I'm not seeing how to add the Circle of Wildfire Druid's Wildfire Spirit to the character sheet. Under the Extras tab, I've searched under categories "Beast Companion," "Familiar," "Wild Shape," "Pet," and "Summoned," and none of them have an entry for "Wildfire Spirit."
I already checked my entitlements, and they are in sync and I have full access to Tasha's. I'm not using a VPN and I have no browser plugins active.
At first I thought this was just another core feature that the devs had never bothered to properly support - but a quick search of these forums suggests that others have successfully added it (eg. I've found threads saying it doesn't display correctly in Underdark Mode, etc. - which imply that the poster managed to get it added), so in this case the issue seems to be operator error on my part. I'm probably doing something really dumb, but any advice would be appreciated!
Since the wildfire spirit isn’t an actual “monster” in D&D, it has never been coded as such. Since it has not been coded as a monster it isn’t available to add under Extras. You would have to create it yourself as a homebrew creature.
I don't think homebrewing it is possible (or at least not easy). The Wildfire Spirit uses the associated character's Proficiency Bonus in a few places in its stat block; I don't think the homebrew interface supports creating a monster than cannot exist outside an associated PC?
(Beyond that, it just leaves a real bad taste in my mouth, lol. Why should I have to faff with that in order to use core content for which I've already paid? If I'm going to have to do a bunch of homebrew anyway, I really regret paying for the subclass when I could have just homebrewed the whole thing for only slightly more faff. After all, homebrewing a subclass based on a template, is way easier than homebrewing a monster with several different abilities and variable stats from scratch.)
Since the wildfire spirit isn’t an actual “monster” in D&D, it has never been coded as such.
Also, wouldn't this apply equally to the Artificer's Steel Defender (which is very similar the Wildfire Spirit: comes from Tasha's, uses PB in certain places, etc.). By definition the Steel Defender is not an actual "monster" either, since like the Wildfire Spirit it cannot exist apart from its associated player character (as its stat block would not be complete without reference to its associated player character).
Yet, a Steel Defender can be added from the Extras tab. Why can't a Wildfire Spirit? They're very similar.
I don't think homebrewing it is possible (or at least not easy). The Wildfire Spirit uses the associated character's Proficiency Bonus in a few places in its stat block; I don't think the homebrew interface supports creating a monster than cannot exist outside an associated PC?
Forget the homebrew interface, the official interface cannot do it either. That’s why it falls to us to homebrew it, and then keep it updated to match our PC’s PB.
Since the wildfire spirit isn’t an actual “monster” in D&D, it has never been coded as such.
Also, wouldn't this apply equally to the Artificer's Steel Defender (which is very similar the Wildfire Spirit: comes from Tasha's, uses PB in certain places, etc.). By definition the Steel Defender is not an actual "monster" either, since like the Wildfire Spirit it cannot exist apart from its associated player character (as its stat block would not be complete without reference to its associated player character).
Yet, a Steel Defender can be added from the Extras tab. Why can't a Wildfire Spirit? They're very similar.
A couple of things:
The Artificer and its Battle Smith’s Steel Defender are not “from” Tasha’s Cauldron. They’re originally from Eberron Rising. That book came out way, wasyyy before Tasha’s Cauldron, and it was in UA way back when DDB still supported UA materials.
When they ported the Artificer into Tasha’s Cauldron they changed things, some of the more notable changes were to the Homunculous Servant and Steel Defender in that their statblocks now utilize the PC’s PB which they didn’t use to do.
Those facts meant that:
They had way, waayyy, waayyy longer to work on the Steel Defender than they did on the other stuff.
That they originally did put out the Steel Defender as a potential Extra, but it’s the old version.
They tried really, really hard to make the steel defender work properly, but ultimately realized that they couldn’t and have since abandoned all attempts to do so. Instead the Steel Defender is represented as a series of snippets and Actions on the DDB character sheet, but it’s a jank workaround at best, a pain in the patooty to implement, and make the character sheet highly unstable and sometimes prone to crashing at worst. So AFAIK, they haven’t really repeated the process for stuff like Wildfire Spirit.
Ugh. At this point I’m thinking it’ll be genuinely easier to just maintain a paper character sheet. If I’m going to have to pull a bunch of information from the PC’s character sheet and manually maintain the stats using that information, it’s realistically going to be easier to maintain both the PC and the Spirit in the same place—instead of trying to maintain the PC via the Character App and the Spirit via the Homebrew interface. If I use good old pen-and-paper, I can do both in the same “interface.”
(Also, NB: I made an error. I didn’t realize at first that the Spirit doesn’t change only with PB. At least one aspect of it changes with the PC’s *level*. Thus, if I were to try and keep it updated in the Homebrew interface, I’d be needing to manually update it every 2-3 weeks, and would ultimately need to make 19 different homebrew versions of the Spirit. That…well, that largely defeats the purpose of having automated character sheets, as opposed to using good old pen-and-paper.)
Anyway. I do appreciate the information, even if the ultimate answer is that DDB just isn’t as efficient as pen-and-paper in this case. Now I know.
Interestingly, I brought this up in a Discord server - and someone just told me that the Roll20 Chractermancer is capable of handling the Wildfire Spirit correctly, keeping the stats automatically updated with each character level and not causing crashes or anything. I have not personally verified this yet; will try to. (It'll require getting into a Roll20 game with someone who owns Tasha's on that platform, since I don't personally own any content on Roll20.)
But if this is true, it does suggest that it's possible to implement the Wildfire Spirit in an automated manner on a website, - and it prompts the question: What does Roll20 do that DDB is incapable of doing, and why is DDB incapable of doing it?
Well, you wouldn’t need to make 19 different versions, just keep updating the same version and it’ll automatically update on the Character Sheet.
