What Should I Buy On D&DBeyond?

The short answer? NOTHING.

The long answer?

With Tasha's Cauldron of Everything now available for preorder, I'm sure some of ya'll are considering purchasing it. So, here's how D&DBeyond works, I'll explain why you don't need to buy anything at all, and if you do decide to purchase, what to get and why.

D&DBeyond is designed to be a shared D&D experience. It has two very powerful tools that are the keys to D&DBeyond's success: the character builder and the campaign manager. More recently has been the encounter builder, but that's beside the point. The character builder is the tool you are all familiar with, it's the page where you have all the setting buttons and you build a character sheet in 5 minutes. It's easy to use and very intuitive. The campaign manager is the piece I use, more on that later.

The character builder is informed first and foremost by the Basic Rules. All in all, the only thing you need to have to play D&D is the Basic Rules, and they're free. When you use the character builder for the first time, that's all that you'll have access to for character creation. The Basic Rules is all of the Player's Handbook ("PHB") classes (so no Artificer or Blood Hunter) and one of the subclasses for each of those classes, along with the combat and spellcasting rules.

The campaign manager is the side your Dungeon Master sees (aka: me). That's where they go build the little folder your character sheet will sit in. They will pay a fee (monthly: $5.99, yearly: $54.99) to be able to "content share" with the folder your character sheet is sitting in. "Turning content sharing on for a campaign means that any content unlocked by any participant (player or DM) within that campaign is available for all players and the DM for use" (Source). So, what does THAT mean? It means that if you try to build a character while not in my campaign, you only have access to what you've purchased and the Basic Rules. When you build a character while in my campaign (or visit any of the books), you get access to everything I've purchased, which is, by the way, a lot.

All of that is to say: if you don't want to buy anything, don't. You don't need to because I already have and am sharing it with you.

If you do decide to purchase, here's how: The first thing you want to do is find the store, located in the image on the right. This is where all D&DBeyond purchases lie.

Right now, you'll probably see something like this. This is what's currently in the store.

You'll notice Tasha's Cauldron of Everything right now is available for preorder and it has a discount on it. I'll explain why in a moment. Tasha's is a spiritual successor to a more-famous book, called Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGtE).

On the left hand side of the screen is the store menu where you'll go to find everything on D&DBeyond. "Bundles" is the biggest, most expensive, and what D&DBeyond is selling the hardest. There are three bundles: the Sourcebook Bundle (which I have purchased), the Adventure Bundle, and the Legendary Bundle. To define our terms, D&DBeyond labels anything that is primarily character options or campaign settings to be a Sourcebook. The Adventure Bundle is anything that is primarily an adventure or quest. The Legendary Bundle is all of the above. Currently, assuming you haven't purchased anything, the Sourcebook Bundle is $364.36 (does not include Tasha's), the Adventure Bundle is $413.79, and the Legendary Bundle is $734.92. Purchasing these gives you a permanent discount on your future purchases (10-15%, depending, and is why I have a discount on Tasha's), which is nice, but as a player, I don't recommend buying any of these bundles. If you're going to go ahead and get one, get the Sourcebook bundle. That has stuff you need and will be a good use of your money.

So, what do I recommend you get as a player? Assuming you're not in one of my campaigns, I have underlined in the picture on the right which books I think are worth your time and money. Why these books in particular? They come with the most character options for you as a player. The other books are more geared toward your Dungeon Master and they're utterly useless to you.

Now, you may have an issue of, "But I want to play one thing I don't have, and I don't want to spend the $29.99 to get the entire book for one thing!" You're in luck! If you open up any of the books, they have listed what's inside them for a smaller purchase price so you can buy what you individually need instead of the entire book (except for books on preorder). In my example on the right are the purchasable subclass options from the Player's Handbook. You can buy them as a bundle or individually, whichever option you choose, it will take that much off the total purchasing price of the Player's Handbook, the Sourcebook bundle, and the Legendary bundle. If you buy the whole book, it'll also take that much off the Sourcebook and Legendary bundles. If you buy the Sourcebook bundle, it'll take that much off the Legendary bundle.

So, there you have it. If you're in my campaign, don't worry about any of this, because I'm sharing everything with you and I plan to preorder Tasha's here very soon so you'll all have access to it when it drops. I also have every intention of purchasing the Legendary bundle this upcoming Cyber Monday when they throw up the discount code like they do every year (usually 15-20% off), so that will give you all access to everything.