Many people here are trying to make sure that the character sheets will be very customisable in terms of functionality - hiding sections you don't use, enabling extra sections for certain characters/abilities, reordering sections to suit the player. That's obviously the most important thing, because character sheets are primarily a tool to help us play the game.
That said, what if the character sheets were also customisable aesthetically, so you can change the look in various ways that don't affect functionality. The main thing I was thinking of is letting people add custom fonts and rename section titles. That way, my tiefling's sheet could be written in a homebrewed Infernal, my dwarf's sheet could use runes, my elf's sheet could be in Tengwar, or a human sheet could be written using some custom language I construct for my game. It adds nothing in terms of seeing and using your character info, but it could be a nice fun addition that gives a little bit more immersion for certain players, as some groups do with homemade props etc.
Some basic ability for changing colours/backgrounds on the sheet could also be nice. This also has a little functional benefit, as if there's one sheet with a pale pink background, another with pale yellow, another pale green, another black with white text, then a DM that needs to reference something on a character's sheet can see which one is up before they even start reading it. Obviously not a massive benefit, and the main point is user customisation and immersion, but it's a small additional pro.
Many people here are trying to make sure that the character sheets will be very customisable in terms of functionality - hiding sections you don't use, enabling extra sections for certain characters/abilities, reordering sections to suit the player. That's obviously the most important thing, because character sheets are primarily a tool to help us play the game.
That said, what if the character sheets were also customisable aesthetically, so you can change the look in various ways that don't affect functionality. The main thing I was thinking of is letting people add custom fonts and rename section titles. That way, my tiefling's sheet could be written in a homebrewed Infernal, my dwarf's sheet could use runes, my elf's sheet could be in Tengwar, or a human sheet could be written using some custom language I construct for my game. It adds nothing in terms of seeing and using your character info, but it could be a nice fun addition that gives a little bit more immersion for certain players, as some groups do with homemade props etc.
Some basic ability for changing colours/backgrounds on the sheet could also be nice. This also has a little functional benefit, as if there's one sheet with a pale pink background, another with pale yellow, another pale green, another black with white text, then a DM that needs to reference something on a character's sheet can see which one is up before they even start reading it. Obviously not a massive benefit, and the main point is user customisation and immersion, but it's a small additional pro.
This is actually a really cool idea. I'd add a few presets based on races, classes, and alignments too. It is a minor feature, but the personalization goes a long way for making characters feel unique. I'd want all my stats in the standard locations (though I'm for customization for those who will use it), but having a personal aesthetic would be epic, especially with a print function. Also, the detailed options you suggest would be great for GMs who play with groups with primary languages that the app isn't available in yet once it's out.
An amazing option will also allow you to manage multiclassing better. For example, when I am two separate classes and it's time to level up, I can compare what will happen if I choose one class over another. Wizard Level 1 and Artificer Level 1 so when I gain over all level 3, what will happen to my stats if I choose one class over another.
SInce my username should give it away, I haven't played D&D since 4th Edition, the recent MTG Plane Shift supplements have inspired me to pick up 5th Edition and I've been studying what I can, and I've lately been trying to spell out color identity for any potential future players, so a character sheet that can be Blue for a Blue character or Red & White for a Red and White character would be awesome.
Also, hopefully playtest material like Unearthed Arcana & Plane Shift would be more than welcome.
THIS is the exact sort of feature that you need. AWESOME work! :)
You might need to look at the code for ensuring that the tooltip fits inside the browser window though. It switches from displaying to the left or the right of the mouse pointer, depending on position, but I have found several pages where the tooltip will display off the left-side of the browser.
Yes, I could enlarge my browser window, but it's currently at 1400 pixels width in the screenshot below, which should be sufficient (it's running on my secondary monitor which is 1440x2560).
Not sure if mentioned before here but I'd love to see features and spells on the character sheets to have the same functionality as recently added linking to items and monsters and spells, with the little hover popups with all information in there.
also a character building process similar to what Fight Club 5 offers but with references to specific class descriptions. For example proficiencies. In FC5 when you make a character it shows you all skills to tap on to select proficiency based on class, whereas in the books you're given a choice of two/three of specific arrangement, making it basically impossible to do correctly without looking through the book. Correctly done character builder that inputs the correct information into the sheet would be a thing of beauty.
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We are paratroopers, private. We are supposed to be surrounded.
My biggest thing would be wanting the creator to provide for free spells and classes/archetypes from material outside the PHB such as SCAG, EE or the unearthed arcana.
The entire documents need not be free, but the functional parts that would jar people who do not wish to purchase second online copies of books they already own shouldn't be behind a pay wall.
