Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kalil Feb 09, 2009 7:22:58	I have been using an excellent but illicit online character builder for years. I even payed money for the service. Now Wizard legal department has shut that operation down (for ample good reason), so I turn to the character builder. However; after some hours swearing over the chunky user interface I finally break down, quite literally screaming in frustration. I have cooled off now, and settled for using pen and paper (or perhaps chisel and stone tablet, we are talking stone age level here). I think I owe it to Wizard (who after all makes all these excellent games I play and love) some feedback on what is simple BASIC requirements for a character creator, without which calling it a software product is an insult to all software products in the world (yes; including Windows ME). Here I go: 1) The ability to edit the character sheet in a WYSIWYG fashion. Well. Duh. You know. Edit the character. And not in some silly wizard mode, but really edit it. The current design is very typical "programmer" coding; easy to code, impossible to use. Obviously the character sheet keeps track of all bonuses for you. With the option to turn that of to account for house rules. 2) Custom magic items. Again; duh. Most campaigns will have this. Lacking support -> useless tool. 3) Power sheet. Not everyone wants or uses power cards. We would still like a compressed version of the rules text please. The illicit service you shut down had this, and he was just one guy. How hard can it be? 4) Sharing the character with your friends. 1989 called, they wanted their "save to a file on your local hard disk" concept back. I could not in my wildest nightmares imagine that this tool did not come with an online facility to publish your characters using your online account. That and a bunch of bug fixes (why is hunters quarry power card printed in a million pixel font? And how could that pass any level of testing?) and this tool could be usefull in practical gaming. As it stands now it is not.
#2 PinkRose Feb 11, 2009 21:16:48	I love the Character Builder. Best piece of software D&D has ever had. Keep up the great work, WotC.
#3 jhanzur Feb 12, 2009 3:22:43	Save for being a bit slow on my pc(probably because its old) I haven't had much of any problems with the CB 1) The ability to edit the character sheet in a WYSIWYG fashion. Well. Duh. You know. Edit the character. And not in some silly wizard mode, but really edit it. The current design is very typical "programmer" coding; easy to code, impossible to use. Obviously the character sheet keeps track of all bonuses for you. With the option to turn that of to account for house rules. Its made by Wizards, with a vested interest in you using the rules as they wrote them, I'm not surprised you can't do this. There are plenty of fill in PDF sheets out there if you need one of them. 2) Custom magic items. Again; duh. Most campaigns will have this. Lacking support -> useless tool. Really? Because not a single campaign at my LGS uses custom magic items. I guess we go against the norm, so its not needed for us, yet there it is. House rules that you can enter. They may not have the fuctionality you like, but its there. I should write a letter to WotC. Stop including things I won't use. 3) Power sheet. Not everyone wants or uses power cards. We would still like a compressed version of the rules text please. The illicit service you shut down had this, and he was just one guy. How hard can it be? ....Then don't print it. When you print your character sheet, there is an option on what pages you want to print. All you have to do is change it to pages 1-2. Condensed versions of powers? Thats a power card on a sheet of paper. 4) Sharing the character with your friends. 1989 called, they wanted their "save to a file on your local hard disk" concept back. I could not in my wildest nightmares imagine that this tool did not come with an online facility to publish your characters using your online account. God forbid you have to do more work then clicking a button to do something huh? All the character files are saved in a folder and all you need to do is upload them somewhere. That and a bunch of bug fixes (why is hunters quarry power card printed in a million pixel font? And how could that pass any level of testing?) and this tool could be usefull in practical gaming. As it stands now it is not. The font size is a problem. It doesn't always do that, and it'll likely be fixed in the update in 2 weeks.
#4 kalil Feb 12, 2009 3:58:25	Its made by Wizards, with a vested interest in you using the rules as they wrote them, I'm not surprised you can't do this. There are plenty of fill in PDF sheets out there if you need one of them.. I am not talking a simple editable pdf. They are legio. I am talking about WYSIWYG in palce editing that knows and applies the rules. Yes its a little bit non-trivial to make. But as I paying customer I expect non-trivial software. Really? Because not a single campaign at my LGS uses custom magic items. Ok. Fair enough. But seeing the number of requests for this feature floating around I think its safe top say that I am not the only one with this issue. ....Then don't print it. When you print your character sheet, there is an option on what pages you want to print. All you have to do is change it to pages 1-2. Condensed versions of powers? Thats a power card on a sheet of paper. Power list: a list of all my powers with condensed power text. It can fit a level 30 character into a quite readable single page. I guess what I am really requesting is real flexibility in the caharcter sheet design. What is in there today (add/remove page, move blocks around) is no real flexibility, its just plaster. God forbid you have to do more work then clicking a button to do something huh? All the character files are saved in a folder and all you need to do is upload them somewhere. Yes. This is commercial software that is already operating in an online fashion. I even have to create a personalized online account to use it. Not allowing me to store my characters on that account is mind-boggling. In consclusion: This piece of commercial, official software takes the simplest-to-code route cutting every corner of functionallity. It is light years behind what a single amateur created in his free time. That is bad. Really bad even.
#5 erleni Feb 12, 2009 5:27:57	There is something I agree upon and something not in the Op's rant: Agree: the sheet layout is not good. It prints on a lot of pages, it has poor customization possibilities and you can't edit the power cards. I just solved the big font issue (kudos to Ocin) but I still don't like the layout and still have some printing problems that happen from time to time. Disagree: the building tool which creates the sheet is great. Easy to use and navigate, regularly updated with new stuff and fully indexed with the compendium. So my suggestion to WotC is to work more on the customization of the sheet as it appears.
