Avrae Vs Beyond 20... which is the better bot?

[dehro]

I'm starting to run a game via discord.
So far I've done session 0 using DnDBeyond for character sheets, Roll20 for maps and dicerolls and google meet/skype for videochat, because I found the roll20 videochat to be lacking.

I'm new to discord and I've found out that it's possible to integrate roll20 and discord with DDB character sheets to facilitate the various dicerolls using the bots Avrae or Beyond20.
I know Avrae is the official DDB bot, whereas Beyond20 is third party.

the question is..which is better? or should I use both for separate/different things?

if you too are using a similar setup, how do you connect the various elements of play on your virtual table?? which of the two bots/extensions do you use?

[Tawmis]

If you're running your game from D&D Beyond (your players have characters there) and Discord - and you have the resources there (Monster Manual, etc) - BEYOND20 is a god send.

Avare doesn't even begin to compare to how incredible Beyond20 is if you're using D&D Beyond + Discord.

Edit - for visual -

https://i.ibb.co/Xjdxddr/Image1.png

[jaappleton]

I use Roll20 with Beyond 20, and it’s been amazing.

There’s a few minor gripes, like no way to trigger Booming Blade’s rider effect damage for when an enemy moves.

But overall it’s amazing. Makes things a LOT easier on the DM controlling monsters, and for players you can instantly put whole class features and spells into the chat so everyone can read them if they’re not familiar with it, etc.

There’s zero reason not to use it if you’re playing with DND Beyond and Roll20.

I don’t use Discord, so I can’t speak to how well it works there. But judging by the photos that the previous user posted, it works essentially the same as it does with Roll20.

EDIT: I’ll also say that whomever is behind Beyond20 (I’m sorry, I don’t know who in particular is behind it) updates it quite regularly to provide support for newly released content. They’re on top of that.

[Tawmis]

And to be clear - I use Roll20 - for the virtual table aspect (but I strongly dislike how clunky their character sheets are). So - for my games -

Player characters on D&D Beyond.
We use Beyond20.
Use Discord to talk and chat (various text channels).
And then use Roll20 strictly for the tabletop.

But I've tested Beyond20 in Roll20 - and it works great.

One of the benefits I noticed is some things are already scripted in D&D Beyond that are not in Roll20.

For example, the Fighting Style where fighters re-roll 1s and 2s on damage. D&D Beyond auto re-rolls these. Roll20 does not.

But the difference other wise is very little. Top is a roll from D&D Beyond into Roll20, with the bottom being a normal Roll20 roll

https://i.ibb.co/dg7xwyj/Image1.png





EDIT: I’ll also say that whomever is behind Beyond20 (I’m sorry, I don’t know who in particular is behind it) updates it quite regularly to provide support for newly released content. They’re on top of that.

They're incredible - and very responsive in their Discord. I've reported some bugs I'd found and they knocked it out with a fix pretty quickly in an update.

I strongly recommend joining their Discord channel.

https://discord.gg/zAeDmMZe7f

[dehro]

Thank you both for confirming what was my initial assessment... I guess I'll go that path too.

[Tawmis]

Thank you both for confirming what was my initial assessment... I guess I'll go that path too.

No problem. If you have any questions - feel free to ask! I'd be glad to help you with setting it up if you need it.

[wookietek]

Only discovered Beyond 20 a couple months ago, and it is a game changer. The flow of the game has been vastly improved. Everything is ported to roll20 that you could possibly need. No more asking what the spell does because it goes right into the chat. Everything flows better. And for the DM using Beyond 20 for the monster stat blocks saves so much. I just keep a few extra tabs open on another screen, and don't have to jump back and forth. I probably will incorporate Beyond 20 into the irl games if they ever happen again.

[dehro]

No problem. If you have any questions - feel free to ask! I'd be glad to help you with setting it up if you need it.

thank you! I think I'm mostly set.. I had installed both on discord and was wondering which one to remove. Now I know, and knowing...

[Tawmis]

thank you! I think I'm mostly set.. I had installed both on discord and was wondering which one to remove. Now I know, and knowing...

Anytime! And to be clear, there's no harm in having Avare there.
I used to use Avare when I needed to do something random or needed the players to roll a random dice.
But now Beyond20 recognizes the custom roll dice (D20 on the lower left of the character on D&D Beyond, to roll custom rolls).

However - depends on how you do things - keeping Avare may be something to do.

So for example, I have a house rule that a Natural 1 (Crit Fail) is not only a miss - but will potentially hit another player that's in the way, or the bloody weapon may slip from the player's hand.

So in this case, sometimes I use Avare.

For example, if the caster uses Spiritual Hammer - rolls a Critical Fail.

I look to see who else is next to the target.

In this example, lets say she was attacking a Drider with Spiritual Hammer.

And up there is a Fighter and Barbarian.

There is no D2.

So I just say, "Cleric, roll me a D2." (which is /roll d2) "1 is the fighter, 2 is the barbarian."

Avare rolls.

I half the damage of the Critical Fail and apply it to whoever it hit (say, it rolled a 1, the fighter takes half the damage the Spiritual Hammer rolled so if it rolled 6 damage, the fighter takes 3).

You could get around this by rolling a D4 in the Custom D&D Beyond dice and say "Even is fighter, Odd is barbarian" or whatever too.

But that's just something where you can keep Avare - it does no harm.