If you’re like me you have a subscription to DDI. I’ve got to think that the majority of us who play 4e D&D are subscribers. Between the character builder and the compendium I think that the subscription is well worth the money. Of the seven regulars in my gaming group six of us have been subscribers since day one and the seventh guy pays for a few months a year as his wallet allows. Each player may not buy every book, but pretty much every player pays for a DDI subscription.
As Wizards continues crafting and refining the rules for D&D Next they have to realize two very important truths: 1) DDI subscriptions generate significant revenue, and 2) character builder provides them with a wealth of information about the people playing their game. Knowing these two things I’ve got to believe that Wizard will keep character builder alive in one form or another.
So when D&D Next is finally released what’s going to happen to character builder? I guess it really depends on how complicated character creation becomes. My group is currently participating in the “Friends & Family” play testing for D&D Next. When we sat down to begin on that first night we realized that for the first time in years we had to make characters using a pencil and paper. After all, there was no character builder for a game that’s still in development. It was both thrilling and frightening. We forgot how much fun it can be to actually get together with buddies and spend an entire gaming session just making characters.
Ever since character builder was released character creation has become a very solidarity experience. Sure we talk about who’s playing what kind of character and ensure we have all the roles covered, but we all make our own characters in isolation. And even if we did come together it would just be six guys with six laptops individually creating their PCs.
Without character builder, creating new characters took a long time. We had to read through everything to ensure that every option was reviewed before a decision was made. We’re used to character builder where it shows you all the available options and none of the extraneous stuff that’s irrelevant for your PC. Without character builder we had to become pretty familiar with the printed materials in a hurry to know which parts were applicable to each character. We also realized in a big hurry that it’s a lot more work to create and run a character that can use magic (divine and arcane characters) than one who cannot.
Without character builder the players running spell casters need to copy down a lot of information onto their character sheet. They need t know what the spells or power do and that information needs to be at their fingertips. We take for granted how much having character builder do this for us speeds up character creation and game play in 4e. For example, when a 4e Cleric wants to use a healing power he doesn’t have to look up what it doesn’t, it’s all right there printed in easy to read text on the power card. But without character builder it’s up to the player to make sure he knows what the Cleric’s power can do. This either means copying down all the details that we currently get on the power card, or having the appropriate page of the appropriate book handy so it can be referenced as needed. It only took one combat encounter during the play testing to remember how cumbersome it can be to play a character that does more than swing a blade and the tremendous amount of work required to accurately copy all those little details spell casters need to have at their finger tips on their turn.
Although D&D Next promises to be a simplified and streamlined version of the game, every character in every edition of D&D that has access to magic spells will come with the need for a considerable amount of record keeping. Character builder has taken care of this for us for years now and we’ve become lazy and complacent. I think a lot of people will be upset if they lose the tool that makes playing spell casters easier and faster.
Releasing a D&D Next character builder seems like the right thing to do for many reasons. It will practically guarantee that everyone playing D&D Next will continue subscribing to DDI which will in turn generate additional revenue for Wizards. Having all the options and details at your fingertips will make character creation fast and easy (not that it isn’t already, but after using character builder for so long anything non-technical seems like a huge step backwards). Allowing us to print our characters with all the relevant powers detailed in their entirety will speed up game play, or more importantly won’t slow down game play, one of the biggest criticisms of 4e. And finally as long as we’re all using character builder to make our character Wizard can continue to review the data and see what kind of characters we’re playing. They can use this data to provide materials that target the needs of the majority.
Regardless of what happen with character builder for D&D Next I’m curious about what’s going to happen to the current 4e character builder? Experience has taught us that whenever a new iteration of D&D is released there are going to be some people who won’t want to switch. It might be because they don’t like the new direction of the game or it might be because they simple enjoy the current version and see no reason to make the switch. But as we’ve already said above, it’s pretty much impossibly to make a decent 4e character without the character builder. There are just too many options and too much detail to write out by hand to make the experience worth while.
Assuming that most of the people who are currently playing 4e have DDI subscriptions and assuming that some of them won’t want to stop playing 4e, why not leave a working version of the 4e character builder online? Assuming that there will be a D&D Next character builder where’s the harm in running both versions concurrently. It will keep the 4e-lovers happy and it will keep them renewing their DDI subscriptions. It will also give any new players a chance to start with D&D Next but still try 4e. Obviously there wouldn’t be any expectations of future updates to the 4e character builder once D&D Next is officially launched, but there’s already so much content available for 4e I don’t think that will be a problem. After all, my group has been playing 4e since it was first launched and we’re just now moving into the epic tier. Having the 4e character builder stick around after D&D Next comes out will allow us to keep playing our epic level adventures in the old system while trying new character in the new system.
Character builder has become just as important to D&D as the PHB, DMG and Monster Manual in my opinion. I’ll admit that I’m lazy and need instant gratification when it comes to character creation. I don’t want to spend hours pouring through the books, I want everything organized in an electronic database so I can find what I want on my laptop or mobile device. If Wizard decides to leave character builder behind when it moves to D&D Next I think they’ll be making a huge mistake. There have been a lot of criticisms about 4e since it first came out but one thing people seem to agree on is that character is a fantastic tool. They may not be in love with the interface, but the idea of character builder is something that many games will miss if it goes away. Wizards has the opportunity to get a few easy wins by keeping a final version of the 4e character builder up after they move on to D&D Next and by providing a brand new D&D Next character builder simultaneously when they officially release D&D Next.
