Hi ... I obviously haven't read this entire thread so my feedback may duplicate earlier entries.
All of my comments relate to the character builder.
In my opinion, the character builder UI is incredibly clunky. It is far from user friendly and although it may have the functionality it lacks immensely in usability especially compared to other products.
Examples:
1) Pages of explanatory text between or prefacing entries. These should be either optional or linked but not on by default.
2) Layout of the stats page does not easily show the final stats without scrolling the page and the detailed boxes are arranged in two rows instead of in columns beneath each stat. It is not the stat you select that matters but the final number after application of racial, level and feat modifiers that is important. A +/- button for application of points to stats might be a more intuitive UI than the drop down list currently implemented.
3) Equipment selection is atrocious. It takes so much effort to select individual items to add to a character that it is likely easier to simply print the character sheet and write them in by hand. Filters help somewhat but the whole "load more" approach is just bad UI design in my opinion.
4) When you click on the categories in the character builder ("race" etc) it displays the wall of text descriptions instead of the section where you set the specific characteristic.
There are lots more comments that could be made.
Basically, it seems to me, the quality and functionality of the character builder is just not up to an acceptable standard.
This is especially true considering that to make significant use out of it players are required to re-purchase digital versions of content to which most already have access. Under those circumstances, your product can not afford to be lackluster or offer a substandard user experience since the user experience is the ONLY reason people will choose to make use of your product. DnD Beyond has to represent a huge added value to get people to invest in content that they already own. Unfortunately, at the moment, and admittedly just in my opinion, the character builder does not represent such added value.
I'll check back in a few months to see if anything has changed ...
1) Pages of explanatory text between or prefacing entries. These should be either optional or linked but not on by default.
When you select Standard, uncheck "Show Help Text". If you're already in the builder, click the blue question mark next to "Home". Those will turn the tips off.
2) Layout of the stats page does not easily show the final stats without scrolling the page and the detailed boxes are arranged in two rows instead of in columns beneath each stat. It is not the stat you select that matters but the final number after application of racial, level and feat modifiers that is important. A +/- button for application of points to stats might be a more intuitive UI than the drop down list currently implemented.
It's not the easiest to read for sure, but it's not impossible to tell what's going on. They are working on updating the character builder and sheet layout though.
3) Equipment selection is atrocious. It takes so much effort to select individual items to add to a character that it is likely easier to simply print the character sheet and write them in by hand. Filters help somewhat but the whole "load more" approach is just bad UI design in my opinion.
This is definitely one of the next updates coming out. We all agree and the developers have heard.
4) When you click on the categories in the character builder ("race" etc) it displays the wall of text descriptions instead of the section where you set the specific characteristic.
1) Pages of explanatory text between or prefacing entries. These should be either optional or linked but not on by default.
When you select Standard, uncheck "Show Help Text". If you're already in the builder, click the blue question mark next to "Home". Those will turn the tips off.
2) Layout of the stats page does not easily show the final stats without scrolling the page and the detailed boxes are arranged in two rows instead of in columns beneath each stat. It is not the stat you select that matters but the final number after application of racial, level and feat modifiers that is important. A +/- button for application of points to stats might be a more intuitive UI than the drop down list currently implemented.
It's not the easiest to read for sure, but it's not impossible to tell what's going on. They are working on updating the character builder and sheet layout though.
3) Equipment selection is atrocious. It takes so much effort to select individual items to add to a character that it is likely easier to simply print the character sheet and write them in by hand. Filters help somewhat but the whole "load more" approach is just bad UI design in my opinion.
This is definitely one of the next updates coming out. We all agree and the developers have heard.
4) When you click on the categories in the character builder ("race" etc) it displays the wall of text descriptions instead of the section where you set the specific characteristic.
I think this is the same issue as #1.
Yep ... sorry 1 and 4 were the same ... I was interrupted part way through typing it. Thanks for the tip about the question mark ... it wasn't obvious at least to me.
Anyway, additional UI issues would include:
1) Selection and assigning of skills along with the lack of numerical feedback in terms of what the skills actually do. You select skills it at least three different places, race selection, background and class. Some of these on completely separate screens.
2) Racial stat modifiers for the half-elf ... these are selected on the race screen and not on the abilities screen. Same goes for languages and bonus skills for race.
It would be much more straight forward if the "Abilities" tab actually had all the abilities options ... if there was a Skills/tools/languages tab again where all these could be selected. This is important since some of the class skill selection lists are quite small and you may want to make skill selections so as to make best use of the options available.
3) Why have a confirmation box if changing the progression between XP and milestone?
4) HP type is "fixed" and "manual" ... does "fixed" mean average? or some other value?
