bought that Book?
If not = S.O.L. !!

But, since not everyone I know has the "shared books" option, and most can't afford paying extra to get info they already have in book/pdf form, these players tend to just bookmark various Wiki Sites and get the info that way. The biggest problem is that I find a lot of the 'Homebrew' on Wiki sites to be way over the top.

For character Creation, D&D Beyond is awesome for allowing (shared or members) access to all the latest books, and even some of the UA information. But, once again if not a paid member, maximum of six PCs means that I have to choose very carefully which PCs I keep on DdB.

I actually found a good Phone app for character creation (5e character sheet by Walter Kammerer on Play Store), and only cost $4, ever - to unlock all the content, and a friend found imports for most of the UA.

I kinda wish I knew enough programming to combine that with the other PC Creator (RPG - Character Sheet by Meyer Desenvolvimento, also on Play Store) that has less class info, but has the full list of PHB Spells (I'd also put in XgE) to add directly to the PC sheet.