d20 Fight Club for D&D 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and More!

dmdcdubs · Jan 1, 2015

TL;DR Great promise but the awkward interface and lack of output/sharing features (including no compatibility with it's own sister DM app) made me regret spending money on this. We are all looking for that killer character app for D&D and IMHO this is not it.

My impressions after using this for a bit:

A great start but missing obvious and necessary features.

I'm really on the fence with this app. It has a lot of polish in parts and great intentions but falls short on the most important aspects.

The option to import/export or share a character is shockingly absent. Saving to the "cloud" doesn't count. It seems to me that the most useful function would be allowing players and DMs to all have access to the characters with live updating of stats/damage/items/etc. Maybe that is beyond the scope of an app like this but I expected all this as a given, otherwise it is no better than a piece of paper to me.

Secondly, why is there no integration with the D20 DM's app?! It is such a missed opportunity. I downloaded both apps and I am struggling trying to figure out how to incorporate both into the campaign. It is simply much faster and efficient to just use paper. Why bother to have it all digital when the info is essentially static and locked per user? Allow me to create characters in the Fight Club app then seamlessly link them to the DM app so that I can add them into encounters. With dynamic updating the players could have their own copy of the app and get real time updates as the game progresses and the DM could access everything at a touch.

Maybe I was expecting too much. Maybe this requires some sort of local database linking and years of coding. I don't know. I would have happily paid $4.99 for these features. I won't be recommending my players to buy this until integration is added.

The GUI needs some more fine-tuning in regards to inputting data. It almost feels as if the developer doesn't actually play D&D or even use this app (I'm sure they do or they wouldn't bother making it… it just feels that way with how clunky it can be). Why not match the character making process from the rules? Keep things in the traditional order so that it makes sense to players. Limit inputs that don't conform to rules or add an override. It doesn't correct your mistakes or prevent you from making them.

I found myself making a ton of additional entries to fill glaring omissions in the character's description such as physical attributes. I did eventually adapt to some of the nuances of the GUI but it should be more intuitive. I felt like it was a lot of time and work. How the heck do I add lightning breath as an attack? I'm sure it's there but the interface feels limited and I couldn't find the options I wanted. Additionally I found minor glitches such as a repeatable crash when I swiped up on the Max HP tab.

Ultimately I would say that unless you want a slick, digital copy of your DnD character that will take a good while to input and can't be exported or accessed anywhere else then don't bother. Paper is cheap, portable and reusable…

Zaruthustran · Jan 3, 2015

Does anybody know how to get in touch with Lion's Den? An email addy, or such?

Sir Brennen · Jan 4, 2015

Zaruthustran said:
Does anybody know how to get in touch with Lion's Den? An email addy, or such?

It doesn't look like they have an email address listed anywhere, or even a website, but they are on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/d20-Fight-Club/241147409230126

theRogueRooster · Jan 5, 2015

You can send them feedback from the app by tapping the cog in the lower right of the initial screen and then tapping Send E-mail. Looks like the email address is: lionsden.contact@gmail.com

Personally, I'm really enjoying the app. I'm running it on an iPad 2. I like the layout and how easy it is to access spell info and such. It automatically tallies the weight of your equipment and you can create custom trackers for keeping up with class specific goodies such as superiority dice or bardic inspiration. You can also keep track of conditions and any bonuses or penalties that may occur and the app automatically applies them to the appropriate stats. All that together makes the app a better alternative to paper for me.

I don't find creating a character to be any more time consuming than paper, and probably quite a bit less. One thing to think about: if you want to have immediate access to spell info or other character features during play without accessing the PHB, you still have to write it out somewhere, whether it's in an app or on a paper document.

The DM app is a solid initiative tracker that gives you easy access to character information as you need it. Outside of that, I don't know that it's set up to manage an entire campaign on its own. I get the feeling its purpose is to simply manage groups of encounters instead. I'm planning to use it to run HotDQ and I suspect I'll be creating a new campaign entry for each chapter.

There's always room for improvement. I'd like a way for the data I enter (spells, class features, etc) to be more permanent, instead of attached at the character level, so that I would never have to type it in more than once. You can copy info from any other character that exists, but if you delete the only character with a particular bit of info, it's gone.

All in all, I think it's very well done and was well worth the money.

-tRR

Rune · Jan 5, 2015

Does anyone know if it's possible to add information to the rules reference part of the DM app? And, if so, how it's done? Because that would be very useful.

theRogueRooster · Jan 5, 2015

Rune said:
Does anyone know if it's possible to add information to the rules reference part of the DM app? And, if so, how it's done? Because that would be very useful.

I don't think it's possible. Out of curiosity, what do you feel is missing?

Rune · Jan 5, 2015

Some stuff from the DMG (like item ACs and HP). And also, theoretically, campaign-specific and/or houseruled information (like new conditions, random encounter charts, or the like).

fitsou · Jan 10, 2015

How can i delete a character?

Sir Brennen · Jan 10, 2015

fitsou said:
How can i delete a character?

On the initial page, before you select an existing character, click on the gear icon in the lower right corner. The characters will be listed in the popup with an option to delete. (This is using the 3.5 version; assume it's the same for all versions)

fitsou · Jan 10, 2015

Sir Brennen said:
On the initial page, before you select an existing character, click on the gear icon in the lower right corner. The characters will be listed in the popup with an option to delete. (This is using the 3.5 version; assume it's the same for all versions)

thanks! that was it!