D&D General Data from a million DnDBeyond character sheets?

[Oofta]

That's a typo, right - shouldn't it read "TPK reports"?

Total Party Slaughter. Not just killing them, but humiliating them while doing it.

 

[Clint_L]

What does the character ID signify? Could a player (or DM) use the same ID for different characters, the digital equivalent of erasing and reusing a character sheet? Or could a DM use a single ID for every character in a game so as to avoid the players having to pay for subscriptions? Etc.?

DnDBeyond is free to use, with just the basic game available for a free account. However, if you have a DM's account (or whatever they call it), every player added to one of your campaigns can access whatever books you want to share with them, still free of charge.

It's a pretty astonishing value for seven bucks a month or whatever it is. During the school year, my account supports something like 20-30 students, plus all the players in my home games, and I give them all access to everything.

To be honest, it feels almost too good to be true. I know with paper books you can lend them out, but this is like me lending out dozens of copies of almost every sourcebook and adventure all at once. I keep waiting for WotC to start dialling it back.

They also gifted me the majority of those books through their programme to support D&D in schools.

 

[ECMO3]

There's no way of knowing whether those were true experiments or whether they were actual characters rolled up for campaigns that then never got off the ground. Or, less likely but still possible, the campaigns were specificially intended as one-shots. I'd say that characters rolled up for campaigns that quickly collapsed are legit for data purposes.

I think a lot of those characters were probably created on DND Beyond and transferred somewhere else to play them.

I personally have used DNDB to create about 30 characters, but I have never actually used DNDB to play them. I either export them into virtual tabletops or into a PDF.

 

[Hussar]

I think a lot of those characters were probably created on DND Beyond and transferred somewhere else to play them.

I personally have used DNDB to create about 30 characters, but I have never actually used DNDB to play them. I either export them into virtual tabletops or into a PDF.

My players tend to do both. Level up on beyond and then check it against their fantasy grounds character sheet.

 

[Lanefan]

I think a lot of those characters were probably created on DND Beyond and transferred somewhere else to play them.

I personally have used DNDB to create about 30 characters, but I have never actually used DNDB to play them. I either export them into virtual tabletops or into a PDF.

Those characters IMO would still represent legit data points, as they're in fact being played even if not on DDB.

 

[FrogReaver]

Cant wait to get the dataset trim criteria figured out. One of the most interesting things I’m looking at is starting class by pc total level as a %.

Wizards start out very middle of the pack in the lower levels and shoot up by levels 17+ to being one of the top 3.

Classes like ranger start off being chosen often as a starting class but trend down as level increases.

Druid over the 1-20 level range is the least chosen starting class, though at certain levels it’s common for warlock and sorcerer to be chosen less

 

[FrogReaver]

One data point I wish we had was what content the account had access to when the character was made. That could be eye opening.

 

[Hussar]

I’ve often argued that fighter is often a “dip” class. Although sometimes it’s a big dip. .

Is there a way to compare single classed vs multiclassed characters?

 

[FrogReaver]

I’ve often argued that fighter is often a “dip” class. Although sometimes it’s a big dip. .

Is there a way to compare single classed vs multiclassed characters?

Yes. But if multiclassed with more than 1 other class I cannot tell the exact level split.

 

[Hussar]

I think simply the comparison of single classed characters vs multi class (regardless of how many classes) is an interesting data point.

If particular classes are more often multi classed, that would skew how popular those classes actually are (as in if a majority characters with class x are multi classed then that class isn’t quite as popular as it might seem).