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.

​

[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!

 

[WolfDM32]

I'm not real happy with the tools available. PDF of the phb and Monster manual are searchable on a computer, defeating a need for quick spell lists, and the DMG PDF is searchable as well. I have purchased the monster manual, dmg, and phb and have pdfs of each as well. As a GM I find Word documents and the most important tool is simply an encounter difficulty and xp calculator for 5e. I use this site for calculating quick encounter difficulty and xp: http://1-dot-encounter-planner.appspot.com/difficulty-calculator.html

Other than that, the biggest issue I have is a tool for drawing out dungeons with designed for printing the houses, dungeons, etc. I've tried a fair number of them, and I feel like all fall short. You have setup custom map packs or they only have one set of tiles that doesn't come close to what is needed for a specific adventure. Or some of the tools the graphics are horrible worse than final fantasy 1 graphics. I've decided to attempt creating my own physical terrain tiles. They aren't bad, but not exactly what I'm looking for either. I'm disappointed that there aren't reasonably priced simple terrain tile systems for under $50.00 that would be generic enough to use in any campaign, but have specific add ons and additional interchangeable configurations. Basicly not quite to the detail of Lego DND tiles, but stuff that looks halfway decent without spending a kidney! If only we could mame some characters and steal in game kidneys for stuff... or in game gold, whatever is more valuable as a currency.

 

[j3x]

Hi all,

Im currently working on new iOS app for quick encounter tracking, something similar to GM5. I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions If you are interested in beta testing, just let me know please.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?499043-New-iOS-app-for-5E-encounter-tracking-(DM-s-only)

Thanks!

 

[monsterworkbench]

You should add Monsterworkbench.com

 

[fjw70]

I'm using the Lion's Den Fight Club app for iOS. Loving it so far. Haven't done as much with the Game Master one, but the former was well worth the price.

I just stared using this (I am joining a new group soon and it will be my first time in 5e as a player -- as opposed to a DM). Creating the character was pretty easy. It has the SRD stuff and adding other stuff is pretty easy.

 

[dagger]

Not sure if this has been posted:

Fifth Edition Character Sheet
By Walter Kammerer

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fifth-edition-character-sheet/id967650851?mt=8

 

[daplunk]

I've started a YouTube channel discussing the use of various RPG Software Tools. Click HERE to check it out.

Covering the use of the following tools so far:
Realm Works
Hero Lab (D&D 5e)
Campaign Cartographer 3 (With Dungeon Designer 3 and City Designer 3)
MapTool
Syrinscape

 

[Sir Brennen]

Not sure if this has been posted:

Fifth Edition Character Sheet
By Walter Kammerer

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fifth-edition-character-sheet/id967650851?mt=8

One of our players uses that for Android, but I think Fight Club is a superior character app if you're on iOS, especially with its recent update.

 

[Uchawi]

Model it after the 4E character generator which was simple and did not try to do too much by incorporating other systems. It met the intended purpose of rolling up 4E characters.