Announcing the New Character Sheet for D&D 2024

Rick A. said:

Will the new sheet allow drag-and-drop from the compendium if the sheet is popped out in its own window? I know that the reason we can't do this with the current D&D 5e by Roll20 sheet is a browser and not a Roll20 issue, but has that been solved with the new sheet? Currently, if a character sheet is popped out, if I want to add something from the compendium I need to close the sheet, exit the game, then re-enter and open the sheet without popping it out. This is more of a pain as a GM than as a player since as GM I usually have a lot more sheets and handouts open at once.

Have you tried closing, toggling the option in the settings tab to no popout and then reopening? I know this used to not work, but I thought it had been fixed ages ago.

I have the option for character popout windows unchecked as default. If i want a character sheet sheet popped out I do so manually.

I just tried popping out a character sheet, closing it, the re-opening it without popping out and now see that it works! It looks like I missed the announcement for this fix :D !  Closing a popped-out handout still requires a game exit-&-re-enter to open it again, but that doesn't come up as often.

I also just noticed the new "default token" for characters instead of the old basic human silhouette. Nice!

keithcurtis said:

Have you tried closing, toggling the option in the settings tab to no popout and then reopening? I know this used to not work, but I thought it had been fixed ages ago.

My biggest request is PLEASE, with this new sheet, make EVERYTHING the same when you switch to dark mode. There's NO reason for a full font change and multiple button changes.

keithcurtis said:

Dwayne Morash said:

I hope I don't get banned for posting this but here is a video I made explaining a different point of view , from a visual learner POV. I think its important to realize that the DEVS need to balance technical needs with how the information is presented for new and players who need more visual ques to organize information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WgneN3E3CM&lc=UgynhtXZaEp1jjDZVb54AaABAg.A4xmlTT9QX1A4ykiUhr39q

Hi Dwayne!

Why in the world would that get you banned? That was an excellent overview.

Self promotion ?

Ok, taking KeithCurtis', Gauss' and others words that there is some merit to commenting on the sheet now, I took some time to do it. I used the Barbarian sheet, at level 5 for my review and comments. 

The Good:

• Unlike some others here, I *LIKE* the extra spacing between things. If you don’t have 20/20 vision, the sheets can get very hard to read when things are smushed together. Having the space between things makes the sheet far more legible, especially people with poor eyesight.
• I like the fact that things are grouped into boxes where everything in the box is related in some fashion.
• I like the section at the top where you can list advantage, disadvantage and whisper. (But, see below).
  
• I like having information that isn’t needed always, on different tables - i.e. “Combat”, “Spells”, “Inventory”, etc.
  

The Bad:

• I could not initially tell which skills the character had proficiency in. It looks like there’s a very subtle difference in the circles next to the name of the skill but the difference is so subtle and hard to see that I could not tell if the character had proficiency in that skill. It was only by looking at the pluses that I could tell. If you’re going to have a circle there to use for indicating proficiency, it should be filled in with white (or some other color) when there’s proficiency and a different color when there’s expertise. It shouldn’t be black with what looks like solid circles or dotted circles that are very, very, very, hard to see.
  
• The AC should be front and center and easy to spot. I shouldn’t have to scroll the sheet to find it.
  
• What is the meaning of the green triangle next to some numbers in the Saving Throw box?
  
• Distinguishing which Saving Throws you have proficiency in, is just as confusing here as with skills.
  
• I couldn't find Death Saving Throws anywhere.
• The sheet says on the left, under the skills: “No proficiencies… yet”. But, a Barbarian starts with proficiencies in Armor, Weapons, and usually at least one language which are indicated elsewhere on the page, no tools but that’s already listed on the right under languages, and proficiencies in skills have already been added in so… what does this line mean on the page? What proficiencies haven’t been added yet?
• I don’t like the fact that when you take a short rest, clicking the box to add the dice rolls automatically, doesn’t do it IMMEDIATELY. You have to click “take short rest” before the rolls are applied. Some people can’t add and will roll more dice than they need to. I’ve seen it happen in my games.
  
• I don’t see any way to add experience points (if you’re not playing by milestone method). I see the experience points listed, but no way to add to the current experience points.
  
• I don’t like the fact that when you do a die roll, the pop-up window obscures a portion of the sheet.
  