EEPG and UA are already free, so I think there's no real justification for charging extra to use them here. I can see a case for making access to the SCAG cantrips (and not the rest of SCAG) freely available though - they're a very small portion of the book, but extremely useful to certain types of characters. In terms of the archetypes from SCAG, making them freely available means that people without the books can get them as well. I think it would be great if they could find a way to make books available to people that already own them, either for free, or a small additional price; I don't think they should necessarily just make them available to everyone (though I would be very happy if they decided they could afford to do that).
I think it would be cool if you added in an option to use monsters as a character. In one of my campaigns I'm a aarakocra and having the option to have that as my pc for the sheet would be awesome. I think having the option for building stats on the page would be cool as well. Like say your adding on a blacksmith onto your home, having a spot to track the progress on that would be nice. Being able to keep track of your vehicles and other things would be great.Spot for treasure and other items would also be great. I think theres a lot you can do with the character builder and I believe its gonna be amazing in the end.
If you wanted to be really clever, DnD Beyond could show the dale reckoning year the character was born depending on the year of the campaign.
Neat idea, but not everyone uses the Realms. For some of us, having reference to the Realms on our sheet would disqualify them from use, given the multitude of other options.
Note that I don't care if it's an option, but the Realms shouldn't be the only setting that gets special options -- please stop with the Realms-as-best-seller-because-it's-the-only-thing-available. Pick a couple of the more popular settings (say: Eberron and Greyhawk) and make sure all three have support for this type of thing, as well as home brew (which is really my preference, but Eberron is cool, too).
Some basic ability for changing colours/backgrounds on the sheet could also be nice. This also has a little functional benefit, as if there's one sheet with a pale pink background, another with pale yellow, another pale green, another black with white text, then a DM that needs to reference something on a character's sheet can see which one is up before they even start reading it. Obviously not a massive benefit, and the main point is user customisation and immersion, but it's a small additional pro.
This seems like a baseline, IMO. Check out MorePurpleMoreBetter's sheet on DMGuild for my thoughts on the primary competition, here. Of course, there should also be a "chromeless" option for those who value simplicity.
As far as style goes, it is imperative that the ability score be listed before and/or larger than the modifier, where there's a distinction. There was confusion about this, when 5E was released (IIRC, the pre-gen characters in the starter set are printed incorrectly), but the score is the game statistic, the modifier is a by-product.
3. Can we PLEASE have joint DM and player accounts so I can take a look at registered players on my group? I'd love a free option for players. I run a DnD club at school and would love to have an easy way to track players without making them pay.
Geez, I should have done a multi-quote. Too late, now.
This. My players all have the best of intentions, but are horrible about giving me current copies of their sheets. If the tool is good enough to get them to use it, I'd love to just be able to pull them up.
The number one requirement for my players to use the tool, though, is to have a nice, printable sheet. I don't think a PDF download is strictly necessary (though I'd like it). Just a Print button that works nicely and without hassle. While I'm mostly automated, my Surface is the only device at the table actually being used for the game. One other player would probably make use of his iPad, if the Compendium and digital Character Sheet are easy to use. The others might use their phones if there was real benefit (say, connected Combat Tracker to manage hit points and conditions).
Finally, amen to the free basic accounts. My wife and daughter both play in my group. I don't want to pay whatever I need as a DM, plus another $5/month for each of them. Did I say "don't want to"? I meant "won't". Nor do I want to share my login because campaign secrets. Of course, that's only really relevant if there are more tools than just the character sheet. If that's all there is, I'll just let them manage stuff on a printed copy and update the digital version every time they gain a level, like I do now (they aren't so much into computers -- I think I have the only teenager on earth who doesn't like video games).
One that would be nice to have as a DM is the ability to make NPC sheets with an abbreviated version character sheet for those NPC's. Also having the ability to make monster NPC's or Monster cards would be a great aid.
I was thinking the same thing. A short form character sheet for NPCs with the option to expand it if needed would be awesome, especially if you could import NPC templates (e.g. cultist, thug, etc.) into it.
Along these lines, a random generator for traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws would be really cool. This way I could just click a button and there's an NPC that has a little flavor to throw into the campaign as needed. Something like this, but with more polish and features. Combine this with the abbreviated NPC sheet and templates and DMs would have an incredible tool at their disposal.
This could potentially feed into the campaign manager/encounter builder with the ability to pull these NPCs into the tools. A cherry on top would be the ability to link to an NPC in the campaign manager in some type of session notes/wiki area.
I think a beginner mode for the character sheet would be a good thing. This would tell you all the changes it is making in the background, so when you change your Strength it lets you know what is changing. This would not be needed once you've made a few characters, but it would help new players be aware of any new rules that have opened up when they level up.
