Zin's Character Sheet

tkwickham · May 31, 2011

A little late on the response: but here's a little something I did for a recent campaign.

4e Dungeons & Dragons Character Sheet/Booklett on the Behance Network

Ferghis · Jun 2, 2011

I'm very happy about this. I had made my own sheet with the combat stuff on one side, and the non-combat stuff on the other, but making a trigger section is a genius idea.

Does it auto-calculate stuff, so when the character levels up, I can just change a few numbers and add the feat or power?

Zinovia said:
Rachel said:

Also, I absolutely like having the "calculation boxes" on a character sheet, and prefer to use a sheet with those. For me they are must. I want to be able to see where all my mods are coming from...

Click to expand...

I tend to feel the same way, but removing them would be good if the goal is a more streamlined simple sheet, especially for new gamers, pregens for convention use, or kids. So I may do a version without them, but like you, I want to see where a given number came from, and be able to update things on the fly if I get a new item during a session.

I like the calculations broken out too (I've come full circle on this issue), but I think that, if you needed space, they'd be easily moved to a "math sheet" that can just be put away and referenced rarely. That's what I did with my character sheet.

Nytmare said:
There are a handful of problems associated with having something that reads .dnd4e files. The biggest is that the file itself is a freaking mess, but running a close second in my mind is that the file itself doesn't store any of the power, feat, or ability descriptions.

I don't think they've even remotely solved the first issue, but the second one is. I'm told now that the info is actually IN the xml file. The new problem is that they update the format so often that staying with it takes a lot of work, at least for Andrew Reutter, who works on (and created) iPlay4e.

Ferghis · Jun 2, 2011

tkwickham said:
A little late on the response: but here's a little something I did for a recent campaign.

4e Dungeons & Dragons Character Sheet/Booklett on the Behance Network

This is VERY sexy, but I'd hate to see a high level non-essentials and non Power-point character working in this format. That sheet would become an accordion.

Zinovia · Jul 3, 2011

Ferghis said:
I'm very happy about this. I had made my own sheet with the combat stuff on one side, and the non-combat stuff on the other, but making a trigger section is a genius idea.

Thanks! It's clearly been awhile since I worked on this, and I was out of town for much of June and missed your comment.

Does it auto-calculate stuff, so when the character levels up, I can just change a few numbers and add the feat or power?

It does auto-calculate some of the numbers, but there were GSL restrictions on some types of calculations. I'd have to look at it again on my computer. I'm on my ipad right now at about 5 am courtesy of insomnia. Lol.

I like the calculations broken out too (I've come full circle on this issue), but I think that, if you needed space, they'd be easily moved to a "math sheet" that can just be put away and referenced rarely. That's what I did with my character sheet.

If I go ahead and make a simplified version, a math sheet is exactly what I would do. I found that extra numbers cluttering things up tend to be confusing, especially for people new to the game. The worst issue is the formulas that WotC sheets include so prominently. People are always looking at the 2[W]+STR line rather than the calculated amount. They try to recalculate it every time. Combat takes too long already. I want clear attack and damage values to be totalled up and ready to go.

I'm not entirely happy with the implementation of my sheet as a form, due largely to limitations in Acrobat, but I've reached the point where it is usable and does most of what I want. I should take another look at a file generated by the new builder and see where that issue stands as well. More automation might be nice, but involves a lot of changes in how I did this. It started from a design standpoint, and was all about making the final printed form more usable.

Thanks for the feedback. We're using these sheets in my game still, but I'll take another look at them and see where they could be improved. I'm the DM, so I don't spend much time actually looking at the sheet myself.

Ferghis · Jul 13, 2011

I see an error: I have a character with Dex 13 and Int 9, and the reflex bonus auto-populates at 0.

Also, it would be nice to enter the item bonus for neck items on the third page and have it populate to the non-AC defenses on the first page. Same for the armor. But that might just be me.

Finally, I need more room among the conditional effects. I would remove the sub-section headers.