Suggestions about new character sheet

[ToniXX]

Read about the new feature here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=489#p8364

Post any suggestions or comments about it in this thread. Thanks!

[migellito]

Hi Tonixx! I love being able to move the die rolls - been wanting to do that for a long time

I checked out your example sheet and it looks great. I can't figure out how to edit mine.

[ToniXX]

On the main 'roll the dice' page at the dice rolling site, click 'char sheet' at the top of the list of macros for your character. Then, you'll see a little icon of a pencil and paper next to each section. Click that to edit the values for that section. Once you're done, click the little blue arrow to submit the changes, or click the red circle with a slash through it to cancel the changes. Each tab works a little differently.

and I think I just found an error that explains why you can't edit the sheet for your character. DAMN! Working on that now.

[dmw71]

Dwarf, gnome and halfling characters have special bonuses to their 'poison' saving throws (which are not applicable to their 'death' or 'paralysis' rolls) and I don't see how this can be reflected on the character sheet as it is currently built.

For example, Elwita should have a 6 save against 'poison' while her save against 'death' or 'paralysis' should be an 8.

I might not have thought this through completely, but I believe this situation could be fixed by simply splitting the current 'Death, Paralysis, Poison' save category into two separate categories: 'Death, Paralysis' and 'Poison.'


It's only a minor glitch but I did want to at least bring it to your attention.

Thanks,
- Dave

[ToniXX]

Good point, Dave. I'll add that to the list of changes. Thanks for posting.

[Alethan]

Just saw Dave's character sheet on the Slave Pits thread. Looks really nice!

[ToniXX]

Good to see someone else using it!

[Alethan]

More suggestions:
1. Weapons Tab - Need a way to indicate Specialization for that weapon. (Just a column after the weapon name where you can check yes or no for Specialization.)

2. PC Basics Tab - Got an error when making a change to the PC Basics section. Not sure if it was an apostrophe in the Height field or a comma in the XP or Next Level field. Maybe the comma in the Next Level field. Hmmm... When I changed whatever it was causing the problem, and saved, everything was good. But it did auto populate the commas back in the XP fields.

So when I went in to make another change, the commas were back in those fields in edit mode and I once again could not save the changes. I deleted them and could once again save my changes. So there is still an issue with the commas in the XP fields. It comes back every time you make a change.

3. Inventory Tab - need another section just for listing out other items of wealth (gems, necklaces, rings, etc.).

4. Special Abilities Tab - maybe just make them list in one column, instead of wrapping around?

5. PC Basics Tab - Under the Description and Background sections, would like to see a section called Player Notes. I usually have a few things I list out on my character sheet that I want to be mindful of.

6. Maybe some way to add an Avatar to the character sheet? Either another tab or... extend the frames up a bit to accommodate?

I've only done one of my character sheets so far. I'll try to do the others today and see if that generates any other questions or errors. And then when I get a bit of time, I'll make up a fake character and just run through each field, trying standard symbols and characters to see what generates an error.

[dmw71]

More suggestions:
1. Weapons Tab - Need a way to indicate Specialization for that weapon. (Just a column after the weapon name where you can check yes or no for Specialization.)

A special section for ranged weapons might also be nice. A place to indicate the number of arrows/bolts/stones/bullets, rate of fire, ranges, etc...

2. PC Basics Tab - Got an error when making a change to the PC Basics section. Not sure if it was an apostrophe in the Height field or a comma in the XP or Next Level field. Maybe the comma in the Next Level field. Hmmm... When I changed whatever it was causing the problem, and saved, everything was good. But it did auto populate the commas back in the XP fields.

I got an error, too, when I included the pound sign (#) after my weight. Once I removed the unexpected character, the sheet saved without incident.

5. PC Basics Tab - Under the Description and Background sections, would like to see a section called Player Notes. I usually have a few things I list out on my character sheet that I want to be mindful of.

I like this idea.

6. Maybe some way to add an Avatar to the character sheet? Either another tab or... extend the frames up a bit to accommodate?

This would be cool, too. I know that I'd like to have a unique avatar for each character (and maybe a non-character specific one for my actual forum profile).

[Alethan]

More...

(Did I mention I work for a software company? I started off as a tech writer (3 years), did QA Testing for about a year, moved into software support for one of the programs we offer for 4 years, then moved back into tech writing? So... I have a pretty good background for software testing. )

PC Basics Tab - need an area for encumbrance/movement rate.

Spells Tab - Need a way to differentiate what spells are memorized and what spells are known. Maybe a top section with subheading "Memorized Spells" and a bottom section with subheading "Spell Book"? Also, both sections should display or indicate Spell Level in some way (I know the current section does; just saying that should be maintained)

Spells Tab - Missing the button to simply edit a spell that is listed. I added all of my spells, then realized I couldn't indicate what was memorized and what wasn't, so I wanted to edit the spell name to write "(memorized)" after the name and couldn't.

Spells Tab - Error; when I enter the spell name, but forget to enter the spell level, I click save but it doesn't save. Also doesn't throw an error message.

UPDATE:
Ok, now I see how to use the Special Abilities/Notes section. You create a section called "Special Abilities" or "Notes" and then there is an area where you can make notes on those special abilities or whatever. Got it now. Guess it wasn't that clear at first.

So what I've done to accommodate the spells issue is to just add memorized spells to the Spells Tab. Then I made a section on the Special Abilities Tab called "Spell Book" and used that to list out all of my character's known spells.