5) Why have a toggle on the home page for displaying unarmed strike information? Wouldn't it make more sense to include that in whatever section lists the weapons the character has available/equipped?
6) Changing race requires at least 3 clicks ... change race+select new race+ display a bunch of text + confirm change ... the text describing the race should be a help window activating by clicking or mouse-over a help icon. Selection should be just a simple click to make it easy.
7) Changing character class requires clicking remove class and then bringing up a long list of classes that then display a complete summary of the class whether you want it or not and then you have to click add class to actually change your class. This could have been done with a drop down -> select class.
Anyway, I first looked at this in August ... it is now a couple months later ... nothing has changed and I thought it worthwhile expressing how poor the overall UI design decisions made in this product appear to be. Web based character design has a lot of potential but this one doesn't live up to that potential at the moment in my opinion.
The above commenter addressed most of your points, except this one. There's a search bar in the Equipment section for a reason. Type in the thing you want, and click Add. Easy peasy lemon squeezee.
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Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
A Scroll of Pedigree is essentially a birth certificate for Nobles indicating that they're of belonging to a royal family. It's offered from the Noble Background.
A Scroll of Pedigree is essentially a birth certificate for Nobles indicating that they're of belonging to a royal family. It's offered from the Noble Background.
I'm aware they aren't uploaded as equipment in the system, but it's still something that player's use when they do play a Noble.
Most campaigns will never even see a Grenade Launcher but that's still in the Equipment list. You've got 20 kinds of poison but you can't put in a single item because it doesn't come up often enough?
I'm aware they aren't uploaded as equipment in the system, but it's still something that player's use when they do play a Noble.
Most campaigns will never even see a Grenade Launcher but that's still in the Equipment list. You've got 20 kinds of poison but you can't put in a single item because it doesn't come up often enough?
No, I did not mean that it is not in the system because it does not come up often enough. What I meant is: it is not there because it is not meaningful for the mechanics of the character. Same thing goes for the trinkets, for example.
1. Being able to put notes onto items in inventory. Maybe a +1 sword is also bright green or has some strange carvings on it. Or maybe make a list of all the spells in a particular spellbook
2. When adding items to Inventory, if we could have an option for "New Item" which just created a custom blank item Named whatever we put in, would make it much easier. Sometimes you pickup things that are not official equipment. Creating a homebrew item from scratch every time I grab a knick-knack from a room seems cumbersome.
3. Letting us override the weight on items would be nice as well. Sorry I ran over the two request limit.
I'm aware they aren't uploaded as equipment in the system, but it's still something that player's use when they do play a Noble.
Most campaigns will never even see a Grenade Launcher but that's still in the Equipment list. You've got 20 kinds of poison but you can't put in a single item because it doesn't come up often enough?
What you CAN do is put that type of thing in the Possessions tab of your equipment. That is where I have been putting most of my characters' belongings that have no mechanical impact but can influence roleplay and setting interaction.
Can the resilient feat be taken once for each attribute? The character builder allows it, but a strict reading of the rules says that since there's only once Resilient feat, you can't take it more than once even with different choices.
I noticed that for the feats that are broken out into the various choices you can make with it (Resilient, Ritual Caster, Spell Sniper, etc.), the builder allows you to take multiple 'variants' of the same feat. The only feat that should work this way is Elemental Adept as no other feat can be taken multiple times, even with different choices. I assume this is unintentional as the builder does not otherwise allow reselecting the same feat, even for other feats that allow choices like Weapon Master.
I'd love for there to be a lot more simple armor and equipment. The lack of stuff that comes up when I search for basic keywords like "sword" or "hide" is kind of strange. Even if it's really basic junky type stuff it would be nice if I could have it equip-able from the basic item database.
I noticed that for the feats that are broken out into the various choices you can make with it (Resilient, Ritual Caster, Spell Sniper, etc.), the builder allows you to take multiple 'variants' of the same feat. The only feat that should work this way is Elemental Adept as no other feat can be taken multiple times, even with different choices. I assume this is unintentional as the builder does not otherwise allow reselecting the same feat, even for other feats that allow choices like Weapon Master.
It's odd, because clearly the site engine in general has a way to pick an option (like a feat) and then a sub-option (like which ability to increase). Why not use this for Resilient?
(On the other hand, why not allow multiple Resilient selections? It's not likely to be game breaking — it's not like it's going to be a super-optimal choice in most cases.)
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Hi ... I obviously haven't read this entire thread so my feedback may duplicate earlier entries.
All of my comments relate to the character builder.
In my opinion, the character builder UI is incredibly clunky. It is far from user friendly and although it may have the functionality it lacks immensely in usability especially compared to other products.
