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...what would you change?
I would add stealth to the header next to perception.
I would put CMD in the Defense block, and CMB in the offense block.
I would remove the page break between ability scores and bab, saving an incredible amount of space in multitudinous books.
I would replace the "DC" in the spells section with "w", "r" or "f", so a DC 18 fireball would be a r18. Less space, more information.
I would underline spells that take one full round to cast.
How about you?
Nice tweaks EL. I really like the underline for full round spells.
Page break?
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Very nice, I like the DCs in particular.
When a creature has Mobility, I like to put an M in superscript next to its AC so I don't forget that it gets a bonus.
When I'm writing up NPC statblocks, I sometimes like to have a line of Combat Options where I summarize the various tricks it's likely to do, like Power Attack, Spring Attack and whatnot. Sometimes Special Attacks makes this irrelevant, or if they're mostly in the Feats area, but if a creature has both sections or if its Feats are expansive I may still do it.
It takes up more space, but when I have variable effects like Power Attack I like to put the value in parenthesis so I don't have to do the math during play. For example, one might see Power Attack -3.
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I would make a simple, easy-to-find web version and put it on the PFD. So that you don't have to go searching for someone who has posted one on a forum somewhere just so you can commandeer it and fill in the blanks with your own information.
(Alternatively, an officially-sanctioned character creator on the PFD that has both PFS and non-PFS options from the core books built in, and can print out official statblocks, but that'd be an exorbitant amount of work, so I wouldn't hold my breath.)
I really like the tweaks to save DCs. That's so simply brilliant I've hit myself with a fish for not thinking of it.
I can't take credit for that one. I think it came from this forum. Heck, I think I've started this exact thread before. No more drunk thread starting for me!
Any more statblock tweaks? Go ahead and post someone else's. didn't stop me!
Arcane spell failure chance on the line with concentration.
I'd like the ability modifier included next to the stat. It's simple to calculate, but for really high stats that I'm not used to seeing very often, it's a three second delay that just annoys me.
I'd also move CMB and BAB into the Offense block, below melee and ranged attacks, and move CMD into the Defense block, below AC and include a flat-footed CMD and list the bonuses that apply to CMD (just like AC). Despite knowing where they are, it always takes me a few extra seconds to find those statistics in a creature's entry.
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I always put the armor check penalty in parentheses at the beginning of the 'Skills' entry. This always helps for strength and dexterity based skills that are not listed because the character doesn't have ranks in them.
BAB in statistics is fine. You don't need BAB on your turn most of the time.
I've actually been spelling out my CMB/CMD on their own lines, like the breakdown for AC.
I've recently taken to listing the ranks for each skill after the bonus with a slash. For example, a 5th level rogue with dex 18 and skill focus (disable device) and max ranks would have: disable device +15/5
In practice, I don't need a full breakdown of the bonuses as much as I need to know what one rank does. This obviously adds a lot of characters and wouldn't be good for print situations, but it works well if you're like me and you run your PCs off a statblock out of sheer habit.
When applicable, add "incorporeal touch AC".
This applies primarily to foes wearing bracers of armor and/or benefiting from mage armor and shield spells, but there are others. Incorporeal touch AC is used against shadows, spectres, wraiths, spectral hands and a slew of other attacks.
I believe that CMD loses DEX and dodge bonuses when flat-footed. What about a "ff CMD" annotation? Also, as noted above, move CMD to Defense.
Movement = Acrobatics, Climb, Ride, Stealth and Swim bonuses.
Senses = Appraise, Perception, Sense Motive bonuses.
Offense = Use Magic Device bonus when applicable, such as a critter waving around a device that it must attempt a UMD check for. CMB (with maneuver bonus breakdown when greater bonuses exist from feats, abilities, et al), as noted above.
Spells & Spell-like Abilities: (+x casting defensively) for critters that have the Combat Casting feat.
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I really like that F/R/W DC idea.
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LazarX: It's always nice to have a reference for the skill ranks of the base familiars and animal companions when it comes time to advance them. I'm also a big fan of adding class levels to intelligent enemies — that info would also be useful there as well.
EL: Personally I like to order stat blocks similar to how I order information on a character sheet: in the order in which an RPG takes place. While some of the following are only relevant to PCs, you can probably see where I'm going where monsters would be concerned.
- Who are you? Race, Gender, Age Category (if younger/older than adult).
- What defines you? Ability Scores, Classes and Levels, Social Standing.
- An encounter is about to take place, can you perceive it? Senses, Perception, special abilities related to spotting traps, etc.
- Is there anything about you that would give you away? Stealth, Auras.
- Both sides know of each other's presence now. Can you communicate? Languages.
- Talking didn't work? Time to setup the battle mat. Initiative, Size/Space.
- Your turn? What can you do? Movement, BAB, CMB, Casting Stats, Attacks (sorted from long to short range), Special Attacks, Combat Gear.
