I'm truly hoping this is just all user error on my part, but I'm beginning to think I just had my expectations set way to high.
As a new DM, these are just a couple of things I've tried to do unsuccessfully:
Unable to add a sidekick to a combat encounter: As a DM, I'm choosing to control my players sidekick during combat as they're brand new, and I don't want to overwhelm them. As far as I can tell, I have no way of seeing their sidekick from the encounter page, nor add them as a character to the campaign, so I can't see their stat block.
Unable to roll the sidekicks attacks from the extras page: The next best thing would be to have them control the sidekick during combat, but again, as far as I can tell there is no way for them to automatically roll the side kicks attacks. Am I really supposed to tell my player to use D&D Beyond for their characters attacks, but to roll their sidekicks attack with physical dice?
Unable to use Monster Dice rolling from the combat tracker: I spent a long time fidgeting with the notation because I assumed I was doing something wrong. According to this form post, I should be able to, but I guess it's still only available for subscribers? I understand a beta period, but they posted about it almost a year ago. Are things usually "in beta" for this long?
Flame Tongue Longsword isn't fully implemented: One of my characters has the Flame Tongue Longsword. As a bonus action, I'm supposed to be able to light it, which adds an extra dice roll to the damage. However, I don't see the light under a bonus action, and I have no way of rolling the extra damage from my action page. This seems like another instance where I'm supposed to use D&D Beyond for a portion of my needs, and use physical for the rest.
Can't import encounters from published adventures: As far as I can tell, I can't "pull in" encounters from published adventures, I just have to recreate them all manually. This seems like a huge oversight, as it feels like it would be a huge draw for rebuying the material on D&D Beyond.
I'm really hoping that this is all just me misunderstanding how things are supposed to work, because as is, I don't think I'll bother using this app. I've ran into several roadblocks trying to do officially sanctioned things (use magical items, use a sidekick, roll attacks, etc.), so I'm not sure what D&D Beyond is supposed to be used for.
The encounter builder is still in beta. It's not fully functional yet.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
Flame Tongue Longsword isn't fully implemented: One of my characters has the Flame Tongue Longsword. As a bonus action, I'm supposed to be able to light it, which adds an extra dice roll to the damage. However, I don't see the light under a bonus action, and I have no way of rolling the extra damage from my action page. This seems like another instance where I'm supposed to use D&D Beyond for a portion of my needs, and use physical for the rest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I know everyone's got to make money but I think it's ridiculous that creating characters have limited options from things that ARE IN THE ORIGINAL PLAYERS HANDBOOK. That you have to pay more than what the actual physical book costs, to have these options available for character creation. Especially when you already own these books!
I am sorry you are not feeling like DDB is not exactly what you are hoping for at the moment. I am currently using the combat tracker for my game. I can roll monster dice from the monster pages within the tracker. Granted, I am a subscriber, but this feature is a fairly recent addition. I would encourage patience. It will likely be coming to you soon if it isn’t already available.
How have you tried adding the sidekick to the encounter? Is it a sidekick from Dragon of Icespire Peak or a homebrewed one?
One of my players has a wolf warrior sidekick (homebrewed monster stat block) and I’ve had no trouble adding it. It does mess up the CR calculation because there is no way to mark it as a friend. My work around is to add an additional PC to the party in the encounter, and then only add the sidekick after I’ve built the rest of the encounter and am happy with the calculation.
If you want to pursue more on that front, I’d be happy to try and help you sort it out.
I, too, long for the day when we can import/use pre-built encounters from the adventures. I know it’s on the list of things they want to do. But I also understand that it makes the most sense to wait to do so until they have encounters finalized.
Appreciate this work around! Have they expressed any intention of implementing magically item bonus damage with the weapons themselves, or is this the official way of using the app?
Regardless, thanks again for taking the time to demonstrate this in a short and sweet video!
After doing more digging, I found that the reason I can't use this is because I'm not a subscriber, and it's currently still in "beta".
Just a bit disappointed learning this though, as we're coming up on almost a year of this feature being in beta. It seems more like they're using this as a selling point of being a subscriber, without actually stating that it's a subscriber perk.
The dice rolling may still be subscriber only, but the ability to add sidekick statblocks is not. If that’s something you still want to explore, please answer the questions I asked above.
I'm trying to use sidekicks as defined in Dragon of the Icespire Peak Adventure Book.
Your workaround seems feasible enough, but personally, I'm just kind of turned off on the idea of D&D Beyond if everything I want to do is a hacky workaround vs. supported functionality.
Like, I'd have to go in and update the sidekick monster stat block every time they level up, and it just seems like more hassle than it's worth.
