Classes are my favorite part of every character (kind of the character's essence) and I'm curious what other people come up with for classes as well as getting feedback on my own classes.
I think with how large and complex classes are that, while I want it to happen, I'd want some limitations added in. First I'd want them to better the homebrew system they have now, and include a review system. Then I would want access to doing something like homebrew classes something you could unlock if you had X number of X%/X star/X thumb reviewed homebrew items/spells/feats/backgrounds/races/subclasses.
But yeah, I'd love to see homebrew classes in some form in the future, once the rest of the homebrew system is smoothed out.
Homebrew classes really need to happen. My group just started a campaign here and one of our players is an Artificer - since that class won't make it in unless WotC publishes an update, we need to be able to recreate it via custom classes.
I think with how large and complex classes are that, while I want it to happen, I'd want some limitations added in. First I'd want them to better the homebrew system they have now, and include a review system. Then I would want access to doing something like homebrew classes something you could unlock if you had X number of X%/X star/X thumb reviewed homebrew items/spells/feats/backgrounds/races/subclasses.
But yeah, I'd love to see homebrew classes in some form in the future, once the rest of the homebrew system is smoothed out.
While it would be great to get a more polished homebrew system to include reviews and comments, those aren't as much use to people that just want to homebrew stuff for their own group's use and not as interested in publishing.
An alternative for the short term would be to let users actually make homebrew classes (I expect D&D Beyond can handle custom classes given the Blood Hunter) just not give the ability to publish them or at least until some review/commenting system is available (if ever). This would make D&D Beyond much more useful for those groups that do use custom or altered classes (which seems rather popular given the frequency of comments).
There is no real reason to restrict users that just want stuff for their own campaigns without the desire to publish, it is likely to make them not use D&D Beyond over other methods since they would have players that couldn't make as much use of it.
It's nowhere near as simple as just flicking a switch to allow users to create content.
Every page & function that becomes "user facing" needs a lot more work in terms of ensuring there aren't any errors or security vulnerabilities.
Simply, as Badeye has put it, there are many other areas that the team can be developing that are much more beneficial than working on homebrew classes.
Yes, there are a FEW players who want Artificer, Gunslinger or their own class on D&D Beyond, but compared to that, the work on character sheets & campaign management is something that will benefit pretty much everyone.
That's how they prioritise.
So, whilst it has been said, "We will be adding homebrew SUBCLASSES but it is not planned to add homebrew CLASSES" the real takeaway from that is the "not planned" - it's not in the current schedule. It may happen later, but for now, you'll just have to trust the team at their word about how massively complex it would be.
This is a must. I don't care how complex they are, let us have at the same tools the developers use. At the very least being able to use parts and pieces of current classes would be far better than "too hard, not going to do it." That's weak.
My players still want the Swordmage, Warden, and other 4e classes ported over. Give me the opportunity to do that for them.
I may be missing something but classes aren't really all that complex once broken down, which is a huge boon for the 5th ed class design IMO.
A list of parts: Proficiencies: this covers saves, weapons, skills, tool and Languages Hit Dice: covers all the hit point and innate recovery Class Abilities: these are essentially specific feats/spell-like powers each character gets at certain levels (just like subclass options or racial abilities that could be literally anything). Flavour text: essentially the meat and bones of how it works for the setting.
All these aspects are already part of D&D Beyond (or will be), they just aren't linked together yet to make a single package (the class).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not seeing it in the immediate future, but it does seem an oversight not to have it planned once all the parts are already made to allow it (though I guess much of it depends on how the system is coded up and how those parts interact with each other).
The DDB team is incredibly responsive to the community and if they say it's not worth the diversion of resources (the time required to build it compared to the demand), I believe them. I personally don't want homebrew classes (I'd rather some of the UA stuff was just added - and it will be with time) and even if it were on the roadmap, there's a whole bunch of stuff I want first. e.g.: the app to be fully functional, a robust campaign manager and encounter builder/tracker. You can have your homebrew classes after that stuff is done.
