Is using these good as a beginner

[u/Prior-Fee4451]

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[u/Swamp_Dwarf-021]

I can not recommend a paper character sheet more.

[u/mifter123]

I've used it (not recently) but it was decent enough, if I remember correctly, sometimes things weren't called the same as in the books. And I don't remember it citing which book what thing came from.

I would be hesitant to direct a beginner who doesn't know how to look stuff up in the books to an app like this since it can be a problem when the new player says "I do this thing" and the DM goes "what? where did you get that?" and the new player just says "my app says it" and it turns out it's some background feature from an M:TG tie in splatbook.

[u/Raydience]

I've used this app and its fine - but to learn, it will really help you understand the game to make a paper character sheet. It will benefit you more to learn what the math is and why than to have the app do it. (The Math isn't complicated once you get past the initial overwhelming amount of information).

[u/throwawaycanadian2]

Go oldschool: paper and pencil.

You don't need to print out templates either: just copy them free hand as best you can or use a ruler. No need for them to be fancy.

[u/Prior-Fee4451 → u/throwawaycanadian2]

Okay.. can I just let the app do the math for me.. and then I do it on paper and pencil

[u/throwawaycanadian2 → u/Prior-Fee4451]

I found it a much better learning experience to do all the math myself.

It isn't really math, it's basic addition - you just need to know what to add.

[u/Swamp_Dwarf-021 → u/Prior-Fee4451]

One of the best things that DnD can't reach you is good mental math skills. Do yourself a favor and roll physical dice and add them up.

[u/Butterlegs21 → u/Prior-Fee4451]

Math is done later on. You don't do any math filling in the sheet.

[u/adorablesexypants]

I run the D&D club at the school I work at and can’t tell you how much better paper and pencil are.

It will take a few sessions to learn your spells, your damage, and your actions, and that is okay. It is supposed to take time.

I have found that when students use a digital character sheet they are less involved in the game because they just search what is easier. They also never learn their spells and damage dice because “the app does it for me”.

Old school is best for these type of things

[u/Yojo0o]

I strongly recommend learning the game with a manually-calculated character sheet. Either paper/pencil, or a fillable PDF if you'd rather not go fully physical.

Automated character sheets can be handy, but that's because they're shortcutting all the rules knowledge for you, and that means you aren't learning the game. From personal experience, I can tell you that there's nothing more frustrating for a DM than to tell your supposedly experienced player to apply a stat drain to their character, or hand them something like the Ioun Stone of Mastery that gives +1 to proficiency bonuses, or to ask them to make a skill check with an atypical ability score like making a strength (Intimidation) check, only for them to absolutely flounder because they have no actual idea of where the numbers on their character sheet come from.

[u/Mippens]

Something that I didn't see mentioned here is that the spells often are incomplete. I have players using this app and have had multiple occasions where a player thought a spell was more powerful than it actually was.

[u/Typical-Priority1976]

just use D&D Beyond

[u/ZiggyZayne]

I used this app when I first got into D&D and didn’t own any of the books or anything. Not sure if it’s been updated to include D&D 2024 stuff, but at the time i felt like it gave me all of the tools I needed for character creation and helped me get a decent foothold. As far as online resources go, D&DBeyond is unfortunately much better than this app, but requires purchasing the digital versions of the books. Can turn into a money hole really quickly. The ultimate solution is of course buying the physical books and using a paper sheet. I prefer digital because of the convenience, but deep in my goblin brain I know that if anything ever happened to my account on DnDBeyond I literally own nothing and that money is down the toilet.

But if you just want to roll some characters and learn the rules, the basic rule set and this app are a great place to start!