I'd first like to say that while I have been using D&D Beyond for a while now, I haven't spent much time in the forums. So if any/all of my ideas are already here, I apologize. I'd also like to say that even though I know we are only in phase one, I think these features would be awesome. And if they are already planned for later phases, all the better! Now that that's out of the way, I'll get to it.
Randomized Search - This isn't as lame as it sounds (at least to me). The idea is to set your own cap or range of random lists; be they spells, items, creatures, etc.. For example, if my players are heading into a mountain range I can set terrain: mountain and click a box for a randomized set of 15 (or however many I choose) between a CR of 5 and 10 and those will be the creatures who live in that area. Numbering the list would be very beneficial too since I could pull up an RNG, set it to 15, and quickly match my number with the numbered list. Having the ability to save a search list would be awesome too. If in five months my characters go back to the same area, I feel it's nice to have that consistency.
Full Character Creator - I'm talking everything a character needs. You can have a dropdown menu for everything, but the default will be set to random. Things like race, gender, class, height (short, medium, tall), weight (thin, medium, heavy), etc.. What I would also love to see is a dropdown menu or a click box that says heroic (or non-heroic if it's a dropdown). If they are non-heroic they can be given a monster stat block, or something indicating they are an NPC. Even personality quirks, outstanding physical attributes, and other "tables" can be rolled behind the scenes. In my head, everything would be ready to calculate as soon as you click on the page. You'll just have to click the button. I've had players confront NPC's for whom I've had nothing prepared. It would be nice to do it at the click of a button. I've also drawn a complete blank on what to do with my own characters. It would be interesting to play a one-handed gnomish weaponsmith who daydreams about magic, art, and adventure. That's just an example of a random character I probably wouldn't think of off the top of my head to play (even though I kinda did). Oh, and complete with a name. Names are very important.
Character Creator En Masse - Same as above, but If I want a group of ten bandits between levels one and six, BOOM! One click of a button can tell me all of their names, levels, genders, and classes (or even something as simple as 1 Cleric Lvl 2/2 fighters Lvl 1, 1/ 3 wizards Lvl 1, 1, 5, etc.). If you could create a full character for each, that would be even better. Hovering over their names could pull up a basic character sheet. I've used a program online that can pull up an entire city's worth of characters at a click. This is an example of something I generated.
Town type
small town
Population
1048
GP Limit
593
Wealth
62265
Authority Class
warrior
Authority Level
3
Authority Title
captain of the guard
Full-Time Guards
10
Conscriptable
52
Centre Id: 0
Type: magical theocracy
Alignment: lawful good
Class: warrior
Level: 1, Number: 51
It then separated the NPC's by class and then by level. It didn't pull up 51 generated characters for level one warriors, but it did have five. I don't know how feesable this would be, but it would be awesome.
Random Generators in General - From treasure generators, to hook/story generators, to encounter generators (down to terrain with bonuses/negatives) and anything else. Random generators are the best. Even something as simple as an atmosphere generator, or weather generator.
These are a few of my ideas, and I can't remember the rest. I didn't mean this to be so long, and for that I'm sorry. And as I said before, if these ideas are floating around somewhere else, I am sorry. Let me know what you guys think. I know a lot of people are against random generators, but I feel like the less prep time I use for things like creating NPC's, and the more I spend on my players and my stories, the better experiance it will be for everyone.
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Hello, all!
I'd first like to say that while I have been using D&D Beyond for a while now, I haven't spent much time in the forums. So if any/all of my ideas are already here, I apologize. I'd also like to say that even though I know we are only in phase one, I think these features would be awesome. And if they are already planned for later phases, all the better! Now that that's out of the way, I'll get to it.
Randomized Search - This isn't as lame as it sounds (at least to me). The idea is to set your own cap or range of random lists; be they spells, items, creatures, etc.. For example, if my players are heading into a mountain range I can set terrain: mountain and click a box for a randomized set of 15 (or however many I choose) between a CR of 5 and 10 and those will be the creatures who live in that area. Numbering the list would be very beneficial too since I could pull up an RNG, set it to 15, and quickly match my number with the numbered list. Having the ability to save a search list would be awesome too. If in five months my characters go back to the same area, I feel it's nice to have that consistency.
Full Character Creator - I'm talking everything a character needs. You can have a dropdown menu for everything, but the default will be set to random. Things like race, gender, class, height (short, medium, tall), weight (thin, medium, heavy), etc.. What I would also love to see is a dropdown menu or a click box that says heroic (or non-heroic if it's a dropdown). If they are non-heroic they can be given a monster stat block, or something indicating they are an NPC. Even personality quirks, outstanding physical attributes, and other "tables" can be rolled behind the scenes. In my head, everything would be ready to calculate as soon as you click on the page. You'll just have to click the button. I've had players confront NPC's for whom I've had nothing prepared. It would be nice to do it at the click of a button. I've also drawn a complete blank on what to do with my own characters. It would be interesting to play a one-handed gnomish weaponsmith who daydreams about magic, art, and adventure. That's just an example of a random character I probably wouldn't think of off the top of my head to play (even though I kinda did). Oh, and complete with a name. Names are very important.
Character Creator En Masse - Same as above, but If I want a group of ten bandits between levels one and six, BOOM! One click of a button can tell me all of their names, levels, genders, and classes (or even something as simple as 1 Cleric Lvl 2/2 fighters Lvl 1, 1/ 3 wizards Lvl 1, 1, 5, etc.). If you could create a full character for each, that would be even better. Hovering over their names could pull up a basic character sheet. I've used a program online that can pull up an entire city's worth of characters at a click. This is an example of something I generated.