I am currently playing a Wildfire Druid, and I've been having a lot of difficulty using the Wildfire Spirit inside dndbeyond. I thought I'd give some feedback about it. I've included several screenshots to highlight the issues.
Currently there is no singular location in order to read all my wildfire spirit's stats and info, updated properly to reflect my druid level, and proficiency bonus.
This is the information under Actions:
This is listed under Bonus Actions. Shows a lot of info, but does not detail base skill values and modifiers, immunities, senses, movement speeds, or summoning range/damage. Nothing in the Actions tab describes the Wild Shape usage for this either.
Clicking on this section reveals a popout with the description of the spirit and info about the summoning.
In addition, this health management doesn't actually say what it is (special?), and is extremely infuriating to use on any mobile device, because tapping too fast will zoom the browser in and out.
This is the information under Features & Traits
Shows very little, but does describe the usage of Wild Shape for the summoning. I'm not sure why it says "Wildfire Spirit: 1 Bonus Action", that is pretty confusing. The same health meter also makes an appearance here. Here the text says "Uses: 41 / Special", which was not present in other locations.
Clicking on the "Wildfire Spirit" block of this opens the same popout as from the Actions panel.
However clicking on the upper text portion opens this panel:
This shows the whole stat sheet, but this view is also problematic. None of the values in the sheet are updated to reflect my character's proficiency bonus, rendering most of it inaccurate and difficult to use mid-game. The formatting of the skills are broken and overlapping, rendering them unreadable. This is a very difficult page to find in a moments notice just to look up a quick stat, as you need to specifically click the text block there, and then remember not to use certain values as written there.
This is the same stat block as seen in the compendium.
I then tried to use a Homebrew Monster in order to put in my Extras tab. That was almost a good solution, but the values there are also not updated based on my character's proficiency bonus, class level, etc. So it isn't very helpful. However, this homebrew stat sheet includes a proper health management display, so after using the "Customize" dropdown to alter the health to the correct amount, I've kept it for health tracking.
My current solution is to use the Actions tab for most things, the Actions Popout for summoning damage & range, and the Extras tab for health management and non-scaling stat sheet values.
Clearly not a fantastic user experience here, the information is scattered. I have no doubt that there are certain limitations within the character sheet that prevent this from working optimally, but I hope that something can be done to improve this, because I am really loving the Wildfire subclass and I hope to see better support for these kinds of class mechanics.
Important thing to remember that the Circle of Wildfire, and by association the Wildfire Spirit are UA content. That means that the future of the subclass, if it'll ever be published and if it is, how it'll look, is very much in flux. This means that D&D Beyond will implement the best possible solution that doesn't also require a lot of work that may end up being discarded if the subclass gets archived.
A good example is the Artificer; until that was finalised, infusions were handled as items in the magic item listing. But once the class was finalised, a bespoke infusion system was added. Should the Circle of Wildfire be made official (which would be awesome as it's an interesting subclass), I'm sure DDB will develop a more robust permanent implementation of this archetype and it's associated creature.
Thanks for that insight. I wasn't sure if UA content would be up for QOL improvements in the interim, but I can definitely understand that workflow from their perspective.
Now it is in Tasha's, no longer UA content, and still these problems exist
Because the current tools don’t have a way to use the Proficiency Bonus in the stat calculations where it is needed, and the kludge of creating monster statblocks for these kind of things has become unwieldy as the number of classes that use them are increased. They are working on a new system for these. Tasha’s was (in my opinion) a great addition to the game, but it added a ton of new mechanics, many of which mean DDB has to significantly change how the database and the code work.
I think the problem really lies on a problem with how the data is built up below. A lot of the things that are now official D&D content were probably not considered when the system for features and such was setup...
I think the problem really lies on a problem with how the data is built up below. A lot of the things that are now official D&D content were probably not considered when the system for features and such was setup...
Exactly! While databases and coding can speed up and simplify a lot of things, they are in many was quite rigid; when new ideas/approaches/mechanics are introduced, the underlying structures often can't support those without a lot of recoding and reorganization, which is time consuming and affects the entire system, even those things that look unrelated to us on the outside.
Could someone explain the "limited uses" aspect of the wildfire spirit? I don't see any reference to "limited uses" in Tasha's. Is that a reference to its available hitpoints?
Could someone explain the "limited uses" aspect of the wildfire spirit? I don't see any reference to "limited uses" in Tasha's. Is that a reference to its available hitpoints?
