(4E) Character Builder

[DM Raven]

Has anyone with a subscription had a chance to see the full DDI Character Builder? I was just wondering how the full version does when compared to the beta version. What do you guys think of it?

[Asbestos]

Well, I mean, sure I can make a bladeling druid, but I could do that before too if I had a sheet of paper handy. I find it helpful because I need to make a crap ton of pregens for a game I'm going to run, but I wouldn't call it a 'must have' for the average player. As a DM I've found it helpful for making NPCs quicker, just because I don't have to crack open the PHB or Martial Power or whatever when I'm making them.

[Starscream]

My roommate has a subscription, and as far as I can tell, I prefer Heroforge to the "official" character builder.

[AgentPaper]

I like it a bunch, makes character creation much easier, and makes it easier to update your character easier as well. Also eliminates simple math errors, and you don't have to double-check to see if you added your new strength modifier after that last level to your new attack. The "Power Cards" are also nice to have, my group used those before this came out and they make keeping track of your powers much easier, and this way you can print them out and cut them apart, and you don't have to write them down. Also makes it easier on the DM, since he doesn't have to worry about checking other player's sheets for errors and such. Also helps stop cheating, but if you think a player is going to cheat, you shouldn't be playing with them in the first place.

Edit: Also very good for those who want to play the game without buying every single book released. You can use all the player features from all those books as much as you want, and the subscription far cheaper than buying all those books. A DM will likely want those books still, and if you just want to borrow his all the time, that's fine, but if you want to be able to make characters without having to borrow the DM's books all the time, or can't, then this is a cheap, and almost as good, alternative to having all those books yourself.

[Asbestos]

The "Power Cards" are also nice to have, my group used those before this came out and they make keeping track of your powers much easier, and this way you can print them out and cut them apart, and you don't have to write them down.

Oh yeah, forgot this, the power cards are pretty sweet to have. The "Action Point!" one seems silly though.

[AgentPaper]

Oh yeah, forgot this, the power cards are pretty sweet to have. The "Action Point!" one seems silly though.

Well, you have it so you can keep track of when you've spent it or not. And, being an "action" point, you should throw it down and say your next move boldly! Thus, when you throw it down, the card should have a nice flashy image to convey this! One thing to note, though, is that unless you plan to print these with color, you should take the time to use a marker and color in the heading of each card, so you can tell apart at-wills, encounter, and daily powers, as well as item cards.

[Athaniar]

What about customizable 3D character models? Is that available yet?

[ghost_warlock]

I just downloaded the demo the other day, experimented with it a bit, and I like it a lot. Even though I'm not playing in any campaigns, I've considered subscribing for many of the reasons already listed here - mostly cheap access to the books and Dragon/Dungeon as they come out, as well as the handy power cards. I'd also like to be able to build a character higher than 3rd-level, if just for curiosity's sake.

I have noticed that it doesn't implement all the bonuses due to a character, though. For instance, there's a build option for fighters from Martial Power that increases damage done with certain weapon types when wearing light/chain armor. This damage bonus wasn't accounted for on the power cards when applicable.

Although, I also have to comment on how big a pain installation was. Seriously... First, you download an application that, when used, downloads a downloader program that downloads the actual character generator. And that's assuming all of that works properly. I had to uninstall the character generator and re-download/install it in order to get it to work. A friend of mine spent about two hours downloading/installing/uninstalling/downloading/installing, etc. and the program still doesn't work. But, then, he's using Windows Vista, so...

[tid1000]

As as DM, its handy.
I've used it to check PC character sheets without having to crack open books and look everything up. Picked up numerous errors with defence ratings for most of my PC's, some to high, some to low. Also picked up a number of attack modifers that were too low (because the Player forgot to add a bonus).

The cards are very handy, as are Magic item cards.

One flaw it does have, is that you can only assign a single set of weapons/shield. It needs to have an alternate set of hand choices so that the one character sheet will give you both your melee attack modifiers and your ranged attack modifiers. Right now, you have to change weapons and than go view the sheet again / print it again.

[Asbestos]

A friend of mine spent about two hours downloading/installing/uninstalling/downloading/installing, etc. and the program still doesn't work. But, then, he's using Windows Vista, so...

I think people using Vista (like myself) have to dl yet another program for it to work. It should say something about it at the WotC site.

[Mando Knight]

I think people using Vista (like myself) have to dl yet another program for it to work. It should say something about it at the WotC site.

Actually, everyone who downloads it has to install version 3.5 of Microsoft's .NET Framework. Vista comes/came with 3.0, and I'm not sure if XP came with it at all. I was lucky and happened to have installed 3.5 several days prior while trying to get another program to work...

[Izmir Stinger]

There was a bug (missing feature, really) in the beta that annoyed me. Powers that have racially conditioned effects would not reflect the conditional effect on the power cards at all. I'm talking about stuff like "Special: If you are a [race], add your [ability] modifier to the attack damage." It remembered weapon specific ones like "If you are using an Axe, Hammer or Pick, add your constitution modifier to the damage" and would put that bonus damage on the power cards. That made me think it is supposed to be during the same thing for racial conditions, but it doesn't.

Anyone know if they fixed that?