Looking for the best/cheapest tools to build out a character with the most possible source material

[A Murder of Crows]

Hey all

I was very used/attached to D&D 4e's tools, like the compendium and the character builder.

My buddy is about to run a campaign and is using hero lab but doesn't have any additional license slots.

The campaign is going to be 1 month long at best.

I bought in to the D&D Insider subscription the last time because i thought i'd play a lot. Turns out i didn't and it was a pretty stellar waste of cash.

Once bitten, am i right?

So, what is the absolute best tools to use to create a character that has all the rules and options available? Assume i want to spend as little cash on this as possible, and that i have to have some sort of legality check included.

Mahalo!

 

[ArwensDaughter]

If you know what character you want to make, you can just purchase the specific race/class/etc options you need at DnD Beyond. No subscription needed, no need to purchase entire "books". Those things in the basic rules are free. If you have the time and have the books, you can homebrew character options. Not sure what you mean by "legality check"

 

[Oofta]

Well, the cheapest is pretty difficult. Read the books, get a pencil and paper and write it down. For the absolute lowest cost you could use the free pdf.

Or basically, what [MENTION=6804968]ArwensDaughter[/MENTION] said.

I created a spreadsheet to track my stuff because I'm lazy and I didn't want to screw up the math but it's really not particularly necessary. This version is a lot simpler to track characters. I play (and DM) enough to justify DndInsider, but I don't even use it to track my characters other than to double check myself now and then.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A player's handbook, made of paper. The cheap option is to borrow someone elses.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey all

I was very used/attached to D&D 4e's tools, like the compendium and the character builder.

My buddy is about to run a campaign and is using hero lab but doesn't have any additional license slots.

The campaign is going to be 1 month long at best.

I bought in to the D&D Insider subscription the last time because i thought i'd play a lot. Turns out i didn't and it was a pretty stellar waste of cash.

Once bitten, am i right?

So, what is the absolute best tools to use to create a character that has all the rules and options available? Assume i want to spend as little cash on this as possible, and that i have to have some sort of legality check included.

Mahalo!

You might try More Purple More Better’s auto-calculating sheet. Originally it was hosted on ENWorld. I think it’s now on DM’s Guild. Very cool, and I believe he auto-calculation stuff would work as a partial “check” for your suspicious DM.

 

[Blue]

Wizards doesn't license any of the material for free except the SRD. (They also make the Basic rules free themselves, which is not a 1:1 overlap of the SRD.) So it comes down to the smallest fee. If you know what you want, [MENTION=6804968]ArwensDaughter[/MENTION] pointed out you can buy just that race/class/etc from D&D Beyond.

If you want to browse everything .... hmm. Fantasy Grounds does an Ultimate subscription (which I assume includes everything) for $9.99 a month. So you could sign up for a month, play around, and do up you character at each level and print them out. You'd have to manually change the to reflect items and such, but that you should get from your DM.

 

[Th3g0dc0mp13x]

I personally use redacted I don't think it's missing anything.
also there is an app on the play store called 5th edition character creator that's good for lvl 1 and can level characters for a one time payment of 2.99 i think.

 

[Jester David]

The basic races and classes are all in D&D Beyond, along with one subclass for each class. No feats or extra frills, but you can buy individual stuff pretty cheaply. A couple bucks for all feast, a couple for mst backgrounds, etc.

 

[A Murder of Crows]

hmm. so it seems that there really isn't anything exactly like the 4e official character builder or compendium then, eh?

I'm trying out the MPMB sheet but it definitely seems lacking in the features i'd want. I feel like i might have been spoiled by 4e's official tools.

 

[Jester David]

hmm. so it seems that there really isn't anything exactly like the 4e official character builder or compendium then, eh?

I'm trying out the MPMB sheet but it definitely seems lacking in the features i'd want. I feel like i might have been spoiled by 4e's official tools.

Yes, there is: D&D Beyond.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/

It just doesn't have the payment options of the D&D Insider tools where you the company $7 and gain access to hundreds of dollars of books, make a character at five levels, and don't pay again for six months. They want you to pay for each book you use, or buy smaller sub-options within the books.

Also, if you buy a book on D&D Beyond, try the coupon code: PAXWEST2018