- Not your turn? How can you defend yourself? SR, Immunities, Saves, AC, Feint DC.
- Got hit? You okay? Vulnerabilities, Energy Resistance, Damage Reduction, Hit Points.
- Full listing of Skills, Feats, Special Abilities and Additional Inventory
For ease of reference, I'll typically duplicate feats and class abilities like Mobility or Evasion in the relevant section. e.g. Ref +7 (evasion), CMB +6 [+2 on Grapple], AC 18 [mobility], etc.
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@SKR, I've been using that on my PC statblocks for a year or so and I love it. That and the underlining of 1 round casting times has saved a lot of time looking things up.
@Laithoron, I believe that's the rationale behind the original "new" statblock. Combat-starter information goes in the header. Information you need when it is not your turn is in the Defense block. Information you need when it is your turn is Offense. Anything you need to reference occasionally outside of those two criteria is in Statistics.
As Pathfinder has added and changed things, notably CMB/D, they've deviated slightly from this method. The BAB/CMD thing is okay I guess, it saves space. I prefer my method when I'm running though.
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I would add Intimidate DC and Feint DC to Defense as well. It's quite annoying to have to figure that up manually. For home-brew, I build this into my stat blocks.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4
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For feats with variable modifiers or effects, I place the DC or variable effect in parentheses after the feat. For example
Power Attack (-4/+8), Staggering Critical (DC 28)
To save a single line of space, I move the XP number to the right of the CR.
I move the languages and communication options to the top section of the stat block, under Senses.
Like Mauril, I call out the ability modifier to the right of the ability score. Just to save a couple seconds of mental computing if needed.
If a special attack has a DC, I list that DC in the attack line in addition to in the special ability line, for example:
Melee: bite +13 (1d6+4 plus poison DC20)
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Move CMD next to armor class and CMB in with attacks.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I've recently taken to listing the ranks for each skill after the bonus with a slash. For example, a 5th level rogue with dex 18 and skill focus (disable device) and max ranks would have: disable device +15/5
In practice, I don't need a full breakdown of the bonuses as much as I need to know what one rank does. This obviously adds a lot of characters and wouldn't be good for print situations, but it works well if you're like me and you run your PCs off a statblock out of sheer habit.
If I'm understanding you correctly, you are wanting to know which skills just have ranks, and which just have high natural modifiers (due to ability scores, traits and whatnot). Is that correct?
If so, it might be even more efficient to include a superscript "T" for "trained" in the line instead.
Range and damage types on attack blocks. Not sure how I would note it, though.
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For ease of reference, I'll typically duplicate feats and class abilities like Mobility or Evasion in the relevant section. e.g. Ref +7 (evasion), CMB +6 [+2 on Grapple], AC 18 [mobility], etc.
I have been doing this too, because otherwise I just forget about it in the scramble of fast-paced combat. I also note Uncanny Dodge parenthetically in flat-footed AC; e.g. flat-footed 14 (Uncanny).
In order to reduce redundancy I make sure and eliminate Evasion, Mobility, and Uncanny Dodge from the "Special Defences" line.
I have been experimenting with a new meaning for italics in my stat blocks. I have been using italics to identify an ability indicated in the stat block that is further explained in the "Special Abilities" section. I eliminate italicization of spells under the "Spells" heading, because I already know they are spells due to their position; however, I keep magic items italicized.
This might be better underlined but underline attracts my eyes too much, so I refrain from using it.
I like Lincoln Hills idea, but underline doesn't work for me so I might append an asterisk to any spell that has a casting time of anything other than a standard action.
Concentration value next to perception for spell casters.
I'm currently trying to make simple stat block but I'm having a hard time figuring out what to cut out. Any suggestions?
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I've been obsessing of late over making stat blocks more useful to me, and recently I've been experimenting with making short, abbreviated stat blocks for use in combat encounters but also having the full stat block on file if needed.
One thing I do is I try to move all of the feats up into the various parts of the stat block where they are most useful. For instance, Power Attack is fully calculated out for the character's most likely attack, or Endurance is simply noted next to the Fortitude save. This allows me to completely eliminate the feats section in the shortened version of the stat block: because, quite frankly, in a combat encounter I don't want to know what feats a character has--I instead want to know what a character can do as a result of having those feats.
Another thing I eliminate in a shortened stat block is all of the that descriptive information at the top of the block. For instance, I don't want to know what class and level a character is--I only want to know what a character can do as a result of being in a class of a certain level.
