Baron Greystone said: 3/6/22 Honest feedback trying the latest beta.
Let me just start by
saying that I appreciate all the effort you go into for this. I sat
and played around with the character that I imported here a while
back for earlier testing.
- I can’t figure
out how the Armor Details section works, ie AC Base vs AC Adj, how
the helmet option works, and how things are being auto-calculated.
Somehow I ended up with total AC of 9 there, and it still said 4 up
top. It should actually be 1. Chain, Shield, Dex and since you ask if
he wears I Helmet I tried to add that, but it’d just be the normal
one for a full set of Chain. Anyway then I closed the sheet and
re-opened it, and now I think the numbers have changed... >>> It's difficult to account for every option and handle auto-calculating the most common types of AC. I agree that this may be confusing as-is and I would like to refine it somehow... I was planning on adding hover text to help explain what each field is/does. I'm open for suggestions. Base Armor is what the Armor Class Table lists for that piece of armor. ie Chain mail = 5 , Plate mail = 3, Plate mail + shield = 2, etc. AC. Adj. is basically a misc. field to adjust the a piece up/down (maybe due to an armor's current condition?) Magic is for magical enhancements (or penalties). The bottom row auto-calcs totals based on the what is entered from the rows above. Only equipped/worn items are included. Shield row only applies to shield calcs(last calc of the row) Base only uses the best(lowest) AC from the listed items. AC Adj. and Magic are taken from all equipped items. Hmm, while Magic bonuses are cumulative, I'm thinking AC Adj. should probably only be used from the best item as well...? >>> - Can you just turn
off the auto-calc somehow so I can just type in 1/4/5, or 1/2/5? >>> Total AC is currently a manual entry and I did have Shieldless AC and Rear AC manual as well but changed them to calc from the armor details row. I can probably either revert them back to manual fields or perhaps include an option on the sheet to disable auto-calculating AC. >>> - Which begs the
question of documentation. Does it exist somewhere, one simple
document to reflect whatever the current version is? >>> Once it looks like things are closer to "appeasing the masses", I'm sure a sheet guide can be added to the wiki. Honestly, I would like to make changes to the sheet for any areas that may be confusing in order to make them more intuitive. >>> - I’m not sure
what the parentheticals after each Ability score are for (although
that’s in the live version). Is the box for the current value, and
the parenthetical field for some other version? Does what I put in
the parenthetical field affect anything? >>> this is a carry-over from the current version. They were an addition(along with THAC0, Comeliness, and non-weapon prof.) that were made to the sheet by someone other than me... Like exceptional STR, it's an option to other "exceptional" abilities. You can hide them in the Settings. >>> - There’s a button
for Open Doors. I have entered 1,2 in the field for years. After
trying to roll I realize that I can’t tell how that info is being
used. I changed it to 1-2 and that’s not any better. Guess I need
documentation. >>> Enter the high number. ie 1-3, just enter 3 since you need to roll 3 or lower to succeed. If you hover over the field you should see "@{minorstrengthfeat} Enter the highest # from STR table." I will try to add similar title text wherever it's needed. >>> - I don’t
understand why there’s a button for Mental Save next to Wisdom, and
how to make that roll vs having a button for each Saving throw
further down with their own target numbers. >>> This is another roll that was added to the sheet(not by me). I've left it here since a Wis bonus is the only ability adjustment for mental attack saves. I would be fine moving it to the Saves section though. I don't actually recall ever using a "Mental Save" per se. We would often pick the closest type of Save and simply add your Wis bon if applicable. Thoughts? >>> - I added Racial Adj
values to two Saves. I didn’t know whether I was supposed to add a
-4 or a 4, so I tried one of each. I don’t see that either Adj
value was applied when I pressed the button to roll the Save. >>> I've been in quandary on IF I should auto-calc many of these fields on the sheet. Existing characters will have totals already for their saves, hp, ac, etc. I have no clue how people actually calculated their totals (what they actually included). For this reason, I have not touched the existing totals and they are currently a manual (un-calculated) field. The row of fields are simply there to "help" you track a total. I could include a calculated field as well if desired. Use the auto-calc (totaled row) or override with whatever value you like. Currently it's all manual on Saves. >>> - When I roll the
to-hit button for a weapon I see code appearing in the chat box with
buttons for damage that don’t produce results when I click them. On
the other hand when I click the DMG buttons on the sheet for that
weapon it works fine. So the damage isn’t automatically rolled when
I roll to-hit anymore? That was a time-saver. Or is it just not
working right? >>> Like the 5e sheet (gasp), you can roll damage directly from chat after rolling an attack. Use the "Roll Damage" or "Roll Damage vs Lg" chat buttons or roll off the sheet. If you hit, roll damage. Some people complained about always rolling damage (vs med and vs large) regardless of a successful hit or the size of the enemy. BTW: I have not written any code to update the old attack macros at this point. When I do, the sheet will check(if/when this update is released) to see if you are using the default attack macro, if so, it will automatically update to the new default macro. If you have edited your attack macro, the sheet will leave it alone which allows you to decide how you would like to proceed. Some people may have configured their attack macros a certain way. You can either copy/edit the existing macro or edit the new default if desired, or decide to reset to the new default. Users can manually reset any macro on the sheet by simply deleting the fields contents and clicking outside the field. All newly created attacks will have the new attack macro by default. >>> - I found the fields
for Armor Class Adjustments by weapon, but they only go up to AC2.
Can they go up to AC0, since we use that information from Unearthed
Arcana? >>> I'll have a look, but it doesn't sound like a problem. >>> - I entered a couple
of items under Equipment and gave them Wt but it doesn’t show up in
the auto-calc results. >>> Playing around with how to hide/show types of equipment and introduced a bug in the equip calcs by accident. ;-( (should be fixed now in the test game.) >>> - I appear to have
Base percentage values loaded into Thief Skills on my sheet. But I
imported a Fighter. I don’t remember adding any values into this
sheet for beta testing, and if I did I imagine I’d have entered
random amounts, but at a glance these look like accurate 1 st
level starting values. So where did they come from? And what would I
do if I rose to 2 nd level Thief? In any case it looks like
those values aren’t being read because the Total fields are still
0%. >>> I just added defaults to match the thief function table. These are all manual fields at this point. Adjust any/all as needed. 2nd level thief, just adjust numbers. >>>
Honestly I’m
afraid that rolling the latest beta in may wreck my two games. The
current live version is complex enough. If you roll the beta in and
we can’t figure it out, then what do we do? If I go to the main
page and change what character sheet I’m using (assuming there’s
another 1e choice out there at this point), I will lose everyone’s
existing characters, with no way to save that data, won’t I? Maybe
you could make the current beta into a brand-new sheet choice that
people can opt into, instead of as a forced change that they might
not end up wanting? >>> I've used all the same attributes as the current version and have simply added additional attributes. I've only auto-calculated new attributes. I've been very careful not to molest existing attribute values. I would not release an update that could wipe out existing characters. This is why a test game is very important when updating an existing sheet. >>>
We really just need
blank fields to fill in. Detailed fields are nice as long as I can
use them. Drop-downs and etc are nice. But I’m very much afraid
that the automation, buttons for rolling, and auto-calcs are going to
be problematic. We can ignore buttons for rolling if they seem off,
but if we can’t get the auto-calcs to work as intended, and we
can’t freely edit the results manually, then we’re going to be in
trouble.
Thanks again, Vince. I am still listening and I am open to making changes.
