As Wizards of the Coast prepares to roll out its 2024 update to the core rules of Dungeons & Dragons, players are confused as to what that means for wildly popular digital platform D&D Beyond, so allow us to provide some clarity.
In essence, the system will be updated so that its default assumption is the usage of the 2024 Player’s Handbook rules, altering items, spells, and character creation to align with those set out in the new document.
Don’t be too alarmed though, as D&D Beyond have stated that players will not be losing access to any content they have already paid for. It’ll instead be labelled as legacy content, as can be seen with some of the playable races that have had multiple updates in different 5e books.
As the new core rules are, for the most part, included in the update to the SRD, they will be available to all players irrespective of if they purchase the 2024 Handbook or not, and thus the changes to the affected rules will be automatic.
Some of the features that will be altered include core gameplay changes such as Armour Class rules, Saving Throws etc., both mundane and magical items, and perhaps most importantly spells, classes, and some subclasses.
It is worth noting that classes, subclasses, species, backgrounds and feats won’t be automatically updated like other changes, but will be flagged as legacy, AND that old versions of classes are incompatible with new subclasses – the focus is on backwards compatibility, not forwards compatibility.
There may be a workaround in the written rules and agreed around a table with your DM and other players, but it won’t be an option when creating a character via D&D Beyond. As for changes to spells etc., players wishing to use the 5e versions instead of the updated 5.5e/One D&D rules will need to enable homebrews to utilise them via D&D Beyond, which seems like a lot of work.
So it isn’t all that scary, but changes are definitely on the way (and you can read the full post from D&D Beyond here). What are your thoughts? Could we see more and bigger changes in the future as One D&D expands its materials? Let us know below.