Make Your Very Own Character Builder Button

If for some reason you’d like to be able to just click on a desktop icon to launch Character Builder–as you did before–here’s how:

Navigate to Character Builder page and add it to your bookmarks (any bookmark will do, actually, as we’re going to change the URL it points to), and drag the shortcut to your desktop (or wherever you want your icon).

Launch Character Builder, and then highlight and copy the URL.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties, then paste the previously copied URL in the URL field.

Booyah (to get the old CB icon, you’ll have to go to Change Icon and navigate to the folder where you installed the old CB, and select one of the .exe files).

New Character Builder

I just spend about half an hour creating random characters with the refurbished, online-only Character Builder, and I have to say that I like it a lot more than the other one.

Don’t Like

• Takes about as long to load as the other Character Builder (and the loading image is grainy).
• Backgrounds are no longer organized by terrain or race. You can uncheck Name Only and filter results by the skills, location, race, etc, however.
• Double-clicking de-selects options; I preferred it when I could right-click.
• Choose For Me is still wonky: it gave me a 20 in an ability score when I made a tiefling psion, which is generally not a good idea, but when I rolled a changling rogue (artful dodger) it gave me an 18 Dexterity, picked Intelligence for the racial bonus (boosted it to 12), gave me a Strength of 14, and a Charisma of 11 (boosted to 13 by racial mods). What. The. FUCK?
• There’s a delay when you increase/decrease ability scores using the plus/minus buttons. While minor, it adds up if you are trying to buy a stat up to 16. Thankfully, you can key in a value instead.
• Crashed after I’d completed my second character (loaded up again alright, though).
• The Marketplace graphic looks grainy, too.

Like

• Layout and image usage usage looks a lot better, and it seems a lot friendlier to new people (or those that don’t keep up as much with the game).
• You can sort classes by role, power source, primary ability score, or book.
• Classes and races have descriptions; you don’t have to click on them to get the gist of what they’re about.
• Mannerisms and traits are in step 3, not consigned to some easily overlooked tab at the ass end of the application.
• Dark Sun themes are in.
• Choose For Me picks skill that you’d probably pick yourself.
• Portraits can be sorted by race or class.
• Buying equipment is much easier, as you can filter items by category, specific item, rarity, keyword, and level (or level range). If you want to shop for stuff you can’t use, uncheck Show suggested items at the top.