A special thanks to Erik_Soong who dug through Wizards' assorted FAQs to find some additional information. I have edited this thread based upon this additional information.
The encounter builder is one of the primary tools on D&D Beyond - it is an incredibly useful feature for building and running encounters, and the best one I have experienced on the market. It is a primary reason I use D&D Beyond - and a primary reason why I obsessively buy every book to ensure my encounter builder is populated with every possible option.
I am, frankly, insulted by this decision. I get it - Maps is the "new hotness" and Beyond is all-in on it as a system. It also is a TERRIBLE system for running pen and paper games. There are no search options, no filters, no meaningful ways to build encounters within the system. Instead of having a singular place that allows you to both locate monsters and immediately add them, you now have a vastly more unwieldy system that requires multiple windows--one for searching and one for building--and the new "builder" is primarily taken up with Maps tools that are completely useless for pen and paper play.
This is incredibly frustrating for the following reasons:
1. 2024 is the most paper-play friendly edition of the game--and throughout the development process, the developers were very clear they loved pen-and-paper play and wanted to support it as much as possible. The fact that D&D Beyond is undermining that commitment to tabletop play and pushing a maps system clearly not designed for tabletop play undermines those efforts. Not to mention it plays directly into the "Wizards is trying to kill tabletop play" conspiracies that are common on D&D Beyond, and often promulgated by the worst elements of our community.
2. This feels like you do not respect your older players who came to the site specifically because you had older, better tools than Maps. Which, hard to see how this is anything other than disrespectful.
3. This feels like you are prioritizing your new system you are internally excited about over the tools your players use.
4. This feels like, once again, you are favoring those who want to stick with 2014 rather than your new and loyal customers who are purchasing new product.
4. It is extremely frustrating that you buried this information in a FAQ for a tool that is completely different from the encounter builder instead of outright said "we have no intention of updating the system many of you use." This is another example of Wizards' characteristic poor communication.
I am generally pretty even keeled and have a high tolerance for pragmatic decisions that are inspired by necessity or other realities.
This, however, has me actively angry--angry enough it ruined my excitement over picking up the encounter builder. There is no real way to read "we are abandoning a good system and focusing on a bad system" other than "instead of us doing work on our systems, we demand you use the system WE want you to use. We do not care if you want to use the more user-friendly system YOU want yourself to use."
I could have sworn that I saw some site update in Post, Announcement thread, or changelog that said that there are not current plans to update the Encounters tool and to use Maps going forward, but I have not been able to locate it. I must be misremembering, but I feel so certain I saw something like that.
I could have sworn that I saw some site update in Post, Announcement thread, or changelog that said that there are not current plans to update the Encounters tool and to use Maps going forward, but I have not been able to locate it. I must be misremembering, but I feel so certain I saw something like that.
Really disappointed in this choice - Maps is a terrible, terrible, terrible system to run an encounter and this feels like a slap in the face to folks who joined D&D Beyond to use their actually worthwhile tools.
The fact that it is buried on a page no one will see unless they dig for it only adds insult to injury.
I'd like to say that while I do like Maps for what it is, Encounters worked so much better for Theater of the Mind or PBP use. Maps has an activity timer of 55 mins, with no way to turn it off. That makes it impossible to use for PBP, which can go days between posts, sometimes longer. It's a bit of a shame.
I run games in person on a MS Surface screen (so screen real estate is small).
The issues I am having with the current setup of maps and encounter builder is:
Screen real estate with monster stat blocks is lacking for in person play. The stat block has two pages that I have to flip back and forth to go between actions and stats. The difficult in managing these screens is compounded when you have different monsters in play. In Encounters you can see the full page and click back and forth between monsters is easy.
I have been a subscriber since the beginning and have pretty much all the digital dice, now that is all for not as they don't show up in Maps.
I would continue to use the Encounter builder but now that I know they aren't putting much into it and the 2024 calculations are there, I feel forced to try to settle for Maps for in person play.
I know that I can manually use the calculations in the Encounter Builder and all other solutions, so this isn't' game breaking, so I write this for D&D Beyond Feedback and to try to get my voice out there as these systems are shaped.
Maps tool is horrible compared to encounter tool. I hope this thread gets some visibility and they at least port over the new statblocks into encounter builder.
