Wanted to start this by mentioning that this is not a thread that I would've ever imagined myself starting 25-30 years ago. I've always been a computer nerd, but I never played D&D growing up... only got into it as an adult, because my wife is a massive "Critter." (And yes, we are aware that CR is not the be-all-end-all of D&D, but it was her "gateway drug.") As someone who hates paper/pencil and loves technology, the ability to maintain a character sheet digitally was super appealing to me, and made it much easier to get into the game since the site helps with the rules.
But in some instances, the help with the rules, while friendly, can be confusing.
Example - played a game two nights ago and my sister has a lvl1 halfling monk. We could not figure out why the sheet was giving her spear a "Hit" roll bonus of 0, and its attack was 1d6-2 (yes, minus two). I finally understood that the -2 was coming from her strength modifier, but wasn't getting why her Monk feature (Martial Arts) was not substituting Dex for Str.
After sitting down today with the DM (my wife!), we finally realized it was because my sister had leather armor equipped, which overrides Martial Arts.
Suggestions to help with this - tapping the "Hit/DC" column for a weapon or spell, when it pops up the info about the weapon, should also explain where the numbers displayed are coming from. E.g. the attack / "hit" bonus should show what it is being calculated from, and the damage modifier should also note where it comes from somehow (ideally hovering over it would give a little popup, but that doesn't work as well on tablets / mobile that don't have a "hover," so I leave it up to your web wizards on how to best implement this).
Another situation where this is helpful - dual-wielding light melee weapons (e.g. a pair of knives) in proximity combat. The second hand doesn't get bonuses, but it is not immediately obvious from character sheet where these bonuses are coming from on a weapon. Especially the damage bonus/modifier - unless you're decently familiar with the rules, you don't necessarily understand where the "-1" or "+2" came from in that column.
Maybe just colorizing the bonus numbers and having those colors match the bonuses across the top of the sheet - that alone probably would've been enough to get it through to everyone.
Additionally, a character who does have multiple options, it might be nice to show some sort of flag or warning on the sheet that explains "hey, you could have a different (better?) number here if you do this". With the halfling monk mentioned above, a warning to the effect of "Martial Arts is not active when wearing armor" would've made things a lot more clear.
I'm a huge fan of the site / offering, and I think it's a wonderful tool to help introduce people to the game and streamline running a scenario. I just think some further explanations around where some of the numbers come from would go a long way to helping newbies!
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WOTC / DDB team...
Wanted to start this by mentioning that this is not a thread that I would've ever imagined myself starting 25-30 years ago. I've always been a computer nerd, but I never played D&D growing up... only got into it as an adult, because my wife is a massive "Critter." (And yes, we are aware that CR is not the be-all-end-all of D&D, but it was her "gateway drug.") As someone who hates paper/pencil and loves technology, the ability to maintain a character sheet digitally was super appealing to me, and made it much easier to get into the game since the site helps with the rules.
But in some instances, the help with the rules, while friendly, can be confusing.
Example - played a game two nights ago and my sister has a lvl1 halfling monk. We could not figure out why the sheet was giving her spear a "Hit" roll bonus of 0, and its attack was 1d6-2 (yes, minus two). I finally understood that the -2 was coming from her strength modifier, but wasn't getting why her Monk feature (Martial Arts) was not substituting Dex for Str.
After sitting down today with the DM (my wife!), we finally realized it was because my sister had leather armor equipped, which overrides Martial Arts.
Suggestions to help with this - tapping the "Hit/DC" column for a weapon or spell, when it pops up the info about the weapon, should also explain where the numbers displayed are coming from. E.g. the attack / "hit" bonus should show what it is being calculated from, and the damage modifier should also note where it comes from somehow (ideally hovering over it would give a little popup, but that doesn't work as well on tablets / mobile that don't have a "hover," so I leave it up to your web wizards on how to best implement this).
Another situation where this is helpful - dual-wielding light melee weapons (e.g. a pair of knives) in proximity combat. The second hand doesn't get bonuses, but it is not immediately obvious from character sheet where these bonuses are coming from on a weapon. Especially the damage bonus/modifier - unless you're decently familiar with the rules, you don't necessarily understand where the "-1" or "+2" came from in that column.
Maybe just colorizing the bonus numbers and having those colors match the bonuses across the top of the sheet - that alone probably would've been enough to get it through to everyone.
Additionally, a character who does have multiple options, it might be nice to show some sort of flag or warning on the sheet that explains "hey, you could have a different (better?) number here if you do this". With the halfling monk mentioned above, a warning to the effect of "Martial Arts is not active when wearing armor" would've made things a lot more clear.
I'm a huge fan of the site / offering, and I think it's a wonderful tool to help introduce people to the game and streamline running a scenario. I just think some further explanations around where some of the numbers come from would go a long way to helping newbies!