PFNCRS: Pathfinder Next character record sheet made simpler !!! (Public Edition)

[ download public version ]

Okay my friends and followers I've been busy at work since last version of my PFNCRS and I've taken drastic measures (a few gnomes, dwarves, drow, beers, and catapults) to get this down to a ez-pz science.

Looking at this wouldn't you want to have it?  Click on the image and you'll see it's actually just a half a sheet of 8.5x11" paper...  what you don't see here is some shortcut explanations to the EVENT XP and some other PFN notes...  that will be on the Public (non-editable) version of the new form.

This one there are dropdown menus which give you the ROLE TYPE, Classes, their level selector. These were done in Adobe-JavaScript by myself and they'll just be for information purposes only. Once you have filled out the form you just send it to me for my records (or to your GM for his).

My idea for my local group is for me to have some mini Tablets which will run PDF's and be hooked up WiFi so while gaming I can send individuals notes, pictures, etc... and at the end of the evening collect the tablets.  If you want your updated PFNCRS just email it to yourself.  Anything which is on the tablet is for my record keeping and contents therein my property.  If it's not on that PFNCRS then it's not approved by me.  If it's on there and I forget or don't know and you prove it to me then it's bad on me (your GM).

STATS you put in but their Modifiers automatically fill in.  
HP column 1 is manual, but Col 2-4, Rez & Dead are auto. calculated for ease of melee.
MOVEMENTS, LOOKS, STAT ADJUSTS, GEAR, and POSSESSIONS/MONEY are all memo fields and lines can be filled out by giving them a line break (enter/return key).


Now what you've been wondering about...  what's in those drop downs!?!?!

Race : human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, dragonborn, tiefling, eladrin
Role : melee, ranged, arcane, divine, skilled
Class : barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard, summoner, witch, warlock, samurai, ninja, magus, alchemist, gunslinger, inquisitor, monk

Each class has its own level dial / dropdown which goes from 1-20.  If you somehow play a game with a single class and you go beyond level 20 make CLASS 2 the same as CLASS 1; you will notice TOT CL goto 21.  A primary class can only be 1st through 20th level, however you may take a secondary class which adds together to make a higher Character Level Total (TOT CL).


What is all this stuff on the lower/back part of the PFNCRS ?

This is all players would need to know to advance and experience the world of PFN.

Event Types...
Encounter : you have encountered something you've never encountered before and you have lived to tell of your encounter.  This usually consumes little of your resources but may consume more under extreme/exotic circumstances/situations.

Defeat : you have defeated a "event situation", and both of you live to tell about it. Defeats could be you brought its resources/health to within 10% of it's maximum and it surrendered to you.  This usually consumes a moderate amount of your resources.

Kill : the most common occurrence with veteran parties...  you've killed the situation.  It may recover/resurrect over time. Party members may have perished in the accomplishment of this event and likewise may recover/resurrect over time.  This usually consumes all of the party's resources if not some in reserve.


Slay : this is the rarest occurrence with any party...  you've slain the situation and it will never recover...  not even a deific event (by the deities/gods) will change this.  Doing this will be a historical moment in some culture's existence.  Any and all resources are consumed, reserves depleted, favors called in, and a call for your resignation/retirement may occur.  Be proud because this has yet to happen...  but it's there so that the most difficult rewards of event(s) may be reaped.

Place : in your travels you personally may encounter a place that you've never been to. It's new to you so encountering such a place is the easiest and most difficult to gain Event XP (EXP).  If someone shows you where to go on a map where you haven't been you still get it's EXP.

Thing : you've come across some thing which you have never seen before.  It's not a PLACE and it's not a MONSTER so it is therefore simply classified as a THING. If you figure out how to properly use the Thing you get EXP from that too;  also figuring out something new to do with the Thing also grants you EXP.

Monster : by the term of the word is anything which attacks you/party to do defeat/kill/slay. These are the event types which most parties encounter in some Event or another and gain the most EXP from.

The Event Matracy tell how many of each event type it takes to level and their results. You may stack multiple place/thing/monster types (PTM's) but not the Encounter/Defeat/Kill/Slays (Events).  