I only use Encounter Tool and not maps. I will never use the maps tool. If the encounter builder is phased out, there's no reason for me to even use this site and that makes me sad because I really like the Encounter Tool. It has a few issues that I'd love to see worked on (like renaming critters, adding AND removing critters on the fly, etc.) but I still use it for exactly what it is - Encounters. I don't need a map tool or that other stuff.
I honestly don't see why these things have to be mutually exclusive. I started using the Encounter Tool because I have literally ALL D&DB content and I wanted to not have to do the extra legwork of importing creatures into Improved Initiative. Frankly it works fine for my purposes since I also play Pen and Paper, however if they are not updating it and including the new monsters I am stuck. I tried using Maps and for PnP play it is a terrible tool, you have to flick through multiple screens to get stats, the search function is not usable and it is not as elegant as the Encounter tool.
So now I am stuck yet again probably going back to Improved Initiative because THEY allow you to import the 2024 Monsters into a simple looking Encounter Builder/Combat tracker. D&DBeyond/Hasbro are massive and I don't understand why they can't wrap their heads around the fact that having multiple tools will support multiple styles of play. I am literally their target demographic of the person who buys all of their material but they are not supporting me. Hell its been half a decade and they still will not add non-magic mundane homebrew items.
Honestly I just ask them to add 2024 creatures into the Encounter tool, it cannot be that much work. Maps is not designed to support Pen and Paper play.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
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Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
Okay that's my bad, my understanding was their were not going to be integrated.
That said, you're right why not continue to tweak and improve this project as it directly supports PnP play. Many of us have no interest in maps either through playing in person or using a different hosted VTT. It has the ability to be a really cool tool, directly supporting all the content we buy here.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
They let you import them but show the 2014 statblock versions. So no initiative bonuses or misc new things don’t show in the encounter builder.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
They let you import them but show the 2014 statblock versions. So no initiative bonuses or misc new things don’t show in the encounter builder.
I think we're talking about 2 different encounter builders. If you use the Beta Encounter Builder (go to top of this window, click Tools, then select Beta Encounters you will see that it takes you to an encounter builder (called exactly that in the upper left of that screen). That encounter builder does contain the 2024 monsters and full statblocks, etc. The only thing it doesn't do is calculate the 2024 difficulty levels (it uses the 2014 difficulty levels).
I can't access the encounter builder in Maps, because of all the stuff you need to enter before you even get the ability to access that option. Supposedly that encounter builder will be made with the 2024 difficulty levels (but again, I can't test it because I can't access it since I don't use Maps).
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
They let you import them but show the 2014 statblock versions. So no initiative bonuses or misc new things don’t show in the encounter builder.
I think we're talking about 2 different encounter builders. If you use the Beta Encounter Builder (go to top of this window, click Tools, then select Beta Encounters you will see that it takes you to an encounter builder (called exactly that in the upper left of that screen). That encounter builder does contain the 2024 monsters and full statblocks, etc. The only thing it doesn't do is calculate the 2024 difficulty levels (it uses the 2014 difficulty levels).
I can't access the encounter builder in Maps, because of all the stuff you need to enter before you even get the ability to access that option. Supposedly that encounter builder will be made with the 2024 difficulty levels (but again, I can't test it because I can't access it since I don't use Maps).
No we are talking about the same thing.
Go to encounter builder and left click on aarakocra aeromancer. Than click on either the link below or double click on aarakocra-aeromancer in encounter builder and you will see they have two different statblocks that show/hide information from the new 2024 version in the encounter builder tool.
I generally like to plan out my encounters well before setting up maps. Especially since players may choose unexpected paths and I like to remain flexible in that regard, while still having an idea of the encounters they'll meet (regardless of where they end up!)
So tying the 2024 Encounter Builder directly to maps just seems a bad idea. I really want it to be a separate tool (as per 2014 builder) and then have the ability in Maps to "Import encounter", which would add all monsters from the encounter to the map.
I'm really disappointed the encounter builder wont be updated as maps doesn't provide the same functionality I need at my table. I need a solution where I can easily keep track of a turn order, my players hp, monsters hp without having to write everything down. The encounter builder seems to do this perfectly - MAPS is not what I need. We are playing in person, with real maps and minis.
