A new trailer for Dungeons and Dragons' upcoming starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands, has confirmed its price. A physical copy can be pre-ordered from Amazon and D&DBeyond for $49.99. Wizards of the Coast's previous starter set sold for $19.99 - less than half the price of Heroes of the Borderlands.
There's one obvious reason for this leap in price, and that's the number of components the new starter set will include. The trailer released on July 15 (see below) boasts that this is "D&D's biggest starter set ever made". Product descriptions say to expect the following:
- Three adventure booklets, one quick-start guide, and a reference booklet.
- 210 game cards for DnD races, spells, equipment, magic items, monsters, backgrounds, and NPCs.
- 273 tokens for monsters, terrain, and resources.
- 11 dice.
- A combat tracker for managing initiative.
- Nine double-sided poster maps and five in-world handouts.
Amazon and D&DBeyond present conflicting information on the game's maps and resources for DnD classes. The official 5e website says there will be four classes to choose from: Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, and Fighter. However, Amazon promises eight character class boards. Previous previews have highlighted the board-game-style character boards Wizards has included for each class, so perhaps each class option comes with two separate handouts.
Earlier starter sets have stuck exclusively to DnD character sheets and a single set of dice. Wizards says that Heroes of the Borderlands will offer 40 to 60 hours of play in each box.
What seems strange is that D&DBeyond is selling a digital-only version of the starter set for the exact same price. A physical-digital bundle actually costs $10 more at $59.99.
Heroes of the Borderlands goes on sale worldwide on September 16. For more on Wizards' upcoming releases, check out our guide to this year's DnD release schedule. And if you have an opinion on the new starter set, we're all ears over in the Wargamer Discord.