Foreward: I've been using HeroLab's app for my characters. We're about to end an SKT campaign and start a CoS one and I wanted to look into Beyond to see if it fits me any better; especially as Herolab requires me to do far less work to input race/class/spell/etc. info to transfer over OR wait for the community to update things. I was considering switching over entirely and anteing up for Master Tier as well as either the Legacy Bundle or all the relevant player books (PHB, DMG, MM, SCAG, Volo's, and XGtE). If I switched over, 5 other players would have joined me as well. So to earn my business, these are things that need to be fixed.
1. The pricing is atrocious. It's a really heavy cost just for a bit of convenience especially when as of right now I have no access to it offline, it's something I don't need, and there are programs (note plural) which currently do a much better job. In the very least, Curse needs increase the benefit for buying the Legacy Bundle (to 20%) as well as offering a "Player's Bundle" that includes the books that players will usually have/want (PHB, DMG, MM, SCAG, Volo's, XGtE). There should likely also be a "Campaign Bundle" that includes just the various Campaigns (LMoP, HotDQ, RoT, EE, CoS, SKT, TotYP, and ToA). Even at offering a 10% bundle for players or campaigns I would've been more likely to use switch over to Beyond.
You're right that it IS a really heavy cost for a bit of convenience, if you're looking at this site as just a character builder and online character sheet.
D&D Beyond is far more than that though - it's the full rulebooks & adventures, presented in a digital form, with tooltips and linking between the books.
It's already the cheapest way you can possibly buy all of the D&D content legally.
2. No App. I'm sure this is in the works. But there needs to be an App for Android and iOS that allows offline functionality. It can require a daily handshake/sign in or internet connectivity to confirm active users/subscriptions or whatever. But 95% of the App needs to be available offline. This was the primary reason for me not choosing Beyond.
I have good news for you there! There is a native app for iOS and android in development, which should hit closed alpha testing before the end of this year.
It will allow full offline browsing of all purchased compendiums (rules & adventures)
3. The leveling process is terrible. It is exceptionally clear to me that the site was not designed by a D&D player just by looking at the leveling process. I've been using programs for D&D since when I was in college (2002). There is a reason why Heroforge, Herolabs, and all the other D&D programs are built with selecting each level. It was more relevant 3.5 (in part because of how saves worked), but it's still very relevant in 5e. DnD Beyond you can either add a class or increase levels in a class. You can't ever change or alter your first level unless you delete every other class (and all the options picked) above that. The program doesn't let you easily plan out builds level by level and look at to see if you think the power curve of the character will be fun or good or whatever.
I think terrible is a pretty heavy criticism. Could it be better? Certainly. I've been playing D&D since the 80s and my personal preference is for a clean, technical interface that allows me to change anything I want. That's not what this is - it's designed to guide users through the steps much more. Will there be alternative designs and reworks? More than likely.
It can certainly be argued that changing the first level of the class changes the core identity of the character, but I can certainly see situations where I might want to do so, creating a level 9 character and seeing what happens if I change that first level in fighter to a level in ranger instead.
4. Even worse when leveling, there are numerous drop down menus for various classes (archetype, features that include choices, etc.). Beyond doesn't allow you to compare the various archetype you're considering. The same selection process you use for Race/Class needs to be provided for archetypes and other features that involve choice (Invocations, Ranger Hunter options, etc.). In the case of multiclass characters, you can't have more than one class expanded at once; so you can't see all the class options for all your classes to give you an idea of everything you'll have available to you.
Selecting the archetype for a class is a major decision to make and I agree that it would be nice to have some info on that selection in the character builder. In the meantime, it's pretty easy to head over to the classes page and use that to make a decision.
5. There is no tab for situational modifiers. There should be a situational modifiers tab that allows me to factor in various spells or boons. I should be able to select a box for Haste and it populates +2 AC and a move speed buff. I should be able to select a box for Mage Armor and it calculate my AC as if I had Mage Armor up and compare it to my AC without Mage Armor and automatically take the better of the two. A Devotion paladin should be able to click his channel divinity to turn it on and get +Charisma to attack and damage. Etc. There are numerous spells and effects that need to be put in to this for the convenience.
There is a major overhaul of the character sheet in progress and this will come with many changes and improvements.
