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So out of context here it'd all look dumb as hell, but I've been writing dreams for my party to experience during long rests. They're meant to echo memories and experiences of people from previous ages, and so far it's been a huge hit in my sessions. My players seem way into it. What's great about that whole DM curtain thing is I don't have to know what any of it means or where it goes, but it all seems like I do. It's rad. This game is so good.
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Nov 20, 2021 15:33
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Theotus posted:So out of context here it'd all look dumb as hell, but I've been writing dreams for my party to experience during long rests. They're meant to echo memories and experiences of people from previous ages, and so far it's been a huge hit in my sessions. My players seem way into it. What's great about that whole DM curtain thing is I don't have to know what any of it means or where it goes, but it all seems like I do. It's rad. This game is so good. My DM does this to!
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Nov 20, 2021 16:08
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Theotus posted:So out of context here it'd all look dumb as hell, but I've been writing dreams for my party to experience during long rests. They're meant to echo memories and experiences of people from previous ages, and so far it's been a huge hit in my sessions. My players seem way into it. What's great about that whole DM curtain thing is I don't have to know what any of it means or where it goes, but it all seems like I do. It's rad. This game is so good. I would find this kind of annoying. It sounds like a bunch of red herrings that the players think are meaningful and may affect their decision-making, without actually meaning anything. It's usually hard enough to figure out what's going on without the DM shooting meaningless chaff at us. If your group is really into it and it helps their enjoyment, then it's a great idea, so I'm not being critical of it. I'm just cautioning that "flavor" like this can sometimes get in the way of the game rather than assisting it.
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Nov 20, 2021 17:08
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Callbacks to a dream are a great way to get people enthused for an adventure. They're never really red herrings, you just haven't fulfilled them yet.
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Nov 20, 2021 17:22
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Deteriorata posted:I would find this kind of annoying. It sounds like a bunch of red herrings that the players think are meaningful and may affect their decision-making, without actually meaning anything. It's usually hard enough to figure out what's going on without the DM shooting meaningless chaff at us. instructive moment: if you do something as a DM and dont know what it means yet, write it down and come back to it in a few weeks
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Nov 20, 2021 18:00
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Layering stuff like this is pretty great, and it's a classic example of improvisational storytelling. It's as important as players want it to be. If folks are enjoying it then they can explore the concept - find a fortune-teller and figure out the critical connection to the plot - and if not then it's just a collection of strange omens that the characters dismiss as superstition. A red herring is when a narrator intentionally distracts the reader with misleading details. But that's not really what this sort of thing is. It's producing threads that you can build stories on later if you want. Kaal fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Nov 20, 2021 |
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Nov 20, 2021 18:14
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As a DM you aren't going to know where exactly the plot is going 3+ sessions out, unless you're strictly running a published adventure and even then there's room. So just figure out what the players latch on to and weave it in later.
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Nov 20, 2021 20:15
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When I’m home and can get my character sheet I’ll ask for more detailed advice but a quick one for inspiration- I’m joining a party in the Eberron setting at 9th level as a half elf who’s a flashy, well-dressed former gang leader from Sharn. Swashbuckler Rogue. My DM accepted my idea to make a reflavoring of the “two handed scimitar” (the one that requires the feat) and to let me have it as a half-elf instead of full. What would be a cool way to reflavor a two-handed scimitar to something that a Khoravar crime-connected dude would be using? Should have two blades in some way I think, to flavorfully explain the 2d4 roll and the bonus action for the second attack. Best I could come up with was a normal-looking shortsword that had some kind of switchblade in the handle. It could either be a weapon that’s inconspicuous so a Rogue would like it, or something really flashy that a guy would have to show off. I’m getting it as an uncommon magic item so it doesn’t have to be completely physically possible. edit: lol I thought the feat also gave proficiency in the weapon and it doesn’t ooops :B kingcobweb fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Nov 21, 2021 |
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Nov 20, 2021 23:21
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kingcobweb posted:When I’m home and can get my character sheet I’ll ask for more detailed advice but a quick one for inspiration- The obvious answer is sword-tipped nunchaku. I didn't even know the Double-Bladed Scimitar was a thing and had to look it up.
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Nov 21, 2021 00:15
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Finally able to get back into a game after my last one imploded. Was wondering about some advice for playing a character whose wisdom is higher then their intelligence.
