The things I liked:
* Overall flow and layout. Very nice and straightforward - reminds me of the better D&D video game character creation processes, but with all the goodness from 4th edition.
* Options, option, options! There were plenty of great options that helped me make a complete character.
* Descriptions. I found myself going back and forth along the character tabs to reference the descriptions provided on the different selections. I didn't have to crack open a book once!
* Save/Print: It took me about 10 minutes to get through my Dwarven Paladin Borgrim Bonebreaker, and print him out in the default portrait style. Saving the file off was simple (obviously), and I really enjoyed playing with the layouts in the Character Sheet portion.
Things I didn't like:
* Since I made a paladin, I wanted to select a diety. however there is no category to the deity, and so I had to scroll through the list of campaign dieties from Forgotten Realms, when all I wanted was a basic list from the PHB. A way to filter dieties (and other selections) by campaign would be awesome.
* The "choose this" and "next step" buttons were confusing, and in my opinion, in the wrong place. Do we really need both buttons, or can there just be a "next step"? If I didn't select something, then it's obvious I didn't want it.
* In the equipment purchasing tab, I didn't see a place where my gold was being depleted as I purchased items. I don't want to pull out a calculator when I'm using a computer program. When I printed out my character sheet, I still had 100 gp to use!
* In the print layout, with all the ability to move panels around, it seems like a glaring error that power cards were not moveable. Yes, you can hide the optional cards, but there wasn't an option to put them on a page of their own (as a DM I can see using those cards for myself, so I can have a "party-at-a-glance" page), and with my Channel Divinity abilities, I would like to organize those separately from my other powers.
Being able to move around my portrait and my Personality Traits on the character sheet while having my power cards nailed to the spot seems like a disconnect. I can see using the power card page without cutting it up into little squares.
Overall, I am very impressed with the initial incarnation, and I plan on using it more throughout the beta process and I'm looking forward to the apps evolution... and more applications to come in 2009.
Great job folks,
Zipper
Things I didn't like:
* Since I made a paladin, I wanted to select a diety. however there is no category to the deity, and so I had to scroll through the list of campaign dieties from Forgotten Realms, when all I wanted was a basic list from the PHB. A way to filter dieties (and other selections) by campaign would be awesome.
* In the equipment purchasing tab, I didn't see a place where my gold was being depleted as I purchased items. I don't want to pull out a calculator when I'm using a computer program. When I printed out my character sheet, I still had 100 gp to use!
There is a settings page where you can turn on/off any of the books/magazines/modules/articles. If you don't want to deal with FR stuff, uncheck the box.
On the items page there is a "Purchase Mode" button, that defaults to OFF. Turn this on, and you will deplete your gold. WARNING: If you make a mistake and want to go back, you are going to only get 20% of the value of the item unless you set "Sell Value" to 100% as well.
There is a settings page where you can turn on/off any of the books/magazines/modules/articles. If you don't want to deal with FR stuff, uncheck the box.
But if I want FR items without having the FR gods, it means I have to sort through the gods just to get to the one I want.
On the upside an ORC is talking about sorting them in another thread.
But if I want FR items without having the FR gods, it means I have to sort through the gods just to get to the one I want.
On the upside an ORC is talking about sorting them in another thread.
Actually I think he's an elf ;)
But if I want FR items without having the FR gods, it means I have to sort through the gods just to get to the one I want.
On the upside an ORC is talking about sorting them in another thread.
Thanks for the very encouraging feedback. The future shopping UI should remove your confusion over the shopping mode and we plan to seperate the gods, like we do the backgrounds or races.
Rest assured that as soon as I find undocumented glitches (got ninja'd on the implement issue), I'll be mentioning them, but dang. Nice work, folks! I can't wait to see the full version of this thing. My party is already at 3rd level, so the Beta won't be so useful to them for much longer, but I'm suitably wowed.
* The "choose this" and "next step" buttons were confusing, and in my opinion, in the wrong place. Do we really need both buttons, or can there just be a "next step"? If I didn't select something, then it's obvious I didn't want it.
I thought this was a bit unwieldy the first time I tried using it at PAX, but the helpful person in the booth-area pointed out that you can just double-click to choose things.
It still works the same way in the beta version.
It's a fantastic way to build and keep track of characters.
I have but one reply this is Great! I have been playing for 25+ years. I have been through it all the red box set, the first edition book (I still have the Dungeon masters guide copyright 1979). The Character builder has made it easier for players to build their characters. I play on Mondays with, get this, My wife and Daughter, and four for my daughters friends. You have made my family realize the value of cooperative planning and we are closer together. I look forward to more features and updates.
Pandallor
There is a settings page where you can turn on/off any of the books/magazines/modules/articles. If you don't want to deal with FR stuff, uncheck the box.
It took me forever to find it. As far as I can tell, this is only accessible on the "Finish" tab. You'd think this would be at the "Start" tab.
I haven't played with it much yet, but it flows nicely (although the "shopping mode" was not that obvious) and looks very nice.
I'll definitely try it some more and feed back any glitches I find (one minor one with duplex printing, so far). Kudos to the DEV team!