I'm happy to share that the major changes we have been talking about for months with the character sheet revamp are here!
While the individual changes are too numerous to effectively list - we have overhauled the digital character sheet in fundamental ways - I will give a high-level summary of our feature goals and how the changes support them. This changelog entry is probably more of a philosophical treatise than a list of changes, but bear with me.
Before getting into that, I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude to the developers as they have crossed this threshold on an enormous undertaking. I love working with these folks every day!
Character Sheet Revamp Themes
We focused on several core concepts or themes during the development of the changes to the character sheet. These themes were shared back in September as we were conceptualizing the changes:
Feedback Focused
The primary theme from which all the others originate, we made these changes based on hundreds of thousands of points of feedback on our forums, social media, and internal and external playtesting.
When we started beta testing for the digital character sheet last year and through launch in August, we knew that it was not what we or the community truly wanted. The problem was we couldn't quite pinpoint what we did want out of a digital sheet. Once we understood that, we resolved that getting a prototype out for players to use in real games and collecting feedback to create the shape of things to come was the right call.
While much of the feedback resonated and got us to where we are now, perhaps the most compelling to me personally was shared early by TomWB:
Don't over think this! Characters don't have that many features! People have made do with paper sheets for decades! Just present a list of feature names, and add the only-possible-digitally benefits of collapsible full descriptions and tracking of uses/charges. That will represent a huge upgrade!
The subsequent themes spring from our focus on feedback.
Provide Proper Desktop Views
When the digital sheet was originally conceived, our assumption was that most players would use it on a mobile device. We felt so strongly about that assumption that we barely provided a desktop view of the sheet - it was essentially several mobile views stacked into place like a puzzle.
After millions of characters and hundreds of thousands of game sessions, our data tells us that almost 70% of the sheet usage is on desktop resolutions. Our first suspicion was players (and DMs) were viewing the sheet between sessions - which is still a great use case - but we still see that kind of percentage with other events that indicate it's used during play on those resolutions too. People are apparently playing on laptops or ultra-large tablets. On top of this data, feedback confirmed that desktop views needed a good bit of love. Armed with this information, we set out to dramatically improve the desktop look, layout, and feel, with an emphasis on utilizing the space much more effectively.
Although providing proper desktop views was a priority, we never lost site of providing the best possible experience on mobile. A D&D character is fairly complex, but we've worked hard to get all that information into the palm of your hand.
Better Access to At-a-Glance Information / Remove Collapsibles - Retain Access to Full Descriptions
To me, the most insightful category of feedback we received overwhelmingly early on was that players wanted to be able to see a better breakdown of essential or frequently-used information versus full/ expanded descriptions. You wanted to see the things that matter most at a glance, but still have the advantages of a digital platform to dig into the full context easily.
Enter "snippets" - short descriptions of all class features, racial traits, feats, and more. These short descriptions were added to give players all the information they need (or at least a solid foundation) without needing to read the expanded rules or descriptive text.
Oh, and everyone kind of hated the concept of "collapsibles" where full descriptions were tucked under header names, so we did away with them entirely. Now, since we are utilizing screen real-estate more fully, you can see more of the information you need to speed up play without clicking or tapping. If you need to drill down into an element on the sheet, click or tap it to reveal the new sidebar. The sidebar can be swiped in and out on mobile and dismissed or docked on desktop. You still have access to all the rules content you need in a more accessible way.
Allow for More Ad Hoc Customization
Dungeons & Dragons players like to create and customize (understatement). As DDB was created, we knew the homebrew system would be incredibly important, and while that system is powerful in what it can do with modifiers, filtering, and more, it is not conducive to on-the-fly customization, such as adding a strange trinket your DM just described.
The new sheet allows for considerably more flexibility, including creating ad hoc items, adding feats outside normal progression, adjusting skill or saving throw proficiencies, modifying passive skills, speed, or defenses, and creating custom attacks and actions.
