D&D General Take A Look At The Class Boards From The New D&D Starter Set

Check out the cleric's 'dashboard'.
Heroes of the Borderlands, which is Dungeons & Dragons' upcoming new starter set, is one of the largest starter sets the game has ever produced--not least in part to the card-based character creation pops. One essential part of that card-based process is the class board--as D&D Beyond puts it, "a dashboard that clearly lays out everything you need to play, from your Armor Class to your spells and features, with card slots and token trackers that keep the game moving fast".

class-board.jpg

There's a board for each class in the boxed set (the example above is the cleric). In the bottom left you can see a 'What You Need To Play' section which lists the additional cards you need to play a cleric--in this case, two equipment cards, 7 spell cards, and a bunch of gold pieces.

The card itself includes your basic stats--ability scores, saving throws, skills, hit points, speed, and so on. There are also clearly marked spots where you can place cards for your armor, your spells, and other things. There's also a space over on the far right for species and origin cards.

Once you reach level 2, you flip the card cover. That automatically increases your hit points and other features.

cleric-level-2.jpg

Finally, at level 3, you choose your subclass and you swap your class board for a more specialised one. The included cleric includes boards for the Life and Light domains. The new board not only updates your stats (like when you leveleled up to level 2) it also adds in the subclass features.

cleric-board-3.jpg

Heroes of the Borderlands comes out September 16th for $49.99.

 

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Heroes of the Borderlands, which is Dungeons & Dragons' upcoming new starter set, is one of the largest starter sets the game has ever produced--not least in part to the card-based character creation pops. One essential part of that card-based process is the class board--as D&D Beyond puts it, "a dashboard that clearly lays out everything you need to play, from your Armor Class to your spells and features, with card slots and token trackers that keep the game moving fast".

There's a board for each class in the boxed set (the example above is the cleric). In the bottom left you can see a 'What You Need To Play' section which lists the additional cards you need to play a cleric--in this case, two equipment cards, 7 spell cards, and a bunch of gold pieces.

The card itself includes your basic stats--ability scores, saving throws, skills, hit points, speed, and so on. There are also clearly marked spots where you can place cards for your armor, your spells, and other things. There's also a space over on the far right for species and origin cards.

Once you reach level 2, you flip the card cover. That automatically increases your hit points and other features.

Finally, at level 3, you choose your subclass and you swap your class board for a more specialised one. The included cleric includes boards for the Life and Light domains. The new board not only updates your stats (like when you leveleled up to level 2) it also adds in the subclass features.

Heroes of the Borderlands comes out September 16th for $49.99.

So,
Heroes of the Borderlands, which is Dungeons & Dragons' upcoming new starter set, is one of the largest starter sets the game has ever produced--not least in part to the card-based character creation pops. One essential part of that card-based process is the class board--as D&D Beyond puts it, "a dashboard that clearly lays out everything you need to play, from your Armor Class to your spells and features, with card slots and token trackers that keep the game moving fast".

There's a board for each class in the boxed set (the example above is the cleric). In the bottom left you can see a 'What You Need To Play' section which lists the additional cards you need to play a cleric--in this case, two equipment cards, 7 spell cards, and a bunch of gold pieces.

The card itself includes your basic stats--ability scores, saving throws, skills, hit points, speed, and so on. There are also clearly marked spots where you can place cards for your armor, your spells, and other things. There's also a space over on the far right for species and origin cards.

Once you reach level 2, you flip the card cover. That automatically increases your hit points and other features.

Finally, at level 3, you choose your subclass and you swap your class board for a more specialised one. The included cleric includes boards for the Life and Light domains. The new board not only updates your stats (like when you leveleled up to level 2) it also adds in the subclass features.

Heroes of the Borderlands comes out September 16th for $49.99.

So, a lot of comments about this. But I think the dashboards are a bit , 'reductive'. Already back in 2014, there were rumblings that D&D was channelling players down certain paths with the character sheets, and that new players would stare at their sheets for answers to a problem that the DM or scenarios rather than just say "I'd like to do [x] how do I do that". I'll admit I'm a grognard, but for me the limitless variety of PC agency in TTRPGs is down to the interaction between GM/DM and player, not searching for answers in the short list of skills and abilities on the character sheet. This dashboard seems to limit options even more.

And presenting them to new players, ingrains the wrong habits imho.

And for those of you who think that the dashboards will remain in the starter set and not spread over the whole game, I'd like to know the supplier of your edibles, because they're obviously really great!
 

And for those of you who think that the dashboards will remain in the starter set and not spread over the whole game, I'd like to know the supplier of your edibles, because they're obviously really great!
They're not happening in any other product, not even the other boxed set coming out in a month.

Reality doesn't require drugs. It merely means looking at the product line and the statements from the designers about how they haven't started on other class boards.
 

So,

So, a lot of comments about this. But I think the dashboards are a bit , 'reductive'. Already back in 2014, there were rumblings that D&D was channelling players down certain paths with the character sheets, and that new players would stare at their sheets for answers to a problem that the DM or scenarios rather than just say "I'd like to do [x] how do I do that". I'll admit I'm a grognard, but for me the limitless variety of PC agency in TTRPGs is down to the interaction between GM/DM and player, not searching for answers in the short list of skills and abilities on the character sheet. This dashboard seems to limit options even more.

And presenting them to new players, ingrains the wrong habits imho.

And for those of you who think that the dashboards will remain in the starter set and not spread over the whole game, I'd like to know the supplier of your edibles, because they're obviously really great!
They can’t be used for levels higher than three, because the information cannot physically fit on the cards.
 


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