D&D Beyond

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
Screenshot
Type of site
Tabletop RPG Digital Toolset/Companion
Available inMultilingual
Headquarters
Huntsville, Alabama
,
U.S.
OwnerFandom, Inc./Curse LLC
Founder(s)Curse LLC, Adam Bradford
ParentFandom, Inc.
URLwww.dndbeyond.com
Alexa rank 478 (US), 1,508 (global) (July 2020)[1]
AdvertisingIndirect advertising (removed with subscriptions)
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedAugust 15, 2017 (2017-08-15)[2]
Current statusActive
Content license
Media licensing varies
Written in.NET

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]

D&D Beyond was formerly operated by Curse LLC, a subsidiary to Twitch. However, 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][10]

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]

In June 2019, D&D Beyond added an Encounter Builder tool set which was open to subscribers for alpha testing.[11] Encounter Builder entered public beta testing in October 2019.[12]

In February 2020, D&D Beyond added a Combat Tracker which was open to subscribers for alpha testing.[13]

On March 25, 2020, Adam Bradford, Vice President of Tabletop Gaming at Fandom, told Syfy Wire that D&D Beyond's normal number of new users had doubled in the past two weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic and that there was also a "a similar increase in the number of active users".[14] In April 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Bradford said the number of registered users has tripled in the past month, and the number of online players at any one time has doubled on average. The uptake has forced the company to accelerate the expansion of its infrastructure, which otherwise would have taken place months from now".[15]

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.[16] 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).[5][16] 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.[16][17] At launch, the price of source books was $29.99 and the price of adventure modules was $24.99.[17]

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 source books 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.[18] The Legendary Bundle includes all released official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books of both kinds, and grants a 15% discount on all future source book and adventure purchases.[18][19] At launch, the Legendary Bundle (which included five source books and eight adventure modules) was $279.99.[17] By March 2020, the Legendary Bundle cost had increased to $637.19 and included access to "more than 30 titles in all".[19] 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[16] and the System Reference Document[20] (the "basic rules" on D&D Beyond are an inclusive combination of the two),[21] the races and spells from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion,[22][23] and active playtest content presented in the Unearthed Arcana column on the official Dungeons & Dragons website (starting in January 2018).[24][25] 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.[24][25] 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.[24]

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.[26]

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.[16][26] However, the Hero Tier subscription removes ads, and allows users to create an unlimited number of characters.[16][26] 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.[16][26] 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.[16][26][27] 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).[20] If content sharing is enabled, any official content owned by any of the players or the Dungeon Master (DM),[26][27] 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, 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

D&D Beyond content and character management system is primarily browser-based, and is fully functional on both mobile and desktop browsers. DDB's website 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.[28][29] The app allows compendium content for Dungeons & Dragons to be downloaded for offline use. Some users had criticized the app's lack of a character sheet or builder, which was one of the main offerings of D&D Beyond; however, DDB disclosed that character management functionality was planned.[30]

In a D&D Beyond development update stream on October 31, 2019, Adam Bradford discussed DDB's plans to develop two additional mobile apps focused on the player experience and the Dungeon Master experience respectively; he explained that character management functionality would be included in this new player app, leaving the existing mobile app as a reader for compendium content.[31] In March 2020, D&D Beyond opened up limited alpha testing for this player app to those current subscribers who signed up,[32] and the alpha test began the following month.[33]

Reception

Cecilia D'Anastasio, for Kotaku in 2017, wrote "when viewed as a toolset and not a replacement for D&D’s traditions, D&D Beyond is exactly the sort of digital facelift the game needs to stay accessible, streamlined and relevant". D'Anastasio highlighted one downside, which was that content from the DMs Guild is not automatically integrated with D&D Beyond.[34] Gavin Sheehan, for Bleeding Cool in 2017, highlighted the ability to make homebrew content in D&D Beyond. He wrote: "I absolutely loved D&D Beyond and can't imagine playing the game without it now. Sadly, the one thing that would make this perfect isn't here: a downloadable app. [...] The pricing will be the real dividing point for some people. [...] I can see people screaming that they don't get to own the material like you would a book. That's true, but considering you're paying to digitize all of this and make the game more mobile than it is… it becomes worth the cost".[35]

Gus Wezerek, for FiveThirtyEight, reported that of the 5th edition "class and race combinations per 100,000 characters that players created on D&D Beyond from" August 15 to September 15, 2017, fighters were the most created at 13,906 total followed by rogues (11,307) and wizards (9,855). Druids were the least created at 6,328 total. Wezerek wrote: "when I started playing 'Dungeons & Dragons' five years ago, I never would have chosen the game’s most popular match: the human fighter. There are already enough human fighters in movies, TV and books — my first character was an albino dragonborn sorcerer. But these days I can get behind the combo’s simplicity".[36]

Alex Walker, for Kotaku Australia in 2019, reported that two years after launch the D&D Beyond mobile app would be updated to include the ability to load character sheets. Walker wrote: "I can understand that the desktop D&D Beyond format isn't immediately compatible on mobiles. But getting character sheets working on mobile has been done before, and it's been done well. [...] Community managers have also pointed out to fans on the D&D Beyond forums that the Beyond site is fully responsive for mobiles, although that's reliant on internet access, and it's nowhere near as smooth or crisp as what an in-app experience would offer. But as admirable as the update is, this is also a feature everyone has been asking for since D&D Beyond was announced".[30]

Charlie Hall, for Polygon, reported that in March 2020 the cost of D&D Beyond’s Legendary Bundle was $637.19. He highlighted that the cost of the digital Dungeons & Dragons source books and adventure modules are about the same as the physical books. Hall wrote: "my experience at the tabletop is better with these digital tools, but I’m not eager to effectively buy the same content twice to get access to them. In my experience D&D Beyond is a supplementary tool. My work as a DM still begins and ends with the physical books. [...] That makes the app a luxury for me, while the books are a necessity. Turns out I’m not alone. Many players are still defaulting to physical books".[19]

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References
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  32. D&D Beyond [@DnDBeyond] (March 12, 2020). "Are you a D&D Beyond subscriber? Would you like to be an alpha tester for our new player app? Then we would love your help! Please enroll by filling out this form and you might be selected to try out the alpha!" (Tweet). Retrieved May 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
  33. daf_dafydd (April 8, 2020). "Mobile Player App Alpha Feedback". D&D Beyond. Retrieved May 28, 2020. We're happy to announce that we’re starting to send invites to the alpha version of the Player app! The invites are going to be distributed among the subscribers who: [...] enrolled in the alpha programme before March, 25th[.]
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