HRSegovia
Explorer
There are many out there, and with good reason: the official one is a piece of crap. So here's my take on the sheet.
What it ISN'T:
- fancy or pretty
- convoluted
- official
- For everyone
What it IS:
- Organized
- Magic Friendly
- Obviously cheaply made on Excel
Odd things you'll notice (intentional with good reason):
- No Combat Cards
- No "Basic Attack" section
- No 1/2lvl boxes. Your level does not change from day to day. Once you level, increase your stuff and move-on. A note is at the bottom of the sheet as a reminder what gets 1/2lvl.
- No []+[]+[]+[]+[]+[]+[] that's grown quite familiar since 3rd Ed. The only place this was included was under weapons which is more informative and less mathematical.
THE HEART OF THE SHEET
The entire heart of this sheet is organization. I firmly believed the official sheet "shotgunned" the information in order to make way for a few features that were unnecessary. The idea of redoing the sheet originated from the mind-numbing Attack Workspace, Damage Workspace, and Basic Attacks which were unnecessary, sloppy and actually had a negative affect on the sheet. It did more harm than good.
There are three levels to organization: sheet, column, and box.
PROFILE SHEET
The profile is your naked character. This sheet reflects all the things that make your character who he is, what he knows and what he can do (and not what he owns or what he has achieved).
The left column is his abilities and skills. You'll notice skills have been intermingled with the abilities. This idea is nothing new, but I like it. In the end, you'll find this design saves much convolution by omitting ability mods, 1/2lvls, and "5"'s for trained. Trained is always "5" and there's no need to constantly fill in the same number for 1/2lvl for every skill. -- While languages don't exactly work in the same way abilities and skills do, I feel they fall under the same category, so you will find them at the bottom of the column.
The center column is all about your character's defense, durability and action. You won't find weapons and attacks here (this is your naked character). The first box is defenses. In an attempt to remove []+[]+[], I've made a generic box indicating which stat applies. By allowing players to jot down only the modifiers which apply, it's removed some of the convolution while allowing them to include where the bonus came from. This is very important when you consider that these mods are not as "solid" as they used to be. If a player sheds his heavy armor, for example, it's easier to remember that he can use his intelligence instead of DEX for AC. Psychologically, it seems easier to disregard the written note: "+4 from Armor" than a cold hard [4] under a tiny "Armor" notation. In addition, having 10+DEX or INT in the box is an easier reminder of the ability to swap than the tiny box labeled a generic "ability".
The right column has a great hidden importance: the inclusion of a reference section to replace power cards. Powers are no different from feats and spells. In 2nd and 3rd Ed, we memorized these. The inclusion of cards has made players lazy, and so in an attempt to make things easier, has made things difficult in the long-run. With a reference section, players can quickly refer to a book as a reminder of what a power does (just as spell casters did to remind themselves of certain spells). Soon enough, powers will be memorized too. -- Also, special abilities and feats are included in the powers column as these are special skills that don't fall under abilities and skills. *Note* My philosophy may be incorrect here, but it seems to make sense to me and works for my players. It definitely condenses the sheet. Why write something down that's been neatly written for you?
ACQUISITIONS
This is the easiest sheet to explain. If you can acquire it, physically or metaphysically, it goes here: Weapons, Armor, Money, Gear, XP... it all goes here. The most important detail is the weapons box. All weapons are basic attacks, and most of your basic attacks are weapons (spells/abilities like magic missile that are basic attacks are labeled as such so there's no need to duplicate it on another section called "basic attacks" just because it "belongs"). So by placing all the details surrounding the weapon, we've eliminated the need for Basic Attack, Attack Workspace, and Damage Workspace. You'll also notice I've separated the Damage and Damage Mod. This is to prevent the accidental duplication of the Damage Mod when using a Weapon Power (for example: a power that does 1[W]+Str Mod, and mistaking 1d10+5 as [W] rather than 1d10 - therefore mistakenly making your damage 1d10+5+5).
MAGIC
By far the most useful addition is the DURA Magic Sheet. This sheet is targetted towards Wizards, Ritual Casters and Alchemists. -- I first became aware of the need for this sheet the very first game I ran. Wizards certainly needed a better way to keep track of their spell book and prepared (memorized) spells.
On the DURA Magic Sheet you'll find a chart for wizards to keep track of how many spells of each level they can memorize. Then they go down the list of spells and "check-off" the spells they want for that day. It's up to you if you want a separate sheet for each spell book and ritual book. I use the same sheet. Each entry has a check box for prepped spells, and DURA check boxes to determine if the entry is "D"aily, "U"tility, "R"itual or "A"lchemy. Also included is a place to track your spell components. I felt it was important to track it here rather than Acquisitions for "grouping" reasons. It's easy to forget you need spell components when they're sitting in that long list of gear. By viewing it every time you view your rituals and alchemy, you can keep tabs as to which components are getting low.
