D&D Beyond unveils Q1 2026 roadmap for partner books, creator content
Learn what partner books and creator content D&D Beyond plans to add in Q1 2026 and how those integrations will affect play and character options.
1. Exploring Eberron — Jan. 27 rollout
Keith Baker’s expanded Eberron material arrives on D&D Beyond with direct integration into the Character Builder, bringing setting-specific character options, subclasses, and lore into your digital toolkit. For GMs this means easier onboarding of Eberron play: stat blocks, backgrounds, and setting notes will be accessible alongside character creation so you can bolt a lightning rail or warforged PC into a campaign without flipbooks. Players gain practical value from built-in choices and compatibility with existing compendia, cutting prep time and reducing conversion errors when porting content to sessions.
2. The Pugilist Class — early February
The third-party Pugilist class, a brawler-focused, unarmed-combat option, will be added as a full class on the platform, including class features, level progression, and character-builder support. This is great news for tables that want lethal fists, grappling specialists, or cinematic street-fighter builds without wrestling with homebrew formatting. Expect practical benefits like automatic feature tracking, correct proficiency handling, and clean integration with feats and multiclassing rules so your Pugilist can pair smoothly with rogue or fighter archetypes.
3. Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol. 1 — late February
Adapted from the comedy actual-play series, this release bundles quick-play maps and one-shots designed for fast, table-ready runs and laughs. DMs looking to run pick-up games or convention slots will appreciate prebuilt maps, encounter notes, and one-shot pacing that cuts prep time dramatically. The integration on D&D Beyond should streamline NPC and monster stat lookup, while letting you drag-and-drop elements into your campaign notes so your table can get from tavern to tomb—and punchline—in an evening.
4. Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting: Part 2 — early March
This follow-up adapts monster-hunting play with tool support tailored to tracking, hunting, and confronting creatures across diverse ecosystems and territories. The D&D Beyond version aims to include scenario tools, checklist-style tracking, and perhaps encounter templates tuned for monster-hunter campaigns, making it easier to run investigative hunts rather than pure dungeon crawls. For groups who enjoy contract-based sessions, hunting economies, and resource-management tension, this means the platform will help manage bounties, clues, and creature mechanics without excessive bookkeeping.
5. The Griffon’s Saddlebag: Book One — late March
A magic‑item collection, Griffon’s Saddlebag integrates new wondrous items and artifacts directly into D&D Beyond’s compendium so you can add loot to treasure hoards with no manual transcription. Item descriptions, attunement conditions, and mechanical effects will slot into character sheets and inventory lists, which simplifies awarding and tracking magical gear mid-session. GMs who run sandbox or loot-heavy games will find the searchable items and taggable properties useful for balancing treasure pacing and avoiding unintended stacking issues.
6. Q1 roadmap cadence and community visibility
D&D Beyond intends these quarterly roadmaps to give creators and players advance visibility into partnered content, so you can plan campaigns, character builds, or creator collaborations around upcoming integrations. That cadence lets GMs schedule themes—like a month of Eberron games—while creators can align release schedules or prepare supplementary material. For the community, a predictable roadmap reduces surprise format changes and helps streamers, organizers, and convention runners know what will be available on the platform.
7. Selection criteria: what makes the cut
The platform’s selection criteria center on mechanical depth, narrative quality, and integration potential—meaning D&D Beyond prioritizes content that enriches gameplay systems, offers strong storytelling hooks, and can be technically brought into the Character Builder and compendium. That matters for you because mechanically deep modules and classes are more likely to have full digital tooling (auto-calculations, filters, and builder support), while narrative-rich books often include DM tools like adventure seeds or roleplaying prompts. Knowing these priorities helps you predict which creator projects are likely to be supported next.
8. Roadmap caveat: subject to change
The roadmap is presented as a planning tool and remains subject to change, so release windows can shift and features may evolve before rollout. Treat dates as guidance for campaign planning rather than immutable deadlines—keep flexibility in your timelines for character reveals, league schedules, or streaming premieres. When a schedule moves, use the extra time to refine builds, map out narrative arcs, or test homebrew conversions so you’re ready when new content lands.
End with practical wisdom: Bookmark the roadmap, but don’t lock your campaign calendar to a single date—use these previews to sketch builds, draft session arcs, and prepare encounter themes now, then swap in official tools when they drop to save prep time and reduce conversion headaches. If you run games, subscribe to notification channels and set a short checklist: import new options, test interactions on a mock character, and patch adventure notes—those small steps turn promising drops into smoother sessions and happier tables.
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