Examples:
1) Pages of explanatory text between or prefacing entries. These should be either optional or linked but not on by default.
2) Layout of the stats page does not easily show the final stats without scrolling the page and the detailed boxes are arranged in two rows instead of in columns beneath each stat. It is not the stat you select that matters but the final number after application of racial, level and feat modifiers that is important. A +/- button for application of points to stats might be a more intuitive UI than the drop down list currently implemented.
3) Equipment selection is atrocious. It takes so much effort to select individual items to add to a character that it is likely easier to simply print the character sheet and write them in by hand. Filters help somewhat but the whole "load more" approach is just bad UI design in my opinion.
4) When you click on the categories in the character builder ("race" etc) it displays the wall of text descriptions instead of the section where you set the specific characteristic.
There are lots more comments that could be made.
Basically, it seems to me, the quality and functionality of the character builder is just not up to an acceptable standard.
This is especially true considering that to make significant use out of it players are required to re-purchase digital versions of content to which most already have access. Under those circumstances, your product can not afford to be lackluster or offer a substandard user experience since the user experience is the ONLY reason people will choose to make use of your product. DnD Beyond has to represent a huge added value to get people to invest in content that they already own. Unfortunately, at the moment, and admittedly just in my opinion, the character builder does not represent such added value.
I'll check back in a few months to see if anything has changed ...
When you select Standard, uncheck "Show Help Text". If you're already in the builder, click the blue question mark next to "Home". Those will turn the tips off.
"Equipment selection is atrocious."
The above commenter addressed most of your points, except this one. There's a search bar in the Equipment section for a reason. Type in the thing you want, and click Add. Easy peasy lemon squeezee.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
There's no Drow option in the race list? What's the deal D:
Also Scroll of Pedigree is not in the searchable equipment, I'm guessing because it isn't part of the PHB equipment list but it should still be added.
D&D Beyond can be used for free and contains information from the following "free to use" sources published by Wizards of the Coast: D&D 5th edition SRD, D&D 5th edition Basic Rules, and Elemental Evil Companion.
Content from other sources, such as the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, or Monster Manual, will need to be purchased from the Marketplace or accessed via another user sharing content with you via their Master Tier Subscription.
I do not know what Scroll of Pedigree is. Is it in some published book?
A Scroll of Pedigree is essentially a birth certificate for Nobles indicating that they're of belonging to a royal family. It's offered from the Noble Background.
EDIT: The noble background can be found in the D&D 5th edition Basic Rules,
I'm aware they aren't uploaded as equipment in the system, but it's still something that player's use when they do play a Noble.
Most campaigns will never even see a Grenade Launcher but that's still in the Equipment list. You've got 20 kinds of poison but you can't put in a single item because it doesn't come up often enough?
As an aside, I'm really sad we don't have trinkets in the item list. I like to use them for all kinds of things from fun treasure to odd story seeds.
Two Requests:
1. Being able to put notes onto items in inventory. Maybe a +1 sword is also bright green or has some strange carvings on it. Or maybe make a list of all the spells in a particular spellbook
2. When adding items to Inventory, if we could have an option for "New Item" which just created a custom blank item Named whatever we put in, would make it much easier. Sometimes you pickup things that are not official equipment. Creating a homebrew item from scratch every time I grab a knick-knack from a room seems cumbersome.
3. Letting us override the weight on items would be nice as well. Sorry I ran over the two request limit.
Thank you that’s very helpful ^^
So I was making a cleric and only the life domain was available to me. Any ideas?
D&D Beyond can be used for free and contains information from the following "free to use" sources published by Wizards of the Coast: D&D 5th edition SRD, D&D 5th edition Basic Rules and Elemental Evil Companion.
Content from non-OGL sources, such as the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide or Monster Manual need to be purchased from the Marketplace or accessed by another user sharing content with you via their Master Tier Subscription.
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Can the resilient feat be taken once for each attribute? The character builder allows it, but a strict reading of the rules says that since there's only once Resilient feat, you can't take it more than once even with different choices.
I noticed that for the feats that are broken out into the various choices you can make with it (Resilient, Ritual Caster, Spell Sniper, etc.), the builder allows you to take multiple 'variants' of the same feat. The only feat that should work this way is Elemental Adept as no other feat can be taken multiple times, even with different choices. I assume this is unintentional as the builder does not otherwise allow reselecting the same feat, even for other feats that allow choices like Weapon Master.
I'd love for there to be a lot more simple armor and equipment. The lack of stuff that comes up when I search for basic keywords like "sword" or "hide" is kind of strange. Even if it's really basic junky type stuff it would be nice if I could have it equip-able from the basic item database.
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