• Red is a *VERY* bad choice for highlighting the attribute modifier numbers, and for buttons. Using red/green colors on the health portion is also a bad idea, although less so. Anyone who is color blind will see those as “grey” and the numbers (or other data) will be unreadable. The “+” and “-“ in the hearts can work, but in other places, like highlighting the attribute modifiers, it would be a hindrance. 
• I don’t like the fact that the items in the Explorer’s Pack aren’t separately listed. You never know when those pitons, or ball bearings, or other items found in the various packs can make a difference, and might get used up, lost, stolen, broken, etc. Yes, I see that there’s a dropdown that shows what’s included in the Explorer's Pack but I can’t add to the number of torches if I find more, or subtract torches or rations as I use them… and “Remove Item” removes the whole pack, rather than an item from within the pack like I thought it might.
  
• I think someone else already mentioned the lack of containers. I’d like to see that too. I’d like to be able to have that Bag of Holding listed at the maximum weight for encumbrance purposes, with the list of what’s inside it. I should be able to have ordinary sacks, and bags, and other containers to carry things in with some way of indicating what’s in each container, but having the weight calculated properly for that container.
  
• I don’t understand why you have the Explorer’s Pack, the torch, and the rations listed as “Proficient”. I don’t believe there are proficiencies for those things in D&D. Everyone is proficient automatically with all ordinary items. It’s only weapons, armor, and tools that have any special “proficiency” needs. This seems like wasted space and unnecessary information.
  
• There are checkmarks for counting off uses of Rage, but only on the “Features & Traits” tab which is an inconvenient place for them, but I think I can understand the logic. However, clicking the left rage check box, turns off the right rage check box when indicating usage (turning them off?) but clicking the check box when the check mark isn’t there on the left box puts the checkmark back into that box, not the right box. This seems weird to me. If I click on the left box, I expect the left box to change, not the right box.
  
• In some cases, in order to make changes, you click the “gear” icon. In other cases, you click the “i” icon. You should be more consistent - ALWAYS use “gear” to make changes or ALWAYS use “i” to make changes. What icons do should be consistent across the entire sheet and to take an action, should ALWAYS require clicking on the same thing. So, make up your minde: "gear" or "i", or something else but pick one.
  
• At the top of the sheet, it indicates the character is a “Gnome” (even though they are a goose) but it doesn’t say which sub-species. Forest Gnomes get different racial benefits than Rock Gnomes which get different benefits from other gnomes… I think the sub-species should be listed. Unless, as rumored, sub-species and those differing benefits are all going away with the 2024 books.
  

Additional comments:

• I would like to see a setting so that when the strip at the top (disadvantage/advantage/automatic) is set on “Automatic” that you still get two rolls, just like you can do now. I just completed a campaign during which, many times, there were effects that the players did not know about that were giving them advantage or disadvantage and telling them would either lead to arguments about why they had disadvantage, or give them an “advantage” as players. To get around this, having the system give me BOTH rolls was a HUGE plus for me because then I could take the appropriate number and tell them the result without giving anything away. On this sheet, you only get two rolls if you tell them they have disadvantage or advantage which would be giving information to them they should not have. This, btw, is a big advantage over tabletop play - to be able to do this. And it’s not really “always rolling with advantage”, it’s just rolling the attack twice. And I know not every DM does this or needs this but I should at least have the *option* to do it. 
  
• The sheet shouldn’t be telling me how to run my game or forcing me or preventing me from establishing my own rules. It should look and feel like the “official” character sheet, but have enough flexibility that I, as the DM, can make changes. There still seems to be a lot missing: custom classes as an example. Maybe this is still to come but it's hard to give a good, thorough review of the new sheet without seeing all of the possibilities, and all of the things from the old sheet and how they are re-implemented on the new sheet. 

 Final grade: C+ at best, although to be honest, I'd probably give it a C-. Too many things are missing, and too many things just didn't feel right. I found more "bad" with the sheet than "good" with it. I wouldn't switch to using this new sheet until forced to do so by the old, current sheet going away.  This is very different from the new UI. I love the new UI - the measuring tool, the placing of doors, windows, etc.  There is a lot of good there that I wanted to start using right away even though there are some bugs/problems with the new UI under Jumpgate. But, with this character sheet, the opposite is true - I won't use it until forced to, unless there are substantial changes in the look and feel of it.

        - 

Dwayne Morash said:

Self promotion ?

I don't think the video you posted falls under that category. And even if it did, I would be fairly confident that the worst that would happen would  be that the post would be removed, and you would receive a polite private message explaining why.

Saul J. said:

Ok, taking KeithCurtis', Gauss' and others words that there is some merit to commenting on the sheet now, I took some time to do it. I used the Barbarian sheet, at level 5 for my review and comments. 