The dev team has been VERY clear. Despite what the armchair programmers want to believe, programming the ability to homebrew classes is complex, complicated, and time consuming. Based on their extensive analysis of user feedback, there are many many more things they are better off putting the time and money into, for the benefit of a much larger percentage of the user base.
the solution for this is pretty simple, as someone who isn't an "armchair developer" and as someone who does actually work of this kind, give us a blank character sheet like in the roll20 OGL sheets...
will it be more complicated for the player? sure
will it mean the player has to learn the macro system so they can make all the math work? yep
are people willing to put that time and effort in to get it functioning for their custom classes? heck yes
it took me about a week to get a sheet working for roll20's system that has the same functionality as d&dbeyond's sheets.... and before some smartass tries to tell me to get lost and go back to roll20 well I want D&D beyond to improve as much as the next man and I think letting the community flex their creative muscles and build up the sheets themselves using a completely custom macro based system will be an amazing step forward and a way for us to put our custom classes into the game until a fully functioning segment of the website can be dedicated to homebrew classes just like they are for races, monsters and other things.
Personally, I think the DDB team is making a mistake by not posting old UA content. I've seen some people on this forum say there are only a few people who want the Mystic and Artificer classes, but from what I've seen on the internet and even just in some groups I've played in there's a huge number of people who want these classes available on DDB.
Personally, I think the DDB team is making a mistake by not posting old UA content.
D&D Beyond has the official Dungeons & Dragons rules, which includes the current playtest rules from Unearthed Arcana.
The Unearthed Arcana classes you refer to are part of a completed playtest, from before 1st Jan 2018, that Wizards of the Coast has defined as complete.
It's not just complex to program the extra content in and such, but also, you're talking about recreating official content, it may not be entirely legitimate in the eyes of the Wizards to just remake their old things without permission. I don't know and this is clearly not my area of expertise, but I really don't think Wiz would want us basically bootlegging their stuff onto here just because it's not on here.
Stormknight, if you also play computer rpgs, I'm sure you've heard of it.
That I know for certain is copyrighted content, but D&D could totally use a facsimile. A nearly pure support class that needs the other party members to cover for them while they perform ritual dances to summon undead minions and to buff them and party members. The only problem I could see with it is the same problem it had on the other game, low health, low armor. But almost every passive skill you could pick upon leveling up increased casting speed, so faster dances=more minions that are tougher and better made to stand in between you and your enemies.
I'm just here to bump this topic. As I further delve into homebrewing for my own players, I've found that the limitations and the community response are both confirming and frustrating.
One one hand, I'm glad that I'm not just "doing something wrong" and the feature just doesn't exist. On the other hand, I hate seeing year old posts talking about the same problem that I'm fighting with. Meanwhile it hasn't moved from the long-term in that entire time.
I'm just here to bump this topic. As I further delve into homebrewing for my own players, I've found that the limitations and the community response are both confirming and frustrating.
One one hand, I'm glad that I'm not just "doing something wrong" and the feature just doesn't exist. On the other hand, I hate seeing year old posts talking about the same problem that I'm fighting with. Meanwhile it hasn't moved from the long-term in that entire time.
Enough people asked that they finally added it to the long term list after saying it wouldn't happen at all for so long. Still, it would benefit a small enough percentage of users that they can't afford to dedicate resources to that over other things that many more people want. Patience is the only answer.
In the meantime, you can get pretty creative using sub-classes...bastardizing their defaults...and I'm trying a new technique of creating homebrew "magic items" to give the desired effects you might normally do with a class ability. It means that the player's character sheet is a hacky mess, but with enough patience you can trick mechanics into working for you.
Full disclosure: I'm still trying to get my players to completely jump ship from Roll20 and this item is making it a tough sell. I absolutely love the DDB interface and the growth we've all seen in the few years since it launched. I'd love to see some of the more developer-ish tools exposed for those users that enjoy getting into the weeds.
