I would love to have the ability to add in custom homebrewed classes. Not sure that I care if I publish them (since I wouldn't want to risk posting Homebrews that are purchased on DM Guilds. Kind of takes away from those independent creators and I wouldn't want to do that), more to be able to create them privately for my own campaigns. I like to give my players the option to add homebrew classes they find online or create to our game (so long as I can review them first), and I love using DnD Beyond for their character sheets. Would love to give them the option to add their Homebrew classes to our Campaign page for ease and convenience
I think that everyone should be allowed to make Homebrew classes, it's up to the DM if the class is fair or not, it would be unfair for those who don't post their stuff publicly to not be able to make a Homebrew class.
That's not how DDB works; you don't build a character sheet, you select options from within the character builder that is compiled into the sheet.
As such, a class creation tool would have to use the exact syntax that the character builder understands and the interactive character sheet can parse. It's not about building sheets, it's about creating a readable set of 'rules' that the character builder can understand.
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Establish boundaries. And if anyone crosses them, speak up. If they don’t listen, there’s always cloudkill …
+1 for this guy (Barbarulo). I came her specifically to see how I "might" be able to add a homebrew class for an alchemist build that I found on the DMS Guild. I work at a software development company and I have to say that just because it seems easy to the layman or even a technically minded D&D GM or Player something that seems simple is infinitely more complex once you get down into the Nitty Gritty of it. Software Development might be easier than you think but QA testing and Production Rollouts always discover "unplanned features" and subtle and sometimes devastating bugs. Our company has thousands of requested enhancements and only so much can be prioritized and properly developed and deployed.
it's my one big bugbear about DDB, no I don't want a bugbear...
in every campaign I've played/ ran someone always ends up worth a custom class or a slight tweak on an existing class... most of the party use and love DDB and there one person having to manage on paper.
or puts me off using the site simply for that reason, just because one player is being creative.... but isn't that why were all here?
I also really want homebrew classes because, I am in a campaign where my older brother made a class for me to kinda playtest. I have been having a lot of fun playing it and would love it to be digital.
my DM and I are home brewing my characters class together, and we play online remotely. It’s so hard to have a campaign that’s fully on dndbeyond and roll 20, then one character with a ‘filler’ character sheet that’s not actually useable besides up and gold/item tracking. The homebrew ended up having hard stats as a base, but there’s a different number and ranking of spellslots, as well as a custom pointbase system kind of like bardic inspiration or Ki points. It’s so horribly hard to have to hop back and forth and keep everything in the same place when the DM can add items to our digital sheets but the real sheet is external.
We tried to create it as a custom bard subclass, but the options in there get really complicated and don’t make mush sense, and neither is or our very advanced players could really figure it out. Hopefully if custom homebrew classes that just aren’t publishable and can just be shared in party come, then we’ll at least get text boxes to explain the homebrew subclass better so it’s more user friendly.
Homebrew classes are are the single most complex homebrew element out there and at the time, it was determined that there wouldn't be enough demand to try and put a makeshift UI on their development tools (That's what the homebrew systems currently is). Seeing as the demand has been made clear, they've changed their stance and it's now on the roadmap, although they're still working out how to actually make it work. One of the mods on the discord put it beautifully as to why it's so much work:
i guess my idea of it is like.... let's say i made a class that was about tarot cards drawing cards from a deck, building a deck at different levels, adding cards to the deck at certain levels how would your make that class on dndbeyond? how could dndbeyond possibly support this random idea i had? you'd need to create a class design structure that was flexible enough to support literally any weird idea a person comes up with look how it took several weeks for ddbeyond to release the new artificer weeks of dedicated fulltime coding and working with talented individuals people who are REALLY GOOD at this now imagine trying to support everyone's classes everyone's custom resource, unique tools, custom monsters it's just... a difficult proposition subclasses are easy, since they only use the resources built into the class already and they come at fixed points in the progression of the class. It's a relatively closed system but a class is wide open could be anything
So before you go calling the lack of a feature 'stupid', maybe think about what that system actually requires in order to do what it would need to. They currently program each class into the database on a case by case basis, as was mentioned above with the artificer. A robust toolset to do that, with stuff like flagging inappropriate content and stuff that could break the site is going to be very hard.