Oh, it’s totally possible to automate the spirit on a website, just not this website. Heck, I could automate it on a spreadsheet for crying out loud. The problems with this website are:
When they were designing this site they were in such a hurry to catch up to sites like Roll20 that they cut a lot of corners. A lot.
When they were designing this website they made absolutely no attempts to future proof anything, so when something unexpected comes along the system can’t always handle it.
When they were designing the system they designed it for hardware that was already going obsolete when they were working on it.
When they updated the system, they couldn’t actually take any of it down to work on things, so they could only do so much without crashing anything.
TL/DR: Metaphorically speaking, half of this website is being held together with used chewing gum and baling wire, and the other half is set in concrete and affixed to the bedrock of the earth itself. So some parts are at risk of falling apart at any given moment, and the other half is all but immutable by means of anything short of fantasy magic suddenly becoming real and someone casting the wish spell on it.
Such a shame. So much potential to a tool like this - but the fact that so many things cannot be supported just holds it back from greatness so much. It's really sad.
I'm not seeing how to add the Circle of Wildfire Druid's Wildfire Spirit to the character sheet. Under the Extras tab, I've searched under categories "Beast Companion," "Familiar," "Wild Shape," "Pet," and "Summoned," and none of them have an entry for "Wildfire Spirit."
I already checked my entitlements, and they are in sync and I have full access to Tasha's. I'm not using a VPN and I have no browser plugins active.
At first I thought this was just another core feature that the devs had never bothered to properly support - but a quick search of these forums suggests that others have successfully added it (eg. I've found threads saying it doesn't display correctly in Underdark Mode, etc. - which imply that the poster managed to get it added), so in this case the issue seems to be operator error on my part. I'm probably doing something really dumb, but any advice would be appreciated!
The character, if for some reason it matters.
Since the wildfire spirit isn’t an actual “monster” in D&D, it has never been coded as such. Since it has not been coded as a monster it isn’t available to add under Extras. You would have to create it yourself as a homebrew creature.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I don't think homebrewing it is possible (or at least not easy). The Wildfire Spirit uses the associated character's Proficiency Bonus in a few places in its stat block; I don't think the homebrew interface supports creating a monster than cannot exist outside an associated PC?
(Beyond that, it just leaves a real bad taste in my mouth, lol. Why should I have to faff with that in order to use core content for which I've already paid? If I'm going to have to do a bunch of homebrew anyway, I really regret paying for the subclass when I could have just homebrewed the whole thing for only slightly more faff. After all, homebrewing a subclass based on a template, is way easier than homebrewing a monster with several different abilities and variable stats from scratch.)
Also, wouldn't this apply equally to the Artificer's Steel Defender (which is very similar the Wildfire Spirit: comes from Tasha's, uses PB in certain places, etc.). By definition the Steel Defender is not an actual "monster" either, since like the Wildfire Spirit it cannot exist apart from its associated player character (as its stat block would not be complete without reference to its associated player character).
Yet, a Steel Defender can be added from the Extras tab. Why can't a Wildfire Spirit? They're very similar.
Forget the homebrew interface, the official interface cannot do it either. That’s why it falls to us to homebrew it, and then keep it updated to match our PC’s PB.
A couple of things:
Those facts meant that:
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Ugh. At this point I’m thinking it’ll be genuinely easier to just maintain a paper character sheet. If I’m going to have to pull a bunch of information from the PC’s character sheet and manually maintain the stats using that information, it’s realistically going to be easier to maintain both the PC and the Spirit in the same place—instead of trying to maintain the PC via the Character App and the Spirit via the Homebrew interface. If I use good old pen-and-paper, I can do both in the same “interface.”
(Also, NB: I made an error. I didn’t realize at first that the Spirit doesn’t change only with PB. At least one aspect of it changes with the PC’s *level*. Thus, if I were to try and keep it updated in the Homebrew interface, I’d be needing to manually update it every 2-3 weeks, and would ultimately need to make 19 different homebrew versions of the Spirit. That…well, that largely defeats the purpose of having automated character sheets, as opposed to using good old pen-and-paper.)
Anyway. I do appreciate the information, even if the ultimate answer is that DDB just isn’t as efficient as pen-and-paper in this case. Now I know.
Interestingly, I brought this up in a Discord server - and someone just told me that the Roll20 Chractermancer is capable of handling the Wildfire Spirit correctly, keeping the stats automatically updated with each character level and not causing crashes or anything. I have not personally verified this yet; will try to. (It'll require getting into a Roll20 game with someone who owns Tasha's on that platform, since I don't personally own any content on Roll20.)
But if this is true, it does suggest that it's possible to implement the Wildfire Spirit in an automated manner on a website, - and it prompts the question: What does Roll20 do that DDB is incapable of doing, and why is DDB incapable of doing it?
Well, you wouldn’t need to make 19 different versions, just keep updating the same version and it’ll automatically update on the Character Sheet.
Oh, it’s totally possible to automate the spirit on a website, just not this website. Heck, I could automate it on a spreadsheet for crying out loud. The problems with this website are:
TL/DR: Metaphorically speaking, half of this website is being held together with used chewing gum and baling wire, and the other half is set in concrete and affixed to the bedrock of the earth itself. So some parts are at risk of falling apart at any given moment, and the other half is all but immutable by means of anything short of fantasy magic suddenly becoming real and someone casting the wish spell on it.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Such a shame. So much potential to a tool like this - but the fact that so many things cannot be supported just holds it back from greatness so much. It's really sad.
It is really sad.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Under Actions you can actually click on "Summon Wildfire Spirit: Command", and in the sidebar the Wildfire Spirit statblock will appear.
I know it is not 100% the same - but it helps :)
This needs to be moved to the top with a semi-"SOLVED" flag. Because this is the best answer, so far.