What's probably going to happen is that it will be implemented when it gets revised for the 2024 rules.
At least, that's my hope.
I'll +1 on this hope for 2024-updated sidekicks to get character sheets on DDB. I don't end up using sidekicks because this doesn't exist, so fingers crossed.
It's so frustrating seeing this conversation from 2021 with nothing done. Like legit what does the dndbeyond team do? It more or less runs like it did 5 years ago and still has the same issues. Such as this.
I'm feeling you on this, I really am. Specific editions aside, the huge range of key features bought and paid for in core supplements but never implemented in Beyond is astounding. Especially considering the high baseline prices for digital content, more than doubled if paying again for the same content due to the digital/hardcover divide.
I would still love a sidekick creator, but realistically they are yet to implement usable core features from popular classes and subclasses, amongst countless other features that we have paid a premium for, but are flat out unusable as presented here.
To add insult to injury, a lot of core functionality in the Homebrew backend has also been heavily gated, making workarounds either long winded, flat out clunky, and/or literally impossible to achieve RAW.
The truth of the matter, is that since the acquisition of Beyond by Wizards, the Beyond team has been scaled back so much and/or re-prioritised away from platform development, that changes like this are simply never going to happen. At the least the original Beyond crew cared enough to read and acknowledge these glaring omissions, and work on what they could, when they could, despite the staffing challenges involved with a far smaller company. Since Wizard's acquisition? Not so much, if at all.
Make no mistake however: this is exclusively a platform management issue, and one that won't be changing unless it hurts their hip pocket in a meaningful way.
So new rules/edition or not, as long as we are happy to pay for unfinished implementations of D&D products, users will continue to be little more than cash cows, and there is is zero evidence this will change any time soon.
So the best we can do, is either learn as much as we can about the equally clunky homebrew system, and use it to creatively solve issues that should not exist in the first place (if indeed those changes are possible to address effectively with the tools we have been permitted); or use Beyond for what it *can* do, as needed, and reluctantly discard the rest.
If, like myself, you find all of that simply unpalatable, then the third option is to discard Beyond almost entirely for what it is today: a cash-oriented money spinner for Wizards, rather than a useful tool for players. The net result is either regressing back to pencil and paper games, or moving to other gaming systems where support is ongoing, comprehensive, and development is far more player-focused. I've chosen both options, leaning increasingly nto the latter. It's a big TTRPG world out there, people. With a multitude of modern, well-supported systems to try.
For what it's worth I still enjoy D&D. Though despite playing since the early 80s, after drawing my own lines in the proverbial sand I rarely if ever spend here now, and have as little to do with the system as practicable. I do still enjoy the occasional campaign, con-game, or short arc; but every time I play or run one, I'm reminded of how little Beyond has changed in well over half a decade.
All this, and other bizarre business decisions (like the more recent removal of buying individual content as needed), scream of "enshittification" to me. Beyond's days are numbered not because of the functionality it provides, but primarily due to all that it doesn't.
As more and more people cotton on to the dearth of these new features, and lack of agency to even fix these issues ourselves via homebrew, players will simply shift to systems that provide what they need to play, how they prefer to play it, and with a minimum of fuss. Evidence of this is already widely available, so it's not a new phenomenon. Just one that makes me feel sad.
I'll +1 on this hope for 2024-updated sidekicks to get character sheets on DDB. I don't end up using sidekicks because this doesn't exist, so fingers crossed.
It's so frustrating seeing this conversation from 2021 with nothing done. Like legit what does the dndbeyond team do? It more or less runs like it did 5 years ago and still has the same issues. Such as this.
I'm feeling you on this, I really am. Specific editions aside, the huge range of key features bought and paid for in core supplements but never implemented in Beyond is astounding. Especially considering the high baseline prices for digital content, more than doubled if paying again for the same content due to the digital/hardcover divide.
I would still love a sidekick creator, but realistically they are yet to implement usable core features from popular classes and subclasses, amongst countless other features that we have paid a premium for, but are flat out unusable as presented here.
To add insult to injury, a lot of core functionality in the Homebrew backend has also been heavily gated, making workarounds either long winded, flat out clunky, and/or literally impossible to achieve RAW.
The truth of the matter, is that since the acquisition of Beyond by Wizards, the Beyond team has been scaled back so much and/or re-prioritised away from platform development, that changes like this are simply never going to happen. At the least the original Beyond crew cared enough to read and acknowledge these glaring omissions, and work on what they could, when they could, despite the staffing challenges involved with a far smaller company. Since Wizard's acquisition? Not so much, if at all.
Make no mistake however: this is exclusively a platform management issue, and one that won't be changing unless it hurts their hip pocket in a meaningful way.
So new rules/edition or not, as long as we are happy to pay for unfinished implementations of D&D products, users will continue to be little more than cash cows, and there is is zero evidence this will change any time soon.
So the best we can do, is either learn as much as we can about the equally clunky homebrew system, and use it to creatively solve issues that should not exist in the first place (if indeed those changes are possible to address effectively with the tools we have been permitted); or use Beyond for what it *can* do, as needed, and reluctantly discard the rest.
If, like myself, you find all of that simply unpalatable, then the third option is to discard Beyond almost entirely for what it is today: a cash-oriented money spinner for Wizards, rather than a useful tool for players. The net result is either regressing back to pencil and paper games, or moving to other gaming systems where support is ongoing, comprehensive, and development is far more player-focused. I've chosen both options, leaning increasingly nto the latter. It's a big TTRPG world out there, people. With a multitude of modern, well-supported systems to try.
For what it's worth I still enjoy D&D. Though despite playing since the early 80s, after drawing my own lines in the proverbial sand I rarely if ever spend here now, and have as little to do with the system as practicable. I do still enjoy the occasional campaign, con-game, or short arc; but every time I play or run one, I'm reminded of how little Beyond has changed in well over half a decade.
All this, and other bizarre business decisions (like the more recent removal of buying individual content as needed), scream of "enshittification" to me. Beyond's days are numbered not because of the functionality it provides, but primarily due to all that it doesn't.
As more and more people cotton on to the dearth of these new features, and lack of agency to even fix these issues ourselves via homebrew, players will simply shift to systems that provide what they need to play, how they prefer to play it, and with a minimum of fuss. Evidence of this is already widely available, so it's not a new phenomenon. Just one that makes me feel sad.
*sad trombone"
Frequently flippant; sorry for being an apologist.