After decades of making hundreds of D&D characters, I LOVE making characters randomly, because when I make a character manually, I am usually reminded of previous characters I've made with the exact same options. The randomness adds some novelty, especially when the combination of race, class, and background is determined randomly.
The app feels like it's presenting the random method as a tool for DMs to quickly create NPCs for a specific purpose. It doesn't feel like it's a tool for seasoned players like me who legitimately want the "dice" (RNG) to come up with unexpected combinations.
So I feel somewhat dissatisfied with the random method as implemented here.
1. There's no way to have the app select race or class randomly.
2.The random name generator present in the standard method is absent from the random method!
3. There's also no clear way to review randomly determined options before they are committed to the character sheet.
4. Similarly, there is no way to select things that you want to change randomly. Say I've played barbarian a dozen times previously. I'm generating a character randomly, and I like all the options that were randomly selected, except I got stuck with the outlander background. Such a stereotype! I can't go into the character sheet and reroll the background, so my only option is to either delete the character and generate a new random character, or edit the character sheet, which takes me into the standard method view of the PC where I have to manually specify my choices.
5. The background is selected randomly, but the personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw cannot be selected randomly (these have to be manually typed in, as mentioned in previous posts in this thread). The tables for traits, ideals, bonds, flaws in the SRD and PHB all have the dice listed which are used to determine them randomly - and these are presented in the app - but there's no way to have the app actually select them randomly.
Seconding what Swamp_slug, Xxzzyzx, Kranos, Tyriuth, Shashash, and I'm sure many other people in the 3 pages of search results for "starting equipment" have pointed out - please add a way to easily add starting equipment to your character, without searching for it.
A few pieces of general feedback too..
I love paper books, paper character sheets, real dice, and I prefer for my players to play with them too. Once the phones come out, I feel the focus drift and the quality of the game is lower. The website so far is full of useful information and very pretty. For this system to be viable as a cost-add system, this kind of automation needs to be built in to ease the pain point of looking things up in the books we already own. It needs to be easier to use this site/app to create and manage characters and campaigns than the freely available paper sheets or existing SRD content managers, and I'm excited for that possibility. I think there's lots of potential for this, but I'm not seeing the ease-of-use I'd want to be in place before paying for it. This is beta I fully acknowledge, so I expect there are plans to address most of this.
Managing character sheets needs work. Some examples of user frustrations I ran across:
- how do I reset my spell slots, once I use a spell? (found it, but the point is it wasn't super obvious)
- I dont like that things like darkvision are hidden behind a "racial traits" or "class features" expansion dialogue, I want to see these at a glance.
- it's tedious to go into each equipment item to equip them, before they're shown
- im confused how to level up my character and add hitpoints
- feats dont seem to be able to be added to characters from each feats page
Also, I'm surprised to see some of the resource management tools on here (ie tracking spell slots). Frankly, if I'm going to use a computer-based solution for resource management, it needs to support the full gameplay like roll20 - maps, notes, dicerolling, etcetcetc. I'm sure there are people who would find this useful, who have a different use case than mine. My use case is to setup characters on here, print them every few levels, and auto-populate a nicely laid-out printable character sheet with the official information in a few clicks when I level up my character. My resource management will be handled by ye olde pencil.
Finally a suggestion for UX feedback: get some players in and video-tape them using the app, record where they get confused, where their eyes are looking, and iterate on that feedback.
Ive noticed that there are some options that are missing. For example, the Circle of the Moon for Druids is not available. Also, for the Variant Humans feat ability, you can only choose 2 on here. Love the system but i do feel its incomplete. And these are things from the handbook
Ive noticed that there are some options that are missing. For example, the Circle of the Moon for Druids is not available. Also, for the Variant Humans feat ability, you can only choose 2 on here. Love the system but i do feel its incomplete. And these are things from the handbook
For the beta, only the rules and options provided in the D&D 5th edition SRD, D&D 5th edition Basic Rules, Elemental Evil Companion are available in Beyond. Once the full platform launches later this summer, the core rule books and others will be available for purchase, and the content within will be available for those that purchase, or have access through a DM's subscription.
Ammunition as opposed to weapons show their full count in the subtext (when you hit the plus sign). When it comes to weapons (i.e. Darts/Javelins) you should be able to see the number available there when you open it. And if there's resource management for spells, there should be quick use buttons for thrown/ammunition so you can track usage
Also, for druids with the bonus cantrip, the cantrip selected isn't displayed up with the other cantrips known in the character sheet, so I'd have to have a second window with the spell list open to see what the effect/prereqs are.
Finally, versatile weapons need a swtich, toggle or checkbox set for how to choose between STR and DEX. That way the actual modifier being used is displayed in the attack section.
Lots of stuff and I haven't been able to go through it all, but when creating/leveling up a wizard the only Arcane Tradition that can be selected is the School of Evocation.
