D&D Beyond’s Planned 2024 Rules Switchover Upset Dungeons & Dragons Players

D&D Beyond's Planned 2024 Rules Switchover Upset Dungeons & Dragons Players

As an old-school Dungeons & Dragons player with decades of dice rolls under my belt, I find myself at a crossroads with this latest update from Wizards of the Coast. The forced change to the character sheets on D&D Beyond feels like a punch to the gut for many of us who are in the midst of campaigns or have built our characters around the 2014 rules.


A debate is growing around the game Dungeons & Dragons due to a proposed mandatory update to its new rules on D&D Beyond. Recently, Wizards of the Coast disclosed their intentions to introduce the upcoming 2024 Core Rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons onto D&D Beyond, which is a digital library and character builder platform utilized by numerous gamers. Although all existing rules from the 2014 Player’s Handbook (and other older content) will remain accessible via D&D Beyond’s compendium, all character profiles will display the 2024 descriptions for spells, certain magic items like healing potions and spell scrolls, and equipment. Regardless of which ruleset is being used, these elements will be reflected on the character sheets.

Many users of D&D Beyond are voicing their dissatisfaction because they feel that parts of the 2024 rules are being imposed on them without an option to opt out. This is particularly problematic for players in the midst of campaigns, as they might encounter different versions of spells during different gaming sessions. Approximately 100 spells in the 2024 Player’s Handbook have been either rephrased or mechanically altered, with most changes representing enhancements to the existing rules. However, some argue that this move contradicts Wizards of the Coast’s pledge for cross-compatibility between the 2014 and 2024 rules, and may not provide as much value to D&D Beyond’s platform.

On popular D&D forums like /r/dndnext and /r/DnD, many lengthy discussions express dissatisfaction with the recent changes. The solution suggested by Wizards of the Coast, where players craft their own variations of the 2014 spells and input them individually onto character sheets, has not been met with favorable responses from the player community either.

Wizards of the Coast has not provided a reason for this change, given that other sections of the rules are remaining unchanged on the character sheet. Unlike previous updates to core character rules, they aren’t automatically updating classes, species, backgrounds, or feats in the character sheet, even though they have used a “legacy” tag for versions in both the 2014 and 2024 Player’s Handbook for species, backgrounds, feats, and classes.

As a fellow enthusiast, I find it exciting to share that some character builders are maintaining full cross-edition compatibility. To give an example, the revised D&D character sheet and builder on Roll20 explicitly mentions its ability to handle both 2014 and 2024 spells!

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2024-08-24 19:41