Homebrew Subclass Validator Bug

There is a problem when trying to Share with the Community Cleric and Druid subclasses.

No matter what I do the features are not validating!...
I am very much convinced that the problem lies with some faulty logic in the Homebrew Subclass validator.

My reasoning is broken down in two points

• When I create a 2014 Cleric (Legacy) Homebrew and use a template Life Domain (Legacy) from the dropdown I get the following message.
  This Subclass cannot be shared with the community for the following reasons:
  [User's 5e Domain Based on Light Domain] is currently too similar to Light Domain to share with the community.
  
  This is normal behaviour since the features are populated with the appropriate levels.
  
  
• When I create a 2024 Cleric Homebrew and use a template Life Domain from the dropdown I get the following message
  This Subclass cannot be shared with the community for the following reasons:
  [User's 5.5e Domain Based on Light Domain] is currently too similar to Light Domain to share with the community.
  This homebrew Subclass does not have the necessary class features with the correct required levels. <--- This is NOT normal
  
  This is not normal since the features are populated with appropriate levels.

This is not isolated, I tried the following:

1. Deleted the subclass completely and re-created it (resulted to same error)
2. Followed all the threads and guides and spent more than 1.5 weeks making sure I am not forgetting anything (resulted to the same error)
3. Tried a big variety of 2014-2024 combinations on features to check if the validator has mixed criteria for passing (resulted to the same error)
4. Discussed extensively in Discord in both homebrew and ddb-support (d&d beyond-support) channels (resulted to the same error)
5. Asked peers (other homebrew creators) to see if they land to the same errors (resulted to the same error)

I believe the impact will be quite big (for the homebrew community) since the users will be increasingly frustrated as they try to create homebrew subclasses for spellcasters for 2024 ruleset.

If you require a few Users Stories here are some:

As a homebrew creator

I want to ensure that the validator reads and validates my custom features properly

So I can be able to enjoy the creation and sharing of my homebrew subclasses

A follow up to avoid future problems like this

As a homebrew creator

I want to ensure that the validator outputs more granular messages about errors on features and duplications

So I can pinpoint my mistakes and generate less noise in the support resouces.

Thank you so much for your time! :)

I can confirm I can repeat this issue.

Thank you so much Perringaiden for taking time to test this! <3

*bump* is this still a thing? 
Do people bump their posts? 
damn, I feel old...

I'm likewise having issues trying to create a 5.5E Druid subclass - tested it using the Land Druid as a template. Without changes, I get the same reported validation errors.

 *bump* The problem still persists.

 *bump* Please forgive my ignorance.
It appears that the homebrew system in the D&D Beyond does not have any technical support like a request form to submit a bug.

"I mean... I filled a couple of forms that I got a reply of the type..."
"We do no support this, please contact the forums or the discord channels"

Consequently, the Discord channels that pointed me here to post my problem.

Apart from the amazing support of my peers and homebrew enjoyers is there any other team I can reach to, so we can have this problem resolved?
I apologise in advance if my wording was triggering in any form! 

Perhaps submitting a support ticket here could work? It looks like there's a Homebrew Help category to choose from if you select D&D Beyond Help initially.

I already did this form twice these are the responds I got...

Your request (Incident 5184837 Subclass cannot be shared with community) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Thank you spamadtuna third time is the charm I guess! 

Hello!

This is a quick note to let you know that your request (#5219358) has been received and will be reviewed by our support staff.

We do ask that you please do not delete any characters or homebrew causing issues. We will need to take a look at them to fix the issue.

We look forward to helping you!

The D&D Beyond Team
support.dndbeyond.com

I left all the relevant details and connected the other tickets as well!

Quote from Korvinagor >>

I'm likewise having issues trying to create a 5.5E Druid subclass - tested it using the Land Druid as a template. Without changes, I get the same reported validation errors.

 I saw you had success with your 'Circle of Mosquito' though could I possibly bother you to share what level of features you have on your homebrew subclass?

Quote from GlassmadeGr >>

Quote from Korvinagor >>

I'm likewise having issues trying to create a 5.5E Druid subclass - tested it using the Land Druid as a template. Without changes, I get the same reported validation errors.

 I saw you had success with your 'Circle of Mosquito' though could I possibly bother you to share what level of features you have on your homebrew subclass?

Oh heck, you saw my vampiric Druid subclass, nice. Anyway, they were just 3, 3, 6, 10, and 14. I'm assuming that this validator issue is a recent one - when I tried creating a new version of this subclass, I run into the same error.

Quote from spamandtuna >>

I meant reply to the existing ticket, not keep opening more. 😅

 The current ones were closed is fine, I am invested seeing this through! <3 

That is a little comical, the form support representative reassured me that this is a problem and the developers will tend do it...
They also shared a link of this post to follow it... which is... funny? I guess... :D

Hello, Thank you for your response and for your patience while we looked into this issue for you. Upon review, it looks like the concern you are reporting is a known issue that is mentioned in the Issues and Support Threads on the Forums for the book in question. The issues mentioned in this forum are known to our developers and are being reviewed for future updates. 

For additional information, please refer to the following link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/bugs-support/241359-homebrew-subclass-validator-bug

If you have any further feedback, let us know and we’ll certainly pass that along to the appropriate teams for you!

I’ll be glad to help you further if you have any other questions or concerns!

Racquel‍
Wizards of the Coast | Customer Service Representative
Email support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week here. 

Hi  Racquel‍ thank you for reaching out to me but the thread you shared has been started by me and I follow it closely.
That same forum post encouraged me to send to you to chase the problem.
So to summarise I just need to sit tight to have the issue fixed there is nothing else I can do is that correct?

This problem keeps coming up again and again, usually every few months or so. Sometimes they fix it, and it goes away for a while, but it usually comes back eventually (not always with the same class or classes).

It may be related to the release of new third-party subclasses with unusual feature lists; it seems like the validator is using the list of features from existing subclasses to determine which levels a homebrew subclass needs to have features at.

If it is something that keeps bitting their behinds shouldn't they at least give an announcement when it happens?
It does not have to be on all D&D Beyond but it is tottally achievable when a user clicks to create a sub-class to give them a pop-up.

"Hey if you are making a sub-class for classes A or B we are working on an existing bug you will be able to create but not share"

Then I would be like 'oh ok..' I'll check again next week or smth...

And since modern development teams love their user stories to create tasks to code this is what I mean:

As a homebrew user
I would like to have an announcement on existing bugs when I am most likely to encounter them
So I won't spend time and D&D Beyond resources trying to troubleshoot a bug that currently is being worked on!

Quote from GlassmadeGr >>

If it is something that keeps bitting their behinds shouldn't they at least give an announcement when it happens?
It does not have to be on all D&D Beyond but it is tottally achievable when a user clicks to create a sub-class to give them a pop-up.

"Hey if you are making a sub-class for classes A or B we are working on an existing bug you will be able to create but not share"

That would be great. It would require a level of them caring about transparency and communication with the community that they have not shown in recent years.

I really cannot fathom this to be that complicated. I mean in terms of effort and delivery to it should not be something that it would take them more than a few days.
But again, I am ingorant on the backlog of the developers' team, and the resouces they can allocate for homebrew users! ;)
Ow well... At least having the community backing me up makes me feel less bad for critisizing the whole thing!

Thank you wagnarokkr, and everyone that spent time on this! :D