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!
Wow. Just amazing. Too many awesome things to list. I'm very happy with this. Great job.
Usage info: As GM, I use a laptop to run the game, mainly because I run an initiative tracker, but also because it lets me keep multiple monsters open in tabs -- mobile Safari seems to be a bit slower to switch between tabs, if for no other reason than the way it tries to hide the tab bar when you scroll, to save space. I also often have copies of characters up -- especially my wife who is not a techie, but is making a darn good go of using primarily the mobile sheet -- the other reason I use a laptop is because she steals my ipad for the game.
Feedback from her: The new sheet looks a lot more usable and she can find stuff better. One thing she's been frustrated with is having to remember whether an ability is from her class, race, or a feat. She plays an aasimar paladin with the Inspiring Leader feat. There are so many ways she can add hit points to PCs that it's hard to track. I think an "easy" solution would be to add an "all" tab in the "Features & Traits" block. Maybe that's easier said than done, but I think that's the only negative comment she's made.
Feedback from me: I really like it. The desktop version seems much more usable and the mobile version seems even better. I could easily see using a phone as being pleasant, not just acceptable. Super-duper, huge kudos for making it possible to swap the display of the stat and the bonus. That's a huge annoyance for me, in 5E, so "yay". Can you get that preference to carry through to the PDF? I'm still not a huge fan of the default sheet, so I'm probably going to use something other than DDB for printing until there's another layout, anyway. Really, though, I'd probably just use my phone on the go, for as nice as the mobile sheet looks.
Really like the new format. One bug that I have not seen mentioned yet is to do with creating a character. Under hill dwarf you can no longer select your tool proficiency. Have not checked other races.
Thanks and and keep up the great updates.
Thanks
This issue is actually still persisting. Please help, I can’t even access any of my spells
Awesome
Is allowing extra item attunment a bug or did they mean to let us be attun to more than 3?
Great changes! Are there any plans to add some way of organizing charters? Like the ability to move them around or put the in folders?
I miss having all my spells with descriptions in one spot, so I could easily change them out on long rests without having to search for all my spells or crack open a book.
EDIT: I was able to find my spells in this format in the side banner... I'm not sure I love it... I miss the color coding of the types of spells... but I will give this more of a chance now.
I think a count down banner at the top of the screen would have been appreciated. I had no clue the new sheet was actually dropping this week. I knew updates were coming but didn't know the timeline. I logged in to do an impromptu first game with our son pulled up the character sheets and to find them completely different without notice completely threw me for a loop. Now I had to help teach my son his character and find everything for my character which is very spell heavy and I had lost access to the full list of my spell being right at my finger tips.
seems like a major improvement all around but i cant seem t find a way to mark prepared spells and since im playing a wizard in the campaign i have going it was very helpful to have that information, although i could just be missing it and its still there.
edit: found it
Hey
One recommendation I have is to allow the character I create on the website, be imported into the DnD Beyond app on my Tablet. This would allow me to play the game offline when I meet with my group. Any changes I make to the offline character could then be recognised later when I connect to a WiFi, and be uploaded back to my account online.
It's bleeding awful the old one was way simpler to navigate and more editable and easier. This is terrible on mobile. From one web developer to another, you're developer needs to learn how to test his sites for reactivity for mobile before going live with any crap like this. frustrated all 5 of our players today to no end.
I am having issues with the equipment list on the PDF. It looks fine in the print preview but when it goes to print all the item names are printed over each other on a single line. I am using android with Wi-Fi printing if that helps to narrow things down.
I found this bug as well:
TypeError: Cannot read property 'replace' of null at t.value (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:51:188945) at f (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:33621) at beginWork (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:37062) at o (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:53322) at i (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:53595) at b (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:56544) at g (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:56084) at v (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:55921) at interactiveUpdates (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:59722) at Ye (https://www.dndbeyond.com/Content/1-0-359-0/React/CharacterTools/dist/characterSheet.bundle.min.js:25:17099)
My "Other Possessions" isn't transferring to the PDF. It picked two random things from my equipment list to list in the "Additional Equipment" section on the PDF.
I also have to voice I miss the swiping as well. I am a visual person in that I remember the layout of the section I am looking for better that the name of the section I am looking for. Having to click a menu to try to remember which section I am actually looking for is going to get my flustered real quick during game with the pressure is on.
I know I have voiced a lot of complaint feedback, so I do want to say... I am warming up to the Desk Top version mimicking the paper layout. I am greatly appreciating the ability to edit proficiency and other things on the fly now. Playing a Kinder raised by Firblogs the DM and I interchanged some of my traits to better fit my back story. Have the ability to actually change those in the trait section, proficiency section, and other information sections like that is really awesome instead of trying to remember all the changes in the Other Note Section.
I am excited for the shared inventory coming soon. As the person that keeps track of all that for our group I am looking forward to digital way to do that. I am also looking forward to the integration of Wild Shape and Companions as I have three companion dogs right now.
Thank you guys for your hard work. I know everyone is going to need some transition time for this.
I like what you guys did. It's a lot more user friendly than the past version, however looking at my paper character sheet and my beyond character sheet, something messed up and now my Blood Hunter gained proficiencies in every skill and now has a passive perception on 19. This bug may need t ok ne looked at.
This looks great. Thank you for all your hard work! As an aside, I've seen quite a few customised sheets that group skills with their respective ability scores. It looks much neater than having a long list of skills with [DEX] or [WIS] next to them, and it makes it very easy to keep track of and use. Maybe have this as an option for the future? Thanks again!
Had my session last night using the revamped sheet, took a bit to get used to the new format. By the end of the session though, I found it much more easier and enjoyable to use. Job well done, fellas! Can't wait to see what else you guys come out with in the future. Hopefully an individual sheet for beast master companions? Lol.
Played today. Two things that would have been better (on mobile btw). HP on every screen. Evvvverrrry screen. I had to keep going between combat and HP depending on if i was hitting things or being hit (and for saves). Secondly, i got restrained. While i could 'add' that condition, it would have been awesome for there to be a thing that told me what restrained does when i clicked on it (or ive missed where that is).
Otherwise, it worked really well! Everything was more streamlined. (Except as mentioned above) the separation of combat stuff and non-combat stuff, and equipment etc was all really good.
AHHHHHH! You're killin' me. Fix the sheet so that I can flip over to Fjord's background information. I KNOW he uses the Wastehunter. =)
Oh, and in seriousness, during character creation, it isn't allowing me to "wield," "equip," "use," or "attune" items. I'm having to go over to the character sheet and do it on there.