I have no idea why Wizards have decided that they can't dedicate resource to maintaining this feature when it so clearly doesn't compete with something like maps that is clearly targeted at those that play online.
If the encounter builder was continued to be supported I would be much more inclined to double dip and buy the digital books alongside the physical ones so I had access to all the monsters. I hope they change course on this.
I've been out of the loop on all the comms thus far on this, having only just discovered about 20 minutes ago that the Encounter Builder feature will not be updated with the 2024 math. When I first saw that the 2024 math would be integrated into the Maps feature, I was still optimistic that this would mean we'd have something like Encounter Builder, just encapsulated within the Maps interface.
The product manager and the UX lead for this need to seriously rethink their plan as the Encounter Builder feature is objectively and exponentially better than the functionality provided in the Maps feature.
As far as I've been able to tell (and granted maybe I just haven't dug around and experimented long enough), these are the steps to determine the encounter difficulty:
Go to the Maps feature.
Choose your campaign from the dropdown (or just click Go to proceed without a campaign although I haven't tried that option).
Click on the "Select Map" dropdown.
Click on the "Open Map Browser" button.
Select any number of maps you have access to.
Choose one of the maps you just added.
Click on the "Token Browser" icon (last one in the floating sidebar).
Add monsters, PCs, and/or companions.
Click the "Open Sidebar" icon (it's in the upper left corner).
Either click the "Add All Tokens" button OR manually click on each token on the map and click the plus icon from the popup to add that token to the encounter.
Now the encounter information is filled in and you can see the difficulty at the bottom of the sidebar.
I'm currently starting up two new campaigns -- one online and one in-person -- and either way this is a really unfriendly workflow to design encounters. Even if I was going to use the Maps feature (still on the fence on that and honestly what I'm finding here makes me less inclined to use it) instead of Roll20, I'd still want to be able to experiment with different monsters, different challenge ratings, etc. before choosing any sort of map. Heck, I might not even have a map image asset available and need to create one through an art application or an online tool. Why on Earth should I need to have a map asset ready to go just to figure out the encounter difficulty?
Again, I reiterate that the product manager and UX lead really need to rethink their strategy, because what we've been presented with is objectively and indisputably worse by several degrees than the product that is already sitting there on the platform. No rational user would ever choose this workflow over the one that's used in the Encounter Builder feature. It's not even close.
If you're not convinced, let's take a look at the workflow for the existing Encounter Builder:
Go to the Encounter Builder feature (My Encounters in the Collections page).
Click the "Create New" button.
Click the "Manage Characters" button (not just an icon but the actual words in plain sight) to either select your campaign or configure the party manually.
Search for the name of a monster, filter by quite a number of parameters, or just select something that shows up right off the bat, using the metadata provided as a guideline (you don't even see any of that in the Maps feature until you get to the last step in the previous set of steps).
Watch as the encounter information is updated in the right sidebar.
The usability and the usefulness of these two workflows is night and day. The workflow in the Maps feature feels like some sick trolling by the D&D Beyond team. I get that they want everyone to use the Maps feature. Heck, I'd love to use the Maps feature. But I need the Maps feature to actually be useful, and one key thing here would be that I don't need to jump through a dozen hoops juggling an arm and a leg just to quickly figure out my encounter.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
They let you import them but show the 2014 statblock versions. So no initiative bonuses or misc new things don’t show in the encounter builder.
I think we're talking about 2 different encounter builders. If you use the Beta Encounter Builder (go to top of this window, click Tools, then select Beta Encounters you will see that it takes you to an encounter builder (called exactly that in the upper left of that screen). That encounter builder does contain the 2024 monsters and full statblocks, etc. The only thing it doesn't do is calculate the 2024 difficulty levels (it uses the 2014 difficulty levels).
I can't access the encounter builder in Maps, because of all the stuff you need to enter before you even get the ability to access that option. Supposedly that encounter builder will be made with the 2024 difficulty levels (but again, I can't test it because I can't access it since I don't use Maps).
No we are talking about the same thing.
Go to encounter builder and left click on aarakocra aeromancer. Than click on either the link below or double click on aarakocra-aeromancer in encounter builder and you will see they have two different statblocks that show/hide information from the new 2024 version in the encounter builder tool.
Like they said, the Encounter Builder allows you to use the stat blocks from the new Monster Manual. The issue is that the Encounter Builder doesn't use the difficulty math from 2024.