- Example : you suddenly fall into a cave, recently dug by a purple worm with it's vast array of assassin's blades stuck in its maw.  Surprised by you it squirms away.  You are hurt from the fall but you live to get out, mark the hole, and go home to heal... and get your party together to hunt that big thing down.

Encounter : cave (place)
Encounter : assassin's blades (thing)
Encounter : purple worm (monster)
Defeat : purple worm ran away because you surprised it (defeat)

Place a mark in the ENCOUNTER row for each place, thing, & monster columns, then place another mark in the DEFEAT row in the monster column.  Add these up and if your number matches the "# of Events to Level" then you just did it.  One more monster defeat and the highest level persons roll off to see whom gets a level.


Event EXP works for the entire party so it makes it better for a party to stick together and work as a unit while having fun.  If a party member leaves, even temporarily, the entire party suffers and it makes it harder to level while the soloist jumps up in level (can only reach APL +3 levels maximum unless he disbands from the party permanently).  When rejoining the party the soloist's EVENT XP does not get added to the collective party Event XP but his newly attained levels make the APL go up more and the newer rewards may accelerate the party's advancement.

Pathfinder Next ... the next step in Social Fantasy Gaming!

I've been doing a lot of work on what I hope will be a quick way to get into the game.

What IS the game ?  I've combined what I think is the best of two fantasy gaming systems for today's gamer...  Pathfinder (by Paizo) and Dungeons & Dragons 5e (or Next)  (by Wizards of the Coast).

Rules have been cut away and replaced by simpler ones, ones which which maximizes the potential of the game...  that of having fun with friends.

Some knowledge of either system is helpful but not always necessary.  Having played at all in any RPG is a step towards more fun.

Here is one of my current fillable record sheets with a cutaway of the work which I have done...  all within Adobe Acrobat X Pro and it's Forms with JavaScript.  I've looked through many examples on W3Schools' JavaScript learning site and a couple of Google searches and found another gamer looking to do have the Mods automatically adjust for what you put into their Scores.

This image is the record sheet with a section breakdown which I'll explain in another blog posting... look for PFNCRS Breakdown...

The image below is the data which I am using for PFN...  the character sheets and the character generator (yes this is in the works but the CRS is the ground for the CGen)..

Here's the back of the character sheet which may enlighten you a little bit further... and this a 2nd version...

Not all the classes and races are represented in my system.  Some have been taken out for the greater good and some have been substituted in their place.

Some House Rules I'll be loosely using...

1, Orcs, half-orcs, and all "green skinned beings" are now evil and no longer heroes.  They are no longer allowed to be a PC.

2. Heroic beginning stats are the starting place for ability scores and they go up from there depending on Race and Combat Type.

3.  No more experience points.  In their place Event Points based upon APL, CR, DC, and a few other things.  But if you can remember 16, 8, 4, and 2 you're half way there!

4.  5 Second Destiny.  If you can not think of anything, make a decision, a roll, or anything else before 5 seconds is up it's your destiny to be skipped over and the next in line to chomp up the baddies.

5.  When all else fails to make sense... make it up in the PC's favor!  Round up for PC's, round down for everything Vs the PC's.  If PC has 4.1 then it's fair at 4, but 4.5 round upto 5;  however if a monster gets a 4.9 round down to 4.

6.  Pick, put, play!  Pick up your dice, put them to use, and play until the Event(s) is done.  The more you can rack up the faster you and your party may level.

7. When in doubt... email me at marcaise@gmail ...  or look for me on Skype where I can share my desktop.  If that is flaky then we can use TeamSpeak or Ventrillo, both of which I have servers for.

HitBox v.3.02

I have done some looking around at other character record sheets for d20 systems and I have come up with a decent one for my own games.

Here Hitbox version 3.02 shall be explained and I'll open it to comments and criticisms. 

Remember, this is for my own use for playing and hopefully players will adopt this form for their own use playing or game-mastering.

HitBox official version 3.02 but denoted 4 (rev. 12.22.2014)

CR : Challenge Rating : is the number of which a PC needs to meet or beat in order to accomplish the challenge.  Mostly used for combat but also represents the difficulty of how to open a lock, wizard barred/locked door, drinking a vile potion or alcohol, and just about anything which could challenge a PC and/or his party.