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Establish boundaries. And if anyone crosses them, speak up. If they don’t listen, there’s always cloudkill …
Homebrew classes are are the single most complex homebrew element out there and at the time, it was determined that there wouldn't be enough demand to try and put a makeshift UI on their development tools (That's what the homebrew systems currently is). Seeing as the demand has been made clear, they've changed their stance and it's now on the roadmap, although they're still working out how to actually make it work. One of the mods on the discord put it beautifully as to why it's so much work:
i guess my idea of it is like.... let's say i made a class that was about tarot cards drawing cards from a deck, building a deck at different levels, adding cards to the deck at certain levels how would your make that class on dndbeyond? how could dndbeyond possibly support this random idea i had? you'd need to create a class design structure that was flexible enough to support literally any weird idea a person comes up with look how it took several weeks for ddbeyond to release the new artificer weeks of dedicated fulltime coding and working with talented individuals people who are REALLY GOOD at this now imagine trying to support everyone's classes everyone's custom resource, unique tools, custom monsters it's just... a difficult proposition subclasses are easy, since they only use the resources built into the class already and they come at fixed points in the progression of the class. It's a relatively closed system but a class is wide open could be anything
So before you go calling the lack of a feature 'stupid', maybe think about what that system actually requires in order to do what it would need to. They currently program each class into the database on a case by case basis, as was mentioned above with the artificer. A robust toolset to do that, with stuff like flagging inappropriate content and stuff that could break the site is going to be very hard.
you can make a wizard subclass just like that. Hows that different from a normal class?
There wont be a large demand inside the community if people are not using DDB just because of the customization limitations. You dont use DDB for the whole party, if that one player wanted a custom class from an older version or just from UA, since he cant create it here. Or you as a GM are not able to create villains that you carefully planned. And that GM is the primary customer who will buy services. I just see this decision as a bad business practice. You (people who currently use it) will continue using it even if they dont fix other issues; on the other hand DDB wont become absolutely mainstream without people having the option to customize the hell out of their character, which is why people play d&d and not MMORPGs.
Btw whats the excuse on not having able to change the core classes to make custom classes? Like click which abilities you want to keep and which ones you dont and the freedom to change the text you keep or add additional text based abilities (or subclass like for that matter). Im looking at you revised ranger :)
you can make a wizard subclass just like that. Hows that different from a normal class?
Re-read the bit where it says:
subclasses are easy, since they only use the resources built into the class already and they come at fixed points in the progression of the class. It's a relatively closed system but a class is wide open
Don't focus on the example I copied, but what it represents. Class are open systems, but subclasses are closed systems.
A class can have any structuring you want; a subclass has a structure defined by its class.
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Establish boundaries. And if anyone crosses them, speak up. If they don’t listen, there’s always cloudkill …
is there the capacity to be able to make mundane items (with character mechanic effects- ie damage or ac)?
that would seem very straight forward?
ie a broadsword or stone mail? the only option seems to me to make it as a magical and remove the magic.
This is also on the roadmap for the homebrew overhaul. I think this might take more work that you'd expect because mundane items form the basis of custom magic items and so it might take work to integrate the two.
There are still currently bugs with how custom spells integrate with custom subclasses, and I would expect this to be no different (possibly even worse, as it'd have to integrate with more areas)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Establish boundaries. And if anyone crosses them, speak up. If they don’t listen, there’s always cloudkill …
Reading through this thread, it seems more complicated than I thought. I own most of the character stuff on here, but there's no way I can convince the other players to join if you can't at least get the revised ranger on here. Or, some of the homebrew classes on dmsguild. This really should be more of a priority than it seems to be.
Posting because I lack patience, have an arcane half-caster thats basically a reflavored paladin chasis with a few EK replacements, and I really really want to add it to DnD Beyond
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I would love to have the ability to add in custom homebrewed classes. Not sure that I care if I publish them (since I wouldn't want to risk posting Homebrews that are purchased on DM Guilds. Kind of takes away from those independent creators and I wouldn't want to do that), more to be able to create them privately for my own campaigns.
I like to give my players the option to add homebrew classes they find online or create to our game (so long as I can review them first), and I love using DnD Beyond for their character sheets. Would love to give them the option to add their Homebrew classes to our Campaign page for ease and convenience
I really would love this, not just because I have so many class ideas, but also because I want to play a commoner. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nb3uBr32gNX0nH1vy90Kv_Tz_8wmKQyC/view
I think that everyone should be allowed to make Homebrew classes, it's up to the DM if the class is fair or not, it would be unfair for those who don't post their stuff publicly to not be able to make a Homebrew class.
And I agree that it takes work, but I believe that it would still be a wonderful feature, even I'd it takes a while for it to be added
They're adding the functionality for homebrew classes, it's on the roadmap.
The issue isn't balance, it's the UI for actually making the classes work with the character builder
@Louthinator
That's not how DDB works; you don't build a character sheet, you select options from within the character builder that is compiled into the sheet.