What you're referring to is simply the style of the stat block. The information is the same regardless of which style you use. The only net new information shown is the Initiative bonus, but that's not actually new information but rather just a callout of information that you can already calculate from the rest of the stat block.
The Aarakocra Skirmisher would probably be a better reference point since it's the conversion of the Aarakocra from the 2014 Monster Manual.
My experience is that while the monsters of 2024 can be used in the encounter tool, the stat blocks are messing up the spell linking. For example the Aarakocra Aeromancer from earlier has some spell links that refer to the 2024 rules, while others refers to the 2024. Its a mess to say the least and I am really sad about since, maps is awful to use in a pnp game.
EDIT: Just checked - the flaw is the same in maps. The links in the statsblock er generally messed up.
You can now edit a monster's HP directly from their token instead of having to cross-reference to the left-hand side (which I found quite confusing because, although tokens of multiple identical monsters got renamed to A, B, C etc, that naming kept changing every time I hid or revealed a creature).
Even better, you can now filter the token list, including ignoring legacy, so no more duplicates.
I guess Maps is getting there. It has a way to go, but it's getting there.
A special thanks to Erik_Soong who dug through Wizards' assorted FAQs to find some additional information. I have edited this thread based upon this additional information.
The encounter builder is one of the primary tools on D&D Beyond - it is an incredibly useful feature for building and running encounters, and the best one I have experienced on the market. It is a primary reason I use D&D Beyond - and a primary reason why I obsessively buy every book to ensure my encounter builder is populated with every possible option.
Despite being a core function of the game, Wizards of the Coast has confirmed they have no intention of updating the encounter builder to use the 2024 CR Calculations. ("At this time, the Encounters (Beta) tool will remain available and continue to use the encounter rules outlined in the 2014 Dungeon Masters Guide. No changes to this tool are currently planned.")
I am, frankly, insulted by this decision. I get it - Maps is the "new hotness" and Beyond is all-in on it as a system. It also is a TERRIBLE system for running pen and paper games. There are no search options, no filters, no meaningful ways to build encounters within the system. Instead of having a singular place that allows you to both locate monsters and immediately add them, you now have a vastly more unwieldy system that requires multiple windows--one for searching and one for building--and the new "builder" is primarily taken up with Maps tools that are completely useless for pen and paper play.
This is incredibly frustrating for the following reasons:
1. 2024 is the most paper-play friendly edition of the game--and throughout the development process, the developers were very clear they loved pen-and-paper play and wanted to support it as much as possible. The fact that D&D Beyond is undermining that commitment to tabletop play and pushing a maps system clearly not designed for tabletop play undermines those efforts. Not to mention it plays directly into the "Wizards is trying to kill tabletop play" conspiracies that are common on D&D Beyond, and often promulgated by the worst elements of our community.
2. This feels like you do not respect your older players who came to the site specifically because you had older, better tools than Maps. Which, hard to see how this is anything other than disrespectful.
3. This feels like you are prioritizing your new system you are internally excited about over the tools your players use.
4. This feels like, once again, you are favoring those who want to stick with 2014 rather than your new and loyal customers who are purchasing new product.
4. It is extremely frustrating that you buried this information in a FAQ for a tool that is completely different from the encounter builder instead of outright said "we have no intention of updating the system many of you use." This is another example of Wizards' characteristic poor communication.
I am generally pretty even keeled and have a high tolerance for pragmatic decisions that are inspired by necessity or other realities.
This, however, has me actively angry--angry enough it ruined my excitement over picking up the encounter builder. There is no real way to read "we are abandoning a good system and focusing on a bad system" other than "instead of us doing work on our systems, we demand you use the system WE want you to use. We do not care if you want to use the more user-friendly system YOU want yourself to use."
I could have sworn that I saw some site update in Post, Announcement thread, or changelog that said that there are not current plans to update the Encounters tool and to use Maps going forward, but I have not been able to locate it. I must be misremembering, but I feel so certain I saw something like that.
Found it!
Maps FAQ on DDB Support. Bottom of the page.
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Really disappointed in this choice - Maps is a terrible, terrible, terrible system to run an encounter and this feels like a slap in the face to folks who joined D&D Beyond to use their actually worthwhile tools.