[ToniXX]

2. PC Basics Tab - Got an error when making a change to the PC Basics section. Not sure if it was an apostrophe in the Height field or a comma in the XP or Next Level field. Maybe the comma in the Next Level field. Hmmm... When I changed whatever it was causing the problem, and saved, everything was good. But it did auto populate the commas back in the XP fields.

I got an error, too, when I included the pound sign (#) after my weight. Once I removed the unexpected character, the sheet saved without incident.

These two points have been fixed. If someone could test it out, that'd be great. I've documented everything else you guys have suggested and hope to implement them soon. Maybe some later tonight if I get some free time. Work is kind of busy right now, but being in the 'coding' mode makes it easy to switch to this project for an hour or so. Most of these changes require changes to the database as well, so I'll have to take the site down for a bit to implement them.

Keep the suggestions coming.
Thanks!

[dmw71]

If someone could test it out, that'd be great.

I went to edit the field for Elwita's weight, and the pound sign was which previously resulted in an error was basically ignored... which is fine, since it is unnecessary, but at least it didn't produce an error. Nice, fast response to the problem.

Edited to add that I also tried to enter a weight plus the pound sign on a new character (not just an existing character sheet) and met the same results -- no error, the extra character is simply ignored.

[ToniXX]

If someone could test it out, that'd be great.

I went to edit the field for Elwita's weight, and the pound sign was which previously resulted in an error was basically ignored... which is fine, since it is unnecessary, but at least it didn't produce an error. Nice, fast response to the problem.

Edited to add that I also tried to enter a weight plus the pound sign on a new character (not just an existing character sheet) and met the same results -- no error, the extra character is simply ignored.

Good to know. This is how I wanted it to work, to ignore the # sign. Thanks for testing it out both ways.

[Alethan]

Might be a problem with the @ symbol in some places? I tried adding a section to the Special Abilities tab for gems and jewelry. When I populated it, I used the following format:

(1) gem @ 50gp

When I saved, it appeared to save OK (no errors), but nothing displayed in the frame.

[ToniXX]

Might be a problem with the @ symbol in some places? I tried adding a section to the Special Abilities tab for gems and jewelry. When I populated it, I used the following format:

(1) gem @ 50gp

When I saved, it appeared to save OK (no errors), but nothing displayed in the frame.

Hmmm I can't reproduce this error. Can you give more info? Maybe I'm not understanding.
Thanks

[Alethan]

Might be a problem with the @ symbol in some places? I tried adding a section to the Special Abilities tab for gems and jewelry. When I populated it, I used the following format:

(1) gem @ 50gp

When I saved, it appeared to save OK (no errors), but nothing displayed in the frame.

Hmmm I can't reproduce this error. Can you give more info? Maybe I'm not understanding.
Thanks

Errr... I can't seem to reproduce it, either. I'll keep trying and let you know if I can make it work (or not work, as it were). In the mean time, never mind, I guess.

[ToniXX]

Spells Tab - Error; when I enter the spell name, but forget to enter the spell level, I click save but it doesn't save. Also doesn't throw an error message.

This is by design. Any suggestions on how to make this better? I could write it to assume that it's a spell of level one, or ???.

[Alethan]

Spells Tab - Error; when I enter the spell name, but forget to enter the spell level, I click save but it doesn't save. Also doesn't throw an error message.

This is by design. Any suggestions on how to make this better? I could write it to assume that it's a spell of level one, or ???.

Hmmm... the Save action should still produce some result, even if some of the information is missing, whether it is saving the spell to a section marked "Unknown Level" or producing an error that indicates the spell wasn't saved. I don't know the limitations of the programming you can do on the US site, so I'll throw some ideas out there...

Optimally, if you tried to save without populating the Spell Level field, the end result would be a dialog box that displays, indicating a Spell Level must be selected/populated.

If that doesn't work, can you make fields required? If so, what about making the Spell Level field a required field? Then making it so the Save button is not active until that field is populated.

Or making the field a drop-down field, with no Blank options, so that it will, as you indicated, select Level 1 by default.

[ToniXX]

If that doesn't work, can you make fields required? If so, what about making the Spell Level field a required field? Then making it so the Save button is not active until that field is populated.

this......


was the key. Keeps it simple with no popups, etc. I've already got it working in the development environment, and it will be in the next version of the public site. I might use this concept in other places too. It's so easy to do with jQuery. Great idea! Thanks!

[Alethan]

Saving Throws...

Ugh. This is probably going to be the hardest section to easily fix. The problem is the categories; some people get bonuses vs. one of the things in the category but not others (e.g. death/paralysis/poison). Or it could be that the target saving throw for one of the categories depends on how the event happens (e.g. a basilisk's gaze vs. a Petrification spell).

What about having a small note section under the saving throw fields where you can indicate exceptions to the base numbers. So, for example, Till would add something that says, "The numbers above do not include the +4 Racial/CON Bonus vs. magic and poison and the +1 bonus to all saving throws per ring of protection +1."

That way, you could add whatever notes you wanted to reflect adjustments to the base Saving Throw number.

The way it currently is, I tried adding something other than a 2-digit number. It seemed to work at first. When I modified Till's Death/Paralysis/Poison field to say, "12 (7 vs. Poison)" it saved. But when I later tried to modify one of the other saving throw fields, it cleared out everything but the first two numbers when in edit mode and I had to re-add the information.