Does your last post mean your custom chapter changing IN the character generator is open? I can't see it in the last update, have you had a chance to put it up on your site?

I got the custom chapter spreadsheet

Apologies.

The custom chapter spreadsheet is a by-product of the development. I used it to build all the tables and test the process end-to-end. I am still working on the VBA code which will do essentially the same thing but with nice windows and the ability to then allow the chapter to be used in the character generator.

Hey, just checked out your generator, looks very useful! I've done a quick clickthrough through the application quickly, and noticed two things:

- In the latest version, a librarian can only select 1 starter power. It works fine in the version that is a day older.
- If you select the power armor history, normally you'd roll on the chart and can select the one above and below your result as well. Not a big deal as you allow manual entry, so you can always roll yourself manually.

Finally got a chance to use this. I have to say it is awesome, very well thought out and easy to use. Thanks!

Brother Tristram of the Black Templars is finally ready to slaughter the enemies of the Emperor.

Update available: v04r13_20110622

Fixed:

• Librarian Starting Powers - You can now select 3 once more

Redemption NL said:

Have to admit that I'd not picked up on your second point. However, my thought is that there would be little point asking for a random set of results that then just presents you with 3 options. I'm not really happy about there being a random result that then says pick an option. If you wanted to pick an option, then you would and you wouldn't bother with the rolls at all.

If there is a concensus that the random Power Armour History should then present the roll and the options above and below then, I'll look into making it that way. Let me know what others think...

Killbeggar said:

Thank you for your praise. If find any flaws or have any suggestions, post them and I'll keep working.

Tricky110974 said:

Well, it was just something I noticed. No biggie, as you can easily use the manual entry if you want to follow the roll and pick out of 3 method described in the rulebook. As our gaming group has just starting with Deathwatch, we want to skip the other marks of power armour and the armour histories presented in Rites of Battle anyway.

Some other minor issues I've found so far:
- Can't select any Deathwatch advanced until you've spent at least 1000xp (probably to do with the fact you're considered 'rank 0' until you've spend your starter XP)
- Characteristic bonusses from power armour history aren't taken into account. I.e. 'Thy Strength by Legend' should add an additional 10 Strength.
- Can remove a chosen advance that is a prequisite for another already chosen advance (i.e., removing Frenzy after already choosing Battle Rage)
- Removing a Characteristic Advance doesn't remove the increased characteristic from the first tab
- When you set the character name, the Control workbook lists 'Name: Name: [name]'

I noticed something that may be specific or include all armor histories?

basic book MVII armor with the generic 'thine arm be the scourge of the impure' adds +5 to WS, -5 to BS. Neither of those adjustments came out in the character.

I still love your work though!

Redemption NL

• Deathwatch Advances are not allowed until you have spent your starting 1,000 xp.
• No Power Armour Histories are taken into account. This was because I haven't developed code that can account for all and so I decided that I wouldn't account for any to avoid confusion over what was and what was not accounted for.
• Similar to the above, removing elements of a character is easy to do, but difficult to check for illegal prerequisites. I may have a solution to the Advances which I can implement but the complexity may require a little more thought. This is the reason why I removed the unselect Chapter and Specialty functions. The generator's initial aim was to assist in creating a printable character sheet through an user-friendly interface. It was never designed to replace the books or validate a character. Of course, I'd like to make it all singing and dancing, but I'm just an amateur and still learning how to achieve certain tasks. And, I'm not using the most dedicated platform (Excel and VBA) for doing this work.
• I should be able to fix removed Characteristic Advances adjustments, but take note of the point above. I guess my point is, try to avoid removing elements. I can't imagine that you would create a character with pen and paper and keep writing and erasing Advances and altering your character, although I guess people are wanting to have a e-tool that allows just that so they can experiment. I will keep working and see what I can accomplish.
• This is a bug and I will get it sorted ASAP.

rcsob657:

• See point 2 above. I know there is a lot of wanting for PA Histories, but when you include them all, there are lots of exceptions and conditional modifiers, and I'm just not sure how best to implement them.

To all:

Thank you for the feedback. I am still considering this an ongoing development and will endeavour to implement all the great ideas that are being put forward.

• Deathwatch Advances are not allowed until you have spent your starting 1,000 xp.

Edit: Quote fail, crappy forum software wont let me fix it

Not the only one strugling with the forum software I see.

Page 27, Starting Experience:
"... - you may spend your 1,000 xp on any advances from your Chapter Advances, the first rank of the General Space Marine Advances, and the first rank of your Speciality. Because your character has just recently joined the Deathwatch, you may not spend your starting xp on Advances from the Deathwatch Advances."