<snipped for length>

That was excellent criticism. Many good observations, most of which I agree with—the interface is not always clear at this point. I'm sure a lot of those things are "to come", but I'm equally sure that the list will be helpful to the devs in guiding the creation of the sheet.

Saul J. said:

• Red is a *VERY* bad choice for highlighting the attribute modifier numbers, and for buttons. Using red/green colors on the health portion is also a bad idea, although less so. Anyone who is color blind will see those as “grey” and the numbers (or other data) will be unreadable. The “+” and “-“ in the hearts can work, but in other places, like highlighting the attribute modifiers, it would be a hindrance. 

Will we be able to continue using the current character sheets, or are ALL of the sheets going to be updated to the new style?

According to the current answers, you can continue using the existing sheet. It will likely cease further development, however, and gradually lose utility.

Ok, I didn't notice that. While I think that's clever, I really don't like things being "hidden" like that. Character sheets shouldn't come with instructions or explanations - they should be self-evident and usable by anyone as is.

Gauss said:

@Saul,

Regarding Death Saves: 
They can only be seen when your HP hits 0. And then you cannot see or modify your HP until you stabilize. 

THIS!

Saul J. said:

Ok, I didn't notice that. While I think that's clever, I really don't like things being "hidden" like that. Character sheets shouldn't come with instructions or explanations - they should be self-evident and usable by anyone as is.

Gauss said:

@Saul,

Regarding Death Saves: 
They can only be seen when your HP hits 0. And then you cannot see or modify your HP until you stabilize. 

Saul J. said:

Ok, I didn't notice that. While I think that's clever, I really don't like things being "hidden" like that. Character sheets shouldn't come with instructions or explanations - they should be self-evident and usable by anyone as is.

Gauss said:

@Saul,

Regarding Death Saves: 
They can only be seen when your HP hits 0. And then you cannot see or modify your HP until you stabilize. 

I agree, I don't like how the Death Saves are set up. Or how you cannot modify your HP until you hit the stabilize button.

So...help me out here...how are we possibly going to play with an inventory that we can't change the order of items in? It's going to be impossible to find anything.

I was just checking out the new character sheet. I have asked this question over and over and you never seem to listen. For some people white text on dark background is very hard on the eyes. For this reason I will not and cannot use the new sheet. 

Will there be a black text on white background version?

Bob

At the top of the sheet is Advantage, Disadvantage and Automatic. What is Automatic?

Bob

Bob S. said:

I was just checking out the new character sheet. I have asked this question over and over and you never seem to listen. For some people white text on dark background is very hard on the eyes. For this reason I will not and cannot use the new sheet. 

Will there be a black text on white background version?

Bob

Hi Bob!

Someone must be listening, because it's on the roadmap! :)

Bob S. said:

At the top of the sheet is Advantage, Disadvantage and Automatic. What is Automatic?

Bob

That's been asked a couple of times. I'd like to know, too.

My guess is that it's the old behavior where you get 2 D20 rolls side-by-side and you choose the highest if you have advantage, and the lowest if you have disadvantage, and the one on the left if you have neither.

But, that's just a guess.

keithcurtis said:

Bob S. said:

At the top of the sheet is Advantage, Disadvantage and Automatic. What is Automatic?

Bob

That's been asked a couple of times. I'd like to know, too.

Saul J. said:

My guess is that it's the old behavior where you get 2 D20 rolls side-by-side and you choose the highest if you have advantage, and the lowest if you have disadvantage, and the one on the left if you have neither.

But, that's just a guess.

keithcurtis said:

Bob S. said:

At the top of the sheet is Advantage, Disadvantage and Automatic. What is Automatic?

Bob

That's been asked a couple of times. I'd like to know, too.

That was my first assumption, but it's not currently borne out by the die roll template.

Yeah, I see that. It looks like it's just a plain roll.

If so, then I really don't like it. As I think I said before, when I was running my game, I had things set so that the players were always rolling 2 separate d20 rolls so that I could use the highest or lowest if they had advantage or disadvantage and didn't know it for some reason. It mostly applied to disadvantage situations, though but there was one player that had picked up a magic item that gave him advantage but he didn't know it.

Anyway, if there's no way to get that old behavior in the new sheet, I don't like it.

keithcurtis said:

Saul J. said:

My guess is that it's the old behavior where you get 2 D20 rolls side-by-side and you choose the highest if you have advantage, and the lowest if you have disadvantage, and the one on the left if you have neither.

