What started as an Exhaustion Modifier Extension turned into a whole 5.5e Overlay Extension
Some context about me: I like DDB's digital character sheets, but play at a IRL table and therefore the automatic dice roll modifiers don't do much for me. I am a perpetual laptop user at the table. I like to take notes and I can type faster than I can write and it's easier to organize notes digitally. I also much prefer how DDB presents the character sheets on my laptop than on the phone. I'm also a DM who runs Exhaustion, a lot (Rime of the Frostmaiden), and find it's hard for players and, often myself the DM, to remember. It wasn't until I found myself on the receiving end of Exhaustion that I perpetually wondered why DDB didn't just apply the penalties automatically for you. Well, this time I took matters into my own hands.
What started as a quick firefox extension that would apply the stacking -2 to all d20 modifiers (and passives) and also -5 ft. to movement speed, turned into... "Well, the rest of the conditions should be represented also" Which led to adding the ability to add Dis/Adv modifiers on all the various things effected by the various conditions. One thing I really wish was baked in was a concentration reminder. One that auto-applies when you hit the cast button on a concentration spell and one that automatically gives you a reminder to make a concentration check with DC when you remove HP. So I quickly tacked that on while I was at it.
Then I used it for a combat session. The first round and we all receive Bless. Now I find the table constantly forgetting to add their 1d4 or reminding other players to add theirs. Okay, I'll add bless to the extension and a way to see it visually in the areas it applies. I don't need the digital sheet to automatically add the digital 1d4 to the digital roll (there's plenty of extension solutions for this) I need to visually see a reminder every time I look at my modifier for to roll at my table.
Then, I thought what else comes up that we often forget about. Shield of Faith came up later in the night, then Bardic Inspiration, then I realized I had a bigger project ahead of me. Why stop there, Pass without Trace is about to be grabbed by our Ranger, so I should preemptively bake that in. One thing after another.
Now the activation list in the extension menu is getting pretty long, I need somewhere on the sheet to have that selection. Where can I put it that looks good... Well if I just shift a few things around I can mirror the Defenses and Conditions box. Then I have extra space so let's add a dynamic class resource tracker that can be changed. Let's track class abilities and make it so they are easier to activate than hidden deep inside a Features & Traits sidebar dropdown menu.
TL;DR: If you give a mouse exhaustion, he's going to ask for a UI Reskin Overhaul
This was built as a personal project to better suit my game and play style. I've only shared it amongst my table and it is not nearly exhaustive enough to have every spell, buff, class feature, item effect, etc. It just has a couple handfuls that directly apply to my game. I will probably build this out further and further until it has most of the major abilities that one might want to track but DDB doesn't for some reason and when it gets to that point, I might share links publicly. I also fully recognize that the character sheets are about to drastically change. Will the new ones have all of these abilities, I sure hope so. Will this break when they get changed, absolutely. Will I rebuild it with the new sheets if you still can't track this basic information, possibly. Currently only works in dark mode because I didn't want to figure out colors for light mode.