D&D 3.5 Self Calculating Excel Character Sheet [Archive]

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GenericClone

2016-09-16, 12:03 AM

Hey all,

So i've made an Excel character sheet that is able to auto fill everything, and I mean everything. it's able to fill in how many spells per day you have based on your caster level, casting class, and casting stat for bonus spells, It can auto calculate all your TWF stats, determine your synergy skill bonuses, tell you how much more experience you need to level, size bonuses and penalties, weapon damage based on weapon type and hand, etc. etc. It can do a lot.

I didn't do anything for Psionic's though, since I have never played with them. I'm sure there are things that I don't have ways to auto calculate for but none of my characters have experienced that issue, well they did, so I just added it.

I like to use it as a character sheet but it's a fantastic resource for just building high level multi-calls PC's to fill out a on regular CS. Just fill in the classes fort/ref/will/BAB/Skill progression(it also auto calculates how many skills you get and has a points left available spot and covers human bonus skill points) and the levels and it will determine your totals together.

Heres a link to a PDF version of it and one of my characters using it.

**Updated**
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7HJzjoRHuZHa2lCLWxUaFdiU2c?usp=sharing

Anyway, the reason I am posting is that I am thinking of putting this up for download and probably an optional donation since I put a fair few hours and work into this, oh and I need money. What I am wondering is if anyone knows if this character sheet may infringe on any copyright. Mostly the D&D Logo in the corner, I don't think anything else would be a problem (Maybe that it automatically does all the work within 3.5 rules, but I don't think there is anything that isn't basically available on the SRD) but I obviously want to be sure and I'm not going to pay a lawyer to find out, so not worth it.

If I do release it I think i'll have to make a walk-through build a character video.

Thanks!

Heliomance

2016-09-16, 03:16 AM

I always get sad when I see threads like this, because it means someone doesn't know about HeroForge.

GenericClone

2016-09-16, 07:43 AM

I always get sad when I see threads like this, because it means someone doesn't know about HeroForge.

Used HeroForge and really don't see what a custom miniature company has to do with this.

Stewzors

2016-09-16, 08:00 AM

Used HeroForge and really don't see what a custom miniature company has to do with this.

Heliomance is talking about HeroForge Anew - a particularly good excel character generator. The link for it is in their signature, HeroForge Anew will be your main competition - good luck!

GenericClone

2016-09-16, 08:01 AM

Heliomance is talking about HeroForge Anew - a particularly good excel character generator. The link for it is in their signature, HeroForge Anew will be your main competition - good luck!

No intention to compete, just made this for myself and figured i'd share it.

rrwoods

2016-09-16, 10:12 AM

I always get sad when I see threads like this, because it means someone doesn't know about HeroForge.
I've used heroforge and for me it's too heavyweight. In addition I think many people (myself included) prefer the familiarity that comes from having built it yourself.

GenericClone

2016-09-16, 10:27 AM

I've used heroforge and for me it's too heavyweight. In addition I think many people (myself included) prefer the familiarity that comes from having built it yourself.

Yeah I went ahead and used it. Lots of options, lots of features, but information overload. I agree, the reason I made my own was because I didn't like any of the automated ones I could find that could do enough but not too much.

Anyway, Heroforge Anew has the logo, and has a lot more integrated D&D Rules and information, so I highly doubt I'd have any issue making it available for use.

So here is the sheet for anyone to use if they desire.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7HJzjoRHuZHa2lCLWxUaFdiU2c

lastoutkast

2016-09-23, 12:47 AM

this is fantastic ! awesome job.

Heliomance

2016-09-23, 04:27 AM

Yeah I went ahead and used it. Lots of options, lots of features, but information overload. I agree, the reason I made my own was because I didn't like any of the automated ones I could find that could do enough but not too much.

Anyway, Heroforge Anew has the logo, and has a lot more integrated D&D Rules and information, so I highly doubt I'd have any issue making it available for use.

So here is the sheet for anyone to use if they desire.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7HJzjoRHuZHa2lCLWxUaFdiU2c

Apparently, back before I took over the project, the original HeroForge got an unofficial pass even when WotC were being litigious at anything that looked at them funny, because WotC employees were using it themselves behind the scenes!

