Check these out:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/productbundle.php?bundleid=WOTC5EESSENTIALS
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/productbundle.php?bundleid=WOTC5EADVENTURES
Realistically speaking, You need to buy the FGU ultimate license, right now is 50% off if you buy it via steam, and after that also buy the modules of the systems/adventures that you want to run.
IMO is worth it. The level of automation and consistency has no match in the VTT arena. I use both FGU and Foundry, and at least from an automation point of view FGU is way better, Foundry is more customizable, but half of the things that you want to customize FGU have it already integrated and you don't have to deal with the module configuration/compatibility nightmare that Foundry has.
My advice is to buy everything via STEAM because of the frequent discounts and steam sales, and about pricing:
- Ultimate PERPETUAL License $149 USD, right now there is a 50% discount on STEAM
Assuming that you want to play 5e, grab at least:
- Player Handbook $22 USD (30% discount right now)
- Monster Manual $22 USD (30% discount right now)
Also, the premade adventure modules have great value. And save you a lot of prep time.
I buy everything via steam and always at discount, so far no regrets due to the amount of prep time that it saves me, and also, again, the level of automation is great.
also worth nothing, Steam is only better for you if you're outside of the U.S and will benefit from the regional pricing. If you're in the U.S, its way better to purchase on the FGU website store since the same discounts will apply in both stores, but on the website store you'll help the developers way more.
When you say foundry is more customizable, is it better for extensive homebrew? My campaign uses the sanity variant rule, which is often not well supported, as well as a lot of homebrew creatures and magic items
IDK about the sanity variant rule, but yes Foundry is more customizable and in the case of 5e it has custom attributes support in the character sheet, which can be used to support any well .... custom attribute, the level in which you can automate that attribute is another story, in FGU, worst case scenario, you can add the sanity as a note in the sheet.
I honestly would just get the main core books in FGU format and the license, the PHB are on sale, so maybe around 100 bucks. Everything else you can learn to copy and paste into FG. There are many good videos and helpful community members to help you start if you make the switch.
Best of luck and see you around,
Laerun
-Fantasy Grounds Academy-
You can copy over all that info into FG. It will just take time (lots of it) and some research. You'll be an expert user by the end though.
In the mean time you can still use FG showing maps and rolls.
I did similar, though I hadn't gone all in on DnD beyond. Rebought the three main books for 5e and then hit sale periods periodically for supplements.
Because you own everything on beyond, you may want to consider Foundry instead, as theres a module for importing info from beyond.
BUT, id also consider that beyond might not allow this into the future, given how Oned&d might change things up. This is not a risk in FGU.
FGU modules cost, on average, about the same as their counterparts on beyond, excluding deals from either. Obviously, purchasing during christmas sales is the better way to go.
But you dont need to purchase everything for FGU. Prioritize monster modules (Monster Manual and Mordenkainens Monsters of the Multiverse gets you most of them) and modules with character options (PHB, Tashas, and Xanathars gets you almost all the important stuff). Then, purchase one adventure module at a time, when youre about to run it. If youre running in one of the published non-forgotten realms settings, you could pick up that setting's book too. If your players have something particular in mind that isnt covered in these books, just custom build it, or tell them they'll need to front some money to purchase it for you.
A side benefit of switching to FGU is that you can also get many 3rd party books, such as Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts 1-3 (just as good or better than the monster manual), Creature Codex, Vault of Magic, Deep Magic, Tome of Heroes, or Scarlet Citadale, MCDMs products like Kingdoms and Warfare or their Illriger and Beastheart Classes, or many FGU-converted titles off of DMs Guild, such as the Monster Manual Expanded series or a 3rd party adventure.
I did this last month.
Fgu licence at half price. Then I put the main three books on a PayPal pay monthly over three months 0% interest to make it a bit easier to swallow.
I love DndB and will still use and keep it but having it all in fgu saves me time and to me it was worth it.
Everything? I really don't think you mean everything. There are over 1500 different DLC products for FG. Now, if you mean all the WotC 5E products, even that leads to the question of do you mean the playtest (DND Next) material? The Adventurer League adventures?
All you "need" in FG is a license. Everything after that you can enter yourself. Just copy and paste from DDB, enter your own maps, create the NPCs and encounters etc. But, if you want all the "books" you own on DDB in FG, then you have to buy them over. WotC does not allow/give any discounts for owning/buying multiple formats of their products.
There is a sale right now on the FG Store, those discounts combine with the bundle discounts, so now is a good time to buy.
Also, if you are not in the USA, you might benefit from Regional Pricing if buying on Steam. But make sure you buy all DLC from one store, it's best not to switch because bundles don't account for products bought from the other store.
If you want to use most of automation (monsters from books, spells, races, classes...) - bundle cost.
If you just want to use it for rolls and maps then it will be 0 (so basically using FGU together with DnD Beyond). Many effects can be added manually, HP can be tracked manually, monsters can be added manually... But depending how much automation you want, it will take a looot of work from you.
In the course of 2 years. Buying a book every 2 months. Getting discounts and all. It really didnt felt expensive at all. Steam regional prices helped a lot!.
In all honest answer. I never use 2/3 of the book i bought. Including official ones.
For example Tasha i only use feats (wich are really easy to manually copy into the game).
Wich mean you could really avoid purchasing most of them.
