My group has a pretty strong stance on "digital dice". They're bad in almost all cases.
When trying to take a short rest, a player had rolled her hit dice and checked them off in the app and completed the short rest. The app automatically adjusted her hit points, which was somewhat annoying when she'd already been fighting with electronics most of the day (not gaming related). Even if she wanted to have the app roll for her, having to choose the number of dice all at once is counter to the actual rules, which allow you to roll one die, record the results, roll another dice, record the results, etc. Just a list of boxes is fine, if the player is rolling. If the app is rolling, each check should show the result independently.
Am I missing something in the app for a better UX? This actually brought Friday's game to a halt as the three IT guys each took a turn looking at the app trying to figure out the "right" way of doing Hit Dice during a short rest. No one could figure out a way that wasn't clunky.
I'm a little confused at your reference to an "app" as the D&D Beyond mobile app doesn't have character sheet functionality yet - was the player accessing D&D Beyond via the browser on a mobile device? If so, that's the same experience as using it via a web browser on a PC (other than screen size).
Taking a short rest using the D&D Beyond character sheet doesn't automatically roll those hit dice for you on a short rest.
With regards to spending more Hit dice - the character sheet is a record of what you're doing, so I see it as working like this:
Player selects "Short rest" from the character menu of the character sheet.
The character sheet displays the Short Rest side panel, which informs you of how many HD you have available to spend and what each returns for you.
The player then rolls dice, making decisions on how many to roll - as you mention, you can roll some dice, then roll some additional dice. They can check off each hit dice as they roll them on the side bar.
Once happy that they've rolled all the hit dice they want, the player clicks the "Take Short Rest" button, which turns green and you click again to confirm.
Player adjusts their current hit points on the sheet.
I was referring to the web app (i.e. online character sheet). Sorry for the confusion.
Now I'm super confused, too. I would absolutely swear that it was rolling dice for the player, Friday. Now, I see the same behavior you're describing, where it's all manual. I have no clue what we were doing, but it was, clearly, user error.
My group has a pretty strong stance on "digital dice". They're bad in almost all cases.
When trying to take a short rest, a player had rolled her hit dice and checked them off in the app and completed the short rest. The app automatically adjusted her hit points, which was somewhat annoying when she'd already been fighting with electronics most of the day (not gaming related). Even if she wanted to have the app roll for her, having to choose the number of dice all at once is counter to the actual rules, which allow you to roll one die, record the results, roll another dice, record the results, etc. Just a list of boxes is fine, if the player is rolling. If the app is rolling, each check should show the result independently.
Am I missing something in the app for a better UX? This actually brought Friday's game to a halt as the three IT guys each took a turn looking at the app trying to figure out the "right" way of doing Hit Dice during a short rest. No one could figure out a way that wasn't clunky.
Hi there SobekRe,
I'm a little confused at your reference to an "app" as the D&D Beyond mobile app doesn't have character sheet functionality yet - was the player accessing D&D Beyond via the browser on a mobile device? If so, that's the same experience as using it via a web browser on a PC (other than screen size).
Taking a short rest using the D&D Beyond character sheet doesn't automatically roll those hit dice for you on a short rest.
With regards to spending more Hit dice - the character sheet is a record of what you're doing, so I see it as working like this:
All done.
Does this vary from the experience at your table?
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"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I was referring to the web app (i.e. online character sheet). Sorry for the confusion.
Now I'm super confused, too. I would absolutely swear that it was rolling dice for the player, Friday. Now, I see the same behavior you're describing, where it's all manual. I have no clue what we were doing, but it was, clearly, user error.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
There are a couple of third party chrome extensions that add dice rolling to D&D Beyond, so maybe the player had one of those installed?
They're not officially supported, so use at your own risk, but the authors are community regulars and are responsive to feedback.
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