I'm seeing all sorts of options for character building (feats, 3rd level class specializations,backgrounds) in the compendium of rules, but I see very few of them reflected in the drop down menus of the character building engine.
Only the subclasses offered through the Basic Rules and SRD are provided for free. Others need to be unlocked through purchases, or via campaign sharing.
The feature/subclass/race you are referring to is not part of the D&D 5th edition SRD and will need to be unlocked from the marketplace before you can use it on D&D Beyond.
I'm having the same issue. I am shared on a Content-Enabled Campaign with a Master Tier subscription, but the only background options that ever appear in Character Builder for me are:
Acolyte Criminal/Spy Folk Hero Haunted One Hope City Noble (a custom background I create ages ago) Noble Sage Soldier
The only solutions I'm finding in the forum have to do with subscriptions and Enabled Content, but both of those things are in check for me. What am I missing?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In retrospect, I probably shouldnta given him the machete."
I can see a few possibilities of why you aren't getting other options.
1. Only the characters in the campaign has access to the shared materials in the character builder. Any other characters do not have access.
2. Only what you or other people have is shared. If nobody has bought any other backgrounds, then extra backgrounds will not show up.
3. Someone in the campaign needs to have a master tier subscription and the DM needs to have content sharing enabled.
It sounds like this last one is covered but just for sake of covering all the possibilities I can think of, I included it. It could also be a bug. Best of luck in finding a solution.
I seem to have solved the issue by deleting the one character I had in the campaign, and then re-clicking the original invitation link to join the campaign from months ago (option 3) of my own accord. Now all options are available. Thank you so much!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In retrospect, I probably shouldnta given him the machete."
I'm having the exact same issue. Specifically, the shared content seems to share access to things like races, even for characters not part of any campaign... but it doesn't unlock access to any backgrounds except those 5 in the Basic Rules (acolyte, criminal/spy, folk hero, noble, sage, soldier) and the Haunted One background from the Curse of Strahd character options (which seems to have been released for free by WotC). This problem specifically happens in the character generator; I can see and access all the backgrounds on the main list of backgrounds here.
This problem only occurs with the character I recently made that's not part of that campaign; I'm able to edit my previous character that is part of the campaign and set it to use any of the backgrounds from all the shared sourcebooks. I haven't yet tried any of the suggested solutions, but it seems strange that the bug would only happen with the backgrounds in particular.
If your character is not CURRENTLY part of a campaign that shares the content with you, then it doesn't have access to that content.
If you add that character back to the campaign, the backgrounds should be visible.
The alternative is to purchase the Player's Handbook.
Having a different character currently in that campaign that shares the content with me allows me to view the content, and allows me to choose a race for my new (non-campaign) character from the content that is shared with me; it seems strange that only the selection of backgrounds would be restricted in this manner, but not races.
Are you suggesting that this is the intended behavior, and not at all a bug?
If your character is not CURRENTLY part of a campaign that shares the content with you, then it doesn't have access to that content.
If you add that character back to the campaign, the backgrounds should be visible.
The alternative is to purchase the Player's Handbook.
Having a different character in that campaign that shares the content with me allows me to view the content, and allows me to choose a race for my new (non-campaign) character from the content that is shared with me; it seems strange that only the selection of backgrounds would be restricted in this manner, but not races.
Are you suggesting that this is the intended behavior, and not at all a bug?
Outside the campaign where the content is shared, every content of the toolset is restricted to what you have purchased (classes, races, backgrounds...). Just for clarification, what race are you selecting for your character outside that campaign?
If your character is not CURRENTLY part of a campaign that shares the content with you, then it doesn't have access to that content.
If you add that character back to the campaign, the backgrounds should be visible.
The alternative is to purchase the Player's Handbook.
Having a different character in that campaign that shares the content with me allows me to view the content, and allows me to choose a race for my new (non-campaign) character from the content that is shared with me; it seems strange that only the selection of backgrounds would be restricted in this manner, but not races.
Are you suggesting that this is the intended behavior, and not at all a bug?
Outside the campaign where the content is shared, every content of the toolset is restricted to what you have purchased (classes, races, backgrounds...). Just for clarification, what race are you selecting for your character outside that campaign?
I picked aarakocra, which is in the EEPC (which is officially available for free online)... and looking at the list again, it does seem to be restricted to free classes (e.g. Lizardfolk is missing). I think I might just have been thrown off by the inclusion of the EEPC races. My mistake!
(I'm pretty sure there are no officially published classes (not including those from UA) that aren't in the SRD, though...)
I stumbled across this thread looking for an answer to the same problem (content sharing not appearing to work when creating a new character). But, I figured it out.
Apparently, if you want to leverage content sharing for character creation -- that is, use somebody else's shared content though a master subscription and a campaign -- you have to do the following:
Go to Character Builder
Choose Standard Build
Give your character a name
Exit the Character Builder without doing a darn thing. You can close out of the window, go to another part of the website, go check Facebook. Whatever. It will automatically save the character slot and name.