This thread relates to the UA (playtest) version of the Circle of Wildfire
Hello!
I am currently playing a Wildfire Druid, and I've been having a lot of difficulty using the Wildfire Spirit inside dndbeyond. I thought I'd give some feedback about it. I've included several screenshots to highlight the issues.
Currently there is no singular location in order to read all my wildfire spirit's stats and info, updated properly to reflect my druid level, and proficiency bonus.
This is the information under Actions:
This is listed under Bonus Actions. Shows a lot of info, but does not detail base skill values and modifiers, immunities, senses, movement speeds, or summoning range/damage. Nothing in the Actions tab describes the Wild Shape usage for this either.
Clicking on this section reveals a popout with the description of the spirit and info about the summoning.
In addition, this health management doesn't actually say what it is (special?), and is extremely infuriating to use on any mobile device, because tapping too fast will zoom the browser in and out.
This is the information under Features & Traits
Shows very little, but does describe the usage of Wild Shape for the summoning. I'm not sure why it says "Wildfire Spirit: 1 Bonus Action", that is pretty confusing. The same health meter also makes an appearance here. Here the text says "Uses: 41 / Special", which was not present in other locations.
Clicking on the "Wildfire Spirit" block of this opens the same popout as from the Actions panel.
However clicking on the upper text portion opens this panel:
This shows the whole stat sheet, but this view is also problematic. None of the values in the sheet are updated to reflect my character's proficiency bonus, rendering most of it inaccurate and difficult to use mid-game. The formatting of the skills are broken and overlapping, rendering them unreadable. This is a very difficult page to find in a moments notice just to look up a quick stat, as you need to specifically click the text block there, and then remember not to use certain values as written there.
This is the same stat block as seen in the compendium.
I then tried to use a Homebrew Monster in order to put in my Extras tab. That was almost a good solution, but the values there are also not updated based on my character's proficiency bonus, class level, etc. So it isn't very helpful. However, this homebrew stat sheet includes a proper health management display, so after using the "Customize" dropdown to alter the health to the correct amount, I've kept it for health tracking.
My current solution is to use the Actions tab for most things, the Actions Popout for summoning damage & range, and the Extras tab for health management and non-scaling stat sheet values.
Clearly not a fantastic user experience here, the information is scattered. I have no doubt that there are certain limitations within the character sheet that prevent this from working optimally, but I hope that something can be done to improve this, because I am really loving the Wildfire subclass and I hope to see better support for these kinds of class mechanics.
Thanks for your time.
Important thing to remember that the Circle of Wildfire, and by association the Wildfire Spirit are UA content. That means that the future of the subclass, if it'll ever be published and if it is, how it'll look, is very much in flux. This means that D&D Beyond will implement the best possible solution that doesn't also require a lot of work that may end up being discarded if the subclass gets archived.
A good example is the Artificer; until that was finalised, infusions were handled as items in the magic item listing. But once the class was finalised, a bespoke infusion system was added. Should the Circle of Wildfire be made official (which would be awesome as it's an interesting subclass), I'm sure DDB will develop a more robust permanent implementation of this archetype and it's associated creature.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Thanks for that insight. I wasn't sure if UA content would be up for QOL improvements in the interim, but I can definitely understand that workflow from their perspective.
UA typically gets more permanent and refined implementation on release. The Artificer is a prime example of that
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Now it is in Tasha's, no longer UA content, and still these problems exist
Because the current tools don’t have a way to use the Proficiency Bonus in the stat calculations where it is needed, and the kludge of creating monster statblocks for these kind of things has become unwieldy as the number of classes that use them are increased. They are working on a new system for these. Tasha’s was (in my opinion) a great addition to the game, but it added a ton of new mechanics, many of which mean DDB has to significantly change how the database and the code work.
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 think the problem really lies on a problem with how the data is built up below. A lot of the things that are now official D&D content were probably not considered when the system for features and such was setup...
Exactly! While databases and coding can speed up and simplify a lot of things, they are in many was quite rigid; when new ideas/approaches/mechanics are introduced, the underlying structures often can't support those without a lot of recoding and reorganization, which is time consuming and affects the entire system, even those things that look unrelated to us on the outside.
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
Could someone explain the "limited uses" aspect of the wildfire spirit? I don't see any reference to "limited uses" in Tasha's. Is that a reference to its available hitpoints?
This thread relates to the UA (playtest) version of the Circle of Wildfire
Find my D&D Beyond articles here