Question for the editors (...but posted here as I imagine the answer is of general interest.)
I've gotten in the habit of doing NPC write-ups in excel spreadsheets as a way of having all the math visible at once and automatically tallied. Is this an acceptable format to submit the "showing the work" requirement for submissions, or should I be converting these over to Word before sending them your way?
Question for the editors (...but posted here as I imagine the answer is of general interest.)
I've gotten in the habit of doing NPC write-ups in excel spreadsheets as a way of having all the math visible at once and automatically tallied. Is this an acceptable format to submit the "showing the work" requirement for submissions, or should I be converting these over to Word before sending them your way?
We would prefer it in Word.
But, if you are good enough with Excel to make the "show the work" stat blocks look just like they do in Word, I suppose that's fine too.
The bottom line is that we don't want to have to figure out a new stat block format in order to read your showing the work document, so if you can't do the new (and now standard) format in Excel, stick to Word.
Oooh - follow-up question time! :)
So when we show our work - in a separate Word doc, as per the Guidelines ;) - we should pretty much just duplicate the stat block, and include lines under, for example, the Saving Throws entry to show how we got that number?
Do you have a preferred method for us to use to make the math look different than the actual text? Different color text? Highlighted text? Something else?
Oooh - follow-up question time! :)
So when we show our work - in a separate Word doc, as per the Guidelines ;) - we should pretty much just duplicate the stat block, and include lines under, for example, the Saving Throws entry to show how we got that number?
Do you have a preferred method for us to use to make the math look different than the actual text? Different color text? Highlighted text? Something else?
Here is an example "showing the work" stat block from "Funeral Procession," courtesy of Mark Hart. All of the "showing the work" text (that is, text that would be cut from the final version) was highlighted in yellow in the Word doc. In general, we would like to see something like this:
Kinto Anderhoff CR 2
Male human rogue 2
NE Medium humanoid
Init +8 (+4 Dex, Improved Initiative); Senses Listen +6, Spot +6
Languages Common, Elven, Giant, Goblin
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 12; Dodge (leather armor, +4 Dex)
hp 14 (2 HD)
Fort +2 (+2 Con), Ref +7 (+3 base, +4 Dex), Will +1 (+1 Wis); evasion
Spd 30 ft.
Melee mwk rapier +4 (1d6+2/18-20) (+1 BAB, +2 Str, +1 mwk rapier)
Ranged thrown dagger +5 (1d4+1/19-20) (+1 BAB, +4 Dex)
Base Atk +1; Grp +3 (+1 BAB, +2 Str)
Atk Options sneak attack +1d6
Combat Gear 2 vials of alchemist’s fire, potion of cat’s grace
Abilities Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10
SQ trapfinding
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative
Skills (6) Appraise +8 (+5 rank, +3 Int), Balance +9 (+5 rank, +4 Dex), Craft (trapmaker) +8 (+5 rank, +3 Int), Disable Device +8 (+5 rank, +3 Int), Escape Artist +9 (+5 rank, +4 Dex), Gather Information +5 (+5 rank), Handle Animal +2 (+2 rank), Jump +6 (+4 rank, +2 Str), Knowledge (local) +6 (+3 rank, +3 Int), Listen +6 (+5 rank, +1 Wis), Open Lock +6 (+2 rank, +4 Dex), Sleight of Hand +9 (+5 rank, +4 Dex), Spot +6 (+5 rank, +1 Wis), Tumble +6 (+2 rank, +4 Dex)
Possessions Combat gear, masterwork rapier, 4 daggers, leather armor, 29 gp, 15 sp
My only nitpicks with this are that I would like to see a breakdown of the hitpoints and gear value as well.
Anyway, that should give you some idea of what we're looking for.