Character sheets with powers sorted by trigger?

[Prestidigitalis]

Conventional character sheets -- all the ones that I have seen anyway -- sort powers by usage: daily, encounter, and at-will.

But in actual play, I don't often find myself asking "What encounter powers have I not used yet?" Instead, I ask "What powers can I use as an immediate action?" / "opportunity action" / "when my aegis is triggered" / "after a critical hit" / etc.

So, does anyone know of -- or care to invent -- a sheet that works that way? What useful categories would there be? Obviously, a Fighter does not need to worry about aegis triggers, and a Swordmage does not have to worry about Combat Challenge triggers, but some triggers are common across classes. Here is a list to start:

- Standard action on my turn
- Move action on my turn
- Minor action on my turn
- Free/No action on my turn
- Free/No action at any time
- As an immediate action
- As an opportunity action
- When I use an action point
- When I become bloodied
- When I am reduced to 0 hit points
- When I am hit by a critical
- When I am hit
- When I am missed
- When I am attacked
- When an ally becomes bloodied
- When an ally is reduced to 0 hit points
- When an opponent becomes bloodied
- When an opponent is reduced to 0 hit points
- Due to aegis, combat challenge, divine challenge, oath, etc.

You can see the problem. There are many possible categories, so a regular sheet would be full of cases that do not apply to any given character. Yet I have scratched out just such a list on an index card for my Half-Orc Rageblood Barbarian Bear Warrior (LOTS of different categories for that combo, trust me) and found it to be quite helpful.

Note also that some powers fit into more than one category, so there is a potential problem if this list is where you also mark powers as "used".

If anyone finds this topic too dry, feel free to agree with me that Half-Orc Rageblood Barbarian Bear Warriors are clearly the best of all possible characters, and adorably cute in a fangy, furry way. Rawr!

 

[Thanlis]

Weem has you partially covered:

Weem’s 4e Combat Sheet : lastlands.com

It is not exactly what you want but it is akin to what you want.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Yeah, that's kind of like what I was talking about. There are things on it that I would exclude for the reason that I didn't wish to duplicate anything that is found elsewhere, other than the powers themselves.

 

[Dice4Hire]

- Standard action on my turn
- Move action on my turn
- Minor action on my turn
- Free/No action on my turn
- Free/No action at any time
- As an immediate action
- As an opportunity action
- When I use an action point
- When I become bloodied
- When I am reduced to 0 hit points
- When I am hit by a critical
- When I am hit
- When I am missed
- When I am attacked
- When an ally becomes bloodied
- When an ally is reduced to 0 hit points
- When an opponent becomes bloodied
- When an opponent is reduced to 0 hit points
- Due to aegis, combat challenge, divine challenge, oath, etc.

If I had a sheet with all those categories my brain would fry.

On my homemade sheets, I organize by W/E/D with utilities throw in the appropriate places, but put the action in bold right beside the name, so it is easy to scan down and see what I can do.

But really, I rarely have powers that trigger off of most of those conditions.

I can see some people needing a sheet like that though. Maybe a good add-on for essentials? Sheets that allow you to sort powers in different ways, so he player coulld ahve a couple different arrangements sitting there?

Might work.

 

[DracoSuave]

You can see the problem.

Not if you use power cards.

Then you sort them how you like.

No need to kill trees just to have a bajillion triggers when most characters rarely have no more than one or two at most.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

If I had a sheet with all those categories my brain would fry.

Sure, me too. Like I said, you wouldn't want a sheet that had all those categories -- you would want something customized for your own character. That's what makes it an interesting challenge.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Not if you use power cards.

Then you sort them how you like.

No need to kill trees just to have a bajillion triggers when most characters rarely have no more than one or two at most.

Some powers can be used in more than one way -- standard action and immediate action, for example. If your character doesn't have that sort of problem, you can skip the whole exercise.

A bit more background: I created my original index card list because I kept trying to use my Barbarian Rampage power when I knocked an opponent to 0 hit points, which is WRONG, because the real trigger for Rampage is a critical hit. The 0 hit point thing triggers different effects.

A list of this sort plays could help with Grind, too. Faster analysis of options leads to a) completing one's turn quickly, and b) not missing out on available options that help put foes in the ground quickly.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Not if you use power cards.

Then you sort them how you like.

Power Cards = Epic Win!

• You can lay down the cards for your turn in advance and you're ready to go once your turn comes around.
• Keep cards at hand with a lasting effect, don't forget your precious buffs!
• With power cards your combat skill at the table exceeds that of Chuck Norris

Power Cards they are just that awesome!

 

[fba827]

Conventional character sheets -- all the ones that I have seen anyway -- sort powers by usage: daily, encounter, and at-will.

But in actual play, I don't often find myself asking "What encounter powers have I not used yet?" Instead, I ask "What powers can I use as an immediate action?" / "opportunity action" / "when my aegis is triggered" / "after a critical hit" / etc.

(snip)

I don't use power cards, I use hand-made printed out sheets from a word processor. (I tried power cards once, I ended up fidgeting with them too much because of my OCD to keep them piled and sorted and counted, but that's another issue altogether).

But, yes, in addition to my sheet with the powers written out, I have my "combat reference sheet" which has category names ("Standard" "Move" "Minor" "Immediate" "Free") Followed by the power name, frequency, and level. So it looks something like ...

Standard
Power A (at will, 1)
Power B (encounter, 1)
Power C (daily, 5)

Minor
Power D (at will, 1)
Power E (enc, 3)

Immediate
Power F (daily, utility 2)

Free
Power G (daily, 1)

And then the back of the sheet has some conditionals sorted by attack / damage / position "If I have CA, I also do X ..." If I score a crit with implement, add +2d6 damage" and so on)

Each PC I've ever had had slight variations, for instance, my druid has powers that can be used in animal vs humanoid vs either form. so there were extra subcategories and so on. But basically, it's just a list with categories that are appropriate to the given PC. And that lets me reference back to the power stat blocks themselves.

As an side-point, I always sorted monster powers like this too -- it makes it easier when I DM. Of course, WotC has realized this on their own and future monster stat blocks are written this way too -- sorted by type of action (Standard/minor/immediate/traits) rather than power level.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

But, yes, in addition to my sheet with the powers written out, I have my "combat reference sheet" which has category names ("Standard" "Move" "Minor" "Immediate" "Free") Followed by the power name, frequency, and level.

I organize my power reference sheet the same way. I figure we already have color as an easy way to find powers by frequency of use; we should be using space to group by action type and trigger.

As an side-point, I always sorted monster powers like this too -- it makes it easier when I DM. Of course, WotC has realized this on their own and future monster stat blocks are written this way too -- sorted by type of action (Standard/minor/immediate/traits) rather than power level.

Yeah, and I hope they follow suit with their pregen character sheets. That would be awesome! (And then just allow the Character Builder to use that format....)