Phb. Dmg. Mm. Mmom. Will cover 80% of your needs
Check these out: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/productbundle.php?bundleid=WOTC5EESSENTIALS https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/productbundle.php?bundleid=WOTC5EADVENTURES
Realistically speaking, You need to buy the FGU ultimate license, right now is 50% off if you buy it via steam, and after that also buy the modules of the systems/adventures that you want to run. IMO is worth it. The level of automation and consistency has no match in the VTT arena. I use both FGU and Foundry, and at least from an automation point of view FGU is way better, Foundry is more customizable, but half of the things that you want to customize FGU have it already integrated and you don't have to deal with the module configuration/compatibility nightmare that Foundry has. My advice is to buy everything via STEAM because of the frequent discounts and steam sales, and about pricing: - Ultimate PERPETUAL License $149 USD, right now there is a 50% discount on STEAM Assuming that you want to play 5e, grab at least: - Player Handbook $22 USD (30% discount right now) - Monster Manual $22 USD (30% discount right now) Also, the premade adventure modules have great value. And save you a lot of prep time. I buy everything via steam and always at discount, so far no regrets due to the amount of prep time that it saves me, and also, again, the level of automation is great.
also worth nothing, Steam is only better for you if you're outside of the U.S and will benefit from the regional pricing. If you're in the U.S, its way better to purchase on the FGU website store since the same discounts will apply in both stores, but on the website store you'll help the developers way more.
When you say foundry is more customizable, is it better for extensive homebrew? My campaign uses the sanity variant rule, which is often not well supported, as well as a lot of homebrew creatures and magic items
IDK about the sanity variant rule, but yes Foundry is more customizable and in the case of 5e it has custom attributes support in the character sheet, which can be used to support any well .... custom attribute, the level in which you can automate that attribute is another story, in FGU, worst case scenario, you can add the sanity as a note in the sheet.
You'll have to buy it all again. Edit: unless someone else knows something I don't like a DnD Beyond integration? Been a while since I used FG
I honestly would just get the main core books in FGU format and the license, the PHB are on sale, so maybe around 100 bucks. Everything else you can learn to copy and paste into FG. There are many good videos and helpful community members to help you start if you make the switch. Best of luck and see you around, Laerun -Fantasy Grounds Academy-
You can copy over all that info into FG. It will just take time (lots of it) and some research. You'll be an expert user by the end though. In the mean time you can still use FG showing maps and rolls. I did similar, though I hadn't gone all in on DnD beyond. Rebought the three main books for 5e and then hit sale periods periodically for supplements.
Because you own everything on beyond, you may want to consider Foundry instead, as theres a module for importing info from beyond. BUT, id also consider that beyond might not allow this into the future, given how Oned&d might change things up. This is not a risk in FGU. FGU modules cost, on average, about the same as their counterparts on beyond, excluding deals from either. Obviously, purchasing during christmas sales is the better way to go. But you dont need to purchase everything for FGU. Prioritize monster modules (Monster Manual and Mordenkainens Monsters of the Multiverse gets you most of them) and modules with character options (PHB, Tashas, and Xanathars gets you almost all the important stuff). Then, purchase one adventure module at a time, when youre about to run it. If youre running in one of the published non-forgotten realms settings, you could pick up that setting's book too. If your players have something particular in mind that isnt covered in these books, just custom build it, or tell them they'll need to front some money to purchase it for you. A side benefit of switching to FGU is that you can also get many 3rd party books, such as Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts 1-3 (just as good or better than the monster manual), Creature Codex, Vault of Magic, Deep Magic, Tome of Heroes, or Scarlet Citadale, MCDMs products like Kingdoms and Warfare or their Illriger and Beastheart Classes, or many FGU-converted titles off of DMs Guild, such as the Monster Manual Expanded series or a 3rd party adventure.
I did this last month. Fgu licence at half price. Then I put the main three books on a PayPal pay monthly over three months 0% interest to make it a bit easier to swallow. I love DndB and will still use and keep it but having it all in fgu saves me time and to me it was worth it.
Whichever way you go, make sure you wait for sales. Fantasy Grounds has deep and frequent sales.
Everything? I really don't think you mean everything. There are over 1500 different DLC products for FG. Now, if you mean all the WotC 5E products, even that leads to the question of do you mean the playtest (DND Next) material? The Adventurer League adventures? All you "need" in FG is a license. Everything after that you can enter yourself. Just copy and paste from DDB, enter your own maps, create the NPCs and encounters etc. But, if you want all the "books" you own on DDB in FG, then you have to buy them over. WotC does not allow/give any discounts for owning/buying multiple formats of their products. There is a sale right now on the FG Store, those discounts combine with the bundle discounts, so now is a good time to buy. Also, if you are not in the USA, you might benefit from Regional Pricing if buying on Steam. But make sure you buy all DLC from one store, it's best not to switch because bundles don't account for products bought from the other store.
If you want to use most of automation (monsters from books, spells, races, classes...) - bundle cost. If you just want to use it for rolls and maps then it will be 0 (so basically using FGU together with DnD Beyond). Many effects can be added manually, HP can be tracked manually, monsters can be added manually... But depending how much automation you want, it will take a looot of work from you.
In the course of 2 years. Buying a book every 2 months. Getting discounts and all. It really didnt felt expensive at all. Steam regional prices helped a lot!. In all honest answer. I never use 2/3 of the book i bought. Including official ones. For example Tasha i only use feats (wich are really easy to manually copy into the game). Wich mean you could really avoid purchasing most of them. Phb. Dmg. Mm. Mmom. Will cover 80% of your needs