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!
Swiping wasn't that hard at all, and it's much more fluid than tapping through a bunch of different menus. And you could still click on tabs in the old one too. With the new one, all the info you want is split up into nonsensical little sections in yet another different menu. There's just too much menu time and button pressing, that it doesn't make for fluid or efficient gameplay at all. At least the tablet version should've stayed the same as the computer version, since we have a big enough screen, but it got the disgusting phone version too :/ As someone else said, it's amazingly optimized for computers, but mobile users got shafted big-time.
I know you put a lot of work into this update, but is there any chance you'll let us choose to use the old version? You say everyone kind of hated the concept of "collapsibles", but the collapsibles were a large part of the reason I enjoyed using DNDBeyond. Being able to partition things like that is useful when you can get overwhelmed by a lot of information. I'm not looking forward to using the digital sheet in my next session.
I don't seem to be able to give custom items a weight. Cost works fine.
The spells from class feature "options" such as Pact of the Tome were not coming through earlier today, but should be fixed now - thanks!
Additionally, the Book of Ancient Secrets functionality was not included in this release, but it's on the short, short list to provide.
We appreciate the feedback, and we have received (a good bit) more feedback saying that the sheet works better on mobile than the old version. I don't say this to invalidate your thoughts, but to illustrate why we made the design decisions we have made.
I truly encourage everyone that is skeptical right now to give this new format a chance during play and see where the pain points might be. We'll welcome your feedback as always - there have already been some great points that we're already talking about to make improvements.
Thanks!
I'm struggling to figure out what you mean by beige boxes. All sections of the character sheet are stark white (#FFFFFF). Do you mean the frames around the boxes?
Since the D&D rules don't technically use the term "off hand," we change that checkbox to "Dual Wield." You can use that to get the same result.
Thanks!
You can mark any applicable weapon as Pact or Hex in the sidebar for that weapon after you equip it:
That was a data issue that should be fixed now - thanks!
I'm absolutely loving the new character sheet! In particular the action economy section does a great job of making sure all options are easy to find, which can be hectic, especially for characters that maybe have crazy multi class combinations.
One small piece of feedback: it seems as though there is some pieces of info that could stand to be visible at all times on mobile as opposed to be only viewable on specific tabs. Namely AC and (on iPad at least) health. It would be great to see those maybe moved to the top of the screen in the header in a future update.
This is a very minor critique and over all I'm a huge fan of the revamp. Thanks for all of the hard work!
Could you consider keeping the sections on-screen instead of inside the blob thing? Or have the old headers and the new blob, so we can choose to use the one that suits us better. It shouldn't be too much extra work, I think, since the two things would link to the same place anyway. Especially on tablets, since there's a lot of empty space. I could be selecting things from that empty space, but instead I'd have to tap on a tiny button in the corner, while half the screen isn't even being used. Alternatively, give tablets the same format as computers have, since the screen is large enough for it. Tablet and desktop were the same before the update; there's no reason a screen the same size as a computer should have a GUI designed for a cell phone.
Agreed. AC, movement, health should always be visible.
First off, let me just say that I appreciate a company that really takes customer/community feedback to heart. So thank you DND Beyond/Adam.
I have not yet had an opportunity to use the new character sheet during a session. But I have been poking around the desktop and mobile versions.
My initial UI/UX comments:
Desktop: the control icons can overlap other elements on the page making it difficult to see/find those icons. When the browser window reaches a certain width, those controls disappear. This confuses me. I want to be able to toggle that sidebar anytime, regardless of screen size.
Mobile: the sidebar makes scrolling/swiping up-down difficult. Scrolling wants to make the background info scroll, instead of the sidebar info. See above about wanted to toggle the sidebar, regardless of screen size.
Thanks! Keep up the good work!
As the DM I LOVE these!!! Keep up the great work
can we get a button to add xp without having to click into each character in the campaign view. I exclusively use the website – app so that we can get our campaign moving whenever wherever the group of us can get together. And it’s the only thing I wish I had. Otherwise everything is great.
This is amazing! My players are all first-timers, and these improvements will help them a lot.
I can’t wait for further improvements, and specially DM tools like monster/NPC and encounter management. I’ve been using Improved Initiative, but wish I could have that in DDB.
A couple small issues I noticed:
1. Tablet landscape could use desktop layout
2. Moving text cursor when editing on mobile triggers the sliding panel
3. The styled borders on wider containers have small horizontal gaps
4. Tapping icons to trigger tooltips on touch devices opens the sliding panel instead
5. Perhaps Actions could be grouped together with Combat
6. There could be a strict mode set by the DM or on character creation to prevent players from adding feats etc. out of progression
You guys did a truly spectacular job with this release. Keep up the good work!
I LOVE IT
This is freaking fantastic!!!!
So much awesome! Congrats to the team! Thanks for listening to customer feedback and designing/developing solutions that are both elegant and powerful. Love what you’re doing for the game and the community.
Can you please turn the making characters public option off as the default. I understand that if you send a link to someone then you understand you are providing access to said individual.
However, I just was able to click on someone's character who is in my campaign and I could see their character sheet. I backed out and was concerned by this as my sheet has lots of background details we motivations etc. that haven't came out in game so wouldn't want someone seeing these who I didn't give permission to in the first place.
Easy (I think) request.
Cleric of life here, with a Channel Divinity issue in the new layout: Turn Undead, the base Channel Divinity for Clerics, doesn’t show up under actions, despite Preserve Life being there. In the class features, Preserve Life shows as its own entry, but to see Turn Undead, I have to tap on (using mobile currently) the Channel Divinity Feature to see that it exists. I LOVE that Preserve Life shows up under features and actions as it’s own thing, and would really like to see Turn Undead given the same automatic treatment.
Additionally, I’d love Grapple to be listed in the list of possible actions next to “Attack, Cast a Spell, Dash...” as my new players don’t ever even consider grappling as a possible move in combat.
This update is AMAZING! And I loved customizing and being surprised by the Tome of Foes preorder bonus options, which I forgot I was going to get. More of that stuff, please and thank you.
Ps: Thanks for making it possible to enjoy the character sheet on my phone. I find myself playing with the “sidebar” just because it’s so nice.
Hey guys. Congratulations on finishing these changes, I love the way it turned out! This new interface is amazing, I am really enjoying the way it looks and feels. The 'Actions' tab in particular - a short summary of all the Things you can do, separated into Actions, Bonus Actions, Reactions, and Other - actually strongly resembles an idea I had for the character interface, and seeing that other people wanted that too and that the idea was implemented so well... ah, it warms my heart.
In the interest of providing feedback, an issue I ran into with the mobile interface was that the button with all the tabs on it (Actions, Equipment, Combat, Skills, etc.) in the bottom-right corner overlaps with the phone's own ''quick menu" button, which makes for a slight degree of awkwardness. I suspect that this might be an issue with only Android phones, or maybe even just Samsung phones using the Samsung Internet app, so I understand that it might be a low priority to fix, but I thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless. After writing out this whole reply, I did discover that the quick menu button can be turned off - which I will certainly do, as I never use that feature - but everyone who does use that button might appreciate this issue being addressed (see images below).
Unrelatedly, a button that inserts a table in the comments toolbar would be grand, though it would be more useful for Homebrew creations - which use the same editing toolbar as the comment form - than for general comments. You can insert a table manually by going into the source code and hand-coding the HTML for a table - and, in fact, I have - but that can be a pain even for an HTML expert, much less someone who has little to no experience in that field.)
Again, congratulations, and thank you so much for all your hard work. The D&D community very much appreciates the time and effort you put into these changes :)