Scurvy_Platypus
Explorer
I like the Mad Irishman sheet.
I've also got an Excel sheet that I downloaded that's pretty good. It did have some computational errors in it (and claimed it had fixed all the errors it had found in the previous version), but I think I've found the majority of those.
The advantage the Excel sheet has in general is that it's the sort of thing you can make changes in, and then _save_ those changes easily. Which means you really only have to input your character once, and then you can just update the saved version.
I do find that handling the various math stuff is easier in Excel than in Acrobat. Not saying you can't do the math stuff in Acrobat, just that it's easier for me to process and figure out how to get it done in Excel.
What many people seem to miss with the editable pdfs, is that unless you have the full version of Acrobat (not just Reader) or some other 3rd party software (like FoxIt), you'll be able to type stuff into the document, but not actually save it with the information put into it.
Foxit is pretty good for handling pdfs in general, but there are some pdfs that it chokes on. For example, Mad Irishman's sheets which are made with layers. Foxit doesn't seem to handle that at all. One of the companies that does pdf maps (0one?) also throws Foxit for a loop.
I've got the Adobe products at home and work, and I've even made a sheet for my Everstone game, largely inspired by Mad Irishman's sheets. It's a pain in the butt. One day I want to go back and rework it but even after having done the sheet several months ago, every time I look at it I think, "Hmmm.... maybe next month."
I've never had luck making the Emma sheets work, so I've got no idea how those are.
The big problem all of these sheets have (Excel or PDF) is the layout of course. PDF sheets seem to be prone to people using all kinds of funky fonts to try and make the sheet "attractive" which usually just makes it more difficult to use. After that, it becomes a matter of personal taste.
For example, I personally like having skills seperated by whether they can be used untrained or not. I haven't seen a sheet yet that does that.
In general, I'm not really wild about the default WotC sheet layout which is what the majority of the sheets out there follow.
I've also got an Excel sheet that I downloaded that's pretty good. It did have some computational errors in it (and claimed it had fixed all the errors it had found in the previous version), but I think I've found the majority of those.
The advantage the Excel sheet has in general is that it's the sort of thing you can make changes in, and then _save_ those changes easily. Which means you really only have to input your character once, and then you can just update the saved version.
I do find that handling the various math stuff is easier in Excel than in Acrobat. Not saying you can't do the math stuff in Acrobat, just that it's easier for me to process and figure out how to get it done in Excel.
What many people seem to miss with the editable pdfs, is that unless you have the full version of Acrobat (not just Reader) or some other 3rd party software (like FoxIt), you'll be able to type stuff into the document, but not actually save it with the information put into it.
Foxit is pretty good for handling pdfs in general, but there are some pdfs that it chokes on. For example, Mad Irishman's sheets which are made with layers. Foxit doesn't seem to handle that at all. One of the companies that does pdf maps (0one?) also throws Foxit for a loop.
I've got the Adobe products at home and work, and I've even made a sheet for my Everstone game, largely inspired by Mad Irishman's sheets. It's a pain in the butt. One day I want to go back and rework it but even after having done the sheet several months ago, every time I look at it I think, "Hmmm.... maybe next month."
I've never had luck making the Emma sheets work, so I've got no idea how those are.
The big problem all of these sheets have (Excel or PDF) is the layout of course. PDF sheets seem to be prone to people using all kinds of funky fonts to try and make the sheet "attractive" which usually just makes it more difficult to use. After that, it becomes a matter of personal taste.
For example, I personally like having skills seperated by whether they can be used untrained or not. I haven't seen a sheet yet that does that.
In general, I'm not really wild about the default WotC sheet layout which is what the majority of the sheets out there follow.
