Pathfinder Geekery (A Math Question)


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


So I'm trying to make myself a custom, largely automated character sheet using Excel, so that all that I have to do to update my character's numerical values is to adjust the value of my Druid Level field.

Problem! I have all of the maths figured out for my animal companion except for the Fort/Ref saves and for some reason that math is making my brain turn into green jelly.

Can anybody with too much time on their hands and a better head for math than I apparently have clue me in on the pattern/formula used for that?
3,3,3,4,4,5,5,5,6,6,6,7,7,8,8,8,9,9,9,10

I can make the thing work right up until fifth level, and then sixth throws a monkey wrench right into my math. WTF?


It should be:

(save bonus) = 2 + FLOOR((animal HD)/2)

(animal HD) = (druid level) + 1 - FLOOR((druid level + 1)/4)


Sean Dunn wrote:
I can make the thing work right up until fifth level, and then sixth throws a monkey wrench right into my math. WTF?

You'd be better off with a LOOKUP function than trying to make a formula work. It'll be slighlty more effort with an array on another page, but easier in the long run. (and more readily modifiable.)


Petrus222 wrote:


You'd be better off with a LOOKUP function than trying to make a formula work. It'll be slighlty more effort with an array on another page, but easier in the long run. (and more readily modifiable.)

Eh? I thought the formula I provided was pretty straightforward.


hogarth wrote:
Petrus222 wrote:


You'd be better off with a LOOKUP function than trying to make a formula work. It'll be slighlty more effort with an array on another page, but easier in the long run. (and more readily modifiable.)
Eh? I thought the formula I provided was pretty straightforward.

It is, but I suspect he may have trouble with rounding errors for (mulitple) fractional bonuses

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Have you checked out sCoreGen? It's the most thorough Excel-based character generator I've seen for Pathfinder. The designer is currently working on the final rules version, so all you'll see up there is the Beta, but perhaps you can use your expertise to aid him in getting that done. There's a forum where you can discuss it.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Hogarth's works pretty well - no fraction issues. Though I'd use Rounddown instead of Floor.


Petrus222 wrote:
hogarth wrote:
Petrus222 wrote:


You'd be better off with a LOOKUP function than trying to make a formula work. It'll be slighlty more effort with an array on another page, but easier in the long run. (and more readily modifiable.)
Eh? I thought the formula I provided was pretty straightforward.
It is, but I suspect he may have trouble with rounding errors for (mulitple) fractional bonuses

I don't get what you mean. The formulas I gave should come up with exact values (since I use the FLOOR() function); there are no rounding errors.

See this spreadsheet, if you don't believe me:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t0KxKU6HmdzjDcgOI6-zlnQ

EDIT: Majuba, I'm a mathematician, and we use the FLOOR function, dadgummit. :-)


hogarth wrote:
I don't get what you mean. The formulas I gave should come up with exact values (since I use the FLOOR() function); there are no rounding errors.

My bad. I didn't recognize floor as an excel function (don't get a lot of call for it in chemistry).


I didn't recognize the FLOOR() function, myself. But I found a different way of getting the same effect through a formula after crunching a lot of different combinations

=ROUNDDOWN((Lvl+IF(Lvl>13,2,IF(Lvl>5,1,0))-1)/3,0)+3

Where Lvl = the named cell where I've entered my Druid Levels.

My problem was that I was adding the IF(Lvl>13,2,IF(Lvl>5,1)) after my rounding instead of before.

Simple answers to stupid math questions work wonders and perhaps tonight I'll actually get to sleep. Thanks for the thoughts, folks.


Petrus222 wrote:
Sean Dunn wrote:
I can make the thing work right up until fifth level, and then sixth throws a monkey wrench right into my math. WTF?
You'd be better off with a LOOKUP function than trying to make a formula work. It'll be slighlty more effort with an array on another page, but easier in the long run. (and more readily modifiable.)

Some comments... In 2003, lookup functions don't always behave well with ranges on another page.

Second of all, you can input the array into the formula directly, using commas and semi-colons.

I do this for making excel auto-calculate my point-buy system for me.

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