As such, a class creation tool would have to use the exact syntax that the character builder understands and the interactive character sheet can parse. It's not about building sheets, it's about creating a readable set of 'rules' that the character builder can understand.
+1 for this guy (Barbarulo). I came her specifically to see how I "might" be able to add a homebrew class for an alchemist build that I found on the DMS Guild. I work at a software development company and I have to say that just because it seems easy to the layman or even a technically minded D&D GM or Player something that seems simple is infinitely more complex once you get down into the Nitty Gritty of it. Software Development might be easier than you think but QA testing and Production Rollouts always discover "unplanned features" and subtle and sometimes devastating bugs. Our company has thousands of requested enhancements and only so much can be prioritized and properly developed and deployed.
I am ze Scoolio (GameMaster)
it's my one big bugbear about DDB, no I don't want a bugbear...
in every campaign I've played/ ran someone always ends up worth a custom class or a slight tweak on an existing class... most of the party use and love DDB and there one person having to manage on paper.
or puts me off using the site simply for that reason, just because one player is being creative.... but isn't that why were all here?
I also really want homebrew classes because, I am in a campaign where my older brother made a class for me to kinda playtest. I have been having a lot of fun playing it and would love it to be digital.
Homebrew classes would be so good.
my DM and I are home brewing my characters class together, and we play online remotely. It’s so hard to have a campaign that’s fully on dndbeyond and roll 20, then one character with a ‘filler’ character sheet that’s not actually useable besides up and gold/item tracking. The homebrew ended up having hard stats as a base, but there’s a different number and ranking of spellslots, as well as a custom pointbase system kind of like bardic inspiration or Ki points. It’s so horribly hard to have to hop back and forth and keep everything in the same place when the DM can add items to our digital sheets but the real sheet is external.
We tried to create it as a custom bard subclass, but the options in there get really complicated and don’t make mush sense, and neither is or our very advanced players could really figure it out. Hopefully if custom homebrew classes that just aren’t publishable and can just be shared in party come, then we’ll at least get text boxes to explain the homebrew subclass better so it’s more user friendly.
No offense to the DND Beyond team, but I personally feel it's rather stupid that there's an option for subclasses, but not classes, like TF?
Homebrew classes are are the single most complex homebrew element out there and at the time, it was determined that there wouldn't be enough demand to try and put a makeshift UI on their development tools (That's what the homebrew systems currently is). Seeing as the demand has been made clear, they've changed their stance and it's now on the roadmap, although they're still working out how to actually make it work. One of the mods on the discord put it beautifully as to why it's so much work:
you can make a wizard subclass just like that. Hows that different from a normal class?
There wont be a large demand inside the community if people are not using DDB just because of the customization limitations. You dont use DDB for the whole party, if that one player wanted a custom class from an older version or just from UA, since he cant create it here. Or you as a GM are not able to create villains that you carefully planned. And that GM is the primary customer who will buy services. I just see this decision as a bad business practice. You (people who currently use it) will continue using it even if they dont fix other issues; on the other hand DDB wont become absolutely mainstream without people having the option to customize the hell out of their character, which is why people play d&d and not MMORPGs.
Btw whats the excuse on not having able to change the core classes to make custom classes? Like click which abilities you want to keep and which ones you dont and the freedom to change the text you keep or add additional text based abilities (or subclass like for that matter). Im looking at you revised ranger :)
Re-read the bit where it says:
Don't focus on the example I copied, but what it represents. Class are open systems, but subclasses are closed systems.
A class can have any structuring you want; a subclass has a structure defined by its class.
is there the capacity to be able to make mundane items (with character mechanic effects- ie damage or ac)?
that would seem very straight forward?
ie a broadsword or stone mail? the only option seems to me to make it as a magical and remove the magic.
This is also on the roadmap for the homebrew overhaul. I think this might take more work that you'd expect because mundane items form the basis of custom magic items and so it might take work to integrate the two.
There are still currently bugs with how custom spells integrate with custom subclasses, and I would expect this to be no different (possibly even worse, as it'd have to integrate with more areas)
Just putting my gold piece in the hat for this feature, would be very nice to see! 😊
Can you give us the ability to create homebrew classes please? Thanks =)
Reading through this thread, it seems more complicated than I thought. I own most of the character stuff on here, but there's no way I can convince the other players to join if you can't at least get the revised ranger on here. Or, some of the homebrew classes on dmsguild. This really should be more of a priority than it seems to be.
Posting because I lack patience, have an arcane half-caster thats basically a reflavored paladin chasis with a few EK replacements, and I really really want to add it to DnD Beyond