Looking for the best option for creating an RPG character sheet that does not require anything in terms of calculations. What tools and applications are people using for such player components? Obviously, Excel and Word are probably on folks lists. Are they among the best options? Or are there more specific or more niche products out there that I am not aware of?
Thanks in advance for your response.
Mark
But if you DON'T need "calculations", you can use a LINE DRAWING tool like Adobe Illustrator (AI) which is much more FLEXIBLE than Word. Also Excel is used when there ARE "calculations" and you seem to NOT want that... So I would rule out Excel too.
In Design is a hybrid tool... But it's more for booklets and things with multiple pages. If your "RPG Character Sheets" are only a page, I would recommend using Illustrator.
It's Vector art and you can do SIMPLE "shading" too (like you see in most Vector-based logos and such). You can also go simply B&W too... If that suits your fancy.
My Pick based on the LIMITED information you've provided would be:
Adobe Illustrator — Vector Art
What else do people think could be another good alternative or if you all seem to agree that AI is the best tool... For at least what you seem to be leaning towards. I think 1-Page B&W might be the standard format for most Character Sheets... From most RPGs that I've seen.
Cheers.
I am not really sure what you mean by "Calculations".
25 years ago, I made my character sheets in word. Not perfect, could be sensible to changes in version of software, font, and other factor.
Right now, unless you have a ton of text to write, I would do it with Inkscape. Or Adobe Illustrator (AI) if you have the money. Character sheets are made of a few words, but lot of lines, rectangles, icons, etc. So Inkscape would be a good software to do so. You print in PDF when you work is done.
If you want a very quick introduction to Inkscape I found this with google:
An Introduction to Inkscape by Gavin Corley
https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/images/f/f2/Introduction_to_Inkscape_by_G...
For a more complete document, I bought the paper version of Tavmjong Bah which is available online, and probably more up to date:
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Introduction.html
I've seen Excel sheets which do computations of "Advanced" Skills based on "Core" ones like Stamina, Strength, Dexterity, Luck, etc. etc. And then you choose your secondary skills like Medicine, Energy Weapons, Trap Detection, etc. etc.
And your secondary skills depend on various "Core" skills.
And like Maximum Health is also another COMPUTED case in some instances. Same goes for Armor Class (Shield, Armor, Gauntlets/Gloves, Boots, etc. etc.)
Some games compute those Totals based on your "Core" skills too...
I THINK this is what he means by "Calculations"... No FORMULAS in his Character Sheet. Only values entered by the player... And maybe even Dice-Driven too, IDK TBH it depend on the game and the stats in question!
You can basically COPY & PASTE from Adobe Illustrator (AI) to Photoshop. But that doesn't mean that within AI you cannot create Vector-based Art and have all kinds of colors and gradients.
AI is the best too for SHAPES and such ... Allowing you to prototype cards in AI and then render them in Photoshop.
I don't know much about Inkscape ... All I know is that it is Open Source and is FREE to use. Take that for what it's worth. I have AI and have taken the time to learn that tool. So I would NOT switch to Inkscape.
But in your shoes... Not knowing either and not having the money to afford AI ... means that maybe Inkscape is the better solution for you.
It's like GIMP or Photoshop... Or Inkscape or AI... FREE versus paid options.
I don't want to get into the details of PROs or CONs... Just that both exist.
Cheers.
Excels at calculations.
You could even program it to make random characters for you with a certain balance.
Sure if you want calculation, like a digital character sheet, I guess any spread sheet could do the job. I am less familiar with such software especially if it needs to be printable and look good at the end.I only made printable character sheets to be written by hand.
Else there might be software that allows making forms that you fill up digitally and then print. Not sure which software does that. sometimes government forms works like this.
Is to examine SmartPhone Apps. I think, and this is just my opinion, that an App for SmartPhones would be the IDEAL solution if you have complexities tied to the calculation aspect.
If you had such a DIGITAL App... Which is of course CUSTOM to your needs, that would probably be the BEST possible solution ... Especially IF you WANT calculation to be done AUTOMATICALLY.
I don't know HOW(?) to code Digital Apps ... So I can't help you there. But I can picture an App on my SmartPhone which allows me to input items and compute stats like STRENGTH, DEXTERITY, INTELLIGENCE, etc. etc. And also have items you can EQUIP which affect these STATS too.
But this is the MOST COMPLICATED solution towards making a Character Sheet. I could picture some kind of hybrid between Heroes of Might & Magic III... For items and STATS on a separate canvas...
That definitely would be COOL... Just take up a lot of time to do something BASIC and requires specialized skills.
I'm just throwing it "out-there" because it is a possibility: Custom Phone App!
mobile apps are hard to program. But there are some spreadsheet apps you could use, so I guess, you could load a spreadsheet file you designed on your mobile device when playing the game.
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