D&D Beyond Walks Back Controversial 2024 Changes
Days after warning players that they would need to homebrew old rules, D&D Beyond has walked back its planned 2024 rules update plans.
Wizards of the Coast kicked up controversy once again as we headed into the weekend. D&D Beyond revealed a “2024 Rollout” that included a number of troubling changes for players not opting to switch to the new D&D 2024 ruleset. Those not making the jump to 5.5E would find that the character sheet functionality would be limited without making considerable changes, as core rules, spells, magic items, and more, would all be updated on the D&D Beyond character sheet and rolls to the new ruleset, like it or not.
As of early (and we do mean early) this morning, that has changed. D&D Beyond announced that it was walking back the proposed updates.
D&D Beyond Walks Back 2024 Rules Update Plans
In a new post on D&D Beyond, WotC spoke out to the community. Following uproar, feedback, and I’d be willing to bet more than a few cancelled subscriptions, the WotC team made a statement in the waning hours of Sunday, announcing that WotC was taking player feedback to heart, stating that the team had let its “excitement around the 2024 Core Rulebooks” get carried away:
“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.
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.”
via D&D Beyond
To that end, the rules updates aren’t rolling out to everyone. But if you have access to both rulebooks, you’ll be able to select from both sources when making your characters. And WotC emphasized in particular two important points:
- 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.
More on the story as it unfolds.
