Your Options For D&D 5E Electronic Tools

There have been unofficial resources for D&D 5E pretty much since the game was launched, but with the recent release of the 5E SRD under the OGL, some of the bigger players have jumped into the fray. From virtual table tops to character generators, the following software packages explicitly support D&D 5E. Other applications can be used with 5E, of course, but these ones are the ones which are explicit about it. For the moment I'm not including dice rollers or random generators, as there are just too many of those - they're a quick Google search away.

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[h=4]Out Now[/h]

• Fantasy Grounds. From Smiteworks, this virtual tabletop (VTT) is the officially licensed VTT solution for D&D 5th Edition. It also contains the 5E SRD in its entirely, as well as plenty of licensed D&D material, including the adventure paths (Tyranny of Dragons, etc.)
• PC Gen. Unofficial character generation software. It has a steeper learning curve than some other solutions, but it supports D&D 5E already.
• Beyond Tabletop. Calls itself "D&D 5E tools without the baggage". A web app which replaces maps and character sheets.
• OrcPub. An online D&D 5E character builder. It also has tools like a spell creator, class builder, and so on.
• Fight Club 5th Edition. A digital character sheet on iOS.
• Game Master 5th Edition. Also an iOS app, this app helps set up encounters, track initiative, and roll attacks.
• DM Minion 5E. Another iOS app, this lets you import and track initiative, hit points, conditions, etc.
• Next Turn. Another app, this combat manager tracks initiative, hit points, etc.
• D&D 5 Spellbook Cards. For Android, this contains all the spells from the PHB and Elemental Evil.
• Kobold Fight Club. A very slick web-based encounter builder.
• D&D Monster Maker. Download and install this software on your PC. I don't know much about this one except that the page talks about 64 C++ .net x86's or something but the screenshot has a nicely formatted monster.
• RPG Tinker. This is a D&D 5E NPC builder. Elect a template, attribute array, and hit dice, and it does the rest.
• 5E Spellbook. This is for Android. You have to add the spell data yourself, though.
• City of Brass. A campaign management suite with 5E-specific tools.

[h=4]Coming Soon[/h]

• Hero Lab. The popular character creation software, Hero Lab has been a staple for Pathfinder players for years. D&D 5E is coming to it very soon. Hero Lab is also an iPad app.
• Realm Works. From the same people as Hero Lab, this is a campaign management suite of tools.

[h=4]Other[/h]

• Not so much an app, but Dragon+ is WotC's mobile news app. You can use it to keep with (official) news.
• And don't forget EN World's brand new mobile skin which is designed to make browsing (unofficial) news easier. Just visit EN World on your mobile device to see it!

Know of any more? Let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the list!

 

[Queer Venger]

Im hoping someone releases a spell book app, similar Spellbook Master for PF, its handy having all the 5e spells handy on my iPhone for cons and running games.

 

[Mercule]

I use DM Minion. It also has a free desktop client that is identical to the iOS app. I actually use that on my Surface, even though I've paid for the iOS app.

One thing I like about it is that the campaign files are pretty much straight-up XML. I've actually written a couple little tools to hack the data -- mainly, I developed a system for organizing the huge number of encounters for PotA and have a utility that rearranges things to my liking.

 

[Nylanfs]

sticks tongue out at Liz and Rob of Lone Wolf

 

[Trickster Spirit]

I would actually lobby pretty heavily to see kobold.club added to the list - I've found it invaluable for calculating encounter budgets without having to crunch all the DMG math manually each time I idly kick around an encounter for next week's session.

 

[darjr]

Links? Please, I beg of you!

I must check them out.

 

[WackyAnne]

I would actually lobby pretty heavily to see kobold.club added to the list - I've found it invaluable for calculating encounter budgets without having to crunch all the DMG math manually each time I idly kick around an encounter for next week's session.

Kobold Fight Club's at the bottom of the "Out Now" list at this time, and since I don't see any update timestamp, it looks like it's been there since the beginning. I, too, am glad it's not being overlooked

 

[ChapolimX]

There is also D&D Monster Maker. A software for creating stats blocks very close to the books. It also has a lot of auto-stuff. It's really nice. You can get it here: http://thegeniusinc.com/dd-monster-maker-download/?ref=2.3.3

 

[Morrus]

There is also D&D Monster Maker. A software for creating stats blocks very close to the books. It also has a lot of auto-stuff. It's really nice. You can get it here: http://thegeniusinc.com/dd-monster-maker-download/?ref=2.3.3

I can't make head nor tails of that page, but I've added it. Thanks!

 

[dpmcalister]

For Android I prefer 5E Spell Book https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.analogcursor.spellbook&hl=en_GB (it's also available for iOS and Windows Phone as well according to their website: http://analogcursor.com/spellbook/)

It doesn't have any spells at first - you're just buying the empty shell coded ready - but you can import the spells from this Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/33i1hd/5e_spell_reference_mobile_app/