#6 Forgarn Feb 12, 2009 10:30:12	But the character sheet that prints out is what WotC has created. Look at any PHB in the back and you find the same thing. As for the OP's suggestion about condensed powers: Just my personal opinion, but that would be usless in my game. As a DM I am not about to try and memorize every single power option for every single character class. Having those cards avoids having to dig out the book and look them up when the player does not read them correctly the firt couple of times (or better yet when they get errated). Plus, my players (and myself when I play) prefer to turn the card over when they use the power so they don't try to use it again. Of course I have gone to the "put the check in the 'used' box when you use it" and keep the cards as they are printed out, just to save from loosing them.
#7 kalil Feb 12, 2009 14:08:33	I just solved the big font issue (kudos to Ocin) but I still don't like the layout and still have some printing problems that happen from time to time. Care to share the solution? Having readbale power cards would at least make the power sheets usable.
#8 gregwr Feb 12, 2009 16:07:50	Its my belief that the setup for Character builder probably had the casual player as well as the hard core player in mind. Making the entry system more wizard like has the feel of plug and play that allows for quick character making by those who havent studied the rules fully. Yet it quickly allows for house rules by telling you when something you have done house rules a character but you still can do so. If you want to add a skill feat or power past the number allowed for a class at a level its an easy hit of a house rule button. I am hoping that the campaign settings section will become more versatile, but I do believe for a start its good, but lacks the ability to truly customize for home brew. I think the character builder will see a few changes rather quickly that allow for better customization especially when the virtual tabletop comes on line. Te fact that the current updater is very well done gives me hope that the program won't just sit at its current level of customizing.
#9 erleni Feb 14, 2009 10:26:07	Care to share the solution? Having readbale power cards would at least make the power sheets usable. . Here's a link to the thread. Worked for severall people but not all. http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1141949
#10 Undrhil Feb 15, 2009 5:11:44	I would love it if the power cards can be shuffled by group to their own page. It'll print more pages, but then I can just reprint my Daily powers page when I gain a new daily power or change an old one, instead of it having to reprint my entire list of powers on that same sheet. As an added bonus, this will make it easier for me to use Dragonkards for printing out cards. Of course, next month when they release the pre-printed PHB power cards, I won't have to even print out the power cards for *those* powers ... So, make it so that I can move each type of power card to their own page and make it so I can disable individual cards (or cards from specific sources, such as the PHB) please?
#11 thaseus Feb 16, 2009 17:28:18	Save for being a bit slow on my pc(probably because its old) I haven't had much of any problems with the CB Its made by Wizards, with a vested interest in you using the rules as they wrote them, I'm not surprised you can't do this. There are plenty of fill in PDF sheets out there if you need one of them. Really? Because not a single campaign at my LGS uses custom magic items. I guess we go against the norm, so its not needed for us, yet there it is. House rules that you can enter. They may not have the fuctionality you like, but its there. I should write a letter to WotC. Stop including things I won't use. ....Then don't print it. When you print your character sheet, there is an option on what pages you want to print. All you have to do is change it to pages 1-2. Condensed versions of powers? Thats a power card on a sheet of paper. God forbid you have to do more work then clicking a button to do something huh? All the character files are saved in a folder and all you need to do is upload them somewhere. The font size is a problem. It doesn't always do that, and it'll likely be fixed in the update in 2 weeks. I find your responses extremely arrogant and selfish, and just because you don't vary from the rules at all and you play the game verbatum doesn't mean others do the same (and, yes, I would argue most other people do incorporate house items and house rules). That's like telling the world, "play it my way and by the rules or screw you." If you don't want or care if you have customization options, fine, then don't use them... but for the rest of us out there who really want them and need them we'd really appreciate having people like you out stop undermining our efforts to have their importance placed front and center by WOC. Based on previous responses from WOC, though, it does appear WOC Insider staff ARE aware of these issues and needs (for customization/house rules) and they are already in the midst of working on creating and incorporating these customization changes/additions. By all means feel free to ignore them when they come out though -- and keep gaming in your mindless, automaton, by-the-rules fashion.
#12 geoharpst Feb 16, 2009 18:13:54	3) Power sheet. Not everyone wants or uses power cards. We would still like a compressed version of the rules text please. The illicit service you shut down had this, and he was just one guy. How hard can it be? Because the Character Builder is supposed to include all the compendium stuff, why not put an option for the powers to be in the "Compendium Style" where they have the same information as the cards but in a textual format (with green, red, and gray for the powers and orange for the magic items) like they do in the Compendium listings. All they would have to do is remove the double spaced lines and double space between the individual powers. I do this myself by copying the Compendium listings to a document that I print out. Then I put it in a document protector and use dry-erase to mark off when they are used. No shuffling through cards. I try to get all my powers on one page and remove the Compendium flavor text and the text related to higher levels to accomplish it. The fast play characters for PHB2 World Wide Game Day have that format so Wizards has already developed it. Roswyn has 18 powers and 4 magic items and it all fits on 2 pages (with all the flavor text, too). That would take 2 pages of cards, with 9 cards per page, just to get the powers cards. I would put an option to turn off the flavor text to get even more on a page and would keep the CB option to include your character stats with a specific weapon/implement like the cards have, too. So what about it WotC? You have it. You use it. Now, just implement it in CB. Come on WotC. How about it?