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Forensicator
2009-11-05, 12:02 PM
So, I'm working on a project involving digitizing all of the DnD checks and information system. I've uploaded a portion of the monster manual to excel, and there's a bit of entry to be placed for the party in my file. However, I currently have a pretty cool DM screen on excel which shows at a glance what has taken damage where, how much damage that is proportional to maximum HP, and tracks most buffs and group damage.

I have, however, hit a snag and was wondering if anybody could help me.

On one page of my DM screen, I have a table for entering saves against WIL, FORT, and REF. 4th ed rules apply. The idea works like this:

For a set of saves, you can either enter a DC arbitrarily or calculate a caster DC by putting the caster's name into a slot. Afterward, you put the name of whoever or whatever is making a save into a cell, as well as their dice roll. Excel should, hypothetically, be able to determine what type of save is necessary (via the IF function), look it up on the character's status (via the VLOOKUP function), and add it to their roll (via the SUM function) to determine whether they pass or fail the save (via another IF function).

However, in order to do this, because the name of who makes the save change, I have to make the entry and input all in the table format, and when I do so, the function that I use comes back as "#NAME." I have made many relatively similar formulas, and I know what "#NAME" means, but I have no idea how to fix this bug.

Has anybody else made a DM screen in excel that could help me out with saving rolls? Much thanks in advance.

-Forensicator

jiriku
2009-11-05, 12:10 PM
I am an Excel guru. I'd be happy to help. Can you post your formulas, or post the spreadsheet somewhere that I can take a look at it? Also, which version of Excel are you using?

Also also, I'm a bit confused by your reference to 4th edition rules. 4th edition doesn't have Fort Ref and Will saving throws. Are you using hybrid 3rd/4th rules, or did you mean that 3rd edition rules apply?

Forensicator
2009-11-05, 12:17 PM
Sorry, I'm using hybrid rules - this variant is for a homebrew that applies a lot of the new 4th edition stuff to a layer of 3.5ed rules.

I don't know if this works, but the link to my excel sheet is http://www.4shared.com/dir/22916127/c758bc77/sharing.html

If it doesn't work, you can pm me and i'll happily send it to you as an email attachment.

*EDIT*

I got the numbers and tables to work - and thought I'd give an update in the event of somebody searching the forums for a solution to such a problem.

My numbers were being entered in the IF function with quotation marks - as far as user interface is concerned, it makes no difference, but the quotations keep them from registering as a number, which means they weren't being added to get the proper value. If that doesn't work, you can also insert the VALUE function to your equations to get the actual, real, numerical value. It worked for me.

Also, another problem I had was that when I used a table, i had to enter data multiple times, as references got lost whenever the table was sorted. Turns out, if you double-check that your table references absolute and not relative coordinates, you can have a few pretty handy shortcuts.

jiriku
2009-11-06, 01:16 PM
Aha! Glad it was something easy to fix.

I like the style of your DM screen. I've been storing character sheets in Excel, but hadn't thought to build a DM tool like this one.

Refinements you might also consider:

You could add a validation list in column B of the encounter menu to let you pick players and monsters from drop-down menus instead of having to type things out and worry about typos.
Ability modifiers aren't likely to be important during an encounter, but putting initiative modifiers, saving throws and attack values would likely be very useful.