Many people here are trying to make sure that the character sheets will be very customisable in terms of functionality - hiding sections you don't use, enabling extra sections for certain characters/abilities, reordering sections to suit the player. That's obviously the most important thing, because character sheets are primarily a tool to help us play the game.
That said, what if the character sheets were also customisable aesthetically, so you can change the look in various ways that don't affect functionality. The main thing I was thinking of is letting people add custom fonts and rename section titles. That way, my tiefling's sheet could be written in a homebrewed Infernal, my dwarf's sheet could use runes, my elf's sheet could be in Tengwar, or a human sheet could be written using some custom language I construct for my game. It adds nothing in terms of seeing and using your character info, but it could be a nice fun addition that gives a little bit more immersion for certain players, as some groups do with homemade props etc.
Some basic ability for changing colours/backgrounds on the sheet could also be nice. This also has a little functional benefit, as if there's one sheet with a pale pink background, another with pale yellow, another pale green, another black with white text, then a DM that needs to reference something on a character's sheet can see which one is up before they even start reading it. Obviously not a massive benefit, and the main point is user customisation and immersion, but it's a small additional pro.
This is a cool idea. Changing the text on some of the fields, like say making inspiration some other word for whatever point system a DM may be using could be a nice little touch for homebrew campaigns. I could see that color tagging feature being helpful when a DM is trying to pull up a sheet on the fly. It does seem small, but every little bit helps when you're trying to find something amongst the mound of info you might have surrounding you at any given moment.
I think a beginner mode for the character sheet would be a good thing. This would tell you all the changes it is making in the background, so when you change your Strength it lets you know what is changing. This would not be needed once you've made a few characters, but it would help new players be aware of any new rules that have opened up when they level up.
I think that's a fantastic idea. Even if you're a seasoned player, you may be using a class for the first time and getting a little log or something telling you what's changed and what new abilities you have would be very helpful. Man, that's a really good idea!
If you wanted to be really clever, DnD Beyond could show the dale reckoning year the character was born depending on the year of the campaign.
Neat idea, but not everyone uses the Realms. For some of us, having reference to the Realms on our sheet would disqualify them from use, given the multitude of other options.
Note that I don't care if it's an option, but the Realms shouldn't be the only setting that gets special options -- please stop with the Realms-as-best-seller-because-it's-the-only-thing-available. Pick a couple of the more popular settings (say: Eberron and Greyhawk) and make sure all three have support for this type of thing, as well as home brew (which is really my preference, but Eberron is cool, too).
A homebrew calendar baked into the character sheet that also connects with the campaign management portion would be incredible - make it printable and that would be even better. There really aren't any good options for making a custom calendar that is printable. Donjon's generator is great, but you can't print it nicely without having to mess around with some cropping and custom print tools.
If there will be a DM and PC version of the character sheet, the ability for a DM to add private notes/secret items to a PC's sheet would be cool. Sometimes those little scraps of paper with notes on them get lost in the bag of crap I lug around. The ability to put a link to a related NPC (e.g. a character's family member who is a major NPC in the campaign) or a specific section of the campaign management area (say a page about a certain area the character is from) on the character sheet for that character would be cool as well.
Reading through these comments is great. I hope most of these features are considered!
I have always wanted a level-by-level historical picture of my character. "When did I learn that spell?", "How did my Strength go from 15 to 19?", "How did I get to my current hit point total?", "When did I start multi-classing"; I would like to look up things of that nature. While many things are obvious when you earned them, some are not. Why is this important? I think for players and DMs, it is good to see the backstory of a character and when they earned certain things, and it can quickly get lost when you dig up a character you have not used in a couple months...or even years. I created something like that in Excel, but it is clunky and does not include everything because I live in my own world and I am a busy guy. I think a tool like that, where I could build out my character level by level, and then click a button and see my character sheet, both a digital version with tooltips and mouseovers, and a printable version that is cleaner and more concise for two or three pages, would be a dream come true.
So what I envision is a page where I can see each level's basic information, and when I add a level, it dynamically adds it below the last level. The character sheet is automatically populated with the info you put in.
I love Nazim's idea of having a page for various things, but I also think having a printable simpler version of the sheet would be awesome too!
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I've just had a slightly out-there feature idea.
Many people here are trying to make sure that the character sheets will be very customisable in terms of functionality - hiding sections you don't use, enabling extra sections for certain characters/abilities, reordering sections to suit the player. That's obviously the most important thing, because character sheets are primarily a tool to help us play the game.