Badeye has stated on the developer Q&A videos that this is absolutely the direction that they are heading. :)
6. Many long rest and short rest abilities are buggy. There's nothing more annoying than getting random 500 errors because this product shipped too early when I activate an ability.
I read the majority of the issues reported on the bugs & support forums on this site and I'm not aware of more than a couple of small issues at this point with long & short rest. Can you give examples? I've never seen error messages either, so if you have, you've caught a rare exception and we'd love to have the details!
7. The UI in general is just bad. It's prettier than excel-based options, but far less effective in many cases. I don't want you to copy current programs or historical programs and just be an online version of them. However, the program and its functionality doesn't look like it was designed or even overseen by someone who's played D&D. You guys need to go back and look at current programs and older programs (HeroLab, HeroForge, etc) especially the 3.0 and 3.5 programs that were used. There are numerous important things from those programs that you guys didn't include (or you included poorly). For example, a weapons tab where I can have Greatsword, Greatsword with Rage, Greatsword with Great Weapon Master, Greatsword with Rage and Great Weapon Master, etc.
I'm going to assume that you're talking about the UI for the character sheet here, as that's where the focus has been on previous points. As I mentioned above, there is a major overhaul taking place currently, which totally redesigns the character sheet.
Here's an image that Badeye released previously to demonstrate.
8. The equipment tab is hot garbage. Finding what you want takes a while and even on a large iPad it takes a decent amount of scrolling unless you put in most of the name. There's no reason to have. What you have is on top, but what you're looking for is on bottom. Things open and close. There's no reason for "Haves" not to be on the left and "Adds" on the right. That lets me easily compare what I have while searching for what I want.
The team are aware that the equipment interface can be improved and there's major work being undertaken on this.
9. In addition, many things don't populate on the character screen even if they're selected. Staff of power is more than just a magic item; it is also a weapon, I should be able to wield it. I need to be able to select various item sets: say have Plate, Shield and Longsword as Item Set 1 AND have Plate and Greatsword as item set 2. Or say Leather, Rapier and Hand crossbow as item set 1 AND Leather, Rapier, and Spell as item set 2. This should be further specified to have Spell attacks from different classes populate differently. For example, Paladin, Warlock, Bard and Sorceror should all populate as Charisma Spell Attack whereas Cleric and Druid should populate as Wisdom Spell Attack.
Staff of Power is a weapon and will display in the attacks section of the character sheet of any character who wields one. I'm not sure what happened for you there - can you check that you clicked the "use" button on the item in your inventory?
The second point you raise here about item sets is pretty confusing in regards to what you're asking for. A single character doesn't seem likely to want to be able to switch between different equipment sets like you would in a video game? I can confirm that all classes populate their attacks using the appropriate items, spells & statistic already.
10. The character page (last page) doesn't let you switch weapons, armor, or shields. Generally speaking, you won't ever switch armor in combat. Rarely will you drop or add a shield in combat. But it's not uncommon to switch weapons. On the character page there needs to be an option to switch between item sets that are pre-selected. It makes things far easier and quicker.
As mentioned above, the character sheet is being overhauled currently anyway, but the current sheet absolutely lets you do this and also, has no real need for you to do so.
If you have a character who wants to switch between using a shield and sword, or a two-handed weapon, you can absolutely do that by clicking the wield button on the item in the inventory.
In my experience, item sets (again, something we see a lot in video games) aren't something that the vast majority of people would ever use. Maybe it's something that could be added at a later date, but currently there are many features the team are working on that the majority of players will find amazing and useful, so for now, work is unlikely on something that only a few will use.
11. Many things fail to integrate or give you an option to integrate. For example, Hexblade doesn't offer you an option to select a weapon to use your Charisma to attack with. Note this option needs to expand/change if it's a Pact of the Blade Hexblade. I can't even select Raging to automatically increase melee weapon damage by it's scaling amount. Magic items or abilities that give me advantage to Perception don't increase my Passive Perception by 5.
Please make sure to report any specific issues where you find them, they are often resolved very quickly by the team (often the same day).
The hexblade is a new archetype and, combined with the major overhaul on the character sheet that is currently happening, functionality to cater for just that archetype hasn't been added to the current character sheet. You can use the custom attacks functionality of the attacks section however to set this up on the current sheet.
12. There's almost no functionality for ongoing campaigns. There's no section for notes. I couldn't see a section designed to track XP, downtime, and other similar things that you need for Adventurer's league. If I'm going to pay to be paperless, I best damn be able to not have to keep paper notes.
