On May 7, D&D Beyond announced a brand-new feature for paying subscribers. The 'D&D Beyond Drops' initiative will release new rules, maps, encounters, and assets every Thursday, with a larger drop on the first Thursday of every month. D&D has kicked the project off by launching over 500 new piecemeal bits of gaming material.
500 is a big number, but most of the now-available content is visual assets. 125 fourth-edition maps and 250 'reveals' images have been added to Wizards' Maps VTT. Most of the remaining content is stickers and character sheet accessories. So far, we've seen one new DnD background, five extra feats, and five new spells.
The new rules, while few, do seem like interesting additions to your favorite DnD classes. The Pact Seeker background is a decent buff for Intelligence and Charisma casters, and it grants access to one of two Planar Pact feats.
Fey Pact teaches you Sylvan and Druidcraft, and you can reroll a particularly bad Deception or Persuasion check once per day. Infernal Pact, meanwhile, grants resistance to fire damage and poison damage, as well as the ability to see in darkness and proficiency in Deception.
Both Pacts unlock stronger feats later down the line. Fey Sentinel offers a small ASI, the power to turn invisible as a reaction, the Entangle and Plant Growth spells, and the power to teleport when you take the Dash Action. Infernal Pact unlocks two possible feats: Infernal Bulkwark, an ASI and natural armor boost that comes with Armor of Agathys; and Infernal Dragoon, another ASI boost that creates a frightening magic aura and comes with Magic Weapon.
As for spells, we've got a host of old-school options from earlier editions. Astral Flood is a cone-based Dex save that deals cold/radiant damage and inflicts extra debuffs. Buzzing Bee creates an annoying, distracting bee that disrupts invisibility and debuffs concentration checks.
Insidious Rhythm gives a target that fails its Wisdom save disadvantage on Con and concentration saves. Meanwhile, Leomund's Lamentable Belaborment blinds and deafens creatures it charms. Lastly, my personal favorite first-edition spell has made a comeback - Sticks to Snakes quite literally turns regular sticks into snake allies.
So, the new content doesn't look half-bad. Plus, Wizards will release new options on a regular basis. Why, then, do I feel so unsettled by D&D Beyond Drops? Why am I looking the gift horse in the mouth?
It's all to do with how this new content is made available. All D&D Beyond Drops perks are made available to Hero and Master tier subscribers as soon as they sign up, but they'll lose them again when they cancel said subscription. D&D is now, more than ever, a live service where you rent the game rather than own it.
Plus, even more damningly, rules from Drops aren't compatible with D&DBeyond's content sharing capabilities. While you can allow fellow party members access to your rulebooks, they'll have to subscribe themselves to get these extras.
That sets a dangerous precedent. D&DBeyond has a track record of stripping useful features in order to encourage sales - just look at piecemeal purchases. If this initiative takes off, how long is it before we can no longer share digital books?
This all might sound a bit dramatic, especially considering D&DBeyond staff have taken to Reddit to confirm Drops will not replace D&D books. " I don't want to take away from the books, nor is Drops intended to replace the books - they're part of the magic and the soul of D&D", they say. "Our goal with Drops is to explore the cool stuff that the books doesn't always get the opportunity to explore (whether it be due to page constraints or it not being on-theme for the book/setting)."
Maybe it's just the corporate conspiracy theorist in me, but all this smells off. D&D Beyond Drops is shouting about all the value it's adding - mainly because the price of subscriptions haven't increased with the arrival of new content - but I'm not sure digital-only, rentable content is a net good for the game. As Hasbro pushes for new profit avenues, I'm worried D&D is going to become less accessible for everyone.
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