D&D 5E MPMB's D&D 5e Character Tools

[Ohillion]

JOOST! I have a suggestion for a project to add here. It may or may not violate terms of service and copywrite so I'll leave it to you to tell me otherwise.
You've already created an amazing character sheet for 5e. AND you've made it useful for us barbarians that don't use A4 (GASP!). And so I put the mantle of creating a monster modifier upon you. You already have a character builder and I believe you could put most monsters in here and have them come out fine. So here are my thoughts. Anything that I've noted with a "Check" is already in place and already allows for customizable scores.

Level: Check (Could be CR of creature instead of level. Fully adjustable based on what the DM wants)
Experience Points: (This becomes the Experience Points awarded for defeating this creature and should increase or decrease based on CR of the creature)
Hit Points: Check
Ability Scores: Check
Saves: Check
Skills: Check
Attacks: Check (the dropdowns should be loaded with special attacks and weapons that are considered monstrous.)
Initiative: Check
Speed: Check (Encumbrance not necessary)
Defense: Check

Racial Traits and Class Features combine to become descriptive text of the creature.
Personality/Ideal/Bond/Flaw - Not needed but could be a text section for DM notes.
Feats: I don't think this is necessary unless the DM wants to create an NPC but then they should be using the regular character sheet. Make this a longer section for DM notes.
Background Feature: Probably not needed
Proficiencies: Check
Languages: Check
Adventuring Gear: This becomes a Monster Treasure dropdown to add any sort of loot the DM wants to add.
Coins: Check
Gems: Add to Monster Treasure Dropdown list

My thinking is that any creature that is selected is pre-populated as per the MM or other source material for monsters. Then, if you want a higher level kobold (for instance) you increase the CR and some of the other things about that creature change along with it. Some things will have to be updated manually by the DM.

I wouldn't recommend adding this to the existing Character Sheet. Make it a whole new tool based on the Character Sheet. You don't want to bog down a Character Sheet that already is debugged, works well, and takes forever to reload when spells are added/subtracted. (By the way, can you bind a table specific to the spells portion of the character sheet that only changes the spells on that page rather than creating a whole new sheet and slowing the update down? I don't know how this stuff works and I'm totally clueless when it comes to programming but sometimes little suggestions make big differences.)
Anyway, that's my long and probably not so clear suggestion for a Monster Manipulator sheet but I'd be pretty stoked as a DM to have something like this available for my 5e gaming.

edit: Not sure if pics of the monsters are copywritten but you could put the pic where you have Limited Features on page 1 of the Character Sheet.

 

[morepurplemorebetter]

JOOST! I have a suggestion for a project to add here. It may or may not violate terms of service and copywrite so I'll leave it to you to tell me otherwise.
You've already created an amazing character sheet for 5e. AND you've made it useful for us barbarians that don't use A4 (GASP!). And so I put the mantle of creating a monster modifier upon you. You already have a character builder and I believe you could put most monsters in here and have them come out fine. So here are my thoughts. Anything that I've noted with a "Check" is already in place and already allows for customizable scores.

Level: Check (Could be CR of creature instead of level. Fully adjustable based on what the DM wants)
Experience Points: (This becomes the Experience Points awarded for defeating this creature and should increase or decrease based on CR of the creature)
Hit Points: Check
Ability Scores: Check
Saves: Check
Skills: Check
Attacks: Check (the dropdowns should be loaded with special attacks and weapons that are considered monstrous.)
Initiative: Check
Speed: Check (Encumbrance not necessary)
Defense: Check

Racial Traits and Class Features combine to become descriptive text of the creature.
Personality/Ideal/Bond/Flaw - Not needed but could be a text section for DM notes.
Feats: I don't think this is necessary unless the DM wants to create an NPC but then they should be using the regular character sheet. Make this a longer section for DM notes.
Background Feature: Probably not needed
Proficiencies: Check
Languages: Check
Adventuring Gear: This becomes a Monster Treasure dropdown to add any sort of loot the DM wants to add.
Coins: Check
Gems: Add to Monster Treasure Dropdown list

My thinking is that any creature that is selected is pre-populated as per the MM or other source material for monsters. Then, if you want a higher level kobold (for instance) you increase the CR and some of the other things about that creature change along with it. Some things will have to be updated manually by the DM.