Player Name: is the owner/user of this form and the one in charge of updating (Last Updated) and giving to the GM for his records.

Type: in my games there are many combat/party styles. They are the following (but not limited to) :
Melee: Hand to Hand
Melee: Ranged
Spell : Arcane
Spell : Divine
Skilled

These types are important because they share the same similar skill sets and thus makes for vastly simpler character generation.

Class (Character Level):  as your PC progresses in level/difficulty it's keen to keep track of the class' level and the overall character level.  How this is done is left upto the player but ultimately the total should be displayed apart from the class(es).

What is the difference between Hitbox versions (1.x, 2.x, 3.x, 4) ?
Some more information is put into the HBX, displayed in grey, and additions to the previous versions for ease-of-use and visibility.
- Of late these will be minor updates to the previous version.  Official (12/22/14) is 3.02 but shall be referred to as Version 4.

Along the top row of HitBox4 you see numbered columns followed by REZ and DEAD.  This is to signify how bad the penalties are to all die rolls for each column breached.  Once you have the hit points for that column after the first then you suffer a -2, -3, or -4 penalty on all rolls.  If you suffer enough damage to reach negative ten percent of your total health (HP by level, plus only bonuses from Constitution) you are no longer combat capable and are category REZ (or resurrectable).  If for some reason you suffer a negative total equal to your total health then you are by no further means resurrectable even by deific means and you are category DEAD (please give this sheet to the GM.  it may be burned, spindled, mutilated, shredded, sent to its grave, but never brought back to use... ever).

HD: Hit Dice : the bigger they are the bigger they hit, fall, and longer to heal.  The idea of having this here is so that when you get hit or land a hit which causes such traumatic damage that instead of lesser hit points (HP) you plainly can see the effects of combat.  If something attacking you is double your HD there's a good chance of an insta-kill.

HP: Hit Points : a good way to fine-line between different stages of recovery columns.

Greyed out is a reminder what to put where and how much.

BAB : Base Attack Bonus : for heavy combat adventures/campaigns please use Pathfinder's rules on this.  In DnD 5E there are rare mentions of multiple attack combinations (multiattacks). Most 5E are listed as a bonus to hit the DC and nothing else.  This harkens back to 1E where multiple attacks were unheard of.  

- In the case of heavy combat games the greyed out portions are:
Main Hand (MH), Off Hand (OH), second MH attack (MH2), second off hand attack (OH2), attack while Hasted (HASTE), and if you are level enough with enough training you may be able to pull off a Lucky Shot (LUCK (MH-25) where your DC is +25 higher/harder. 

AC : Armor Class : is how well defensive you are.  Armor, shields, magical devices, martial techniques, and combat feats provide you with bonuses as well as your DEX.
- BEST : is your total overall best AC which is the DC.  Add up everything you have equipped.
- TOUCH : (Pathfinder rule) Some attacks completely disregard armor, including shields and natural armor—the aggressor need only touch a foe for such an attack to take full effect. In these cases, the attacker makes a touch attack roll (either ranged or melee). When you are
the target of a touch attack, your AC doesn’t include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) apply normally. Some creatures have the ability to make incorporeal touch attacks. These attacks bypass solid objects, such as armor and shields, by passing through them. Incorporeal touch attacks work similarly to normal touch attacks except that they also ignore cover bonuses. Incorporeal touch attacks do not ignore armor bonuses granted by
force effects, such as mage armor and bracers of armor.
- FLAT : Flat-Footed : (Pathfinder rule) At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. You can’t use your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) while flat-footed. Barbarians and rogues of high enough level have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which means that they cannot be caught flat-footed. Characters with uncanny dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat. A flat-footed character can’t make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat.

RESIST : previously you had Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower with the Pathfinder rules system. This is no longer the case in DnD5E.  Instead you now have a bonus to Saving Throws (Saves) with some races and some class ability modifiers.  Example: dwarves are resistant to poison, elves to magic and charm, halflings to fear and the like.
- This area is for specific resistances and immunities.  If they can be dealt with modifiers from race or class they need not be listed here.

