Phases 2 & 3 - One Week Later

Hello everyone!

We are now one week into testing for the character builder, digital character sheet, homebrew creation and sharing, and the starting point for campaign management.

Once again, we're overwhelmed and grateful for the participation and huge response. Over 100,000 characters have been created. The feedback has been incredibly valuable and we are taking it very seriously - we want the official toolset to be exactly what the community needs to enhance the D&D experience.

For this initial pass of testing, we were focused on getting your thoughts on the general UI and flow of the new features, and we have definitely accomplished that goal. A few things that we seen prominently in the feedback review for the character builder/ sheet that we are actively working on updating:

• Equipment and Spells Management. The UI for both Equipment and Spells management is too clunky and difficult to follow. We completely agree, and we've got some changes coming in the next week or two that should bring big improvements.
• Rules Validation/ Assistance. As stated, we wanted to get out the core UI and flow of the builder to see if we're on the right track - no real data validation or rules enforcement was included. We are definitely working on adding that layer in, as you'll see we've already started in the release notes below. We'll definitely iron these out in the coming days.
• Flow/ Choice Order. Some players like the current "Step-By-Step" flow that is presented in the Player's Handbook. We get the impression those skew into the "newer player" category, at least slightly. This is good if it means a way to help new players ease into the game. Others (I'm going to go ahead and throw myself into this group) use a different flow that typically means determining ability scores first, followed by race, background, then class and equipment. Some of the issue was the lack of "cascading choices" in the builder, where choosing a proficiency in one place would not remove that skill from other places. We've already started addressing that (see below). Outside of this, there will still be changes that will come in the next few weeks to present an alternate builder flow that we feel will be more useful for seasoned players (or newer players that don't want or need as much assistance in creating a character).
• Character Level and Class Levels. The way this is implemented works well on a whiteboard, but is too confusing for actual use. We've got a solution on the way that I feel will drastically improve the issues - standby for that soon.

Those are just some of the major things we're focused on in the next week or two. Plenty more is on the list and we will diligently work through it all to make the toolset better.

Now, I'll share some release notes for what we have added/ updated in the last few days. Changes and updates are happening rapidly, so we'll try to collect as many of the notes as we can and share them in digest format like this between now and launch:

Beta Release Notes July 7, 2017

General

• Added all non-Basic Rules/ SRD content into the various listings throughout the site in a locked state. Chromatic Orb can now be seen in the list, but the details will be available at launch.
• A negative Dexterity modifier is no longer applied while your character is wearing heavy armor.
• Athletics now shows up properly (was displaying as Animal Handling).
• Removed Forgery Kit and Disguise kit from choices for Artisan’s Tools.
• Negative numbers can now be added to the Other Bonus field in the Ability Scores Section, allowing penalties to apply.

Equipment and Items

• Mace of Smiting now only applies a +1 magic bonus to attacks and damage (instead of +4).
• Fixed several items with associated spells where the spells were displaying multiple times.
• The Ioun Stone of Mastery now applies its bonus to proficiency bonus.
• Cloak of Protection now applies a +1 bonus to all saving throws instead of +2.

Character Builder/ Sheet

• Ability score maximums (20 without special features) are now in place when determining ability scores.
• Multiclass prerequisites are now in place when choosing a class after your initial class.
• Proficiency choices for skills, tools, languages, or feats will now cascade to other choices - i.e. the same proficiency can't be selected twice and subsequent choices are now more clear.

Homebrew / Campaign Management

• Fixed some display issues with user avatars in homebrew listings and campaigns.
• Fixed an issue with campaign invite codes getting recaluculated when editing a campaign.
• Monster ability scores are now properly capped at 30.
• Tags are now available to apply to your homebrew content (examples: healing, damage, teleportation).
• A campaign's Dungeon Master can now properly view and edit a player's character in her campaign.

Races

Hill Dwarf

• Dwarves now can choose from only three artisan’s tools proficiencies - brewer’s supplies, mason’s tools, or smith’s tools.

Mountain Dwarf

• Dwarves now can choose from only three artisan’s tools proficiencies - brewer’s supplies, mason’s tools, or smith’s tools.

High Elf

• The Cantrip trait is now restricted to Wizard cantrips only.

Wood Elf

• Wood elves now gain their 5 foot bonus to speed properly.

Half-Elf

• The Ability Score Increase trait now does not allow Charisma to be chosen and any one ability score to be chosen more than once.

Variant Human

• The Ability Score Increase trait now does not allow any one ability score to be chosen more than once.

Classes

Barbarian

• The Danger Sense feature now displays in the Saving Throws Modifiers section of the character sheet.
• Relentless Rage will now show up properly in the Limited Use section.

Bard

• Magical Secrets and Additional Magical Secrets now displays and allows players to choose spells for the features.

Monk

• Monks now have the correct hit die (d8).

Paladin

• Proficiency Bonus is now applied properly to attacks with simple and martial weapons.
• Channel Divinity will no longer show up twice in the Limited Use section.

Rogue

• Rogues now have the correct hit die (d8).
• Expertise now includes an option for Thieves’ Tools.
• The Rogue’s 10th level Ability Score Improvement has now been added.

Sorcerer

• The AC from Draconic Resilience is now applied while you are wearing no armor.

That's a summary of what we have addressed so far. We have read every post in the Beta Feedback forums, and will continue to work through all the data issues or rules validation in the coming weeks.

Again, we appreciate your participation and crucial feedback - it will truly make DDB better.

Going forward, I'll continue to provide updates like these in batches. Cheers!

Quote from RatherDashing42 >>

Definitely planning on using D&D Beyond for my new campaign! Will updates/fixes to the character builder apply retroactively to already built characters, or will new characters have to be made to incorporate the fixes? For example, will a previously made Monk now have the correct hit die, or will a new Monk need to be created? Thanks!

 Thank you, everyone involved so far!

Quote from Hardcopi >>

Nice stats. Dnd Beyond is going strong. A little dissappointed in StormKnight though... you didn't mention the 80 PbP campaigns that have been created comprising over 14,000 posts. :)

Quote from Durnfall >>

Glad they noticed that the Character/Class levels UI needed some love, felt like they were responding directly to my feedback!

Quote from Mr_Jay >>

I love seeing that the equipment/weapons/magic items is getting some attention.  I thinks is really important to keep new players in mind for character creation.  Maybe add an option(s) for the suggested loadout that is listed in the PHB.

This has such great potential for a tool for help us DMs that bring new players to our hobby! 

The Quick Build option from the starting screen actually builds a 1st level character for each class that using all of the suggested "loadouts" in the Player's Hanbook, check that part out.

We also intend to expand the Quick Build method in the future to allow for higher than 1st level. You could choose level 18 paladin and get an "optimized" template of a paladin, with appropriate gear, ability choices, and so on. This is in contrast to the Randomize method, which is completely and totally random.

Thanks!

Quote from Matthias_von_Schwarzwald >>

Will you be able to specify Str/Dex, melee/ranged, combat/stealth/[insert [insert appropriate word here] here], single-target/area-effect/versatility, etc.?