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Nov 21, 2021 01:34
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This is a post to find other posts
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Nov 21, 2021 01:46
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kingcobweb posted:When I’m home and can get my character sheet I’ll ask for more detailed advice but a quick one for inspiration- i am thinking like a sort of magical three section staff with blades on the ends here actually, something you can fold up and hide conspicuously or just telescope out into a staff, or even just swing around in a chain. it seems very flashy and has a sort of magitek vibe too
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Nov 21, 2021 03:04
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So I was just in a Half Price Books and they had a Volo's Guide To Monsters alternate/limited cover priced at $500 and I thought surely that is a mistake. Checked eBay and those bastards are selling (not just listed but actually selling) at $800-$1100 a pop. I was gonna buy this one to flip it but it had some damage to the cover and spine so not actually worth it. But I figured I would let the thread know because I bet some of you have copies and have no idea it's worth so much. Pay your rent for a few weeks geez.
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Nov 21, 2021 03:51
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ok so since the double bladed scimitar thing didn't end up working, gonna do something else. As stated above, I'm joining an Eberron campaign at level 9. DM told me the campaign leans toward combat and is meant to be challenging, but characters aren't really optimized. There's some points on the character I'd like advice on, but feel free to advise on anything else you see that I might have missed. Here's the sheet I'm thinking of my guy as more of a "nice," diplomatic, can't-we-all-just-get-along sort of guy most of the time, but he'll duel the leader of any gang to show them up to their followers when he has to. As such, I don't think he'll do quiiite as much solo sneaking or sleight of hand/thievery stuff as the stereotypical rogue (but can if he has to). Questions:
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Nov 21, 2021 04:57
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kingcobweb posted:When I’m home and can get my character sheet I’ll ask for more detailed advice but a quick one for inspiration- There are novelty blades where they are "concealed" in a baton because the handle of each blade is the sheathe of the other blade. You can google it hidden sword baton or something. Could also be the same but sword-cane sized. A bladed fan / war fan maybe. I just google weird martial arts weapons when I want to reskin something.
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Nov 21, 2021 05:08
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A double scimitar is literally a cultural weapon for the Valenar elves on Khorvaire already, pretty easy to say you got taught by one parent or the other http://klubbsaga2015.wikidot.com/eberron-weapons
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Nov 21, 2021 06:11
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Arivia posted:A double scimitar is literally a cultural weapon for the Valenar elves on Khorvaire already, pretty easy to say you got taught by one parent or the other http://klubbsaga2015.wikidot.com/eberron-weapons sure but you don't get to take heavy armor as a wizard because you said "my dad showed me how." Rogues don't get all martial weapon proficiencies, it's fine, advise me about anything else on the character sheet pls edit: apparently the two Eberron books differ on this despite being 80% the same book. Wayfinder's Guide sez: quote:If you work with your DM to create the story behind your double scimitar, you can start with the weapon at 1st level in place of a martial weapon normally granted by your class. kingcobweb fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Nov 21, 2021 |
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Nov 21, 2021 06:21
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I have the three main core books for 5e. What extra source books am I going to want to get my meathooks to look at the alternate races/classes that I see people posting about online? I've always kept things pretty core before, since the last time I was playing DnD the 3.5 splat books were always huge sources of power creep.
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Nov 21, 2021 06:27
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ninjoatse.cx posted:I have the three main core books for 5e. What extra source books am I going to want to get my meathooks to look at the alternate races/classes that I see people posting about online? I've always kept things pretty core before, since the last time I was playing DnD the 3.5 splat books were always huge sources of power creep. Xanathar's is the big one for class options and Volo's for race options. Tasha's has a lot of alternate options for both race and class. There are other race and class options scattered throughout other books, but those three are the big ones.
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Nov 21, 2021 07:11
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kingcobweb posted:sure but you don't get to take heavy armor as a wizard because you said "my dad showed me how." Rogues don't get all martial weapon proficiencies, it's fine, advise me about anything else on the character sheet pls Yeah I was responding to the OP saying his DM approved it and he wanted to make it fit flavor wise. I don’t know poo poo about how negotiating that kind of thing works in 5e.
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Nov 21, 2021 07:37
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even if the book doesn't say it, just ask your DM. 5e is pretty much designed around asking your DM for things
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Nov 21, 2021 07:39
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Arivia posted:Yeah I was responding to the OP saying his DM approved it and he wanted to make it fit flavor wise. I don’t know poo poo about how negotiating that kind of thing works in 5e. i'm the op.