I also didn't see any of the feats from the PHB when I was leveling my character up.
During the beta test of D&D Beyond, we'll only be including content that is freely available from Wizards of the Coast, including the D&D 5th edition SRD , D&D 5th edition Basic Rules, Elemental Evil Companion and potentially others. The beta will not include additional content from a Commercially Released Book, Module or Supplement.
All of the remaining published content from the PHB, DMG, MM and other D&D 5th edition books will be added to D&D Beyond for product release - the cost for accessing this material has not yet been announced.
Currently building a fighter character with the defense fighting style, and the +1 bonus to AC for wearing armor does not currently get added to the character page.
Still think it's awesome that you guys are doing this!
Here's a couple bugs. I couldn't find them on a search. Both are using my android phone, chrome browser.
The character header disappears if I scroll down even just a few pixels.
spoiler for image size
Section Bar gets in the way of the hamburger menu. I can still scroll in the hamburger menu, so the bar in the way doesn't stop me from selecting options.
Thing that may already have been mentioned: - Equipment: Have a button or other option to quickly add standard equipment in the standard build. - Cant seem to figure out proper way to go about levelling up... - Standard build: After choosing a class, perhaps a highlight of the primary and secondary stats for that class no matter what stat option is chosen.
Great start, guys, looking forward to seeing the completed version!
In reply to the ability scores being able to go above 20...
I noticed this too but there may be DMs who will allow magic items or leveling of a skill beyond 20 so I can understand why this wouldn't be a hard and fast rule. Maybe this could be a checkbox on/off setting that is on by default?
Ammunition as opposed to weapons show their full count in the subtext (when you hit the plus sign). When it comes to weapons (i.e. Darts/Javelins) you should be able to see the number available there when you open it. And if there's resource management for spells, there should be quick use buttons for thrown/ammunition so you can track usage
Also, for druids with the bonus cantrip, the cantrip selected isn't displayed up with the other cantrips known in the character sheet, so I'd have to have a second window with the spell list open to see what the effect/prereqs are.
Finally, versatile weapons need a swtich, toggle or checkbox set for how to choose between STR and DEX. That way the actual modifier being used is displayed in the attack section.
You mean finesse weapons - versatile means the weapon can be used either 1h or 2h. Using it 2h increases the damage.
From what I saw, the character sheet was correctly selecting the character's higher stat between STR and DEX when a finesse weapon was equipped.
Why are race opinions limited. We can't add homebrew if not how can we add races. How can we use this for other released races like the ghostwise halfling
Why are race opinions limited. We can't add homebrew if not how can we add races. How can we use this for other released races like the ghostwise halfling
It's coming. It's all coming.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
41 pages of posts, so this may have already been requested. If so, ignore.
If not: It would be great if you could add "Homebrew Subclass" and 'Homebrew Races" options, similar to the homebrew spells, items and monsters pages. And also incorporate the Unearthed Arcana content.
Hello i was messing around on the character builder sheet and i made a sorcerer air gensai and i dont know if it is just for that rave but draconic resilience doesn't work its still the base 10 +dex modifier rather than 13+ dex modifier
Notes on the Random character generation method:
After decades of making hundreds of D&D characters, I LOVE making characters randomly, because when I make a character manually, I am usually reminded of previous characters I've made with the exact same options. The randomness adds some novelty, especially when the combination of race, class, and background is determined randomly.
The app feels like it's presenting the random method as a tool for DMs to quickly create NPCs for a specific purpose. It doesn't feel like it's a tool for seasoned players like me who legitimately want the "dice" (RNG) to come up with unexpected combinations.
So I feel somewhat dissatisfied with the random method as implemented here.
1. There's no way to have the app select race or class randomly.
2.The random name generator present in the standard method is absent from the random method!
3. There's also no clear way to review randomly determined options before they are committed to the character sheet.
4. Similarly, there is no way to select things that you want to change randomly. Say I've played barbarian a dozen times previously. I'm generating a character randomly, and I like all the options that were randomly selected, except I got stuck with the outlander background. Such a stereotype! I can't go into the character sheet and reroll the background, so my only option is to either delete the character and generate a new random character, or edit the character sheet, which takes me into the standard method view of the PC where I have to manually specify my choices.
5. The background is selected randomly, but the personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw cannot be selected randomly (these have to be manually typed in, as mentioned in previous posts in this thread). The tables for traits, ideals, bonds, flaws in the SRD and PHB all have the dice listed which are used to determine them randomly - and these are presented in the app - but there's no way to have the app actually select them randomly.
My suggestions on character sheet:
Thanks
Seconding what Swamp_slug, Xxzzyzx, Kranos, Tyriuth, Shashash, and I'm sure many other people in the 3 pages of search results for "starting equipment" have pointed out - please add a way to easily add starting equipment to your character, without searching for it.
