Automated Character Sheet 2.0
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:39 am
Hi there!
You might remember Aqu, EDtiGron and myself trying to make a character sheet that does most of the work for you. That sheet was in the end still limited and aborted in favor of trying to do this from scratch. I am currently the only one working on this second attempt. I recently also started using GAS (Google Apps Script, which is essentially Javascript) with it. This gives me a bit more power to do things, but is certainly not the almighty solution I was hoping for. One major limitation of GAS is, for example, that a custom function set in a cell is not allowed to just simply modify another cell somewhere else on the sheet. Another one is that a formula only gets recalculated when you reload the page or if one of it's input parameters change.
Here are some goals and ideas I had for the sheet
- the sheet is intended to run on Google Spreadsheet
- it is not intended for print
- make it configurable by GMs to fit their house rules
- take away most of the calculation work from the player
- divide the sheet into more useful tabs, that orient themselves not on what fits together thematically, but keep together what is used together in certain situations (combat, inventory, stats, magic, flying, character)
- (more technical implementation detail) use named ranges to make formulas easier to read and to modify
Link to the sheet
Click here!
Link to the manual
Click here!
Pages Ideas List
Stats
Maybe to add:
- add switch to use Mad Modd's perk list for lookup
- lookup for traits
Magic
Maybe to add:
- lookup for spells
Flyers
Maybe to add:
- lookup for tricks
GM Stuff
The following pages should only be used when you know what you are doing and if you are the GM, or should not be edited at all.
Configuration
This page allows GMs to change how the sheet works. If you change anything here on the sheet, you most likely have to reload the sheet in order for it to display properly throughout the sheet. (This is a limitation of GAS and not necessarily intended by me, but it is unavoidable.) Each of the constants here have the name of the named range that points to them listed above them. If it is a whole table that is referred to (marked by VLOOKUP), and you want to add or remove entries from that table, you also need to modify the named range. Tables marked with "VLOOKUP Sorted" will stop working properly, if the items in the first column of the table are not listed in order anymore.
Var Store
This should not be edited. It is mainly used as an intermediary place to store calculation results hidden from the player. A good example for why to do this is, when the result of the calculation is not what is ultimately displayed on the main sheet pages. For example Critical Succes: The result of the calculation is just a number and can be read from in various other cells and calculations. What is ultimately displayed in the Critical Success cell however, still goes through some formatting to become "<=[value]".
Formatting
This page is mainly used to not have to write the same formula for conditional formatting into every single cell that uses it. Occasionally those calculation results are also used in formulas that do not do any formatting.
I will keep updating this thread and post as I make changes to the sheet.
You might remember Aqu, EDtiGron and myself trying to make a character sheet that does most of the work for you. That sheet was in the end still limited and aborted in favor of trying to do this from scratch. I am currently the only one working on this second attempt. I recently also started using GAS (Google Apps Script, which is essentially Javascript) with it. This gives me a bit more power to do things, but is certainly not the almighty solution I was hoping for. One major limitation of GAS is, for example, that a custom function set in a cell is not allowed to just simply modify another cell somewhere else on the sheet. Another one is that a formula only gets recalculated when you reload the page or if one of it's input parameters change.
Here are some goals and ideas I had for the sheet
- the sheet is intended to run on Google Spreadsheet
- it is not intended for print
- make it configurable by GMs to fit their house rules
- take away most of the calculation work from the player
- divide the sheet into more useful tabs, that orient themselves not on what fits together thematically, but keep together what is used together in certain situations (combat, inventory, stats, magic, flying, character)
- (more technical implementation detail) use named ranges to make formulas easier to read and to modify
Link to the sheet
Click here!
Link to the manual
Click here!
Pages Ideas List
Stats
Maybe to add:
- add switch to use Mad Modd's perk list for lookup
- lookup for traits
Magic
Maybe to add:
- lookup for spells
Flyers
Maybe to add:
- lookup for tricks
GM Stuff
The following pages should only be used when you know what you are doing and if you are the GM, or should not be edited at all.
Configuration
This page allows GMs to change how the sheet works. If you change anything here on the sheet, you most likely have to reload the sheet in order for it to display properly throughout the sheet. (This is a limitation of GAS and not necessarily intended by me, but it is unavoidable.) Each of the constants here have the name of the named range that points to them listed above them. If it is a whole table that is referred to (marked by VLOOKUP), and you want to add or remove entries from that table, you also need to modify the named range. Tables marked with "VLOOKUP Sorted" will stop working properly, if the items in the first column of the table are not listed in order anymore.
Var Store
This should not be edited. It is mainly used as an intermediary place to store calculation results hidden from the player. A good example for why to do this is, when the result of the calculation is not what is ultimately displayed on the main sheet pages. For example Critical Succes: The result of the calculation is just a number and can be read from in various other cells and calculations. What is ultimately displayed in the Critical Success cell however, still goes through some formatting to become "<=[value]".
Formatting
This page is mainly used to not have to write the same formula for conditional formatting into every single cell that uses it. Occasionally those calculation results are also used in formulas that do not do any formatting.
I will keep updating this thread and post as I make changes to the sheet.