Added to the 1.x - 2.x HitBox is the new "Expeditious Levelling" (explained below), and a place to keep track of the PC's abilities, their modifiers, their move, and initiative (self explanatory).

Work in progress...

I've been working on trying to make my games funner to play while extending them in real time.

I've had run AD&D 1e-3e and Pathfinder where PC's were inundated with terrific (and terrifying) magics, creatures beyond belief, and the like...  but the players did not see my vision.

Since starting to run I've seen many other GM's using more realism to their games and I have now understood the reason...  but now I'm hoping to step up and do a realism game yet the quest is beyond the normal structure of the campaign setting.

I am a fan of the Pathfinder Campaign setting and I believe my own rendition of the classic Throne of Bloodstone would do some justice to my gaming career as both player and game master.

My blog, Throne of Bloodstone ( ToBiG blog ) has some of my house rules there but I hope to get a discussion going and perhaps post here.

Hit Box is a concept of visualizing what you need during combat, the numbers you are always trying to add up and/or forgetting.  HB allows a quick way for GM's to keep track of PC's and NPC's and their vitals.

Broken down into columns allows for a easy visual to keep things flowing while keeping the PC alive in the game.  Columns "Rez" & "Dead" are there to signify the end of the line, when you can be risen or when you hand in your records to the GM for shredding (and maybe party loot).

HD  hit points divided by eight.  How many hits will you take before going down ?  Each column is a quarter of your full health (HP) without buffs.

HP is like HD (above) but is the 1:1 ratio.

BAB, Base Attack Bonus, or simply the best main hand (MH) attack, best off hand (OH) attack, next MH, next OH, and next if Hasted, and then if you have 20/15/10/5 attacks then a lucky last attack.
MH/OH/MH/OH/HASTE/LUCKY.

AC, Armor Class, is best, touch, then flatfoot.

DR, SR, MR%, Damage Resistance, Spell Resistance, and Magic Resistance.  If you have them they go in these spots.

STUN, if you suffer a hit which gives you this much damage (either HD or HP) then you are given the STUN condition for a number of rounds listed.  This correlates directly to how many hits you have taken (by HD or HP).

Hitbox v2, updated on 16-December-2014 by Marcaise

Hitbox v.2.0 includes the standard HitBox information AND adds to it Expeditious Levelling (below).

Expeditious Levelling is my concept of allowing levelling at a rate equivalent to the experience tables in various system.  Your level plus your next level is the base challenge rating (CR) of the stuff your party needs to level.  Based upon the Average Party Level (APL) of a group of four PC's.  This does not mean you actually level faster but instead of keeping track of experience by points events are kept track of instead.

I'll be making a webpage with tables so you can actually see these tables and will be linked here when they are ready / done.

I don't like math as much as the next person and counting my pennies just sucks.  So what I came up with was a EVENT REWARD TABLE which should move things along and up the levelling charts.

Encounter:  

• seen event/target in person and lived
• seeing something new and proof to another outside of your party
• event/target may be encountered in any condition: Friendly, Neutral, or Hostile

Defeat:

• a hostile event/target in which said event was defeated during your immediate presence and time
• defeated need only surrender or flee but doesn't need to be killed/slain.
• you (or with party) need only survive this event to gain XP.  You must have had dealt damage or "support" equal to or more than a quarter of its listed XP value from the Monster Manual (or its equivalent if a "Thing"; see later).

Kill (Fatality):

• a hostile event/target you (or with party) have dispatched temporarily from gameplay (storyline) until it is resurrected (or recreated)
• event/target is removed from gameplay until becoming fully healthy again, a condition called "Arisen" which mortals can only be Arisen be brought back a certain number of times. "Deific" designated targets have unlimited times to be Arisen being Defeated or Killed, however if Slain it is handled different.
• Arisen mortals start with a number of Arisen Points equal to his starting Constitution Bonus (or Modifier, whichever is higher during Character Creation)
• Cannot be changed or affected, ever
• from another variant AD&D 1E, equivalent to Death Points
• Killing an Arisen gives a one-time chance a bonus reward
• roll 1d20, on a 20 receive 150% of Arisen Kill Reward
• a kill means the hostile event/target was taken down to zero to negative ten health (0 to -10 hp)