But, that's just a guess.

keithcurtis said:

Bob S. said:

At the top of the sheet is Advantage, Disadvantage and Automatic. What is Automatic?

Bob

That's been asked a couple of times. I'd like to know, too.

That was my first assumption, but it's not currently borne out by the die roll template.

I too like the behavior of always roll 2d20 to hit, and always auto roll damage. This current alpha sheet method feels obstructive to me, requiring too many extra clicks. 

Agreed 100%.  But, will Roll20 listen?

keithcurtis said:

I too like the behavior of always roll 2d20 to hit, and always auto roll damage. This current alpha sheet method feels obstructive to me, requiring too many extra clicks. 

This is a bad idea, IMO. Mithral armor, which is heavy armor, does not impose a penalty on stealth. And IIRC, the Armorer artificer has a feature that negates the disadvantage. I haven't seen the feat list yet for D&D2024 but there might also be feats in there that negate the disadvantage. Having the sheet recognize that you're wearing heavy armor and automatically roll with disadvantage negates these.

Please don't do this.

Patrice said:

What is the ‘automatic’ button next to advantage/disadvantage?

Automatic means that any advantages or disadvantages provided by your sheet will apply and the result will be rolled based on those values. This isn't yet functional in the Alpha, but an example of this usage is that if you have your toggle set to Automatic and you have heavy armor equipped, when you roll stealth, it will recognize that you're wearing heavy armor and automatically roll with disadvantage. 

Advantage/disadvantage settings on that toggle will override those automatic settings and will always roll with the one you select.

Saul J. said:

This is a bad idea, IMO. Mithral armor, which is heavy armor, does not impose a penalty on stealth. And IIRC, the Armorer artificer has a feature that negates the disadvantage. I haven't seen the feat list yet for D&D2024 but there might also be feats in there that negate the disadvantage. Having the sheet recognize that you're wearing heavy armor and automatically roll with disadvantage negates these.

Please don't do this.

Saul, I checked that, it can be adjusted so is not a problem. When you edit your armor you can change the armor to be light, medium, or heavy. Although I think they should have a disadvantage checkmark instead of basing it on armor type since there are Medium armors with disadvantage on stealth.

The current sheet already does this. Though of course, it has the option to always show both dice.

Yes, this is what's needed. Not the way that Roll20 described "Automatic".

keithcurtis said:

The current sheet already does this. Though of course, it has the option to always show both dice.

But there are other reasons why I wouldn't want to change the armor type. For example, in the module Tomb of Annihilation, there are penalties for wearing heavy armor. I don't want to change the armor type to medium for that module because then as the DM, when I'm checking armor type, I might miss the fact that they are really wearing heavy armor, especially if I use a macro to do the checks.

It's one thing for the DM to set up things up to do certain rolls, or calculations or something automatically via APIs and macros. It's another when it's forced upon you.  

5E is so rich in "exceptions to the rule" caused by feats, class abilities and "magic", that IMO the sheet should do the bare minimum in automation and everything else should be handled by the DM as needed for their game.

If anyone from Roll20 is reading this, I urge you to change "Automatic" to "Normal" and just do a plain d20 roll. "Normal", "Advantage" and "Disadvantage" are enough to cover most circumstances.

Of course, if "Advantage" doesn't take things like "Elven Accuracy" into account, then it's a fail too.

Gauss said:

Saul J. said:

This is a bad idea, IMO. Mithral armor, which is heavy armor, does not impose a penalty on stealth. And IIRC, the Armorer artificer has a feature that negates the disadvantage. I haven't seen the feat list yet for D&D2024 but there might also be feats in there that negate the disadvantage. Having the sheet recognize that you're wearing heavy armor and automatically roll with disadvantage negates these.

Please don't do this.

Saul, I checked that, it can be adjusted so is not a problem. When you edit your armor you can change the armor to be light, medium, or heavy. Although I think they should have a disadvantage checkmark instead of basing it on armor type since there are Medium armors with disadvantage on stealth.

BTW, padded leather armor, which is "light" armor, also gives disadvantage on stealth (p. 145, PHB). So, yes, if anything, this should be handled as part of the armor maybe through a checkmark as you said, or a keyword as part of the armor description in the compendium, or something similar.

Gauss said:

Saul, I checked that, it can be adjusted so is not a problem. When you edit your armor you can change the armor to be light, medium, or heavy. Although I think they should have a disadvantage checkmark instead of basing it on armor type since there are Medium armors with disadvantage on stealth.