Oh, I understand, believe me. The features here, and all the benefits of using DDB make it worth my investment, but I can certainly see the drawbacks for people who do a lot more customizing than I do. I've used both feats and magic items as workarounds here and there, but the ability to fully homebrew classes will open up the systems in amazing ways. The developers continue to work and add more and more features all the time, so I have full faith that we'll get there eventually.
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Classes are my favorite part of every character (kind of the character's essence) and I'm curious what other people come up with for classes as well as getting feedback on my own classes.
I think with how large and complex classes are that, while I want it to happen, I'd want some limitations added in. First I'd want them to better the homebrew system they have now, and include a review system. Then I would want access to doing something like homebrew classes something you could unlock if you had X number of X%/X star/X thumb reviewed homebrew items/spells/feats/backgrounds/races/subclasses.
But yeah, I'd love to see homebrew classes in some form in the future, once the rest of the homebrew system is smoothed out.
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D&D Beyond FoundersMoved from "Mobile Beta Testing Feedback" to "D&D Beyond Feedback"
Homebrew classes really need to happen. My group just started a campaign here and one of our players is an Artificer - since that class won't make it in unless WotC publishes an update, we need to be able to recreate it via custom classes.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt's nowhere near as simple as just flicking a switch to allow users to create content.
Every page & function that becomes "user facing" needs a lot more work in terms of ensuring there aren't any errors or security vulnerabilities.
Simply, as Badeye has put it, there are many other areas that the team can be developing that are much more beneficial than working on homebrew classes.
Yes, there are a FEW players who want Artificer, Gunslinger or their own class on D&D Beyond, but compared to that, the work on character sheets & campaign management is something that will benefit pretty much everyone.
That's how they prioritise.
So, whilst it has been said, "We will be adding homebrew SUBCLASSES but it is not planned to add homebrew CLASSES" the real takeaway from that is the "not planned" - it's not in the current schedule. It may happen later, but for now, you'll just have to trust the team at their word about how massively complex it would be.
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!"🔊
This is a must. I don't care how complex they are, let us have at the same tools the developers use. At the very least being able to use parts and pieces of current classes would be far better than "too hard, not going to do it." That's weak.
My players still want the Swordmage, Warden, and other 4e classes ported over. Give me the opportunity to do that for them.
Dungeon Master - Writer - Mini Enthusiast
@Stormknight thanks for the feedback
I may be missing something but classes aren't really all that complex once broken down, which is a huge boon for the 5th ed class design IMO.
A list of parts:
Proficiencies: this covers saves, weapons, skills, tool and Languages
Hit Dice: covers all the hit point and innate recovery
Class Abilities: these are essentially specific feats/spell-like powers each character gets at certain levels (just like subclass options or racial abilities that could be literally anything).
Flavour text: essentially the meat and bones of how it works for the setting.
All these aspects are already part of D&D Beyond (or will be), they just aren't linked together yet to make a single package (the class).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not seeing it in the immediate future, but it does seem an oversight not to have it planned once all the parts are already made to allow it (though I guess much of it depends on how the system is coded up and how those parts interact with each other).
- Loswaith
The DDB team is incredibly responsive to the community and if they say it's not worth the diversion of resources (the time required to build it compared to the demand), I believe them. I personally don't want homebrew classes (I'd rather some of the UA stuff was just added - and it will be with time) and even if it were on the roadmap, there's a whole bunch of stuff I want first. e.g.: the app to be fully functional, a robust campaign manager and encounter builder/tracker. You can have your homebrew classes after that stuff is done.