Slay (Slain):

• hostile event/target which has taken so much damage (negative eleven or more) it cannot naturally heal itself, or no heal nor resurrection is possible
• a "Deific" classed hostile event/target must be slain twice
• once slain they attain a "Slain by (Hero's Name)" title as a marker for extinction. 
• if slain twice (truly, a "true death") the hostile event/target will never come back and becomes a Historical Event
• slaying twice gives both slayers an extra reward chance
• roll 1d20, on a 1 receive 300% of Deific Slain Reward

EVENT, Number of times the following Events need be achieved to obtain the next level, keeping in mind that you are in a party of four of average party level (the basic APL)...

Event List

• Encounter: 16 Places, 8 Things, 4 Monsters
• Defeat : 8 places, 4 things, 2 monsters
• Kill :4 places, 2 things, 1 monster
• Slay/Destroy : 2 places, 1 thing, 1 monster

All Events based upon an average CR for your APL.

Introductions for AD&D 2014 with 5th Edition ...

Hello all fellow gamers!

I'm happy to say that I like 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons that it may take over for the system of choice for my Pathfinder campaign :  Throne of Bloodstone In Golarion  ( the blog :  ToBIG ).

1st edition was simple and very straight forward.  The experience rewards are little and made every player work for their +1 thingamabob. There was some diversity from 2E - 3.xE D&D and more so with Pathfinder.  With 5e they've combined best of all versions and made some improvements in my opinion.

Since I've played since then I have come p with some House Rules which will keep the XP penny counting to a minimum and I hope will expedite gameplay.


DnD5e House Rules

Expeditious Levelling

I don't like math as much as the next person and counting my pennies just sucks.  So what I came up with was a REWARD TABLE which should move things along and up the levelling charts.

Encounter:  

• seen event/target in person and lived
• seeing something new and proof to another outside of your party
• event/target may be encountered in any condition: Friendly, Neutral, or Hostile

Defeat:

• a hostile event/target in which said event was defeated during your immediate presence and time
• defeated need only surrender or flee but doesn't need to be killed/slain.
• you (or with party) need only survive this event to gain XP.  You must have had dealt damage or "support" equal to or more than a quarter of its listed XP value from the Monster Manual (or its equivalent if a "Thing"; see later).

Kill (Fatality):

• a hostile event/target you (or with party) have dispatched temporarily from gameplay (storyline) until it is resurrected (or recreated)
• event/target is removed from gameplay until becoming fully healthy again, a condition called "Arisen" which mortals can only be Arisen be brought back a certain number of times. "Deific" designated targets have unlimited times to be Arisen being Defeated or Killed, however if Slain it is handled different.
• Arisen mortals start with a number of Arisen Points equal to his starting Constitution Bonus (or Modifier, whichever is higher during Character Creation)
• Cannot be changed or affected, ever
• from another variant AD&D 1E, equivalent to Death Points
• Killing an Arisen gives a one-time chance a bonus reward
• roll 1d20, on a 20 receive 150% of Arisen Kill Reward
• a kill means the hostile event/target was taken down to zero to negative ten health (0 to -10 hp)

Slay (Slain):

• hostile event/target which has taken so much damage (negative eleven or more) it cannot naturally heal itself, or no heal nor resurrection is possible
• a "Deific" classed hostile event/target must be slain twice
• once slain they attain a "Slain by (Hero's Name)" title as a marker for extinction. 
• if slain twice (truly, a "true death") the hostile event/target will never come back and becomes a Historical Event
• slaying twice gives both slayers an extra reward chance
• roll 1d20, on a 1 receive 300% of Deific Slain Reward

Number of times the following much be achieved to obtain the next level, keeping in mind that you are in a party of four heroes of average party level (the basic APL)...

Encounter 16 Places, 8 Things, 4 Monsters
Defeat 8 places, 4 things, 2 monsters
Kill 4 places, 2 things, 1 monster
Slay/Destroy 2 places, 1 thing, 1 monster

All events based upon an average CR for your APL.