We plan to introduce even more customization capability in the future, even getting to a point where you do not return to the builder to edit your character since it will all be done in the sheet. At that point, the builder will be used for one purpose - to initially create a character. We have also received considerable feedback requesting a comprehensive inventory management system with containers and party sharing. That is also on the roadmap in the future.
Provide a Familiar Feel - Neo-Retro
Character sheets have existed for 40+ years, and players instantly recognize the form factor as iconic. I started using the term "neo-retro" with the team early on to emphasize what we were trying to accomplish for this theme - to make a digital sheet that was familiar and proven but also convenient and powerful. I used the imagery of the new Ford Mustang or Dodge Challenger models that evoke the memory of classic models but have every modern convenience imaginable.
I believe the result speaks for itself!
Additional Points of Interest
Outside of the core themes above, a few more changes are worth mentioning:
Site Header Updates
The entire site has a new, more compact header. This gives us more screen real-estate on desktop, but it also allows for longer page titles to wrap (instead of getting cut off as they did before, especially on forum posts). In general, it's a cleaner interface that lays the ground work for exciting navigation changes in the coming weeks.
PDF Overhaul
The PDF export started as a stub during beta and we realized we needed major changes to the way the character sheet worked before we could really finish it. I'm thrilled to be able to say that the new PDF export can be labeled release-worthy. Snippets and page references are now on features and traits, expanded spell information is included, and other helpful breakdowns such as the Actions section are integrated. We will still have more improvements coming based on feedback, but this is a huge step forward. Take it for a spin!
Copy Your Character
You can now create copies of any of your characters from the 'My Characters' section. This could be useful to "save" versions of your character at different levels (if you play it in different games for instance) or to be able to theorycraft without worrying about going too far to revert.
In the near future, you will also have the ability to create a copy of another player's read-only characters so you can use that character in your own game. We are still working out some of the security around this feature and will release it once we're confident in the results.
Sheet Appearance Customization
You can change your theme color, portrait frame, or character backdrop via the dropdown menu on your character's name. More theme options will come on a regular basis. Go wild!
Spell Level Scaling
During playtesting, we observed that many players struggled to remember or use spells with increased effects when cast at higher levels. To assist with this, we have included scaled spells in the listing in the Spells section. For example, you can learn fireball once you can cast 3rd level spells and will see it under your 3rd level list. Once you can cast 4th level spells, fireball will appear in that list too, but with the increased effects of casting at that higher level called out in "delta" blue text.
Character Sharing
You can now share your character URL with others and they can see a read-only version of your character's sheet. If you share that URL via social media, a character stat card will display as you share. If you are viewing your own character, the URL in the browser address bar will be your "edit" address. If you share the edit URL, others will still be redirected to a read-only copy of your sheet, but sharing that on social media will not always result in an updated stat card image due to the way those sites cache such images. For the most reliable sharing results, click the "Share" button in the header of your sheet (on desktop) or the "Share Character" option in the character name dropdown menu. A toast message will appear where you can click to copy the URL to your clipboard for sharing.
Snippet Code
The short descriptions on features, traits, and feats also include some simple code to auto-calculate a variety of numbers for ease of use. The syntax for this code is "{{inserthere}}" and can use math. The full list of available options are:
{{spellattack}} - your spell "to hit"
{{scalevalue}} - a class-specific value, such as Rage Damage for a barbarian
{{modifier:str}} - a modifier for an ability score (str, dex, con, int, wis, cha)
{{savedc:str}} - generates your Save DC using the specified ability modifier (str, dex, con, int, wis, cha)
{{fixedvalue}} - the fixed number from the feature or trait
{{classlevel}} - level in the contextual class
{{characterlevel}} - total character level
{{proficiency}} - your proficiency bonus
{{maxhp}} - your maximum hit points
{{limiteduse}} - total number of uses for the contextual feature or trait
For example, the Fallen Aasimar's Necrotic Shroud racial trait has the following snippet:
[3rd] Once per long rest as an action, you can transform, causing all within 10 ft. to make a CHA saving throw (DC {{savedc:cha}}) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. This lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. Once on your turn you can have one attack or spell deal {{characterlevel}} points of extra necrotic damage to one target.
which for a 12 level character with a Charisma modifier of +2 displays as:
[3rd] Once per long rest as an action, you can transform, causing all within 10 ft. to make a CHA saving throw (DC 14) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. This lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. Once on your turn you can have one attack or spell deal 12 points of extra necrotic damage to one target.