Good catch, I forget that one since nobody in any game I've ever run has used padded armor. :D

Saul J. said:

BTW, padded leather armor, which is "light" armor, also gives disadvantage on stealth (p. 145, PHB). So, yes, if anything, this should be handled as part of the armor maybe through a checkmark as you said, or a keyword as part of the armor description in the compendium, or something similar.

Gauss said:

Saul, I checked that, it can be adjusted so is not a problem. When you edit your armor you can change the armor to be light, medium, or heavy. Although I think they should have a disadvantage checkmark instead of basing it on armor type since there are Medium armors with disadvantage on stealth.

Best - and easiest - Option would be to just add a checkbox for Disadvantages on Checks...

I agree with this. Currently it is cumbersome to edit an item that conflicts with its normal versions, for example the above mentioned Mithral Armor. A checkmark, even under the item's settings, would be a huge improvement. The current MODS field is very tiny, requiring copy/paste to and from an outside application like Notepad, and since it's all in a single line (no  word wrap) it often doesn't display all modifications. This makes it useless for many players who do not know (and do not want to know) how to edit their equipment entries.

TheMarkus1204 said:

Best - and easiest - Option would be to just add a checkbox for Disadvantages on Checks...

It is my understanding from early previews that the ability to dev-code and user-code exceptions will be built into many, many parts of the sheet. You should be able to override nearly any unacceptable value.

How do we access the new sheet during online play?

Keeper of The House said:

How do we access the new sheet during online play?

Hi Keeper of the House!

It is not available for play yet. You cannot even put it in a game. It is in Alpha and can only display the pre-loaded optional characters within the Roll20 Characters feature. I don't know if it will be available for actual play while in beta, either.

I'm not a fan of the D&D Beyond style of sheet that Roll20 is using here.  For example I frequently want to have both attacks and inventory open (do I actually have my crossbow, or did I leave it in camp? how many bolts do I have left? That's important for choosing what I do on my turn) And most of my players keep their Features and Traits open (with the individual items all expanded) during play, so they can remember what their options are in combat. This style will not go down well with them.

I much prefer the "separate pages" approach to hiding not-right-now info as in the current Roll20 5E sheet or a main page with tabs at the top for things like internal settings and character notes if you really want one page for all the abilities and active info.

That said, I'm trying to give it a fair shake for what it is in testing the alpha.  I've played in D&DB-hosted games and that sheet is usable, even though I consider it suboptimal and Roll20's current 5E sheet a big part of their appeal as a VTT (despite the known problems the sheet has).

What really irks my about the R20 2024 sheet is all of the sub-panels, some of which are accessed via gears, others by the circled i (and in the case of AC/Move by expanding the section so you can see the gear icons) and in some cases the panel opened has "carets" you have to click to actually reveal what's being edited.

This is a real dogs-breakfast of multiple control types for the same thing, and unapparent controls.  What's needed most is a consistent style for managing the content.  If you must have subpanels, make them all work the same.

I'd also like the ability to rearrange things. Maybe I want to pull "inventory" out into is own section next to the central tabbed section, for example, or put skills over on the right (or hide them away in the tabbed section) if I'm playing a character who doesn't often use skills.  This is 2024, we don't need static display formats a-la 2010!

I agree with much of what is said here.

I also want the ability to rearrange things within each "box". That is, I want to be able to re-arrange my inventory. I might want things that are there that I rarely use at the bottom, and things I use often at the top - like arrows/bolts. Same thing for features - some features I might use often, others not so much. 

There also doesn't seem to be a way to delete attacks, or other entries like there is on the current sheet unless you delete the item. But, for example, I can't remove the Quarterstaff one-hand attack if I always use 2-handed attack. 

On the Inventory tab, some items have a slider next to it, with no indication of what it is, or what it does. After some experimentation, I figured out that it removes items from other tabs, like the Combat tab, but it's not obvious or intuitive.

The Notes tab doesn't give you any ability to list random notes - they have to be one of the pre-determined categories. So, there's no place to indicate, for example, treasure found, or titles received, or medals received, or other things that don't fit into the pre-determined categories.

Ken S. said:

I'm not a fan of the D&D Beyond style of sheet that Roll20 is using here.  For example I frequently want to have both attacks and inventory open (do I actually have my crossbow, or did I leave it in camp? how many bolts do I have left? That's important for choosing what I do on my turn) And most of my players keep their Features and Traits open (with the individual items all expanded) during play, so they can remember what their options are in combat. This style will not go down well with them.

