A help feature next to the die roll options would be really helpful. What are "legal" roll strings for the table or the command line options? What options are available for me to roll multiple dice at once, of any? Can I roll to hit and damage in the same roll like I can in OGMW? Can I add rolls together? What is the available logic that I can apply to a roll, if any? Can I label rolls better? Can I have the option of setting a DC and a roll and just seeing if I succeed or fail and if I succeed can I then roll damage?
i.e. Invalid roll with labels
Valid roll without labels
As a GM the main issue is the number of clicks I have to make to roll for monster. For example I recently finished a small combat in a game in OGMW. A party of 3rd level PCs vs 6 quasits. Each quasit has 3 attacks when full attacking. That's 18 rolls, which is click Add Dice, Label the dice, click the roll, add the modifier, add a roll, click the dice, add a modifier, repeated 18 times. Plus saving throws.
I don't want to imagine the pain of a party fighting a couple of hydras or a horde of dragons with multiple attacks.
In OGMW I type out the following (which I can store in Notepad or somewhere) : Full attack vs AC20 [ROLL="Claw"]1d20+7z 1d3-1z[/ROLL] plus poison, [ROLL="Claw"]1d20+7z 1d3-1z[/ROLL] plus poison, [ROLL="Bite"]1d20+7z 1d4-1z[/ROLL] and then copy and paste it six times (or just quote the previous post and make any changes).
For a player it does work quite well. Most of the time you'll need to roll a single skill check or saving throw. At worst you'll need to roll multiple attacks for a high level character or maybe multiple attacks if you've summoned something.
One of the key principles of good website design is accessibility. You want users to have as few clicks as possible to do what they need to do. The dice engine is the opposite of that. Although the functionality is there, the usability isn't.
The copy dice and copy all function are a good ideas. They reduce the number of clicks you need to do something.
It may be that these and the following features are available but, returning to my first point, a help feature explaining what is available would be great. Until writing this post I've only used the GUI interface for dice but I now prefer the table interface.
Additional features on my personal wishlist:
- Hidden dice for when you don't want the players to see you rolling but that you can later unhide to show players what you rolled. Not a big deal really but it comes up sometimes.
- Sheet dice (already in dev as I understand it). More importantly the ability for the GM to roll dice for every PC attached to the game or for a selection of PCs. I used to roll saving throws and initiative for my parties just to speed up play. If I have to NPC someone who is away it would be nice to make quick rolls for them without having to lookup lots of things.
- Adding dice together: In OGMW I can roll 1d4tz 4d6tz to add sneak attack to my dagger damage. I'd like to still do that. At the moment I can add different dice together but if I want 1d6+4d6 for example I just put 5d6. What happens if I don't get a sneak attack like I thought and the GM just wants the first 1d6?
- Labelling multiple rolls. It's a nice feature to add a second roll or a third roll but I'd like the option of labelling them. i.e. i.e. a quasit claws someone so I want labels for Attack roll, piercing damage, and dexterity damage. This is great in the table roll but it isn't available elsewhere, specifically the command line.
- 1d3 and 1d2 rolls. I know you can use them in the table and command line rolls but there's no option in the whizzy GUI for it. Granted that is probably by design but you could add a round up or round down option when dividing a roll.
- Why do I have the ability to click on the dice on someone else's post when I'm not the GM? Can it just be hidden if I am not supposed to have this functionality?