That said, what if the character sheets were also customisable aesthetically, so you can change the look in various ways that don't affect functionality. The main thing I was thinking of is letting people add custom fonts and rename section titles. That way, my tiefling's sheet could be written in a homebrewed Infernal, my dwarf's sheet could use runes, my elf's sheet could be in Tengwar, or a human sheet could be written using some custom language I construct for my game. It adds nothing in terms of seeing and using your character info, but it could be a nice fun addition that gives a little bit more immersion for certain players, as some groups do with homemade props etc.
Some basic ability for changing colours/backgrounds on the sheet could also be nice. This also has a little functional benefit, as if there's one sheet with a pale pink background, another with pale yellow, another pale green, another black with white text, then a DM that needs to reference something on a character's sheet can see which one is up before they even start reading it. Obviously not a massive benefit, and the main point is user customisation and immersion, but it's a small additional pro.
An amazing option will also allow you to manage multiclassing better. For example, when I am two separate classes and it's time to level up, I can compare what will happen if I choose one class over another. Wizard Level 1 and Artificer Level 1 so when I gain over all level 3, what will happen to my stats if I choose one class over another.
SInce my username should give it away, I haven't played D&D since 4th Edition, the recent MTG Plane Shift supplements have inspired me to pick up 5th Edition and I've been studying what I can, and I've lately been trying to spell out color identity for any potential future players, so a character sheet that can be Blue for a Blue character or Red & White for a Red and White character would be awesome.
Also, hopefully playtest material like Unearthed Arcana & Plane Shift would be more than welcome.
THIS is the exact sort of feature that you need. AWESOME work! :)
You might need to look at the code for ensuring that the tooltip fits inside the browser window though. It switches from displaying to the left or the right of the mouse pointer, depending on position, but I have found several pages where the tooltip will display off the left-side of the browser.
Yes, I could enlarge my browser window, but it's currently at 1400 pixels width in the screenshot below, which should be sufficient (it's running on my secondary monitor which is 1440x2560).
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Not sure if mentioned before here but I'd love to see features and spells on the character sheets to have the same functionality as recently added linking to items and monsters and spells, with the little hover popups with all information in there.
also a character building process similar to what Fight Club 5 offers but with references to specific class descriptions. For example proficiencies. In FC5 when you make a character it shows you all skills to tap on to select proficiency based on class, whereas in the books you're given a choice of two/three of specific arrangement, making it basically impossible to do correctly without looking through the book. Correctly done character builder that inputs the correct information into the sheet would be a thing of beauty.
We are paratroopers, private. We are supposed to be surrounded.
I think it would be cool if you added in an option to use monsters as a character. In one of my campaigns I'm a aarakocra and having the option to have that as my pc for the sheet would be awesome. I think having the option for building stats on the page would be cool as well. Like say your adding on a blacksmith onto your home, having a spot to track the progress on that would be nice. Being able to keep track of your vehicles and other things would be great.Spot for treasure and other items would also be great. I think theres a lot you can do with the character builder and I believe its gonna be amazing in the end.
I think a beginner mode for the character sheet would be a good thing. This would tell you all the changes it is making in the background, so when you change your Strength it lets you know what is changing. This would not be needed once you've made a few characters, but it would help new players be aware of any new rules that have opened up when they level up.
If there will be a DM and PC version of the character sheet, the ability for a DM to add private notes/secret items to a PC's sheet would be cool. Sometimes those little scraps of paper with notes on them get lost in the bag of crap I lug around. The ability to put a link to a related NPC (e.g. a character's family member who is a major NPC in the campaign) or a specific section of the campaign management area (say a page about a certain area the character is from) on the character sheet for that character would be cool as well.
Reading through these comments is great. I hope most of these features are considered!
I have always wanted a level-by-level historical picture of my character. "When did I learn that spell?", "How did my Strength go from 15 to 19?", "How did I get to my current hit point total?", "When did I start multi-classing"; I would like to look up things of that nature. While many things are obvious when you earned them, some are not. Why is this important? I think for players and DMs, it is good to see the backstory of a character and when they earned certain things, and it can quickly get lost when you dig up a character you have not used in a couple months...or even years. I created something like that in Excel, but it is clunky and does not include everything because I live in my own world and I am a busy guy. I think a tool like that, where I could build out my character level by level, and then click a button and see my character sheet, both a digital version with tooltips and mouseovers, and a printable version that is cleaner and more concise for two or three pages, would be a dream come true.
So what I envision is a page where I can see each level's basic information, and when I add a level, it dynamically adds it below the last level. The character sheet is automatically populated with the info you put in.
I love Nazim's idea of having a page for various things, but I also think having a printable simpler version of the sheet would be awesome too!