Get the invite link for the campaign that has Content Sharing turned on.
Join the campaign with your empty, soulless shell of a character.
Click "Edit" (you can click "View" but it will yell at your because you haven't finished making your character, duh)
Proceed with building your Character using Content Sharing rules
Without opening my mouth too much, I supposed I understand why it is this way. But it's very clumsy and could use a lot of work.
You can also just click the invite link and create a new character directly in the campaign. The important bit is that you can only use shared content in the character builder for characters that are in said campaign.
When following the link to join the campaign, this is the screen that is shown
Clicking on the blue CREATE A CHARACTER button will allow you to create a character in that campaign, using any content that is shared through the campaign.
If you already have valid characters created that you can use to join the campaign, they will be shown below that button.
You can also just click the invite link and create a new character directly in the campaign. The important bit is that you can only use shared content in the character builder for characters that are in said campaign.
Oh hey, look at how dumb I am.
That makes way more sense. Thanks.
I got it wrong because I was seeing it from the DM's side and trying to test it out.
I'm seeing all sorts of options for character building (feats, 3rd level class specializations,backgrounds) in the compendium of rules, but I see very few of them reflected in the drop down menus of the character building engine.
Hi Samuel_Vibes,
Only the subclasses offered through the Basic Rules and SRD are provided for free. Others need to be unlocked through purchases, or via campaign sharing.
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Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
I'm having the same issue. I am shared on a Content-Enabled Campaign with a Master Tier subscription, but the only background options that ever appear in Character Builder for me are:
Acolyte
Criminal/Spy
Folk Hero
Haunted One
Hope City Noble (a custom background I create ages ago)
Noble
Sage
Soldier
The only solutions I'm finding in the forum have to do with subscriptions and Enabled Content, but both of those things are in check for me. What am I missing?
"In retrospect, I probably shouldnta given him the machete."
I can see a few possibilities of why you aren't getting other options.
1. Only the characters in the campaign has access to the shared materials in the character builder. Any other characters do not have access.
2. Only what you or other people have is shared. If nobody has bought any other backgrounds, then extra backgrounds will not show up.
3. Someone in the campaign needs to have a master tier subscription and the DM needs to have content sharing enabled.
It sounds like this last one is covered but just for sake of covering all the possibilities I can think of, I included it. It could also be a bug. Best of luck in finding a solution.
Thanks for the ideas. It looks like all of those possibilities are covered, but I'm still only seeing the limited choices. Must be a bug.
"In retrospect, I probably shouldnta given him the machete."
We're not aware of any bugs with this currently - can you try the following please:
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Thanks for the response --
I seem to have solved the issue by deleting the one character I had in the campaign, and then re-clicking the original invitation link to join the campaign from months ago (option 3) of my own accord. Now all options are available. Thank you so much!
"In retrospect, I probably shouldnta given him the machete."
Thanks for your help!
I'm having the exact same issue. Specifically, the shared content seems to share access to things like races, even for characters not part of any campaign... but it doesn't unlock access to any backgrounds except those 5 in the Basic Rules (acolyte, criminal/spy, folk hero, noble, sage, soldier) and the Haunted One background from the Curse of Strahd character options (which seems to have been released for free by WotC). This problem specifically happens in the character generator; I can see and access all the backgrounds on the main list of backgrounds here.
This problem only occurs with the character I recently made that's not part of that campaign; I'm able to edit my previous character that is part of the campaign and set it to use any of the backgrounds from all the shared sourcebooks. I haven't yet tried any of the suggested solutions, but it seems strange that the bug would only happen with the backgrounds in particular.
If your character is not CURRENTLY part of a campaign that shares the content with you, then it doesn't have access to that content.
If you add that character back to the campaign, the backgrounds should be visible.
The alternative is to purchase the Player's Handbook.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I stumbled across this thread looking for an answer to the same problem (content sharing not appearing to work when creating a new character). But, I figured it out.Apparently, if you want to leverage content sharing for character creation -- that is, use somebody else's shared content though a master subscription and a campaign -- you have to do the following:Go to Character BuilderChoose Standard BuildGive your character a nameExit the Character Builder without doing a darn thing. You can close out of the window, go to another part of the website, go check Facebook. Whatever. It will automatically save the character slot and name.Get the invite link for the campaign that has Content Sharing turned on.Join the campaign with your empty, soulless shell of a character.Click "Edit" (you can click "View" but it will yell at your because you haven't finished making your character, duh)Proceed with building your Character using Content Sharing rulesWithout opening my mouth too much, I supposed I understand why it is this way. But it's very clumsy and could use a lot of work.I'm an idiot. See below.
You can also just click the invite link and create a new character directly in the campaign. The important bit is that you can only use shared content in the character builder for characters that are in said campaign.
When following the link to join the campaign, this is the screen that is shown
Clicking on the blue CREATE A CHARACTER button will allow you to create a character in that campaign, using any content that is shared through the campaign.
If you already have valid characters created that you can use to join the campaign, they will be shown below that button.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