The folks at D&D Beyond have just released the latest in their digital toolset for players, the D&D Beyond Player App. The app promises to be an essential tool for D&D players everywhere but what exactly does it do, and does it live up to the hype?
This isn’t the first official D&D app released by Wizards of the Coast or one of their partners. The original D&D Beyond app was launched in March 2018 to mixed reviews. It ties into Fandom Incorporations D&D Beyond service, a paid-for reference of D&D Content. Players are able to buy their digital sourcebooks and access them through either the website or app. There is a complete toolset to make accessing them easier as well as making the life of DMs simpler. Unfortunately for those who like a physical copy, digital sales are independent meaning if you want to use D&D Beyond to its full potential you have to buy an item twice; one from your local games store and another through D&D Beyond.
One of the main features missing from D&D Beyond’s app, and consequently the driver for many of the complaints, has been a lack of character sheets management. This is where the D&D Beyond Players App comes in. Now players are able to officially manage their player characters information in an app tied directly into the official data store. It features the ability to create and use existing characters created through the D&D Beyond website and use these off-line.
With mobile data available at affordable prices and wide coverage, the ability to access your character sheets offline may seem pointless, but there are still plenty of black spots where cellular signals can’t reach. With more and more of us converting basements into game rooms where even wi-fi struggles to get through, this is a refreshing move and well worth the minimal effort required to make it happen. You can take your characters everywhere and be ready to start playing at a moment’s notice, no excuses now not to join that impromptu game as you pop in to buy your copy of Dragon (bring it back, please…). All aspects of your character can be managed such as stats, spell slots, equipment, and actions, all pulling in the data from an official source. You can also keep track of your characters’ actions in-game with tracking tools that monitor which spells and actions you have taken over the turns. All of which is available in the off-line mode you won’t realize you need until it is (not) too late.
It’s great to see D&D Beyond finally step up to the plate with the Players App, but is it too little too late? There are plenty of third-party apps that have been providing this for a while, not to mention the web tools built into services like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. The one selling point for the Players App is that it is official and has a pedigree behind it. Hopefully, this is just a starting point and they will continue to add new features over the forthcoming months, making this the port of call for players.
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Source: D&D Beyond
