Something Essentials won't solve (DDI rant) and proposals for new char. sheet format

[Saeviomagy]

Wait, you mean this Time Cube? That's only a possible exception? That's just low. If you wanted to insult it, you should have the decency to just swear at the designers and insult their mothers.*

Hey, at least time cube puts it's headline before it's content! But yeah, being just a tad hyperbolic there.

Technically I can't offhand think of something that falls between the two in terms of horrible layout... but that's just because I don't make a habit of memorizing bad layouts whenever I come across them.

In all seriousness, I see your point. I've never had trouble finding information, but I see what your saying.

Just to make it perfectly clear, the sheet itself is fine, it's the power cards with their field headings placed after their data that gets me.

5!

Oh, by the way, that's your attack bonus!

dex fort

   vs

 

[gjnave]

wow.. a 20th level Splug.. that reminds me of Deekin from Neverwinter Nights.

*BTW - I mistakenly thought Merric was the one who started this thread, which is why i responded directly to him and not everyone else (critical fail for perception roll)*

As for trouble finding stuff in the CB - the worst problem i have is finding specific weapons. I dont have a problem with powers (although if you do want to look at higher level powers, you have to level your character up that high - but hey! its a CB not a handbook) - however, the listing system for feats and weapons can be quite painful.

For example: I was looking for a specific weapon that I had seen before, but couldnt remember its exact name. Using the "search" box is utterly useless - it only brings up 1 "hit", and that might not even be in the same area you are looking. So, i had to just go through the list of weapons manually till I found it. It is bizarre to me that you could have a search function that doesnt aggregate matches (feats do the same thing).

 

[Kingreaper]

If searching, click enter repeatedly. It moves you on to the next example. With items this will loop around when you hit the bottom. With feats it won't, which is extra irritating.

 

[Xeterog]

Perhaps I should have been more clear. Inspiring Word is a healing power that doesn't require an attack roll. Right-clicking it doesn't even give you the option to get rid of the unarmed attack entry.

you should try it...works for me (I hadn't tried inspiring word before, but I'd done it on Healing word and majestic word successfully...so I build a level 1 warlord and what do you know, you can right click on the power, select customize, and uncheck unarmed to remove the unarmed attack roll.)

Granted, the program shouldn't put it there in the 1st place, but at least you can remove it easily enough

 

[kaomera]

Honestly, it sounds like this player would have trouble with AD&D!

To be honest, I think his main problems are that a) he was introduced to 4e via events with pre-gens, and b) he wanted to play a Swordmage, had been told that the PHB1 was "outdated", and didn't need most of the content in the FRPG, and so he ended up buying the Swordmage power cards decks - and I think that's the only 4e purchase he's made so far. He was taught to "calculate" his attack bonus by looking in the power listing on his character sheet. When the card said "Int vs. Ref" he added his Int bonus to his attack roll, just not half-level, proficiency, enhancement, or expertise... Once I showed him the list of the components of your attack bonus in the PHB he got it, although he still didn't have all of those bonuses easily at-hand.

I don't think the CB would have taught him this, and I wish I would have caught it earlier, but it would at least (probably) given him the correct numbers. A lot of players learn the game by playing, and with errata and now Essentials I see a lot of players who don't value owning any of the books unless they actually want to play a class therein. I think that close to half of my players have never really sat down with a copy of the PHB and just read it to learn the rules, as opposed to for character creation.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

As an occassional DM, having the ability to send characters through email is great.

The only gripe I have with CB other than the strange bug I have is the limited house rulings you can do, especially for magic items.

 

[jasonbostwick]

Absolutely. It seems like WotC came up with these "fill in your own" power cards and a traditional "fill in with a pencil" character sheet, and figured that the software should produce the same output.

That's insane.
....
The worst of it is that WotC already produced a great set of character sheets. Why can't the CB make these (see attached)?

-KS

Excellent point - that pre-gen character sheet is clean and simple, and has only the numbers that are needed at the table.

I've run into this problem not only with the CB in 4E, but with paper sheets in Pathfinder, and Warhammer RP 3E - character sheets are always designed to build a character on, not for quick reference in play.

While in Pathfinder I might have to deal with Ability Score loss and know what portion of my Reflex save is coming from Dex, in 4E that isn't necessary at all and all that is needed for play is the final number.


An output from the CB that contained only the essential stats to play your character with would be a welcome option.

 

[Jhaelen]

As an occassional DM, having the ability to send characters through email is great.

There's one problem, though: Everyone needs to use the same version of the Character Builder. Otherwise the character files are not compatible. That's a major PITA.