D&D Beyond is garbage post 2024 update lol
I am trying to make a 2024 version of my paladin. I can pick Oath of Devotion because it is free. I can pick the Xanathar's options and Oathebreaker because they are from 2014 content I own, but I cannot pick the 2014 version of things I own if they're in 2024 content I don't own. I can't use the Oath of the Ancients.
I made a spreadsheet in Google Sheets so I can track all my shit without Beyond. I can share, if anyone wants a copy.
I hate playing with people who insist on using beyond
Put. The phone. Down!!
Ok, to be fair. I would not have been able to figure all the math out even with friends help if it wasn't for Beyond. It's a great source to learn the mechanics. Now that I've been playing for months I'm more comfortable but would still likely get things quite wrong if i was forced to use only paper and pencil.
Avast ye swabs: 5e.tools/
Also 2014.5e.tools if you want the original rules
I would seriously advise just downloading PDFs and using a classic sheet/customizable app.
D&D Beyond's pricing is embarrassingly predatory.
Any app recommendations? My group is big and we use Beyond. The pricing isn't great, I agree, but with sharing it makes sense. There are 8 players in the campaign right now lol. (A little too big, I know.)
https://5e.tools/ might be worth checking out.
Not really no. I think there are a lot of people that roll their own solutions using excel but I personally just tend to use a paper sheet.
I reckon it's always been garbage. First character I tried to setup I needed to buy expansions for so I immediately gave up.
D&D Beyond has been garbage since the start (the shitty double-dipping business model where you pay both a subscription and for individual content—imagine if Netflix worked that way!) and got considerably shitter when they ripped out all the stuff you had paid for with no recourse after WotC put out a "patch" to remove whole pages worth of lore.
Genuinely, my advice is switch to Pathfinder. The shitty behaviour from WotC with the OGL is what finally got me to pull the trigger, but that mid-2022 deletion of content had me already on the edge of the cliff regardless. It's similar enough that most D&D players won't have trouble migrating. It has some aspects that I can reasonably see some players might not like: undoubtedly it is a little more complicated to build a character.
But it has other aspects which are just straight-up better. For starters, this. When they released a major update that removed some older content, all the old content was made still available at the flick of a switch in Archives of Nethys. It's also all free. No need to buy each individual book one at a time and then pay a subscription on top of that. You can see all the books' content without paying a cent. And tools like Pathbuilder let you build characters conveniently online for free with very few restrictions, and those restrictions (like animal companions) can be lifted for a single one-time purchase of less than $10. Or, because the rules are free, there are other software options that integrate well with the game, if you prefer, including one from the original developers of DDG with the same predatory pricing model.
There are also a few aspects to the rules that I think very few people could possibly see as negatives, including a few of those most core to the game: 4 degrees of success and the 3-action economy. 4DoS means if you roll 10 over the target, you get a critical success even without a natural 20, but a critical fail if you get 10 under. This allows your basic spell save damage spells to have double damage, regular damage, half damage, or no damage. And allows some other effects to have cool extra effects depending how how high you roll. 3AE gives you more control over your turn and solves the weirdness of D&D's bonus actions, and allows you to make more interesting turns, especially as a martial.
Genuinely, my advice is switch to Pathfinder. The shitty behaviour from WotC with the OGL is what finally got me to pull the trigger
I cancelled my subscription, but renewed once they released the 5e SRD under CC. Saying to move to an entirely different game because I have some gripes with the online version is pretty laughable and wildly off topic. I don't doubt PF online stuff is better, but I can't magically convince my entire playgroup to switch.
I'm not sure what your budget and what the possibilities are but maybe if you look at things like foundry or other VTTs maybe there's something there that'll allow you to manage characters without paying for modules left and right. (Though I think Foundry has partnered with Wizards for 5e so you might want to look somewhere else)
If you're looking for another app with all the 5E content, it doesn't exist, because everything except the SRD is copyrighted. So your options are to find some character building spreadsheet with all the options, try one of the suggestions in this thread, or pony up more cash to rebuy all the stuff you already bought.
I'm just venting at the moment. Always open to suggestions, but not actively looking to move.