We are very painfully aware of how many awesome tools can be added to campaign management. Just talking with Badeye and the team, they have some really amazing things that they want to add there, but it all takes time.
I understand that D&D Beyond is "late" into the game for D&D 5th edition and playing catch-up, but they intend to get there and massively surpass any other offering on the internet.
On the matter of notes - there are two sections for notes within each campaign, which it seems you have missed:
DM Notes (private) - these are notes that only the campaign owner can see.
DM Notes (public) - these notes can be seen by all members of the campaign (DM & players).
Both of these notes fields can be edited using the standard rich text editor for the site, allowing the use of tooltips to add monsters, spells etc.
13. There are some things I'm not sure are implemented that 100% should be (but I couldn't know because I haven't gotten to play with it on a DM account). For example, the DM account should be able to limit/restrict options of what is allowed (in that campaign). Maybe they want to exclude Aaracokra and flying Tieflings, maybe they want to exclude only the monstrous options from Volos, etc. DM accounts should be able to deny access of what is shareable between the campaign.
As a DM, I always talk to my players and discuss what the campaign is going to be, any limitations and work through what characters they all want to play, so personally I wouldn't find this useful.
However, I know that there are groups who play on the internet, who don't know each other so well, so i can see the need for more granular permissions within campaigns and this is something that is planned for the future.
Excel and books is still a better option for character building than beyond. Paper is still far more effective even if it has the downside of getting lost.
That's a really subjective opinion and there are many users of D&D Beyond who prefer using it to paper, or other digital tools. We're aware that's not everyone though. Hopefully, we'll get there and, as the tools on here improve, you'll change your opinion. :)
XGtE hasn't been out long and it's already on Beyond; I might test this with the next player supplement as well, but I expect these to be included as soon as they go on sale at FLGS (aka 2 weeks before the official release).
Absolutely - all new official D&D content will continue to be released on D&D Beyond on the same day that it's released at FLGS.
Phew, that took some time and my coffee went cold!
Hopefully that didn't just read as me being defensive or playing down the points you raised. The team treat feedback from the community really importantly and it's always great when someone takes the time to give detailed feedback on specifics.
Weird, when I go to add a post it only shows me the first 4 pages, which stop in March 2017.
Whoever gave the tip about using the "join" URL to add NPC's, thanks. Still can only add public ones, but it's better than what I had, so thanks much for that tip.
I hope they add to the character sheet precalculated stats for tools the your character knows. I know depending on what you do with the tool it is and ability + your proficiency bonus. I do thing it should be highlighted better when just added to the list and almost hidden
Just a bit of feedback, hopefully this time in the right thread:
I've been experimenting with Homebrew as of late, seeing how the difetent modifiers work.
One in particular, doesn't work with feats: the ones that modify the carrying capacity of creatures.
In this particular example, I tried to recreate the ability of Bugbears: the strong build. Unfortunately, it doesnt appear to actually DO anything once the feat is chosen at character creation, regardless of the size modifier. By which I mean, your carrying capacity is not altered in the equipment section.
Second is the POOR choice in the mobile format for homebrew. The buttons that say add modifier or add option simply do NOT appear, forcing me to use Desktop View in my phone. This is quite annoying, as the choice bars keep zooming in automatically the screen in this mode, making scrolling down the list a nightmare... This applies SPECIFICALLY if you try to add a second option/modifier/spell.
Third would be the addition of conditional restrictions to feats. For example: must have "xxx" feat to select this feat. Reverse restrictions should apply too such as: Cannot take this feat if: 1) you already have a specified feat or have class "yyy".
Access on more that 2 devices without a subscription
They've said they're not even considering offline access for PCs etc. No word on the rest as far as I'm aware of. I can't see number 4 happening, personally, but I'm not Curse.
I am christopher Lee House a Dungeons master of 35 years from North Texas in a little Town called Denison Texas near a lake and river that runs red and the Oklahoma boarder we have a face book page called Borderland Adventure society: this is also we offer a program with a local Library due to the lack of any game shops in the area,
we run once a week Dungeons and Dragons game and we are working on a summer camp program to host a whole week of Dungeon and Dragons .
perhaps if DnD beyond could encourage working with library's that have printers and computers and 3d printers there are a hundred of options and possible ways to work with your local library to provide an open area to play and educate the other on Dungeons and Dragons .
this is rooms and space for those who have none to play.
this help the public library stay open in small towns by helping raise thier numbers and the great books and possible get them to invest in reference books
SO NNE A PLACE TO PLAY LOOK UP YOUR LOCAL BRANCH OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
i do not know about rich , but have you ever been to Texas we support our public Libraries with a lot of money . I pay a very high tax for that and I am proud that my Library has three ,three dee printers .