You can use snippet code in your homebrew creations where snippets are available. More help/ guidelines will come in the future, but a great starting point would be to take a look at how existing snippets are formed to get to what you need.
Pact and Hex Weapons
We see the data, and there are a whole lotta hexblades out there! We now have a simple and straightforward way to designate a weapon as a Pact Weapon or Hex Weapon. If you have the Pact of the Blade Pact Boon or the Hex Warrior feature, you will see new checkboxes in the sidebar whenever you equip (make active) a relevant weapon. Check the relevant checkbox for pact or hex and the effects (automatic proficiency for pact and use the CHA modifier for hex) are automatically applied to that weapon.
Update Your Homebrew
With changes this comprehensive, new options will be available for your homebrew content - especially snippets - that will impact how that content displays on the sheet. Unfortunately, there's no feasible way for us to automate adding these additional layers to existing homebrew and you will need to update yours to fully take advantage of some of the changes. While this will work well for private content, republishing that content will get easier in the days to come as we overhaul how sharing homebrew content works. We will provide updates on status on that front soon.
What's Next?
Now that the foundation of the new character sheet is in place, we will focus in the near-future on addressing any bugs or immediately-actionable feedback, as well as introduce smaller, quicker enhancement iterations. Some of these enhancements include copying other players' characters into your own character list, companions/ familiars/ mounts/ wild shape monster integration, improved character list organization, class-specific resource management support (ki, sorcery points, etc.), and more.
Following these follow-up enhancements, we will tackle the intended changes for the character builder, namely removing the need to return to it to edit an existing character, some alternate creation flows, and expanded options for quick building "optimized" characters of any level (as opposed to the not-so-optimized yet wonderfully fun results of 'Randomize').
Once we get there, character management will be in a good place and we will move with great excitement on to campaign and DM tools such as source management and encounter/ monster building.
For the latest updates on what we're working on at any given time, be sure to tune into our monthly development update/ Q&A session live streams on twitch.tv/dndbeyond.
We are grateful for the incredible community of D&D players that have joined us on this exciting adventure! Thanks for your support as we continue to work to make D&D Beyond everything we want it to be!
I didn't see any comments on this but 'Opportunity Attack' is not a Standard Action and should be listed as a Reaction
I am noticing that spells that are concentration are not displaying that way and on mobile it doesn't show what components are required at an easy glance
I just played a game where three of us were using the new character sheet while we played, and I lost count of the number of times one of us said, "Oh, hey, look at this cool feature! I love the new interface!" We all found it super easy to use, and we loved the interactive features, like being able to change prepared spells, or reset hit points and spells with a rest. The breakdown of actions versus bonus actions versus reactions was especially nice. Oh, and the GM loved being able to see our character sheets right on screen.
Any big change is going to mess things up for someone (if you haven't already seen it, Google "xkcd workflow" for a laugh), but the new layout gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up from us. Thanks for the hard work you all put into it, and are still putting into it to fix bugs as they come up.
Everything about this is amazing. The only thing I want is more! So cool!
Usability feedback: I would like to be able to see ritual spells more clearly even if they aren't prepared - you should consider a tab for those in the spells section. Last I checked they only show if you prepare them, and the whole point of ritual spells is not needing to.
Kinda Character sheet related, kinda not - Pyrotechnics is listed as an EE on page 163.
Two things - 1) EE doesn't have 163 pages (unless we're talking the source Prices of the Apocalypse?) 2) The pyrotechnics spell listed is the modified one from XgtE and not the EE spell.
So... I finally did this with my group last night and here was their feedback:
Positives:
It looks nice pretty?