A few pieces of general feedback too..
I love paper books, paper character sheets, real dice, and I prefer for my players to play with them too. Once the phones come out, I feel the focus drift and the quality of the game is lower. The website so far is full of useful information and very pretty. For this system to be viable as a cost-add system, this kind of automation needs to be built in to ease the pain point of looking things up in the books we already own. It needs to be easier to use this site/app to create and manage characters and campaigns than the freely available paper sheets or existing SRD content managers, and I'm excited for that possibility. I think there's lots of potential for this, but I'm not seeing the ease-of-use I'd want to be in place before paying for it. This is beta I fully acknowledge, so I expect there are plans to address most of this.
Managing character sheets needs work. Some examples of user frustrations I ran across:
Also, I'm surprised to see some of the resource management tools on here (ie tracking spell slots). Frankly, if I'm going to use a computer-based solution for resource management, it needs to support the full gameplay like roll20 - maps, notes, dicerolling, etcetcetc. I'm sure there are people who would find this useful, who have a different use case than mine. My use case is to setup characters on here, print them every few levels, and auto-populate a nicely laid-out printable character sheet with the official information in a few clicks when I level up my character. My resource management will be handled by ye olde pencil.
Finally a suggestion for UX feedback: get some players in and video-tape them using the app, record where they get confused, where their eyes are looking, and iterate on that feedback.
Hope this is useful!
Ive noticed that there are some options that are missing. For example, the Circle of the Moon for Druids is not available. Also, for the Variant Humans feat ability, you can only choose 2 on here. Love the system but i do feel its incomplete. And these are things from the handbook
Ammunition as opposed to weapons show their full count in the subtext (when you hit the plus sign). When it comes to weapons (i.e. Darts/Javelins) you should be able to see the number available there when you open it. And if there's resource management for spells, there should be quick use buttons for thrown/ammunition so you can track usage
Also, for druids with the bonus cantrip, the cantrip selected isn't displayed up with the other cantrips known in the character sheet, so I'd have to have a second window with the spell list open to see what the effect/prereqs are.
Finally, versatile weapons need a swtich, toggle or checkbox set for how to choose between STR and DEX. That way the actual modifier being used is displayed in the attack section.
Lots of stuff and I haven't been able to go through it all, but when creating/leveling up a wizard the only Arcane Tradition that can be selected is the School of Evocation.
I also didn't see any of the feats from the PHB when I was leveling my character up.
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D&D Beyond FoundersDuring the beta test of D&D Beyond, we'll only be including content that is freely available from Wizards of the Coast, including the D&D 5th edition SRD , D&D 5th edition Basic Rules, Elemental Evil Companion and potentially others. The beta will not include additional content from a Commercially Released Book, Module or Supplement.
All of the remaining published content from the PHB, DMG, MM and other D&D 5th edition books will be added to D&D Beyond for product release - the cost for accessing this material has not yet been announced.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Currently building a fighter character with the defense fighting style, and the +1 bonus to AC for wearing armor does not currently get added to the character page.
Still think it's awesome that you guys are doing this!
Here's a couple bugs. I couldn't find them on a search. Both are using my android phone, chrome browser.
The character header disappears if I scroll down even just a few pixels.
spoiler for image size
Section Bar gets in the way of the hamburger menu. I can still scroll in the hamburger menu, so the bar in the way doesn't stop me from selecting options.
Spoiler for image size
Thing that may already have been mentioned:
- Equipment: Have a button or other option to quickly add standard equipment in the standard build.
- Cant seem to figure out proper way to go about levelling up...
- Standard build: After choosing a class, perhaps a highlight of the primary and secondary stats for that class no matter what stat option is chosen.
Great start, guys, looking forward to seeing the completed version!
HP needs some work. Should have the ability to roll HP and add Con. Please add a spell book feature. A simple drag and drop.
I'm here to do one thing; Hit something as hard as I can
In reply to the ability scores being able to go above 20...
I noticed this too but there may be DMs who will allow magic items or leveling of a skill beyond 20 so I can understand why this wouldn't be a hard and fast rule. Maybe this could be a checkbox on/off setting that is on by default?
Why are race opinions limited. We can't add homebrew if not how can we add races. How can we use this for other released races like the ghostwise halfling
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
41 pages of posts, so this may have already been requested. If so, ignore.
If not: It would be great if you could add "Homebrew Subclass" and 'Homebrew Races" options, similar to the homebrew spells, items and monsters pages. And also incorporate the Unearthed Arcana content.
Buffs
How do you show buffs on the character Sheet?
I notice there was not a section that showed buff or debuffed status on the character sheet.
Hello i was messing around on the character builder sheet and i made a sorcerer air gensai and i dont know if it is just for that rave but draconic resilience doesn't work its still the base 10 +dex modifier rather than 13+ dex modifier