I wouldn't recommend adding this to the existing Character Sheet. Make it a whole new tool based on the Character Sheet. You don't want to bog down a Character Sheet that already is debugged, works well, and takes forever to reload when spells are added/subtracted. (By the way, can you bind a table specific to the spells portion of the character sheet that only changes the spells on that page rather than creating a whole new sheet and slowing the update down? I don't know how this stuff works and I'm totally clueless when it comes to programming but sometimes little suggestions make big differences.)
Anyway, that's my long and probably not so clear suggestion for a Monster Manipulator sheet but I'd be pretty stoked as a DM to have something like this available for my 5e gaming.

edit: Not sure if pics of the monsters are copywritten but you could put the pic where you have Limited Features on page 1 of the Character Sheet.

Wow, seems you gave this idea a good amount of thought, cheers!

I like getting suggestions like these, even though they would be an awful lot of work and I'm currently drowning in that

Other than it being a lot of work, I have two things that I think make this something that is unlikely to succeed.

1) Do people really want a multi-page document for a single monster when the MM, numerous website, and several other PDF-based monster builders all do it with a fraction of a page?

2) How would the sheet increase the CR of a creature? As far as I know, there are no formulas for simply adding CR to a creature. Some people have made monster builders that can do the reverse, deduce the CR of a monster from its stats and abilities that you ascribe to it, but not the other way around.
As I see it, without any clear, simple rules that the code can follow to 'level' a monster, something like this would require a database of all the monsters at every possible CR level. That is an undertaking that would take me years!

 

[Ohillion]

1) Do people really want a multi-page document for a single monster when the MM, numerous website, and several other PDF-based monster builders all do it with a fraction of a page?

My original thought was that this could be only two pages. It could see this being reduced to one page. I don't think that would be impossible.

2) How would the sheet increase the CR of a creature? As far as I know, there are no formulas for simply adding CR to a creature. Some people have made monster builders that can do the reverse, deduce the CR of a monster from its stats and abilities that you ascribe to it, but not the other way around.
As I see it, without any clear, simple rules that the code can follow to 'level' a monster, something like this would require a database of all the monsters at every possible CR level. That is an undertaking that would take me years!

And this is the part that goes beyond my ability. In my head, I see a calculator that adds/subtracts a hidden numeric value based on HP, # of attacks per round, special abilities, spells, etc. The higher the 'level' of this data, the more adding behind the scenes happens. When the numbers add up to a specific value, the CR changes up or down. That way, you aren't simply reworking every creature at every possible level. Instead, the sheet calculates an overall value of what the DM wants on the creature and adjusts CR accordingly. I know that there was a tool for creature adjusting similar to the character builder for 4E that WotC started and eventually abandoned. Perhaps your reasoning is why. But there IS a working program that we used at our game table. It seemed simple enough and worked to make the DM's job of raising and lowering monsters fairly easy. I could go on to try to convince you that this is a worthwhile endeavor but as you're already swamped with work and work for hobbies, I don't think my rationale is going to get far. I appreciate you giving it a look though.

 

[morepurplemorebetter]

In my head, I see a calculator that adds/subtracts a hidden numeric value based on HP, # of attacks per round, special abilities, spells, etc. The higher the 'level' of this data, the more adding behind the scenes happens.

And this is where the issue lies. I understand where you are coming from, but unless I know what should be added when, there is no way I can make automation for it. As far as I know, there is no manual for adding CR to monsters, so there is no formulaic way of adjusting the stats of a creature to change its CR reliably. The "hidden numeric value" you talk about is a complete mystery to me what that should be

Doing the opposite is something that some tools are made to do. You manually adjust the HP, to hit, and/or AC of a creature, ant the tool helps you set a CR for the creature. What you are talking about is for the tool to determine the right HP, to hit, and AC from the CR number alone, which is a lot harder to do and a lot harder to give a meaningful result. As long as there are no straightforward rules for "increase Z by X to increase CR by 1", I wouldn't know where to start writing code for such a thing.