The action/bonus action/reaction breakdown is incredibly helpful and useful. I'm wondering why it had to repress the rechargeable abilities section though.
Negatives:
Everything else. "I thought the point of this was so we didn't have to use character sheets". Stats take up WAY too much room and info is inaccessible. They missed having their notes front and center and spellcasters hated having to go back in between spells and AC and stuff. Who made that awesome decision? It slowed down the game significantly, when the old system sped it up, even the first time we used it. Adding stuff to equipment and managing spells is super counterintuitive and just dumb design compared to the old system. The recharging per short/long rest section was missed by everyone. Going into equipment to mark off charges for a used item was something that was even more time-consuming. Good design means the user has to do the least amount of work to access to content they want; you did not do that. You did the opposite of that with the revamp.
And is there still no way to reorder things, like attacks or inventory? That was the change I wish you did make, along with having a utility for bags of holding and the like.
It's just...... Super disappointing, especially after purchasing three campaigns and paying to unlock the entire legendary bundle. This isn't they system I paid for.
I love this so much, thank you!
Two things I noticed, both applying to the Bard/College of Whispers Build:
So many bugs. So many bugs. Anyone know how to send in the feed back I’m getting on these bugs?
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/bugs-support/19570-mega-thread-character-sheet-revamp-bug-report
While this looks great, I'd much rather have your dev's time spent on class and character features. instead of a giant UI rewrite. The last UI was not awesome, but what's less awesome is having to have a ring of Minor Illusion to fix the fact that my minor illusion cantrip for gnome or buried under class traits instead of added to my wizard cantrips. Just to name ONE. It'd be amazing to have a familiar character tracking feature too. Just to name another off the top of my head.
The UI looks cool and I get it, the bigger the UI the more it costs to rewrite, so rewrite early. But I really hope this hasn't take up a couple months of a dev's time when he could have been feature and bug smashing!
I should add, when you have paying subscribers and content purchased on your site, people paid for a look and feel as much as function. It sounds like a number of add-ons and features were lost. This is not a F2P app they you are getting money from a free use user base. This is a Pay2P app for a portion of your users and to drastically change a UI without at least offering a <toggle> old UI / new UI </toggle> feature is just reckless. Specially months after a giant user base explosion thanks to CR. We were just getting used to the old ui and now this?! Bad business management.
It's still lost on me how this is an improvement? Now I don't know where to find most of the stuff i had on screen and it's actually putting me off using DND beyond quite a bit which annoys me since I spent my birthday money on buying some of the books options.
I think the old version was a little more mobile friendly and I prefer it(especially because dnd is easier when it's mobile friendly) but you guys did a good job.
thank you for adding the hexblade features.
cleric life-domain increase to heals is not present.
Digital publishers/ mediums change UI and look and feel all the time - perhaps even more so when they have users that pay them - as a way to continuously improve their product offering and user experience. In these situations, I am hard-pressed to name an example of a company that allowed a toggle, as that kind of architecture and support is tough to make feasible.
You mentioned in your other post that you would have preferred our development time being spent on adding character features/ bug smashing, and that is perfectly valid feedback. The overwhelming majority of the feedback we received from the initial iteration of the digital sheet was contrary to that, and so we made the best prioritization decision available to us.
Usability and look and feel is actually an important "feature" that is core to a digital character sheet. If most of the people using it complain that it is not usable, then we aren't accomplishing our goals. This prompted all of the UI changes.
I believe good news for you is now that we have made these foundational changes, we will be able to move on to adding some of the things you brought up you want to see.
Thanks!
Is there a way to use the old layout? I just personally like the old one better, just my opinion.
I think the bug regarding forest gnome wizards (school of illusion) not being able to select a new cantrip is still present. I thought it was going to be fixed in this sheet revamp.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/d-d-beyond-feedback/17870-forest-gnome-illusion-wizard-minor-illusion
Esit: never mind my response was incorrect.
I don't think so. I know someone complained about that earlier.
Is there any way to turn off spell scaling please? Spell list is so cluttered now.