The fact that it is buried on a page no one will see unless they dig for it only adds insult to injury.
I'd like to say that while I do like Maps for what it is, Encounters worked so much better for Theater of the Mind or PBP use. Maps has an activity timer of 55 mins, with no way to turn it off. That makes it impossible to use for PBP, which can go days between posts, sometimes longer. It's a bit of a shame.
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Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
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I run games in person on a MS Surface screen (so screen real estate is small).
The issues I am having with the current setup of maps and encounter builder is:
I know that I can manually use the calculations in the Encounter Builder and all other solutions, so this isn't' game breaking, so I write this for D&D Beyond Feedback and to try to get my voice out there as these systems are shaped.
Maps tool is horrible compared to encounter tool. I hope this thread gets some visibility and they at least port over the new statblocks into encounter builder.
I only use Encounter Tool and not maps. I will never use the maps tool. If the encounter builder is phased out, there's no reason for me to even use this site and that makes me sad because I really like the Encounter Tool. It has a few issues that I'd love to see worked on (like renaming critters, adding AND removing critters on the fly, etc.) but I still use it for exactly what it is - Encounters. I don't need a map tool or that other stuff.
Please don't alienate yet another D&D fan.
I honestly don't see why these things have to be mutually exclusive. I started using the Encounter Tool because I have literally ALL D&DB content and I wanted to not have to do the extra legwork of importing creatures into Improved Initiative. Frankly it works fine for my purposes since I also play Pen and Paper, however if they are not updating it and including the new monsters I am stuck. I tried using Maps and for PnP play it is a terrible tool, you have to flick through multiple screens to get stats, the search function is not usable and it is not as elegant as the Encounter tool.
So now I am stuck yet again probably going back to Improved Initiative because THEY allow you to import the 2024 Monsters into a simple looking Encounter Builder/Combat tracker. D&DBeyond/Hasbro are massive and I don't understand why they can't wrap their heads around the fact that having multiple tools will support multiple styles of play. I am literally their target demographic of the person who buys all of their material but they are not supporting me. Hell its been half a decade and they still will not add non-magic mundane homebrew items.
Honestly I just ask them to add 2024 creatures into the Encounter tool, it cannot be that much work. Maps is not designed to support Pen and Paper play.
2024 creatures are in the Encounter Builder, it's the difficulty level and xp calculator that will not be updated to 2024 - just to clarify.
I, too, wish they'd continue to use it (seriously how hard is it to just input a second formula and a switch to toggle between them). As others have said, I will not use the Maps application. We already have invested in another VTT and have no plans to use Maps (and many of the features we would want, aren't going to be included in Maps).
Although technically we could still build the encounter and use it to track initiative, etc. - the fact that we can't use it to calculate difficulty level takes away most of its usefulness. The most useful feature of the Encounter Builder was the difficulty level calculation.
Looking at all of their decisions over the past 6 months, it is almost as if they are actively trying to get people to NOT use DnDBeyond and move to other platforms instead.
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
Okay that's my bad, my understanding was their were not going to be integrated.
That said, you're right why not continue to tweak and improve this project as it directly supports PnP play. Many of us have no interest in maps either through playing in person or using a different hosted VTT. It has the ability to be a really cool tool, directly supporting all the content we buy here.
They let you import them but show the 2014 statblock versions. So no initiative bonuses or misc new things don’t show in the encounter builder.
I think we're talking about 2 different encounter builders. If you use the Beta Encounter Builder (go to top of this window, click Tools, then select Beta Encounters you will see that it takes you to an encounter builder (called exactly that in the upper left of that screen). That encounter builder does contain the 2024 monsters and full statblocks, etc. The only thing it doesn't do is calculate the 2024 difficulty levels (it uses the 2014 difficulty levels).
I can't access the encounter builder in Maps, because of all the stuff you need to enter before you even get the ability to access that option. Supposedly that encounter builder will be made with the 2024 difficulty levels (but again, I can't test it because I can't access it since I don't use Maps).
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
No we are talking about the same thing.
Go to encounter builder and left click on aarakocra aeromancer. Than click on either the link below or double click on aarakocra-aeromancer in encounter builder and you will see they have two different statblocks that show/hide information from the new 2024 version in the encounter builder tool.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/5194864-aarakocra-aeromancer
I generally like to plan out my encounters well before setting up maps. Especially since players may choose unexpected paths and I like to remain flexible in that regard, while still having an idea of the encounters they'll meet (regardless of where they end up!)