What it ISN'T:
- fancy or pretty
- convoluted
- official
- For everyone
What it IS:
- Organized
- Magic Friendly
- Obviously cheaply made on Excel
Odd things you'll notice (intentional with good reason):
- No Combat Cards
- No "Basic Attack" section
- No 1/2lvl boxes. Your level does not change from day to day. Once you level, increase your stuff and move-on. A note is at the bottom of the sheet as a reminder what gets 1/2lvl.
- No []+[]+[]+[]+[]+[]+[] that's grown quite familiar since 3rd Ed. The only place this was included was under weapons which is more informative and less mathematical.
THE HEART OF THE SHEET
The entire heart of this sheet is organization. I firmly believed the official sheet "shotgunned" the information in order to make way for a few features that were unnecessary. The idea of redoing the sheet originated from the mind-numbing Attack Workspace, Damage Workspace, and Basic Attacks which were unnecessary, sloppy and actually had a negative affect on the sheet. It did more harm than good.
There are three levels to organization: sheet, column, and box.
PROFILE SHEET
The profile is your naked character. This sheet reflects all the things that make your character who he is, what he knows and what he can do (and not what he owns or what he has achieved).
The left column is his abilities and skills. You'll notice skills have been intermingled with the abilities. This idea is nothing new, but I like it. In the end, you'll find this design saves much convolution by omitting ability mods, 1/2lvls, and "5"'s for trained. Trained is always "5" and there's no need to constantly fill in the same number for 1/2lvl for every skill. -- While languages don't exactly work in the same way abilities and skills do, I feel they fall under the same category, so you will find them at the bottom of the column.
The center column is all about your character's defense, durability and action. You won't find weapons and attacks here (this is your naked character). The first box is defenses. In an attempt to remove []+[]+[], I've made a generic box indicating which stat applies. By allowing players to jot down only the modifiers which apply, it's removed some of the convolution while allowing them to include where the bonus came from. This is very important when you consider that these mods are not as "solid" as they used to be. If a player sheds his heavy armor, for example, it's easier to remember that he can use his intelligence instead of DEX for AC. Psychologically, it seems easier to disregard the written note: "+4 from Armor" than a cold hard [4] under a tiny "Armor" notation. In addition, having 10+DEX or INT in the box is an easier reminder of the ability to swap than the tiny box labeled a generic "ability".
The right column has a great hidden importance: the inclusion of a reference section to replace power cards. Powers are no different from feats and spells. In 2nd and 3rd Ed, we memorized these. The inclusion of cards has made players lazy, and so in an attempt to make things easier, has made things difficult in the long-run. With a reference section, players can quickly refer to a book as a reminder of what a power does (just as spell casters did to remind themselves of certain spells). Soon enough, powers will be memorized too. -- Also, special abilities and feats are included in the powers column as these are special skills that don't fall under abilities and skills. *Note* My philosophy may be incorrect here, but it seems to make sense to me and works for my players. It definitely condenses the sheet. Why write something down that's been neatly written for you?
ACQUISITIONS
This is the easiest sheet to explain. If you can acquire it, physically or metaphysically, it goes here: Weapons, Armor, Money, Gear, XP... it all goes here. The most important detail is the weapons box. All weapons are basic attacks, and most of your basic attacks are weapons (spells/abilities like magic missile that are basic attacks are labeled as such so there's no need to duplicate it on another section called "basic attacks" just because it "belongs"). So by placing all the details surrounding the weapon, we've eliminated the need for Basic Attack, Attack Workspace, and Damage Workspace. You'll also notice I've separated the Damage and Damage Mod. This is to prevent the accidental duplication of the Damage Mod when using a Weapon Power (for example: a power that does 1[W]+Str Mod, and mistaking 1d10+5 as [W] rather than 1d10 - therefore mistakenly making your damage 1d10+5+5).
MAGIC
By far the most useful addition is the DURA Magic Sheet. This sheet is targetted towards Wizards, Ritual Casters and Alchemists. -- I first became aware of the need for this sheet the very first game I ran. Wizards certainly needed a better way to keep track of their spell book and prepared (memorized) spells.
On the DURA Magic Sheet you'll find a chart for wizards to keep track of how many spells of each level they can memorize. Then they go down the list of spells and "check-off" the spells they want for that day. It's up to you if you want a separate sheet for each spell book and ritual book. I use the same sheet. Each entry has a check box for prepped spells, and DURA check boxes to determine if the entry is "D"aily, "U"tility, "R"itual or "A"lchemy. Also included is a place to track your spell components. I felt it was important to track it here rather than Acquisitions for "grouping" reasons. It's easy to forget you need spell components when they're sitting in that long list of gear. By viewing it every time you view your rituals and alchemy, you can keep tabs as to which components are getting low.