The dev team has been VERY clear. Despite what the armchair programmers want to believe, programming the ability to homebrew classes is complex, complicated, and time consuming. Based on their extensive analysis of user feedback, there are many many more things they are better off putting the time and money into, for the benefit of a much larger percentage of the user base.
the solution for this is pretty simple, as someone who isn't an "armchair developer" and as someone who does actually work of this kind, give us a blank character sheet like in the roll20 OGL sheets...
will it be more complicated for the player? sure
will it mean the player has to learn the macro system so they can make all the math work? yep
are people willing to put that time and effort in to get it functioning for their custom classes? heck yes
it took me about a week to get a sheet working for roll20's system that has the same functionality as d&dbeyond's sheets.... and before some smartass tries to tell me to get lost and go back to roll20 well I want D&D beyond to improve as much as the next man and I think letting the community flex their creative muscles and build up the sheets themselves using a completely custom macro based system will be an amazing step forward and a way for us to put our custom classes into the game until a fully functioning segment of the website can be dedicated to homebrew classes just like they are for races, monsters and other things.
Personally, I think the DDB team is making a mistake by not posting old UA content. I've seen some people on this forum say there are only a few people who want the Mystic and Artificer classes, but from what I've seen on the internet and even just in some groups I've played in there's a huge number of people who want these classes available on DDB.
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D&D Beyond FoundersD&D Beyond has the official Dungeons & Dragons rules, which includes the current playtest rules from Unearthed Arcana.
The Unearthed Arcana classes you refer to are part of a completed playtest, from before 1st Jan 2018, that Wizards of the Coast has defined as complete.
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!"🔊
It's not just complex to program the extra content in and such, but also, you're talking about recreating official content, it may not be entirely legitimate in the eyes of the Wizards to just remake their old things without permission. I don't know and this is clearly not my area of expertise, but I really don't think Wiz would want us basically bootlegging their stuff onto here just because it's not on here.
...Ehhh, whatever. It was a dumb idea anyways
The one I'd like isn't even from this game, but I think that WoTC should dabble into the frantic spiritualism of Shamanism.
Not just any Shamans mind you. If you're old enough to have ever played Dark Age of Camelot, I'm sure you've heard of the Bonedancer.
...Ehhh, whatever. It was a dumb idea anyways
Stormknight, if you also play computer rpgs, I'm sure you've heard of it.
That I know for certain is copyrighted content, but D&D could totally use a facsimile. A nearly pure support class that needs the other party members to cover for them while they perform ritual dances to summon undead minions and to buff them and party members. The only problem I could see with it is the same problem it had on the other game, low health, low armor. But almost every passive skill you could pick upon leveling up increased casting speed, so faster dances=more minions that are tougher and better made to stand in between you and your enemies.
...Ehhh, whatever. It was a dumb idea anyways
I'm just here to bump this topic. As I further delve into homebrewing for my own players, I've found that the limitations and the community response are both confirming and frustrating.
One one hand, I'm glad that I'm not just "doing something wrong" and the feature just doesn't exist. On the other hand, I hate seeing year old posts talking about the same problem that I'm fighting with. Meanwhile it hasn't moved from the long-term in that entire time.
Enough people asked that they finally added it to the long term list after saying it wouldn't happen at all for so long. Still, it would benefit a small enough percentage of users that they can't afford to dedicate resources to that over other things that many more people want. Patience is the only answer.
^^That's the truth, mate.
In the meantime, you can get pretty creative using sub-classes...bastardizing their defaults...and I'm trying a new technique of creating homebrew "magic items" to give the desired effects you might normally do with a class ability. It means that the player's character sheet is a hacky mess, but with enough patience you can trick mechanics into working for you.
Full disclosure: I'm still trying to get my players to completely jump ship from Roll20 and this item is making it a tough sell. I absolutely love the DDB interface and the growth we've all seen in the few years since it launched. I'd love to see some of the more developer-ish tools exposed for those users that enjoy getting into the weeds.
Oh, I understand, believe me. The features here, and all the benefits of using DDB make it worth my investment, but I can certainly see the drawbacks for people who do a lot more customizing than I do. I've used both feats and magic items as workarounds here and there, but the ability to fully homebrew classes will open up the systems in amazing ways. The developers continue to work and add more and more features all the time, so I have full faith that we'll get there eventually.