Do you use a computer to help you create 3E characters and monsters?

[MerricB]

Pursuant to the Eric Noah thread, I'm wondering how many DMs use a computer in its calculation form (spreadsheet, PCgen, E-tools or other) to create PCs, NPCs and Monsters.

This is opposed to just using a word-processor to type them up and create character sheets (which is what I do).

Cheers!

 

[Victim]

I usually scribble madly on pieces of paper.

 

[LrdApoc]

I have used about every version of PCGen, ETools, DMBuddy, DMFamiliar and a few others, one thing I learned is never trust the results... always redo or scrutinize the characters the programs create.

 

[NiTessine]

I use only Word. I prefer to do the calculating myself, so they will be at least my mistakes.

Strangely, though, I have a registered version of Campaign Suite... I know it's good, probably the best there is, but I've never gotten around to using it for anything.

 

[cthuluftaghn]

I use an Excel spreadsheet that does all the calculations that I downloaded from RPG Sheets.com. It's designed specifically for Forgotten Realms characters, but it's useable for normal as well.

As far as straight character creation, it's very accurate and user friendly... there are very few bugs that I've seen, and they are easily correctable.

Not highly customizable unless you know a lot about Excel, which... I do. So I like it a lot.


For Wheel of Time, I made up a sheet in Publisher to print to PDF for our online campaign. I do all the calcs myself on that one.

 

[Quinn]

I use Heroforge, a nice little program that uses Microsoft Excel and produces very good results. To top it off, I'm fairly good with Excel, so I can modify it fairly easily if need be. Unfortunately, I don't know if the guy who built it is supporting it any longer. His site hasn't been updated in quite a while. But to emphasize my answer, computer support speeds up the character building process to the point where my players can generate a solid character of any level from scratch and have all of them ready to play in about 10 minutes flat. We wouldn't be lost without it, but we'd miss it terribly.

 

[Hygric]

I use PCGen all the time, and find it to be usefull, if not necessarilly accurate. So long as you can look at an end result and know "that looks wrong!" then I think they are valuable.

Just a little PCGen anecdote: recently had a PC dwarf whose AC PCGen somehow figured out to be 427. We guessed that it must have been his AC inside a mountain fortress...

 

[Dave Blewer]

I used to...

But, now my magic system has moved over to Elements of Magic, I use Monster's Handbook and my Sundered Sky campaign has non standard prices for items I don't find myself using any software now

 

[Gez]

The 2nd choice is the exact answer for me. I don't use generating stuff. It's either clunky or incomplete or bogus, and frequently all three at the same time.

Ironically, my brother just have a torrid passion for PC Gen. He will always download it ASAP, even when that ruined him in telephone bill (now we have ADSL). He has downloaded more version of that software than he has used, and probably more also than he has created character with it.

 

[johnsemlak]

I print out the character sheet and do it myself.

I like to roll the dice myself. Nothing like rolling dice.
I type them up usually, but not always with a special program.