Elkad

2016-09-23, 08:47 AM

I always get sad when I see threads like this, because it means someone doesn't know about HeroForge.

I always get sad every time I see a HeroForge reference, because I still can't get it to work on Google Sheets.
Haven't tried openoffice or libreoffice lately to check those.

ComaVision

2016-09-23, 10:50 AM

I always get sad every time I see a HeroForge reference, because I still can't get it to work on Google Sheets.
Haven't tried openoffice or libreoffice lately to check those.

lol It will only work in Excel, I assure you.

Elkad

2016-09-23, 08:13 PM

My table is a horde of chromebooks, so Excel is pretty useless.
Which leaves us stuck with Mythweavers.

Troacctid

2016-09-23, 08:45 PM

I notice psionic skills are missing, and there aren't enough spaces for all the Knowledges.

Fizban

2016-09-24, 02:34 AM

lol It will only work in Excel, I assure you.
That seems like a staggeringly bad idea. Even if there are reasons and it's not a commercial product, suggesting a program-locked solution is not what I'd consider very helpful :smallconfused:

Heliomance

2016-09-24, 03:25 AM

That seems like a staggeringly bad idea. Even if there are reasons and it's not a commercial product, suggesting a program-locked solution is not what I'd consider very helpful :smallconfused:

Technical reasons. A bunch of the back end code only works on excel. I'd love to make it work on other programs, but I don't have the first idea where to start.

I do at some point want to make it a standalone app, but that's a long way off.

EndocrineBandit

2016-09-24, 03:34 AM

I'm kind of ashamed of the fact that I'm just now hearing about Hero Forge Anew. I just downloaded it only to discover that I lack microsoft excel. So now I'm attempting to fix that. I have an excel viewer, but I can't make any changes or fill anything out.. So I'm either doing something wrong or I need a full reader, if that's a thing?

MaxiDuRaritry

2016-09-24, 05:30 AM

Technical reasons. A bunch of the back end code only works on excel. I'd love to make it work on other programs, but I don't have the first idea where to start.

I do at some point want to make it a standalone app, but that's a long way off.Are there no 3.0 books available in Heroforge Anew? No SRD variant races, either -- arctic kobolds and such.

Fizban

2016-09-24, 06:48 AM

MaxiDuRaritry

2016-09-24, 06:51 AM

You can look at some of these as alternatives to Excel: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office-alternatives/

Personally, I still use my old copy of MS Office 2000. It works surprisingly well, and it's a lot nicer than the crap MS has been putting out lately. I'm sure you could get a copy without TOO much trouble.

elonin

2016-09-24, 06:54 AM

It's been more than a year since I've played so maybe my memory isn't so good (might have been another sheet). I recall using a number of sheets and anything that hasn't been strictly been built into the sheet for classes, feats, ACF's, etc cause the sheet to break down. Also once you've leveled some number of times the time between each sheet is excruciatingly slow. All that said if anyone has advice on using the sheet I'd love to hear it. And in general I'm in awe of the formatting on display.

tyruth

2016-09-25, 03:22 AM

MaxiDuRaritry

2016-09-25, 07:28 AM

rrwoods

2016-09-25, 10:01 AM

Is this a Microsoft excel sheet, because I'm having issues trying to open it in google docs. I've been interested in having a google docs/generic platform sheet like this as I like to use Linux instead of windows for a lot of things (still have my windows laptop for light gaming).
I have (link removed, see my more recent post in this thread) a sheet that works in LibreOffice and OpenOffice (though I didn't design it that way explicitly). It won't work in Google Docs because it makes heavy use of array formulas, but if you can get OO or LO you should be good.

It also doesn't resemble the layout of a normal character sheet at all, which seems to be offputting to some folks. It's designed for at-the-table use, managing buffstacks and penalties with ease, enforcing the stacking rules correctly.

tyruth

2016-09-25, 04:38 PM

myth-weavers has those.

Yes it does, but I don't always have reliable internet when at other people's places for gaming.

I have a sheet that works in LibreOffice and OpenOffice (though I didn't design it that way explicitly). It won't work in Google Docs because it makes heavy use of array formulas, but if you can get OO or LO you should be good.

