What type of character sheet does your group use to play Dungeons & Dragons? You probably thought of D&D Beyond. It is the official platform and has been honed by a skilled team. There’s also the stalwarts that stick to pen-and-paper and those that simply go with the built-in tools of whatever virtual tabletop their group uses (a Foundry user can tell you in-depth why theirs is the best). But consider Roll20's DnD character sheet.
The Roll20 character sheet has its perks– mostly how customizable it is. One can easily add homebrew features or toggle macros for specific abilities like Great Weapon Master or Elven Accuracy. However, it also has its share of detractors. The tools can seem unwieldy and unintuitive at first glance, especially compared to the ease-of-use advertised by D&D Beyond. Many would rather go with the name recognition and not spare their character sheet another thought. The Roll20 5E character sheet, however, will soon deserve some thought.
The VTT recently rolled out Roll20 Characters, a huge new initiative to make creating characters for multiple game systems much easier. It provides step-by-step help in building your hero and does all the math for you. The Characters tool can be used during Session Zero to get everyone on the same page from the start. And now the DnD sheet is getting the Characters treatment. During a preview, Roll20 showed how its character sheet’s visuals are being updated for better readability. They’re taking player feedback into account when deciding what information goes where.
In fact, starting June 18, you can try the new Roll20 DnD sheet for yourself! The alpha version will show off the new interface and several key features. The biggest change of note is a spiffy new look, one that places the most important numbers in the most readable position. Players new and old will be able to find their AC, Ability Scores, Initiative, and more with a glance. Better yet, each of these windows has their own settings toggle that allows advanced players to quickly mess with settings should they acquire new feats or fall prey to a nasty curse.
For instance, let’s say the Dungeon Master wants to play a horror campaign with Sanity rules. These aren’t typically covered in DnD, so most digital character sheets don’t have a way to express them. You’d have to make a note to remember it or dive into the settings to manually adjust your stats if your sanity starts to wane. Roll20 is working to put that option right in the Ability Scores window. You would just have to expand the window, find the option, and adjust as needed.
When it comes to spellcasting, Roll20 is aware that the whole experience needs improvement. Looking at your class’ spell list and choosing new spells can often be a pain depending on what character sheet you use. You may find yourself confused as to what spells are allowed and how many you’re actually supposed to have. Roll20, in their quest for ease-of-use, is putting a lot of work into spell organization. During the alpha and beta periods, they’ll be trying out things like spell cards or searchable lists for better castable spell layout. Once again, feedback is highly encouraged to help them get it right.
Overall, it feels like Roll20 understands the major criticisms of their DnD character sheet and are working hard to improve them. They’re also planning well into the future to make sure that this new sheet works for both the original 5E rules and the upcoming 2024 changes. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on what Roll20 has planned and giving feedback. The result could very well be a formidable, intuitive character sheet.