I much prefer the "separate pages" approach to hiding not-right-now info as in the current Roll20 5E sheet or a main page with tabs at the top for things like internal settings and character notes if you really want one page for all the abilities and active info.

That said, I'm trying to give it a fair shake for what it is in testing the alpha.  I've played in D&DB-hosted games and that sheet is usable, even though I consider it suboptimal and Roll20's current 5E sheet a big part of their appeal as a VTT (despite the known problems the sheet has).

What really irks my about the R20 2024 sheet is all of the sub-panels, some of which are accessed via gears, others by the circled i (and in the case of AC/Move by expanding the section so you can see the gear icons) and in some cases the panel opened has "carets" you have to click to actually reveal what's being edited.

This is a real dogs-breakfast of multiple control types for the same thing, and unapparent controls.  What's needed most is a consistent style for managing the content.  If you must have subpanels, make them all work the same.

I'd also like the ability to rearrange things. Maybe I want to pull "inventory" out into is own section next to the central tabbed section, for example, or put skills over on the right (or hide them away in the tabbed section) if I'm playing a character who doesn't often use skills.  This is 2024, we don't need static display formats a-la 2010!

I see where it's been mentioned that there will be an "Attributes and Abilities" section on the new sheet; will that include a space to add token or macro bar buttons? If so, will the GM be able to enable these token or macro bar buttons for the player? Currently, the GM can create the macros under the "Attributes and Abilities" tab, but the player has to activate them (mark the checkbox for either macro bar or token action). It can be a pain having to walk some players through that process every time a macro is created for them.

Marking an ability should work on the token action bar regardless of who does it (just verified). Marking a macro or ability on the macro quick bar requires action from the user. The intent has always been that the individual user has ultimate control over their macro bar.

I understand that intent, but since I as GM can modify just about anything else on a player's character sheet it's odd that this one thing is protected.

I have one player (isn't there always that one?) with whom I have to spend several minutes walking them through how to enable a token action that I've created for them, such as the "PingMe" script, or toggling nightvision or a torch on and off. I'm talking about having to upload screen shots to Discord for them to see what I'm talking about.

Every. Single. Time.

keithcurtis said:

... Marking a macro or ability on the macro quick bar requires action from the user. The intent has always been that the individual user has ultimate control over their macro bar.

If you create a token action for them, it should just be available, with no further action on their part (other than having their token selected).

As for the Macro bar, I look at it as a compromise. GM and player can affect the token action bar, but only a user has control over their macro bar. As a player, I would do appreciate having part of the interface as "mine". I appreciate the pain point of that One Player (I have several), but changing this behavior might be beyond even the purview of however they plan on instituting this on the Beacon sheet system. It might be an issue that impacts all sheets across Roll20.

But I do recognize that this is a subject that is worth inquiring about. I am personally a little concerned about how the Attributes and Abilities are going to be included on the Beacon Sheets at all, considering that none of them have this capability yet.

Rick A.

...

Every. Single. Time.

Once the Token is set up the way you want it select the "Update Default Token" button and it should persist.

Hultz (Keeper of Secrets) said:

Rick A.

...

Every. Single. Time.

Once the Token is set up the way you want it select the "Update Default Token" button and it should persist.

I believe Rick is talking about token actions, which are typically saved on the sheet as abilities or the collections tab as macros. Neither one is affected by updating the default token.

Setting up tokens wasn't the issue. I was referring to setting up token actions.

Hultz (Keeper of Secrets) said:

Rick A.

...

Every. Single. Time.

Once the Token is set up the way you want it select the "Update Default Token" button and it should persist.

Well, now it works :)  I just set up a token action on one of my "test characters" and assigned control of that character to my dummy account. Logging in with the dummy account, I see the token action is present. I must have gotten confused between enabling macros as token actions and enabling macros on the player's macro bar.

keithcurtis said:

If you create a token action for them, it should just be available, with no further action on their part (other than having their token selected).

As for the Macro bar, I look at it as a compromise. GM and player can affect the token action bar, but only a user has control over their macro bar. As a player, I would do appreciate having part of the interface as "mine". I appreciate the pain point of that One Player (I have several), but changing this behavior might be beyond even the purview of however they plan on instituting this on the Beacon sheet system. It might be an issue that impacts all sheets across Roll20.

But I do recognize that this is a subject that is worth inquiring about. I am personally a little concerned about how the Attributes and Abilities are going to be included on the Beacon Sheets at all, considering that none of them have this capability yet.