It also doesn't resemble the layout of a normal character sheet at all, which seems to be offputting to some folks. It's designed for at-the-table use, managing buffstacks and penalties with ease, enforcing the stacking rules correctly.

I'll check it out in a bit :)

bekeleven

2016-09-25, 04:51 PM

Wait, has nobody seriously made a google sheets automatic character generator?

Is this a thing I should be doing?

MaxiDuRaritry

2016-09-25, 04:52 PM

Yes it does, but I don't always have reliable internet when at other people's places for gaming.You could load it onto your laptop's browser, take the laptop with you, make the changes you need along the way, and save it once you get back to internet-land, I guess.

Troacctid

2016-09-25, 05:32 PM

Wait, has nobody seriously made a google sheets automatic character generator?

Is this a thing I should be doing?

I mean, it seems like it would be a ton of work even if you limited it to SRD material.

rrwoods

2016-09-25, 06:32 PM

Yes it does, but I don't always have reliable internet when at other people's places for gaming.

I'll check it out in a bit :)

Check out the newer one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?501710-Excel-sheet-for-3-5-(2016-9-25-update)) now. I realized I'd updated quite a bit since that last post.

Cronomius

2016-09-26, 03:53 AM

Wait, has nobody seriously made a google sheets automatic character generator?

Is this a thing I should be doing?

I started something like this ages ago, never got far, and my Googlescript coding is probably atrocious seeing as I had never programmed anything before of since :P
I mostly did it so i could get an overview of how my character would look like at the different levels of play.

Here's a duplicate, not sure it will be any help to you if you plan om making one, but it might :)
docs google com/spreadsheets/d/1Fz3tQtbAkzVetanU2FFZRQKkAlMXn58WETKQ6AScv5w/edit?usp=sharing
(Can't share links, always been a lurker :P add a dot between docs, google and com and it should work)

GenericClone

2017-09-29, 07:47 PM

Updated Link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7HJzjoRHuZHa2lCLWxUaFdiU2c?usp=sharing

Yahzi

2017-09-30, 02:34 AM

I always get sad when I see threads like this, because it means someone doesn't know about HeroForge.
That sheet is incredible.

Although, to be honest, it makes me not want to play D&D. :smallfrown: It's not supposed to be that complicated!

My real problem, of course, is that I've changed the base classes, fiddled with the feat selection, and made up my own deities, languages, and races. I mean, don't we all? :smallbiggrin:

The other thing it makes clear is that PCs and NPCs play by different rules. Even if the DM uses the same rules, he can't; because nobody can build NPCs to that level of detail. I created a list of 38 NPCs of the core classes from level 1 to 9, so I could drop them into my sandbox game as needed. And even with my limited feat and magic item selection, they're still not as effective as a PC's character would be. And it took me weeks to make all those guys.

The whole point of D&D was that you could create an NPC in seconds: pick a class and level, maybe give him a special magic item or unusual strength, roll for how much gold is in his pockets... and you're done. I've gone and recreated that by making 38 archetypes which I can customize as needed (swap out a skill or two, that sort of thing). But I'm not sure that's quite good enough.

I never had this problem in GURPS. :smallconfused:

ericgrau

2017-09-30, 07:57 AM

Thread subscribed for future use. Thanks. Also good thread title. I just know I'm going to be reading my subscriptions 5 years down the line and saying, "Wait, really? Sold." Actually I better download a copy too just in case it disappears.

martixy

2017-09-30, 06:23 PM

Technical reasons. A bunch of the back end code only works on excel. I'd love to make it work on other programs, but I don't have the first idea where to start.

I do at some point want to make it a standalone app, but that's a long way off.

Google sheets has scripting.

Javascript. Ya know, not VBA(the horror).

So, yea.

If/when you go the standalone app route - make it a webapp. We have the technology nowadays.

I don't use Heroforge because I play 3.P
This is a niche that has been sorely under-catered.

Nemoshe

2019-07-09, 08:32 PM

"Heres a link to a PDF version of it and one of my characters using it."

I'm a few years later but this character sheet is really amazing. Only it doesn't seem to detect the fighter class and modification of the excel sheet is behind a password ? I hope you see this message ! Help :)

flat_footed

2019-07-20, 01:19 AM

The Fullmetal Mod: Thread Necromancy is a forbidden art.