I do appreciate your help though, and I apologize again for missing your initial response.
If you are using the sidekicks from Dragon Icespire Peak, you don’t have to update the statblock, you can just switch to one of the right level. (This assumes that you redeemed these in the physical box or bought DOIP here)
that said, it sounds like DDB isn’t a good fit for you, and that’s perfectly fair, I wish you happy gaming.
The dice rolling may still be subscriber only, but the ability to add sidekick statblocks is not. If that’s something you still want to explore, please answer the questions I asked above.
Correct, monster rollables are still in Alpha and only available to payed subscribers.
I know everyone's got to make money but I think it's ridiculous that creating characters have limited options from things that ARE IN THE ORIGINAL PLAYERS HANDBOOK. That you have to pay more than what the actual physical book costs, to have these options available for character creation. Especially when you already own these books!
Sigh... Here we go again. The limited options come from the SRD, which is free to everyone. Because giving out the content in the PHB for free would violate DDB's contract with WotC, they don't do that, so you have to buy the book. Additionally, DDB is not affiliated with WotC any more than Target, Barnes&Noble, or a brick-and-mortar game store; if you bought a book from your LGS, would you march into B&N and demand they give you a copy of the same book? No!
But hey at least we get fancy looking 3D dice we are pretty much never going to use anyway. /s
No no no no no they used them in Battle for Beyond and totally not because they were told by DDB to use them. /s
though I do admit they're useful for throwing a lot of dice at a time as DM.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
I'm truly hoping this is just all user error on my part, but I'm beginning to think I just had my expectations set way to high.
As a new DM, these are just a couple of things I've tried to do unsuccessfully:
Unable to add a sidekick to a combat encounter: As a DM, I'm choosing to control my players sidekick during combat as they're brand new, and I don't want to overwhelm them. As far as I can tell, I have no way of seeing their sidekick from the encounter page, nor add them as a character to the campaign, so I can't see their stat block.
Unable to roll the sidekicks attacks from the extras page: The next best thing would be to have them control the sidekick during combat, but again, as far as I can tell there is no way for them to automatically roll the side kicks attacks. Am I really supposed to tell my player to use D&D Beyond for their characters attacks, but to roll their sidekicks attack with physical dice?
Unable to use Monster Dice rolling from the combat tracker: I spent a long time fidgeting with the notation because I assumed I was doing something wrong. According to this form post, I should be able to, but I guess it's still only available for subscribers? I understand a beta period, but they posted about it almost a year ago. Are things usually "in beta" for this long?
Flame Tongue Longsword isn't fully implemented: One of my characters has the Flame Tongue Longsword. As a bonus action, I'm supposed to be able to light it, which adds an extra dice roll to the damage. However, I don't see the light under a bonus action, and I have no way of rolling the extra damage from my action page. This seems like another instance where I'm supposed to use D&D Beyond for a portion of my needs, and use physical for the rest.
Can't import encounters from published adventures: As far as I can tell, I can't "pull in" encounters from published adventures, I just have to recreate them all manually. This seems like a huge oversight, as it feels like it would be a huge draw for rebuying the material on D&D Beyond.
I'm really hoping that this is all just me misunderstanding how things are supposed to work, because as is, I don't think I'll bother using this app. I've ran into several roadblocks trying to do officially sanctioned things (use magical items, use a sidekick, roll attacks, etc.), so I'm not sure what D&D Beyond is supposed to be used for.
DnDBeyond is unfortunately really really bad for active use. It's convenient to create characters with official stuff quickly (though there are other tools for that as well) and to look up stuff from official sources quickly. For homebrew/3rd party stuff or actually using the characters you created here you're better off using something else, really. It's also not something that's going to change anytime soon. Development work here is done veeeery slowly and often contains lots of bugs when finally released.
But hey at least we get fancy looking 3D dice we are pretty much never going to use anyway. /s
I've been actively using it for 3 years. Development on important things is always fast enough for me. And I extensively use the homebrew system. I firmly disagree with your position.
The fact that you can not Homebrew a Class is enough to make me feel like I wasted my money. I guess I saw subclasses when signing up and my brain assumed it had the option for classes as well. I feel like I wasted a ton of money and time.
I'm truly hoping this is just all user error on my part, but I'm beginning to think I just had my expectations set way to high.
As a new DM, these are just a couple of things I've tried to do unsuccessfully:
Unable to add a sidekick to a combat encounter: As a DM, I'm choosing to control my players sidekick during combat as they're brand new, and I don't want to overwhelm them. As far as I can tell, I have no way of seeing their sidekick from the encounter page, nor add them as a character to the campaign, so I can't see their stat block.