I am sorry Chicago don't make that a priority for thier libraries but perhaps you can encourage them to move in that direction with a Dungeons and Dragons program at thier branches.
I would love something like a wiki, especially if it supported linking to items/monsters/features in beyond. Maybe a few template pages, like a campaign setting overview, settlement descriptions, NPC descriptions, etc.
If I could upload a world map and make it an image map that has links to related pages, that would also be incredibly useful. I'm imagining uploading a background image and being able to add small charms to it that can link to other campaign management pages, or even sub maps.
Finally, the ability to assign the Dungeon Master role of a campaign to someone other than the owner would be swell. I get burnt out DMing, but I also own all the materials that my group uses and pay for the Master Tier subscription, so when someone takes up the DM reigns for a session I have to either share my account credentials (not happening) or export everyone's character sheets and share them in a google drive folder so the DM can see the sheets. Not optimal.
In terms of your last point, the DM doesn't need to be the one with the Master Tier subscription. Any of your players can start a campaign, and invite you. You then turn on content sharing. (not that I object to your suggestion, but you can get some of what you want now. )
I meant have the DM create a campaign and invite you all to it. Once you join, turn on content sharing. Then the DM will be able to see character sheets. Being able to appoint a DM within a campaign would be handier, but what I'm suggesting will get your group what you need with a little bit of effort with what is currently possible. Note: if the players are using the same characters, they will need to leave your campaign first.
There is a problem with the mobile view in the settings area, particularly in the My Notifications Tab.
When viewing articles and threads you are subscribed to, you are able to unsubscribe from articles, but not from threads.
This is because the unsubscribe button (as well as some other information) is on the far right of the screen, which is not programmed to scroll to the sides.
While I CAN change to Desktop View mode in order to access the extra information as well as the unsubscribe button, it is too indirect and WILL confuse anyone who tries to unsubscribe from threads.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi Agnos,
thank you for taking the time to give us detailed feedback and keeping it constructive - it's appreciated. :)
I can address the points you've raised and will do so below. Apologies in advance, this is going to be a long post!
Both of these notes fields can be edited using the standard rich text editor for the site, allowing the use of tooltips to add monsters, spells etc.
As a DM, I always talk to my players and discuss what the campaign is going to be, any limitations and work through what characters they all want to play, so personally I wouldn't find this useful.
However, I know that there are groups who play on the internet, who don't know each other so well, so i can see the need for more granular permissions within campaigns and this is something that is planned for the future.
That's a really subjective opinion and there are many users of D&D Beyond who prefer using it to paper, or other digital tools. We're aware that's not everyone though. Hopefully, we'll get there and, as the tools on here improve, you'll change your opinion. :)
Absolutely - all new official D&D content will continue to be released on D&D Beyond on the same day that it's released at FLGS.
Phew, that took some time and my coffee went cold!
Hopefully that didn't just read as me being defensive or playing down the points you raised. The team treat feedback from the community really importantly and it's always great when someone takes the time to give detailed feedback on specifics.
Thank you.
Pun-loving nerd | 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 appears that many of the linked threads no longer exist. Perhaps remove them from the list?
Weird, when I go to add a post it only shows me the first 4 pages, which stop in March 2017.
Whoever gave the tip about using the "join" URL to add NPC's, thanks. Still can only add public ones, but it's better than what I had, so thanks much for that tip.
I hope they add to the character sheet precalculated stats for tools the your character knows. I know depending on what you do with the tool it is and ability + your proficiency bonus. I do thing it should be highlighted better when just added to the list and almost hidden
Kind regards
Fettouhi
Just a bit of feedback, hopefully this time in the right thread:
I've been experimenting with Homebrew as of late, seeing how the difetent modifiers work.
One in particular, doesn't work with feats: the ones that modify the carrying capacity of creatures.
