Sassafrass |
Might as well go the whole nine yards and give suggestions here too; you seem to want feedback, so here goes.
Good sheet, but overall I think it could use some definite improvement. I would suggest getting Gender, Age, Height, Weight, Eyes, Hair-that area-and put it elsewhere on the sheet. Hell, I'd say go further and give it a full section: add an area for history, notable features, character relations, what have you, things you might see on more backstory-centric sheets. To go further and to repeat myself, you might add a box for character portrait/personal emblem (because signet rings never get enough love).
In relation to Skills, and more important than my last suggestion, you might consider adding additional Misc modifiers and a box for Trained bonus. Most players have a hard time keeping up with Misc mods, and putting them all in the same box gets taxing and leads to metaarguments in-game. Not necessary, but would certainly help.
On the Spell sheet, which you did beautifully, there is no need for expansion on what's there. I would, however, suggest adding a section for Familiar/Animal Companion, Bloodline (definitely Bloodline), and I'd consider a section specifically for if you have a Bonded Item, in case it's not a Glamdring-knock off.
The Gear section leaves much to be sought after. You might add a weight value to each of the spots for Gear, and for location on each thing. The biggest improvement to be made is overall weight of the products: this is the only sheet I've seen without that value box. Consider adding a section specifically for Magic Item location, as that can get tricky the more rings you run across in-game.
Aside from those suggestions I've got nothing more to add. Looking forward to future releases.
Notsonoble |
This update'll take longer, and may not be all Sassafrass asked for.
1) Expanding the description section... I'm trying to stay in a small(ish) setup. Super huge pages I'll leave to the portfolio products, I may still move it if you think it'd be better.
2) Skills, getting that second misc mod in has not gone well. I'll keep working, but no promises.
3) We'd gotten used to sticking that kind of info either in the gear section (bonded item) or Class Abilities section (familiar, bloodline, etc) but I'm looking into how to make this work.
4) Gear, many of these things existed in previous incarnations of the sheet, and over time people asked for their removal. I'm totally for adding the weight listing back though, as I didn't like it's removal anyway.
5) The image box might be hard, I was able to do a way with the "title" on the other two worksheets for it... but that space isn't there... I'll see.
So expect a gear weight column... and maybe the others if I can figure out how without adding an additional page.
Liz Courts Contributor |
Notsonoble |
I'm contemplating a major re-arrangement of charactersheets in general. there's some things we've all left where they are more by tradition than what makes since from usability pov. The NPC sheet I posted most recently has made me think about that a little. Since its a drastic change I'm going to add it as a second file rather than replace the existing sheet. This is mostly a heads up post.
Notsonoble |
Major update added. Several things were rearranged for legibility. You'll also notice there are two files now. The last revision is kept because the new sheet is flat.
The reason for this is two fold.
1) I went through a major hardware upgrade on my computer a while back, as such winxp and Acrobat Pro 9 were in a VM for production of products. That VM is beyond use anymore, and I no longer have my Acrobat 9 disks. Lifecycle is now a enterprise license, that would cost more a month than this sheet makes in a year. I've wanted to move away from Adobe software for a while now, this is a perfect time to do so.
2) Of the people who provide feedback, very few (here or other places) have said anything about the savable function of the sheet. It also doesn't behave very well when passed from player to DM and back (personal experience). The file is large and likes to crash pdf readers of all types. (Including Adobe Reader). In short, I have had more complaints about inherent side effects of a fillable and savable file than praise over that ability.
So I'm making a move I've wanted to make for years, but held back on because I wanted to keep a single feature in a few products going. A feature that is bug-ridden, and frankly is handled better by other software.
So, the last revision of the fillable character sheet will ALWAYS be included as part of the product. The revised sheets will be flat however.
Malwing |
Overall I've found this sheet to be relatively adequate. If I would change/add anything it would be a large fillable notes section or page, ammunition/point pool boxes, and editable skill lines or extra blank fillable skill lines. Mostly to accommodate third party skills and bonuses and keep track of classes that have multiple pools of abilities per day.
Malwing |
Mal are you talking about the new or old revision?
