Exact Copy of Pathfinder Character Sheet

[Kebabman]

Hi,

Just a thought, but to encourage new players that have just started playing Pathfinder, is it possible to have a sheet that looks the same as the official Pathfinder character sheet.

Of course also with a back sheet giving details of the Skill, Feat & Spell descriptions!

If advertised as available, this may encourage new players to purchase the Hero Lab software.

[Dragnmoon]

I would advice downloading Armidale's Pathfinder Sheet (V3.15) Custom sheet from your updates.

The goal of that sheet was to look exactly like the Pathfinder Character Sheet.

I use that sheet exclusively

[Katt De Grey]

I am hoping that with the release of the new Pathfinder Character Folio we will see it here in HL.
I have my fingers crossed for this one.

[Mathias]

In my experience, published blank character sheets don't generally make a good transition directly to computer-generated character sheets.

Take the character sheet from the 3.5 player's handbook as an example - it has a small section for weapons at the bottom of the first page. Translate that into Hero Lab, and only those characters with very few weapons will actually be able to fit them into the same space that was on the printed sheet - everyone else gets a second section of weapons on page 2, leading to the current weapon printout that gets so many complaints (everyone asks how to control the order the weapons print in, as a substitute for controlling which ones print on which page). Even weirder was when we put the gear section at the top left of pg 2, as on that book's sheet - the spillover from the first page of the weapons section would be placed after the gear table. From a user's point of view, it looked like the spill-over didn't continue directly to page 2, and made the rest of the weapons not very obvious while reading the sheet.

(I'm sorry to say that the current Pathfinder character sheet printout still has most of its roots in the printout that was set up back when the d20 files were added to Hero Lab, and was based off the character sheet from the back of that player's handbook).

While published sheets try to juggle the amount of white space that needs to be allowed for each type of ability or equipment or other option in order to let the user have enough space to add all the ones that apply to their character, when generating a printed character sheet in a computer, you can calculate exactly how much space is required for each category of things for this character, so the problem is to instead to juggle the arrangement of those sections for this particular character.

Look & Feel - including color schemes, text styles, and placement of elements that won't change size from character to character (attributes, AC, initiative, saves, etc.) - those all do translate well, and if you like those sorts of elements in a printed sheet, you should describe exactly what you do like about it if you're interested in seeing that in Hero Lab.

The only way to precisely duplicate a published character sheet would be to leave blank areas if a section doesn't fill the same area on the published sheet, and to spill excess material onto supplemental pages if it doesn't fit into the allowed area. If your particular character doesn't need all the space the character sheet allocated to a particular type of gear/ability/option, then white space would be left in the rest of that area. Large volumes of white space end up looking like we're trying to waste paper, and adding empty lines to make it look like the original doesn't help that perception much.

I'd rather that character sheet discussions didn't focus as much on naming sheets (especially without visual examples or specifics) - instead, tell us exactly what you like about that sheet. Does it have a good visual style? What exactly about that visual style do you like? Does it group certain pieces of information near each other in a useful way? Is there information presented on that sheet that we don't present that we should?

Also just as a heads up on the timeframe for character sheet improvements, we are currently only 31 calendar days from Gen Con, and at Gen Con, Paizo will be releasing both a hardcover book (Ultimate Equipment) and a book of 30 prestige classes (Paths of Prestige), so we'll have our hands very full until Gen Con trying to get those releases out on time.

[AncientOne]

Originally Posted by Mathias

In my experience, published blank character sheets don't generally make a good transition directly to computer-generated character sheets.

FWIW, I agree completely with everything Mathias said in this post.

The standard Pathfinder sheet is mostly designed (1) for low-level to mid-level characters; and (2) to be filled in by hand, with boxes for all of the intermediate values that you have to total up.

IMO, its main advantage is just that it's familiar.

[Kebabman]

Having read Mathias post, I have to admit that I have been swayed.

Although I like the look of Armidale's Pathfinder Sheet.

[Katt De Grey]

Hi All,
Having read the posts here I too have been swayed.
Thank you for responding so quickly and for explaining things.
Again Thank you.

Katt

[philip_fry]

Hi there,
what I like about the new Charakter Portfolio ist the breakdown in different categories. But I agree, it´s more suited for pen & paper needing more space in general. But since I use a printed sheet (currently Ancient´s, which is really awesome) in actual play I consider that not as a negative thing.

Concerning the standard HL sheet the Gear section could use a more detailed breakdown nevertheless imo, since it can get a little crowded in there. Maybe categories for magic items, protectiv items could help. Or maybe even a breakdown what body slots are already used (again usefull if you´re using a printed sheet). Not sure how that things could be organized best.

Spellsheets I always consider a difficult thing, especially as a prepared caster. The approach in the portfolio is nice but offers to little space to be really usefull (I really don´t like erasing the whole text every time I want so swap spells on the occasion).

What´s missing in general, not directly related to that topic, is a custom permanent adjustment option. Say you cast permanent see invisibilty on yourself. The only place I found to write it down is the character background. Since there´s already a category for permanent adjustments it would be a nice addition.

greetings
philip_fry

[Kebabman]

Hi,

Also check out "AncientOne's Customizable Pathfinder Sheet 4.0"

http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=21943

Impressive, well done "AncientOne"

[crobledo]

Originally Posted by Kebabman

Hi,

Also check out "AncientOne's Customizable Pathfinder Sheet 4.0"

http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=21943

Impressive, well done "AncientOne"

Pretty much +1 to this. Just updated to v 4.0 and they are great!