In this particular example, I tried to recreate the ability of Bugbears: the strong build. Unfortunately, it doesnt appear to actually DO anything once the feat is chosen at character creation, regardless of the size modifier. By which I mean, your carrying capacity is not altered in the equipment section.
Second is the POOR choice in the mobile format for homebrew. The buttons that say add modifier or add option simply do NOT appear, forcing me to use Desktop View in my phone. This is quite annoying, as the choice bars keep zooming in automatically the screen in this mode, making scrolling down the list a nightmare... This applies SPECIFICALLY if you try to add a second option/modifier/spell.
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2h2kryu.png[/IMG]
Third would be the addition of conditional restrictions to feats. For example: must have "xxx" feat to select this feat. Reverse restrictions should apply too such as: Cannot take this feat if: 1) you already have a specified feat or have class "yyy".
Are any of these features even on the radar?
Hi,
I'm not sure if it has been reported, but it seems that when you create a rogue it gives you sneak attack of 3d6. It should be 1d6 on level 1.
It corrects after leveling to level 2 though.
hello
I am christopher Lee House a Dungeons master of 35 years from North Texas in a little Town called Denison Texas near a lake and river that runs red and the Oklahoma boarder we have a face book page called Borderland Adventure society: this is also we offer a program with a local Library due to the lack of any game shops in the area,
we run once a week Dungeons and Dragons game and we are working on a summer camp program to host a whole week of Dungeon and Dragons .
perhaps if DnD beyond could encourage working with library's that have printers and computers and 3d printers there are a hundred of options and possible ways to work with your local library to provide an open area to play and educate the other on Dungeons and Dragons .
this is rooms and space for those who have none to play.
this help the public library stay open in small towns by helping raise thier numbers and the great books and possible get them to invest in reference books
SO NNE A PLACE TO PLAY LOOK UP YOUR LOCAL BRANCH OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
What Library has 3d printers? Either you live in one rich area and /or you have access to a much better library then 99% of the city of Chicago
i do not know about rich , but have you ever been to Texas we support our public Libraries with a lot of money . I pay a very high tax for that and I am proud that my Library has three ,three dee printers .
that not a lot I know of game store
https://www.facebook.com/BrigandryGames/
http://www.madnessgames.com/
I am sorry Chicago don't make that a priority for thier libraries but perhaps you can encourage them to move in that direction with a Dungeons and Dragons program at thier branches.
sorry I was trying to say I know a few game shops that have three dee printers as well.
I would love to be able to create whole homebrew classes and not just subclasses <3
I would love something like a wiki, especially if it supported linking to items/monsters/features in beyond. Maybe a few template pages, like a campaign setting overview, settlement descriptions, NPC descriptions, etc.
If I could upload a world map and make it an image map that has links to related pages, that would also be incredibly useful. I'm imagining uploading a background image and being able to add small charms to it that can link to other campaign management pages, or even sub maps.
Finally, the ability to assign the Dungeon Master role of a campaign to someone other than the owner would be swell. I get burnt out DMing, but I also own all the materials that my group uses and pay for the Master Tier subscription, so when someone takes up the DM reigns for a session I have to either share my account credentials (not happening) or export everyone's character sheets and share them in a google drive folder so the DM can see the sheets. Not optimal.
In terms of your last point, the DM doesn't need to be the one with the Master Tier subscription. Any of your players can start a campaign, and invite you. You then turn on content sharing. (not that I object to your suggestion, but you can get some of what you want now. )
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
I am doing that already, it's just that the DM can't actually view anyones character sheets in Beyond, which is very awkward for us.
I meant have the DM create a campaign and invite you all to it. Once you join, turn on content sharing. Then the DM will be able to see character sheets. Being able to appoint a DM within a campaign would be handier, but what I'm suggesting will get your group what you need with a little bit of effort with what is currently possible. Note: if the players are using the same characters, they will need to leave your campaign first.
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
I didn't realize that I could turn on content sharing for campaigns that I didn't own. I will try that, thanks for the input.
There is a problem with the mobile view in the settings area, particularly in the My Notifications Tab.
When viewing articles and threads you are subscribed to, you are able to unsubscribe from articles, but not from threads.
This is because the unsubscribe button (as well as some other information) is on the far right of the screen, which is not programmed to scroll to the sides.
While I CAN change to Desktop View mode in order to access the extra information as well as the unsubscribe button, it is too indirect and WILL confuse anyone who tries to unsubscribe from threads.