Unable to roll the sidekicks attacks from the extras page: The next best thing would be to have them control the sidekick during combat, but again, as far as I can tell there is no way for them to automatically roll the side kicks attacks. Am I really supposed to tell my player to use D&D Beyond for their characters attacks, but to roll their sidekicks attack with physical dice?
Unable to use Monster Dice rolling from the combat tracker: I spent a long time fidgeting with the notation because I assumed I was doing something wrong. According to this form post, I should be able to, but I guess it's still only available for subscribers? I understand a beta period, but they posted about it almost a year ago. Are things usually "in beta" for this long?
Flame Tongue Longsword isn't fully implemented: One of my characters has the Flame Tongue Longsword. As a bonus action, I'm supposed to be able to light it, which adds an extra dice roll to the damage. However, I don't see the light under a bonus action, and I have no way of rolling the extra damage from my action page. This seems like another instance where I'm supposed to use D&D Beyond for a portion of my needs, and use physical for the rest.
Can't import encounters from published adventures: As far as I can tell, I can't "pull in" encounters from published adventures, I just have to recreate them all manually. This seems like a huge oversight, as it feels like it would be a huge draw for rebuying the material on D&D Beyond.
I'm really hoping that this is all just me misunderstanding how things are supposed to work, because as is, I don't think I'll bother using this app. I've ran into several roadblocks trying to do officially sanctioned things (use magical items, use a sidekick, roll attacks, etc.), so I'm not sure what D&D Beyond is supposed to be used for.
DnDBeyond is unfortunately really really bad for active use. It's convenient to create characters with official stuff quickly (though there are other tools for that as well) and to look up stuff from official sources quickly. For homebrew/3rd party stuff or actually using the characters you created here you're better off using something else, really. It's also not something that's going to change anytime soon. Development work here is done veeeery slowly and often contains lots of bugs when finally released.
But hey at least we get fancy looking 3D dice we are pretty much never going to use anyway. /s
I've been actively using it for 3 years. Development on important things is always fast enough for me. And I extensively use the homebrew system. I firmly disagree with your position.
I firm disagree with your position. There are video games coming out faster than this. Hell, Adam Bradford is moving quickly on Demi-plane. It's insane we still don't have all the options from the DMG, even so many years later. I also feel like I've wasted a ton of money and time. How am I still not able to make my own classes? I'd love to use the content I bough from MCDM within DDB but of course I can't.
I find that rolling on monster stat blocks, and the combat tracker in general, really helps lower the mental load as I DM. It's usually faster than rolling physical dice (which I REALLY like to do), and it records the rolls to the game log (which is nice, because my memory for such things sucks). And I like that it imports initiative from my players automatically.
For sidekicks, in the encounter builder, just type expert, spellcaster, or warrior, and add a stat block of the appropriate level. This unfortunately skews the difficulty, but CR in D&D is screwy anyway. Maybe MotM will help.
And yes, I was disappointed to learn that rolling on monster stat blocks still requires a subscription. But $3/month is pretty cheap, and I find the feature worth the money. Your milage may very.
Thank you, Cyb3rM1nd, for the video!!!! That's a nice little trick!
And finally, on a recent Dev Update, Joe talked about creating pre-built encounters. It will probably be at least a year before we see it, but they at least think it's an interesting idea. Personally, I'd prefer being able to assign names to the monsters. Pre-built encounters would only save me a few minutes each. But assigning names would save some huge headaches.
Anyway, if DnDBeyond isn't for you, then no worries. Good luck!
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I'm truly hoping this is just all user error on my part, but I'm beginning to think I just had my expectations set way to high.
As a new DM, these are just a couple of things I've tried to do unsuccessfully:
I'm really hoping that this is all just me misunderstanding how things are supposed to work, because as is, I don't think I'll bother using this app. I've ran into several roadblocks trying to do officially sanctioned things (use magical items, use a sidekick, roll attacks, etc.), so I'm not sure what D&D Beyond is supposed to be used for.
The encounter builder is still in beta. It's not fully functional yet.
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
#OpenDnD
DDB is great, but it could be better. Here are some things I think could improve DDB
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I know everyone's got to make money but I think it's ridiculous that creating characters have limited options from things that ARE IN THE ORIGINAL PLAYERS HANDBOOK. That you have to pay more than what the actual physical book costs, to have these options available for character creation. Especially when you already own these books!
Hello Kigoli,
I am sorry you are not feeling like DDB is not exactly what you are hoping for at the moment. I am currently using the combat tracker for my game. I can roll monster dice from the monster pages within the tracker. Granted, I am a subscriber, but this feature is a fairly recent addition. I would encourage patience. It will likely be coming to you soon if it isn’t already available.