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Nov 21, 2021 07:41
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Deteriorata posted:I would find this kind of annoying. It sounds like a bunch of red herrings that the players think are meaningful and may affect their decision-making, without actually meaning anything. It's usually hard enough to figure out what's going on without the DM shooting meaningless chaff at us. I really appreciate this feed back actually. The intent is absolutely not to poo poo up the game with too much exposition and railroad the players or anything. It's also definitely not something intended to be an actual red herring. That is to say, false or misleading information that would draw them away from whatever it is they're trying to accomplish. To explain, the characters essentially possess this unique spark that previous mythological figures of the world's past had, that allowed them to do wild things like single handedly found or destroy empires, control elements and stuff like that for example. You could make a comparison to figures like Achilles or Beowulf or Merlin. The dreams aren't meant to indicate to the players that they're these previous people reincarnated. They're essentially call backs, or echoes of old memories that are meant to explore in a very abstract way the power of these previous people and highlight the current internal struggles of the player characters themselves. The Warlock for example has been having nightmares about his Patron, a relationship that hasn't really been developed in the game yet formally. But it's getting him interested in it, which is the goal. Because I'm so new to DMing (tomorrow is my fourth session) I'm checking in with my players after every session to try to get a read on what's working and what's not, what they enjoy, what I can improve on and they have been into it so far. Definitely not a thing I am going to do every time they have a long rest, but it has seemed so far to get them more interested in their own characters, which means more interesting interactions with each other and the world. You make a good point though, I definitely don't want to over do it. Them absolutely destroying every combat encounter I have put in front of them is another thing that I'm working on. Also do any of you guys have experience with or opinions on TaleSpire? I'm really tempted to pick it up and essentially use it as the board for my players instead of doing clumsy theater of the mind stuff during combat. Because I'm bad at it currently. Here's a link for anyone who hasn't seen it. Looks rad, but I haven't messed with it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/720620/TaleSpire/ Theotus fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Nov 21, 2021 |
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Nov 21, 2021 10:33
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Theotus posted:I really appreciate this feed back actually. The intent is absolutely not to poo poo up the game with too much exposition and railroad the players or anything. It's also definitely not something intended to be an actual red herring. That is to say, false or misleading information that would draw them away from whatever it is they're trying to accomplish. Talespire looks neat but it also looks a bit clunky to use for actual play. I use foundry and usually put usually show them flavour images during roleplay/travel and drop them on a battlemap for combat. I have gotten Feedback from my players that they don't want dnd to become too 'videogamey' and I think stuff like takespire and other programmes currently in delevopment are way beyond that threshold. I would suggest some test Sessions and to not just drop your decision to use such a programme on the players during a running campaign. My wife actually quit my campaign because playing via discord/foundry wasn't her thing. So maybe test out some ideas how virtual tabletops can work in your game and discuss it with your player. And I agree, theatre of mind is hard to do and playing on battlemaps really improved my enjoyment of Combat as a DM.
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Nov 21, 2021 12:49
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Rubberduke posted:Talespire looks neat but it also looks a bit clunky to use for actual play. I use foundry and usually put usually show them flavour images during roleplay/travel and drop them on a battlemap for combat. Reason I brought it up is that I took over DMing from another friend who ran combat using maps on Roll20 or some similar site and after talking to the rest of the group it felt like combat was boiling down too much into "I move two squares left and attack" and a bunch of time spent with the DM moving pieces around instead of time being spent on "I do this and DM describes cool poo poo." I don't know. Maybe soon we'll get back to playing in person and that part of the game won't be so hard.
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Nov 21, 2021 12:58
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Theotus posted:Reason I brought it up is that I took over DMing from another friend who ran combat using maps on Roll20 or some similar site and after talking to the rest of the group it felt like combat was boiling down too much into "I move two squares left and attack" and a bunch of time spent with the DM moving pieces around instead of time being spent on "I do this and DM describes cool poo poo." I don't know. Maybe soon we'll get back to playing in person and that part of the game won't be so hard. I have a feeling that the cool poo poo isn't usually quelled by playing on roll20 or such. Without knowing too much about your previous campaign I would assume that it comes from the encounter not being engaging enough to motivate actions other than hitting/casting at things. I like foundry because it allows me to quickly set up initiative and other stuff and focus more on describing things that and keep track of where everyone is at the same time. In the end it really comes down to preference and what motivates players the most to engage with the stage you set for them.
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Nov 21, 2021 14:23
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kingcobweb posted:i'm the op. RAW in the DMG any DM can give weapon proficiency as a reward as an alternative to giving money or items as a reward, so there is actually nothing preventing them from saying during one of your quests you got this proficiency. just make sure this weapon has the finesse tag ninjoatse.cx posted:I have the three main core books for 5e. What extra source books am I going to want to get my meathooks to look at the alternate races/classes that I see people posting about online? I've always kept things pretty core before, since the last time I was playing DnD the 3.5 splat books were always huge sources of power creep. xanathars, tashas, and volos are must haves. i recommend from there the new fizbans book, the ravnica book, and the wildemount book. Theotus posted:Them absolutely destroying every combat encounter I have put in front of them is another thing that I'm working on. talespire is neat but not finished and everyone needs to be on board with it. seems kind of niche. to make combat better try adding more weak enemies -- you will be genuinely surprised at how much of a difference having 2 extra people casting low level spells makes in combat.