Well the one labeled as 'RevisedSheet' as of this timestamp is flat and relatively unfamiliar, so I guess I'm talking about the old revision(The one labeled as 'NSNG0001v3') removing the suggestion for the large editable notes section, as it already has one, but keeping the suggestion for editable or extra blank skill lines, and more ammunition/pool tracking boxes. For ammunition/pool tracking it would be helpful if that was just an extra page. Sometimes I find myself with several special arrows to track and not only need space for a number or check boxes but type in a reminder of what they do/the DC/ect. It would also go a long way of tracking things like Power Points, Essense and other third party things as well as third party casting systems.
The one labeled Revised is better in the sense that the magic item slots are labeled and AC items are on a separate page but it is not editable and has no room for notes meaning I can't write in reminders for what my abilities do with my hamfisted physical writing.
Notsonoble |
Mal, thanks for the clarification.
As said above, I no longer have access to a version of acrobat pro that lets me make fillable sheets. So the new revisions will have to be flat. I apologize for that and that's why both options will be in the download from here on (unless something other than Acrobat Pro eventually allows you to activate extended reader functions, and forums for pdfs stop being quite so clunky, and then I'll return to fillable revisions.)
I went back and forth with the loss of the notes section. When I asked for feedback most people said they take notes on scratch paper. So the notes section was removed for a better gear section.
That said, I can make the revision have a blank skill slot if you would like, and if enough people request it. I can extend the sheet to 5 or 6 pages. Would that be useful to you?
Malwing |
Mal, thanks for the clarification.
As said above, I no longer have access to a version of acrobat pro that lets me make fillable sheets. So the new revisions will have to be flat. I apologize for that and that's why both options will be in the download from here on (unless something other than Acrobat Pro eventually allows you to activate extended reader functions, and forums for pdfs stop being quite so clunky, and then I'll return to fillable revisions.)
I went back and forth with the loss of the notes section. When I asked for feedback most people said they take notes on scratch paper. So the notes section was removed for a better gear section.
That said, I can make the revision have a blank skill slot if you would like, and if enough people request it. I can extend the sheet to 5 or 6 pages. Would that be useful to you?
Yes. I recently used the flat version Deluxe Character sheet for the Vigilante playtest and had some more feedback.
1. There's no conditional modifier section for AC. This isn't normally an issue but I found my AC shifting a lot so it's nice to have.
2. There is a lot of room to manually write things down. The racial /Class Abilities/Feats section is marginally thin but I think it calls for a need for a notes and thing-tracker page.
3. I found an increasing need for a notes section mostly because I don't remember exactly what each thing does. This probably does mean I'm more likely to record what things do, particularly spells, complex feats and complex class features, on note paper anyway so it may not be too important. Would still recommend a thing-tracker page.
4. In the spell section there is no '# prepared' line which may be an issue. Same goes for any spells per day tracking for spontaneous casters.
Would it be okay to ask if there was a version where the skill lines were blank? I have reasons to sometimes use the consolidated skill list from Unchained. Its nice but may not be totally necessary.
Notsonoble |
I've created a blank line version of the feats/abilities/skills page, i'll update it soon to have one with that version.
I'm working on a "thing tracker" section, but really having trouble with placement. I can't see a good way to do it without making it an additional page. My local players have all grumbled at extra pages. (No internet comments yet...)
Malwing |
I've created a blank line version of the feats/abilities/skills page, i'll update it soon to have one with that version.
I'm working on a "thing tracker" section, but really having trouble with placement. I can't see a good way to do it without making it an additional page. My local players have all grumbled at extra pages. (No internet comments yet...)
Personally I think it's reasonable for a small tracker to be on the edge of the first sheet for things like ki or rage while there's a totally new sheet for tracking a lot of things. My reasoning for this is that one page tracking sheets are useful. If I'm using third party material or a martial or something I won't be using the spell sheet to begin with and will have plenty of things to track. In fact what I tend to do is print sheets that are class neutral and have make sheets that track things like spells, psionic powers, kineticist talents and whatnot sit as optional bonus sheets. Mostly because I find it convenient to take sheets to a print shop and print 4 page sheets as booklets and hand out single sheets for more specific class features like spells as needed. This way players pretty much just get the pages they need.
Notsonoble |
A question for those who've used the new sheet. I, and a mixed number of the locals. Really hate the ability modifier format for skills in the new version. (I did before doing it, but it was the only way to fit a temp mod line in.) The person requesting the temp mod has seen what it's done to the sheet when printed as well. I'm seriously considering while also posting the version with a blank skill section, back tracking the skills to the old version.
What would the internet prefer?