Here is an example:
Female human fighter 15
LN Medium humanoid; CR 14
Init +5; Senses Perception +14
Languages Common
DEFENSE
AC 29, Touch 13, Flat 28; (+12 armor, +2 deflection, +1 Dex, +4 shield)
Fort +14 (endurance), Ref +10, Will +8 (+4 bravery)
Hit Dice 15d10+45+15; hp 147-210 (diehard)
OFFENSE
Speed 30’
Melee Falchion +27/+22/+17 (15x, 2d4+18 + 2 bleed); Power Attack Falchion +23/+18/+13 (15x, 2d4+29 + 2 bleed); Spirited Charge (full) Falchion +29 (15x, 4d4+36 + 4 bleed); Ranged Longbow +17/+12/+7 110’ (x3, 1d8+4)
Special Animated shield (move), Mounted Combat (immediate), Ride-by attack (charge), Trample (overrun), Weapon training (heavy blades +3, close +2, bows +1)
STATISTICS
Str 22, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 13
Attack +15; CMB +21 (+3 heavy blades, +2 close); CMD 32 (+3 heavy blades, +2 close)
Feats Diehard, Endurance, Greater Weapon Focus (falchion), Greater Weapon Specialization (falchion), Improved Critical (falchion), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-By Attack, Shield Focus, Spirited Charge, Toughness, Weapon Focus (falchion), Weapon Specialization (falchion)
Skills (armor -3); Intimidate +1915, Ride +1915, Perception +1415; Armor training (-4)
Gear +3 Full plate, +1 Animated heavy steel shield, +2 Wounding falchion, Mwk composite longbow (+4), +4 Belt of giant strength, Cloak of resistance +2, Ring of feather falling, Ring of protection +2, Potion of barkskin +5, Potions of cure serious wounds [][]
DEFENSE
AC 29, Touch 13, Flat 28; CMD 32 (+3 heavy blades, +2 close)
Fort +14 (endurance), Ref +10, Will +8 (+4 bravery)
Hit Dice 15; hp 147-210 (diehard)
Items Ring of feather falling
OFFENSE
Init +5; Speed 30’
CMB +21 (+3 heavy blades, +2 close)
Melee Falchion +27/+22/+17 (15x, 2d4+18 + 2 bleed); Power Attack Falchion +23/+18/+13 (15x, 2d4+29 + 2 bleed); Spirited Charge (full) Falchion +29 (15x, 4d4+36 + 4 bleed); Ranged Longbow +17/+12/+7 110’ (x3, 1d8+4)
Special Animated shield (move), Mounted Combat (immediate), Ride-by attack (charge), Trample (overrun), Weapon training (heavy blades +3, close +2, bows +1)
Items Potion of barkskin +5, Potions of cure serious wounds [][]
OTHER
Skills (armor -3); Intimidate +19, Ride +19, Perception +14
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Another thing I do is I eliminate the words Knowledge, Craft, Preform, and Profession from the Skills section. I replace them with an initial.
Examples: K. planes +12, C. jewelry +6, P. act +10
Using the initial keeps the skills in the proper alphabetical position.
This particularly eliminates a lot of space for characters that have many Knowledge skills.
I have been doing this too, because otherwise I just forget about it in the scramble of fast-paced combat. I also note Uncanny Dodge parenthetically in flat-footed AC; e.g. flat-footed 14 (Uncanny).
It's a minor thing, but I think I'd tend toward
..., Flat Uncanny [14]; (breakdown)That way, the first thing you see as you scan right after finding "Flat" on the page is that they have Uncanny dodge. If you actually need the number, then it's available after, but it is less important information in this case.
I think putting Uncanny in parentheses makes it easy to accidentally parse it as part of the AC breakdown if you're looking quickly.
Since this thread has already been exhumed:
I like EL's changes.
One thing I'd add is a number in brackets after each skill bonus indicating how many ranks the creature has in that skill.
So for example on a Boggard the skills line would look like so:
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+14 jumping; 3), Stealth –1 (+7 in swamps; 0), Swim +10 (0)
Originally I wanted to take an ogre as the example for this, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where its ranks were. Which is exactly the point.
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...what would you change?
I would add stealth to the header next to perception.
I would put CMD in the Defense block, and CMB in the offense block.
I would remove the page break between ability scores and bab, saving an incredible amount of space in multitudinous books.
I would replace the "DC" in the spells section with "w", "r" or "f", so a DC 18 fireball would be a r18. Less space, more information.
I would underline spells that take one full round to cast.
How about you?
Dotting for interest; also, I may or may not use this modified statblock format for Processors and Programs, with your permission.
I would make a simple, easy-to-find web version and put it on the PFD. So that you don't have to go searching for someone who has posted one on a forum somewhere just so you can commandeer it and fill in the blanks with your own information.
(Alternatively, an officially-sanctioned character creator on the PFD that has both PFS and non-PFS options from the core books built in, and can print out official statblocks, but that'd be an exorbitant amount of work, so I wouldn't hold my breath.)
I think the creators of Hero Lab have formed an official partnership with Paizo, and there is a download for HL that prints your info on an official Pathfinder-style character sheet.