Hello everyone!
The character sheet revamp updates are live!
For more details, check out the changelog entry (which I've added below).
As always, we welcome your feedback and help identifying bugs. Please share your comments for either in these forums threads:
Changelog
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!
All this work and you still have not added an Adventures League setting option. Or a way for characters to use feats, spells, etc. for the plus 1 rules as well.
It would Lso be nice if we could have the options of log sheet form for days, so, game ect. when we ad/change data to our characters.
I would like to see 2 things change in the way we "export" characters. 1-The ability to "save as" your characters name rather than your DnDB username + number. 2-the ability to choose which character sheet form you will see as a pdf.
Last ote... I hope that there will be options regarding the new "no xp" version for the waterdeep campaigns.
Characters are public by default, but you can mark your character(s) as private in the Preferences menu.
This is so not mobile phone useable. I wave to zoom in and out consistently. Looks like I'm trying to read a desktop version not a mobile version
Which is the exact opposite of what this article says it was trying to accomplish.
It’s not a bad change but you should a left it up to us to change the layout from the old to the new depending on the person
Really? Then what the heck have I been using on my phone?
This new update is FANTASTIC... LOVE IT. Clearly, you guys have worked very VERY hard on this.
After playing a session, my group was a little excited about these changes and just had to play, I have one piece of feedback.
I play on a 10.5” iPad Pro and feel like the screen real estate could be used better, especially in landscape mode. It would be nice to see a little more on the “main screen” with all the attribute and skills like you do on a desktop. Here's what the landscape tablet view looks like:
And the desktop view:
Adding the attack section and spells on the right and the features and traits at the bottom like it show up on a desktop would save a lot of switching between screens during a game... would just need to scroll up and down the screen. Obviously, this wouldn’t work in a tablet in portrait mode, but I feel in landscape mode it shouldn’t be a problem, even if it means making the text a little smaller.
Apart from that, my players and I are extremely happy with the new update!!
I found a pretty huge bug, when adding notes to organisations, allies, enemies, other notes or backgrounds all the information in the box is deleted upon opening it up, be warned i had to back up all my players notes onto word, can this bug get squashed real soon it's an ugly spot on an otherwise lovely update.
Is there a way to have the ability to undo or take back having hit a short or long rest (my dm loves to have things happen in the middle of the night and we often don't actually get the rest we sit down to... but one of us has already hit the rest button.)
I like this idea!! I have players in my campaign that accidentally do this between sessions too
I would like to be alle to see options for meta magic on the spell sidebar / panel. So we can see which meta magic can be used and how it will affect the spell. And also adjust the Sorcerery Points when we use the Cast button.
It would be great hjelp to be able to see which spells can be used with twin spells and which can can benefit from careful spell etc.
You can access the desktop version on your phone and tablet - it is just buggy as all hell!
First, within the mobile options panel, select Desktop View, and then (if using chrome) click the options toggle in the top right of the page and select Request Desktop Version.
The only problem with this one (on both my iPad 2 and iPhone 7) is that once you bring up the side panel, you cannot get rid of it, which is a huge pita.
Why would they be public by default and not set to private so you can opt in. Basically it means anyone in your campaign can automatically see your entire character sheet, notes, background etc. and when that plays a lot towards your role and motivation in the party it seems that having this as the default setting is strange for a game which is all about discovering things as a group and through your investigations.
The "roundup" on my level 1 Wizard's Arcane Recovery doesn't roundup, so he regains 0.5 spell slots, ie none! I'm guessing this is a coding issue.
Otherwise, great update. Many thanks!
First off, one Bug:
When I export the sheet, I can't edit anymore. No numbers, no text, nothing.
If this is inteded, I have to say: Please offer at least an editable version.
Sometimes I export a sheet, delete the character form DnD beyond, and just keep the pdf updated per hand.
Feedback overall: "I LOVE IT, BUT"
All in all, the update is really nifty, the only-on-demand details in particular, and it looks great on PC and on mobile. And the share function is awesome!
Some things I do dislike a little bit, though
---Side header:
I kinda miss the quick accessibility of simply clicking on the big icon of e.g. the "Spells" page at frist glance insteadt of a text menue alone that doesn't have easily visible sperations between the boxes. No deal breaker, but I definitly found it more comfy. On PC, that is.
---Export sheet:
The new print sheet has some aspects that I like, and some that I dislike. For example the "P" for proficiency simply isn't as visible as a full black circle, and also some personal preferences (e.g. I have no need for passive Insight & Investigation in my campaign)
Ideally I would love to use the old sheet, but I guess with the extra things like place for possible new skills that isn't really possible.
But since sheet layouts are a question of personal taste anyway, and its easy to fill out a preferred format per Hand, it's not that much of a deal.
This however gives me an idea
---Wish: Character sheet format editor?
Creating/adjusting character sheets formats would be really rad. I mean, it would be really cool if I could make my own format, changing spaces and order of blocks I want to use (like, I never used more than two or three lines for the "Allies & Organisations" block. Wasted space for me). So an editor for that on DnD beyond would be hella cool. It doesn't even have to be integratable with automatic insertion per sheet export from the site: Just filling it out by hand is fine.
Just wishful thinking, though.
Edit: The DnD-beyond logo that leads back to the main page is ridiculously small.
And really, despite the critique, you guys are doing a great job, not only with the implementing itself, but listening to feedback before and after the overhaul.
Amazing work!! I'm discovering so many little things like "Oh, I love THIS as well"!!
I'm extremely happy with the changes. However it is hard to close the pop up windows on mobile. Overall amazing work guys.
All these comments only show that DND players are picky SOBs. I think the sight looks great, and I’m sure your next improvements will look even better.
Because otherwise they'd be flooded with bug reports about character sheet sharing being broken. While I understand it's inconvenient to you, catering to the subset of players that keep super secret info on their sheets and also have adversarial players in the group isn't worth the massive headache the alternative would be. They still haven't squashed all the bugs in the sheet so they definitely have better things to do right now.
Notes do not display at all on a read-only sheet.
Oh. Booyah.
Also, good morning!