 

[Ohillion]

I was thinking more along the lines that each stat has a certain 'weight' to it (hence the hidden numeric value comment). For instance, if you increase a creatures STR by 2, you effectively add 1/10 (random number, not suggesting an actual value) to the CR. More modifications begin to have very real effects on the overall CR. But I see your point. With all those weight assignments the task gets pretty monumental. Well, I see you've thought about it already and I appreciate that you've taken the time to respond.

 

[morepurplemorebetter]

I was thinking more along the lines that each stat has a certain 'weight' to it (hence the hidden numeric value comment). For instance, if you increase a creatures STR by 2, you effectively add 1/10 (random number, not suggesting an actual value) to the CR. More modifications begin to have very real effects on the overall CR. But I see your point. With all those weight assignments the task gets pretty monumental. Well, I see you've thought about it already and I appreciate that you've taken the time to respond.

Your example is the opposite of your first post. It isn't that hard to give an assessed CR from stats, but it is very hard to give stats for a certain CR. So increasing the Str can change the CR a bit, and then changing the HP can change the CR a bit, etc. etc.

My thinking is that any creature that is selected is pre-populated as per the MM or other source material for monsters. Then, if you want a higher level kobold (for instance) you increase the CR and some of the other things about that creature change along with it. Some things will have to be updated manually by the DM.

In this quote from your original post you suggest the idea of changing the CR having an effect on the Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, proficiency bonus, AC, resistances, traits, features, etc. etc. I hope you understand that that is something very different.

 

[Yunru]

In my head, I see a calculator that adds/subtracts a hidden numeric value based on HP, # of attacks per round, special abilities, spells, etc. The higher the 'level' of this data, the more adding behind the scenes happens.

And how exactly is it supposed to determine between something non-CRing such as telepathy, and something highly CRing such as a displacer beast's 50% chance to be hit?

You'd need a text-reading AI, and then that'd be as baised as a human DM

 

[Ohillion]

And how exactly is it supposed to determine between something non-CRing such as telepathy, and something highly CRing such as a displacer beast's 50% chance to be hit?

You'd need a text-reading AI, and then that'd be as baised as a human DM

I don't know how programming works but I do know that there has to be some sort of weights and measures given to each creature in the MM to assess the CR. I was thinking that there could be a certain calculation that takes into account how a spell, or natural ability, or ability score increase could increase or decrease the CR of a creature.

 

[Ohillion]

Your example is the opposite of your first post. It isn't that hard to give an assessed CR from stats, but it is very hard to give stats for a certain CR. So increasing the Str can change the CR a bit, and then changing the HP can change the CR a bit, etc. etc.


In this quote from your original post you suggest the idea of changing the CR having an effect on the Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, proficiency bonus, AC, resistances, traits, features, etc. etc. I hope you understand that that is something very different.

I was thinking that you could do either...change the CR and other stats change (which you've said is nigh impossible and I'm good with that.) but you'll also see that said "other things about that creature change along with it" and while yes, it's the opposite idea, it was my attempt at communicating that we could approach the issue from different sides. One side is impossible but attacking the tool as an accumulation of changes to the pieces to come up with a higher level creature might not be so hard?

 

[Koren n'Rhys]

I don't know how programming works but I do know that there has to be some sort of weights and measures given to each creature in the MM to assess the CR. I was thinking that there could be a certain calculation that takes into account how a spell, or natural ability, or ability score increase could increase or decrease the CR of a creature.

The problem is that there are no "official" guidelines for these calculations. There is some guidance in the MM or DMG (forget which), but if you follow those, the results don't agree with the official CR values for monsters in the MM. So, it's a matter of DM opinion as he creates a monster and can't be programmed into the sheet. Any system MPMB tried to use, would ultimately just be his version of things.