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Nov 21, 2021 17:46
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wrong thread
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Nov 21, 2021 19:50
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So how's this game? Don't love that there's seemingly no digital products related to it
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Nov 22, 2021 04:29
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I'll be running the first session of a new campaign tomorrow and it's only my third out fourth time DMing. The charters the group came up with are great.
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Nov 22, 2021 04:35
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Basic Chunnel posted:So how's this game? Don't love that there's seemingly no digital products related to it It's mediocre and there's not a lot of reasons to get into it if your group is one of those that is comfortable jumping between systems or trying out whatever the hot new thing is. But it's got a lot of cultural tie-in stuff and it's by far the most popular system, so finding players for it or convincing friends to try it is usually way easier. As for digital products, Wizards doesn't have an official VTT (virtual tabletop) but they do a ton of integration with Roll20. I use Fantasy Grounds myself, and I know other people here use Foundry (I think that's what its called), so there's a lot of stuff out there if that's what you mean by digital products.
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Nov 22, 2021 04:41
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Nay I meant more like, pdfs on DrivethruRPG.
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Nov 22, 2021 05:07
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Basic Chunnel posted:Nay I meant more like, pdfs on DrivethruRPG. D&D Beyond is the place to get digital content. Their character builder is wonderful.
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Nov 22, 2021 06:32
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ninjoatse.cx posted:I have the three main core books for 5e. What extra source books am I going to want to get my meathooks to look at the alternate races/classes that I see people posting about online? I've always kept things pretty core before, since the last time I was playing DnD the 3.5 splat books were always huge sources of power creep. As everyone else has said Xanathar's Guide to Everything and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything have almost all the class options in them, and Volo's has most of the races. Power creep isn't huge and has mostly been towards the upper-middle (yes, the Tasha's ranger options are stronger than the PHB ones, but that's because the PHB ranger was notoriously weak and even the Tasha's version isn't OP) - and that there have only been two major splatbooks in seven years as opposed to about four a year has done a lot to keep it under control. Basic Chunnel posted:So how's this game? Don't love that there's seemingly no digital products related to it D&D Beyond is where the digital products mostly are. As for how the game is, it's great for the players to easily create evocative and thematically varied characters, the combat is slow and bullet spongy, and from the DM's side of the screen it seems they haven't learned anything since the 90s; if you've already got DM skills it's fine and workable and won't overwhelm you the way 3.X would - but if you haven't got pre-existing skills it does almost nothing to help you build them other than throwing you in the deep end.
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Nov 22, 2021 13:01
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Tyranny of Dragons and Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaigns are both on sale on Roll20. Anyone have any thoughts on which one would be good for a mixed group of new D&D players, some experienced 3.5 players, and some players that have played 5e before?
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Nov 23, 2021 00:57
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Saltmarsh is great, the haunted house is a stone classic, the setting is a good jump off point for shenanigans, and salvage operation is excellent.
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Nov 23, 2021 01:22
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Tyranny of Dragons and Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaigns are both on sale on Roll20. Anyone have any thoughts on which one would be good for a mixed group of new D&D players, some experienced 3.5 players, and some players that have played 5e before? Seconding Saltmarsh, not only because it's one of the more solid campaigns for 5e but also because Tyranny of Dragons suuuuuucks
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Nov 23, 2021 03:25
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I currently have the first 3 main books as physical copies. If I get the digital versions of 3 splat books through D&D Beyond, can I pretty much use the character builder to make any of the official content? The encounter builders? Does having the first 3 books physical limit me? Is there an official app to use the content with on mobile devices? I see a D&D Beyond app but it's made by Fandom, incorporated. Is that the official app? How good are the e-versions of these books? I was planning on just reading them on my iPad.
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Nov 23, 2021 06:01
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ninjoatse.cx posted:I currently have the first 3 main books as physical copies. You'd have to buy the PHB digitally to use the PHB classes and other features, otherwise you'd get the Basic Rules plus the splat books. The D&D app you're looking at is the official app, yes. The e-versions are... decent. Some navigation annoyances on iPads, but having stuff hotlinked helps. They have all the art, maps etc.
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Nov 23, 2021 06:12
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So, D&D beyond is not developed or managed by Wizards of the Coast, they are run by Fandom. WotC has no self managed digital footprint. You have to buy the digital books from like R20/FG or D&D Beyond, and use them there. the D&D beyond fandom app is the actual Beyond app. Because WotC has no self managed digital storefront, there is no way to get a digital version of books that you own without paying again.
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Nov 23, 2021 06:27
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