Hi!
When the official 5e Dataset came out for me of course a comparision between the official one and my own 5e Dataset was interesting. Here are the results. Please note that "my version" is NOT available to other people due to two reasons:
a) I would not want to destroy sales for Wolf Lair, so if I would anytime release anything it would be at a much later time
b) The incomplete SRD, I do not want to work a lot on removing code from my implementation to make it SRD-compatible. This would be really a LOT of work, as non-SRD-stuff is all over the place in my implementation. Also I am a coder, not a lawyer, I want to avoid that I "miss" an occurance of a non-SRD-item.
1. GUI
The GUI of the official dataset is much superior to my own (which is based on the 4e dataset). It looks much more polished, and the internal code is - I assume, without seeing it - probably "less hacky" than mine is in parts.
How do I select a magic weapon/armor, though? Could not find out that? Only other magic items I found.
2. Multiclass
The official version has full multiclass support, while my version only offers two classes at the same time. On the other hand I found it is easier to click together a levelup on my version. The "multiclass chooser" for my version is a bit unintuitive, though, while the one of the official version is very intuitive.
3. Character sheet
The character sheet is not so easy to decide. I like the "resource-tracker" of the official version a lot, which seems to track ALL resources, while mine only tracks some (and some more are tracked on top of page 1), so in this field the official version is superior. Also having the character portrait of page 1 is very nice (on mine it is on page 2). On the other hand having a list of all attack spells with DC, Attack value and Damage (!) they do on page 1 in my implementation is I think MUCH better than the official version. So in play you see all the data you need. I think it would be nice if this would still get added to the official version. Also it seems stuff like "War Mage's Wand" is not included into the calculation of spell attack values in the official version. Other stuff seems to be included (the Flame Blade of course, though
I like the much "shorter" print output in my version better, prefer +2d6 Fire to "plus 2d6 fire when ablaze".
I also miss a Spell Slot Display in the official version.
Personally I would prefer Page 1 from my version, combined with Page 2 from the official version, with the Spell Slot Display (or Spellpoint Cost display, depending on setting) of my version added to Page 2. And then the Power Cards from my version.
4. Optional Rules
I like the optional rules of Spellpoint System, Skip Power Cards for stuff in the GF9 Cards, and of "let the player roll all Saves" (different calculation of DC). Would be great if these could still be added to the official version. I would be willing to provide code from my version if this is any help.
I also like the "Campaign Chooser" in my version, where if you for example select "Forgotten Realms" stuff from Thule or Dragonlance is not displayed in the GUI, but that's a minor feature.
5. Some disadvantages of my version not mentioned
For my version it is quite tricky to add a new class (new spec is easy, though) due to the a bit tricky implementation I did. This could become an issue "along the line" when more source books are released for D&D Next.
Also the wizard spellbook and the spells you choose for the day selection is using a VERY unintuitive GUI, while this is very nicely done in the offical version (though it works some way for both versions).
Also the "you chose too many spells" checker in my version still has the occasional bug I did not yet root out (but it's still possible to print out the character even then).
Everything else seems to be the same status of implementation for both versions (though of course my version has also a lot of non-SRD stuff implemented, which is also a reason I cannot release anything as it is not easy to separate the two of them, SRD-stuff and non-SRD-stuff).
Overall I think the Hero Lab team did a great job on the datafiles. I hope they can still add some features (especially on the Character sheet - and as I said, I would be willing to provide some code - I think it is not possible to modify the character sheet with the editor without the .dat file provided
).
For myselves I will probably stay with my version for now, as some of the missing features are dealbreakers for me.
Best regards,
MagicSN