Back in 2014, Wizards of the Coast put out Dungeons and Dragons 5e. This quickly became one of the best-received and most-played versions. With the popularity of Critical Role and Stranger Things, new people started checking it out. Players who hadn’t played in decades came back to a game they loved. 5e was here for us during the pandemic with the technology advancements and availability to play remotely from home.
The Dungeons and Dragons team has been working on an update to the 5e for a long time. They don’t like to be called 6e, 5.5e, or even D&D Onee. They just want it to be known as 5e. That is a bit confusing since we have a new player handbook about to drop and a Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manuel to Follow. Many are calling this 2024 D&D compared to 2014 D&D.
Some of the rules have been changed. Yet D&D wanted this to be backward compatible so players could keep playing their prior characters without having to change them unless they wanted.
DND Beyond has become the hub for most Dungeons and Dragons play. Wizards of the Coast purchased it a couple of years ago. If one wants to play it digitally, DND Beyond makes it easy. As a Dungeon Master, it makes it real easy for me.
Last week, DND Beyond announced that they will be removing the 2014 spells and 2014 magic items from DND Beyond. They stated that the new spells and items were far superior. As is true with most of us, when you take away the options from us, it feels heavy handed. What if I don’t want to change the spell to the new way since I have been playing this character for years? What if that magic item is perfect for me just the way it is? Fans responded and made their voices heard.
In the past, Wizards of the Coast has turned a deaf ear to the fans. They want to do it their way. The fans had to make it hurt with the OGL scandal. Fans have spoken up on lots of things to see a slow to respond D&D. Not this time.
Within Days, DND Beyond heard the fans and revsersed their decision. DND Beyond put out a Changelog declaring that the fans have been heard and now users can pick from the spells from 2014 and 2024. This is a wise decision and makes the fans feel heard. Way to go, DND Beyond. Thank you for listening.
Below is a copy of the changelog form DND Beyond. Here is the link to the page on DND Beyond.
“Last week we released a Changelog detailing how players would experience the 2024 Core Rulebooks on D&D Beyond. We heard your feedback loud and clear and thank you for speaking up.
Our excitement around the 2024 Core Rulebooks led us to view these planned updates as welcome improvements and free upgrades to existing content. We misjudged the impact of this change, and we agree that you should be free to choose your own way to play. Taking your feedback to heart, here’s what we’re going to do:
Players who only have access to the 2014 Player’s Handbook will maintain their character options, spells, and magical items in their character sheets. Players with access to the 2024 and 2014 digital Player’s Handbooks can select from both sources when creating new characters. Players will not need to rely on Homebrew to use their 2014 player options, including spells and magic items, as recommended in previous changelogs.
Please Note:
- Players will continue to have access to their free, shared, and purchased items on D&D Beyond, with the ability to use previously acquired player options when creating characters and using character sheets.
- We are not changing players’ current character sheets, except for relabeling and renaming. Examples include Races to Species, Inspiration to Heroic Inspiration, and Cast Spell to Magic.
We’re dedicated to making D&D Beyond the ultimate digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons, continuously enhancing the platform to ensure you can create, customize, and play your game just as you envision it. From your first one-shot to multi-year campaigns and everything in between, we’re grateful to be on this journey with you.
-The D&D Studio”
Stay Geeky!