So tying the 2024 Encounter Builder directly to maps just seems a bad idea. I really want it to be a separate tool (as per 2014 builder) and then have the ability in Maps to "Import encounter", which would add all monsters from the encounter to the map.
I'm really disappointed the encounter builder wont be updated as maps doesn't provide the same functionality I need at my table. I need a solution where I can easily keep track of a turn order, my players hp, monsters hp without having to write everything down. The encounter builder seems to do this perfectly - MAPS is not what I need. We are playing in person, with real maps and minis.
I have no idea why Wizards have decided that they can't dedicate resource to maintaining this feature when it so clearly doesn't compete with something like maps that is clearly targeted at those that play online.
If the encounter builder was continued to be supported I would be much more inclined to double dip and buy the digital books alongside the physical ones so I had access to all the monsters. I hope they change course on this.
I've been out of the loop on all the comms thus far on this, having only just discovered about 20 minutes ago that the Encounter Builder feature will not be updated with the 2024 math. When I first saw that the 2024 math would be integrated into the Maps feature, I was still optimistic that this would mean we'd have something like Encounter Builder, just encapsulated within the Maps interface.
The product manager and the UX lead for this need to seriously rethink their plan as the Encounter Builder feature is objectively and exponentially better than the functionality provided in the Maps feature.
As far as I've been able to tell (and granted maybe I just haven't dug around and experimented long enough), these are the steps to determine the encounter difficulty:
I'm currently starting up two new campaigns -- one online and one in-person -- and either way this is a really unfriendly workflow to design encounters. Even if I was going to use the Maps feature (still on the fence on that and honestly what I'm finding here makes me less inclined to use it) instead of Roll20, I'd still want to be able to experiment with different monsters, different challenge ratings, etc. before choosing any sort of map. Heck, I might not even have a map image asset available and need to create one through an art application or an online tool. Why on Earth should I need to have a map asset ready to go just to figure out the encounter difficulty?
Again, I reiterate that the product manager and UX lead really need to rethink their strategy, because what we've been presented with is objectively and indisputably worse by several degrees than the product that is already sitting there on the platform. No rational user would ever choose this workflow over the one that's used in the Encounter Builder feature. It's not even close.
If you're not convinced, let's take a look at the workflow for the existing Encounter Builder:
The usability and the usefulness of these two workflows is night and day. The workflow in the Maps feature feels like some sick trolling by the D&D Beyond team. I get that they want everyone to use the Maps feature. Heck, I'd love to use the Maps feature. But I need the Maps feature to actually be useful, and one key thing here would be that I don't need to jump through a dozen hoops juggling an arm and a leg just to quickly figure out my encounter.
Like they said, the Encounter Builder allows you to use the stat blocks from the new Monster Manual. The issue is that the Encounter Builder doesn't use the difficulty math from 2024.
What you're referring to is simply the style of the stat block. The information is the same regardless of which style you use. The only net new information shown is the Initiative bonus, but that's not actually new information but rather just a callout of information that you can already calculate from the rest of the stat block.
The Aarakocra Skirmisher would probably be a better reference point since it's the conversion of the Aarakocra from the 2014 Monster Manual.
My experience is that while the monsters of 2024 can be used in the encounter tool, the stat blocks are messing up the spell linking. For example the Aarakocra Aeromancer from earlier has some spell links that refer to the 2024 rules, while others refers to the 2024. Its a mess to say the least and I am really sad about since, maps is awful to use in a pnp game.
EDIT: Just checked - the flaw is the same in maps. The links in the statsblock er generally messed up.
Encounters does not take into account the new monsters Initiative bonuses either (though maps does not seem to either with most of it's monsters)
There's been an update to Maps!
You can now edit a monster's HP directly from their token instead of having to cross-reference to the left-hand side (which I found quite confusing because, although tokens of multiple identical monsters got renamed to A, B, C etc, that naming kept changing every time I hid or revealed a creature).
Even better, you can now filter the token list, including ignoring legacy, so no more duplicates.
I guess Maps is getting there. It has a way to go, but it's getting there.