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How have you tried adding the sidekick to the encounter? Is it a sidekick from Dragon of Icespire Peak or a homebrewed one?
One of my players has a wolf warrior sidekick (homebrewed monster stat block) and I’ve had no trouble adding it. It does mess up the CR calculation because there is no way to mark it as a friend. My work around is to add an additional PC to the party in the encounter, and then only add the sidekick after I’ve built the rest of the encounter and am happy with the calculation.
If you want to pursue more on that front, I’d be happy to try and help you sort it out.
I, too, long for the day when we can import/use pre-built encounters from the adventures. I know it’s on the list of things they want to do. But I also understand that it makes the most sense to wait to do so until they have encounters finalized.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Appreciate this work around! Have they expressed any intention of implementing magically item bonus damage with the weapons themselves, or is this the official way of using the app?
Regardless, thanks again for taking the time to demonstrate this in a short and sweet video!
After doing more digging, I found that the reason I can't use this is because I'm not a subscriber, and it's currently still in "beta".
Just a bit disappointed learning this though, as we're coming up on almost a year of this feature being in beta. It seems more like they're using this as a selling point of being a subscriber, without actually stating that it's a subscriber perk.
Appreciate the response though!
The dice rolling may still be subscriber only, but the ability to add sidekick statblocks is not. If that’s something you still want to explore, please answer the questions I asked above.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Sorry, missed your response before!
I'm trying to use sidekicks as defined in Dragon of the Icespire Peak Adventure Book.
Your workaround seems feasible enough, but personally, I'm just kind of turned off on the idea of D&D Beyond if everything I want to do is a hacky workaround vs. supported functionality.
Like, I'd have to go in and update the sidekick monster stat block every time they level up, and it just seems like more hassle than it's worth.
I do appreciate your help though, and I apologize again for missing your initial response.
If you are using the sidekicks from Dragon Icespire Peak, you don’t have to update the statblock, you can just switch to one of the right level. (This assumes that you redeemed these in the physical box or bought DOIP here)
that said, it sounds like DDB isn’t a good fit for you, and that’s perfectly fair, I wish you happy gaming.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Correct, monster rollables are still in Alpha and only available to payed subscribers.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Sigh... Here we go again. The limited options come from the SRD, which is free to everyone. Because giving out the content in the PHB for free would violate DDB's contract with WotC, they don't do that, so you have to buy the book. Additionally, DDB is not affiliated with WotC any more than Target, Barnes&Noble, or a brick-and-mortar game store; if you bought a book from your LGS, would you march into B&N and demand they give you a copy of the same book? No!
No no no no no they used them in Battle for Beyond and totally not because they were told by DDB to use them. /s
though I do admit they're useful for throwing a lot of dice at a time as DM.
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
#OpenDnD
DDB is great, but it could be better. Here are some things I think could improve DDB
I've been actively using it for 3 years. Development on important things is always fast enough for me. And I extensively use the homebrew system. I firmly disagree with your position.
The fact that you can not Homebrew a Class is enough to make me feel like I wasted my money. I guess I saw subclasses when signing up and my brain assumed it had the option for classes as well. I feel like I wasted a ton of money and time.
I firm disagree with your position. There are video games coming out faster than this. Hell, Adam Bradford is moving quickly on Demi-plane. It's insane we still don't have all the options from the DMG, even so many years later. I also feel like I've wasted a ton of money and time. How am I still not able to make my own classes? I'd love to use the content I bough from MCDM within DDB but of course I can't.
I find that rolling on monster stat blocks, and the combat tracker in general, really helps lower the mental load as I DM. It's usually faster than rolling physical dice (which I REALLY like to do), and it records the rolls to the game log (which is nice, because my memory for such things sucks). And I like that it imports initiative from my players automatically.
For sidekicks, in the encounter builder, just type expert, spellcaster, or warrior, and add a stat block of the appropriate level. This unfortunately skews the difficulty, but CR in D&D is screwy anyway. Maybe MotM will help.
And yes, I was disappointed to learn that rolling on monster stat blocks still requires a subscription. But $3/month is pretty cheap, and I find the feature worth the money. Your milage may very.
Thank you, Cyb3rM1nd, for the video!!!! That's a nice little trick!
And finally, on a recent Dev Update, Joe talked about creating pre-built encounters. It will probably be at least a year before we see it, but they at least think it's an interesting idea. Personally, I'd prefer being able to assign names to the monsters. Pre-built encounters would only save me a few minutes each. But assigning names would save some huge headaches.
Anyway, if DnDBeyond isn't for you, then no worries. Good luck!