What would you like to see happen to character builder? Do you think character builder should evolve with the game and become exclusively a D&D Next tool? Do you think that if D&D is trying to go back to its roots it should abandon online character creation all together and leave character builder behind? If a 4e and D&D Next version of character builder were both available would you be any more or less inclined to play 4e vs. D&D Next?
Related reading:
- Does Character Builder Limit Creativity?
- Move Over Character Builder
- Character Builder: Is It REALLY That Bad?
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1 2 3 4 Next »Making a decent 4e character by hand isn't that hard. I've made Essentials characters for people at D&D Encounters a few times and those are easy. That being said, the Builder does make it so much easier to over all manage your character. Heck, I use a spreadsheet app for making 3.5e and Pathfinder characters because there's so much bookkeeping to do.
Over all, there's no reason not to keep the 4e builder. So I expect that to stick around. Of course, WotC shocked me when they stopped printing 3.5e books when 4e came out so anything can happen.
The character builder either needs to be scrapped or turned back into an ap that can work without an internet connection. When you buy a book it should come with a code that allows you to download the content for that book into the software. The ap should also be completable with the common tablet PC's and devices. DDI may generate some revenue but it also kills book sales.
I suspect they are have been working on the 5E version of the character builder simply because I have seen so little DDI programs for 4E. Other than updating DDI content for releases (of which there have been less and less crunchy bits for 4E) they are still in beta for the Virtual Table. I believe they have diverted their resources away from the current DDI and are working on the 5E version of it.
As for the 4E DDI, I think they should have 2 versions of the DDI. One for 5E and one for 4E. The 4E version would just have the character and monster builder (and maybe the beta virtual table). The 5E version would have the builders and magazine subscription, as well as any "new" builders. That way they can continue to tap into the 4E crowd's money (and not tick off a bunch of people) and tap into a whole new crowd.
They, of course, would have to reduce the subscription price since it would effectively be "outdated" material; to not lower the price would drive any 4E lingerers away. I can easily see some people maintaining 2 subscriptions if one of them was "cheap".
The resources required to maintain the 4E builders will be negligible to what they can take in with lingering subscriptions, since all the work has been done already; it would just be a case of maintenance. With no new 4E content being released this would be inexpensive and easy.
WotC has already said that they will continue to maintain the 4E tools, such as the CB and MB. They may not get content updates but they'll still be around.
What I'm hoping for is a change in the licensing that will allow third parties to develop applications. I would much rather prefer WotC focus on creating actual content while public develiopers (such as myself, to be honest) create the tools with WotC's permission and with some sort of official licensing agreement.
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. A character builder and DDI for 5 Next is a must. And if Wizards of the Coast wish to accomplish what they have set out to do, it must support all versions of play. But how will WOC be able to accomplish this for an edition that is meant to please everyone? I wonder about that deeply, and if it can even be done.
This is a subject covered extensively in my article titled "Game Designers Seek the Impossible for D&D Next" at http://houserules4dnd.weebly.com/ I invite you and your readers to check it out and join this conversation.
The good news is that I think it can be done, at least online with the DDI and builder: we've seen that already to some extent in the character builder where players can turn on and off whole campaign-specific rules sets for Forgotten Realms and Dark Sun, for instance. Imagine if that is done for entire rules sets and options? I see this as a wonderful way for WOC to come up with a way to provide personalized content.
The real trick, though, will be to provide similar personalized content with published material. I suspect a lot of people prefer to use printed game books at their table, and if WOC truly wants to be inclusive to everyone's needs, they will need to find a way to personalize content for them as well. If they don't, they risk losing a lot of players.
What I'm really curious about is if they'll follow through with announced digital tools when they launch. I remember all those blank slots in the first (downloadable) iteration of "Adventure Tools" for 4e, and I kept wondering when they'd get around to doing more than a monster builder. Then the online versions came out, and the "Adventure Tools" link is still largely just the monster tool, with an Encounter Builder that is glitchy and not at all useful and an Ability Generator that's no more helpful than a spreadsheet program, and also redundant given that the same thing is a part of the online character builder.
I really want Wizards to commit to whatever it is they'll say they're doing (in all aspects, but especially on the digital front). If they have a section called "Adventure Tools", it should have multiple tools that are useful for adventures. If they're going to do a virtual tabletop, they should put the work into it to make it work. All these half-tried things should go in a Beta-Test section or other area where we can all know that they're semi-unfinished things that may not get final versions. That way we won't be strung along with vague promises of digital tools that are never fully realized.
"I’ve got to think that the majority of us who play 4e D&D are subscribers."
Really? I'm sure thats not the case at all. I am the only member of my group who is a member. In fact of other groups I've been involved with I have yet to meet another subscribers.
"Between the character builder and the compendium I think that the subscription is well worth the money."
Wholeheartedly agree with this. Not to mention all the pregen campaigns which I plunder for ideas for my own game.
Character builder is a must. It would be a step back to not include it for DnD Next.
hopefully wizards doesnt dick over their customers and cancel the 4e cb. we will find out, i cant get them to give any answer
If #dndnext requires a character builder like 4e does I wont bother playing it.
With the hundreds of skills and probably 1k feats rolling around out there anyone that suggests you can build one by hand in 4e is just delusional.
Just give me a game where I have to roll 6 ability scores and pick a class.
As a broke high school student I cannot afford a DDI subscription to play my favorite game. So my group uses the old offline character builder with a community that updates when new material is release. Having used the online version with my uncles i find that silverlight is slow and degrades from the experience, however if WotC continues with online tools then there should at least be a means for offline saving of characters for wi-fi less locations.