Almost got a check for prerequisites sorted. Just need to sort out Skill Groups.

Forum software is going haywair so apologies if this post is critically flawed.

New update: v04r14_20110623

Fixed:

* Name on Control Sheet now displays correctly.

* Removing an Advance will be checked against remaining Advances prerequisites and not allowed if it would invalidate any of them. You will be notified of which Advance depends on the Advance that you are trying to remove.

Redemption NL: I couldn't replicate the Characteristic modifiers not being removed. I've had a similar problem earlier and thought that these were now all being calculated correctly. Could you confirm this is still an issue and if so give a little more details of your character so that I can try and pin point the issue.

Apologies to all for any short and obscure posts. My phone (Opera for Android) and browser (FF4) seem to not like the forum software at the moment. Actually, my phone has never liked it, but now my PC is also not happy.

Thanks for the Deatchwatch advances with starting experience reference, we completely missed that one. Not that it matters much, it doesn't have a lot of advances you'd want to take with your starter xp anyway.

The removing of characteristic advances seems to be fixed indeed, and the prerequisites seems to work too, good job!

And with some more testing, I found the following:

• Typo on the OnExit confirmation ('Chracter').
• If I remove the Bolt Pistol from the Wargear tab, it adds a wargear entry called 'Name [C] (Quantity)'. A 'Type Mismatch' error then also starts to pop up in various locations (I.E. closing or opening the generator form).
• Equipment charactistics aren't added to the bonus. (I.E. a Space Marine with 40 Strenght in Power Armour should have a Strenght bonus of 10).
• Random selection of power armour history still makes you select manually.
• Suggestion: when choosing Signature Wargear, the list of items both is somewhat chaotic (maybe add categories like the wargear tab, order alphabetically, or add a search/filter textbox), and has items I'm not sure you could choose (chapter trappings and such).
• You can take Signature Wargear multiple times from Rank 1 of the Space Marine Advances, while the second doesn't come till Rank 5.
• Signature Wargear doesn't check for Renown requirements.
• Would it be possible to add the piece of equipment you chose with Signature Wargear to be added to your base equipment? Of course with Signature Wargear (Master) that piece would have to be replaced, adding to the complexity.
• For Signature Wargear, would it be possible to also include upgrades to the weapon, such as the level of craftmanship or adding a scope?
• And for Signature Wargear (Master), the selection of the additional benefit?
• What does the 'Ignore Requisition Cost' checkbox on the Wargear tab do exactly? I tried adding costless Signature Wargear that way, but I couldn't figure out how it would ignore any costs.
• Is the 'Default Equip' button for some yet to be implemented functionality?
  

whenever I click o the link, I get a 'cant open selected workbook' error

Don't click on the filename, but select the line the file is in. A download link will then appear on the right hand side.

Redemption NL said:

• Typo fixed.
• This turned out to do with deleting the the item at the top of the list, rather that the Bolt Pistol. It's now fixed.
• Power Armour Strength and Movement bonus should be calculated. I've not been able to recreate the issue.
• This is from the original Rulebook table where, the final option was to choose. May remove this option from the Random generator.
• Signature Wargear list will be rationalised in near future, with filters.
• I'd missed this. Will have to rethink the checking formula for this Advance - watch this space.
• The Signature Wargear Advances are very simple at the moment. My idea was to let the player select the Advance and specify an item. But there is no validation. The player would then choose the equipment (with upgrades, craftsmanship, etc.) as agreed the the GM. By using the Ignore Renown and Ignore Requisition Costs, the item could be chosen for free, reflecting the Advance. I not sure that there is any point adding it to 'base' equipment as this is only defined when creating a new character and thus Signature Wargear wouldn't be chosen.
• The generator adds up the costs of Gear and presents it in the Requisition Spent box on Wargear tab. This was working correctly and so if you requisitioned a duplicate piece of equipment the cost was ignored. This is now fixed. The problem is, requisition is pooled and varies between missions and so the Requisition Spent is simply a guide to aid players in their spending rather than limiting what they can requisition.
• The Default Equip was a function to reset equipment, similar to deselecting a chapter. Like other undo functions it's presently disabled until I can be sure that it works.

Update available: v04r15_270611

Fixed:

• See previous post for details

Issues:

• Signature Wargear Advance is allowing multiple selections per Rank.

Everything noted seems to be fixed except for:

• Signature Wargear shenanigans of course.
• The random history lets me choose from the entire list, instead of only one of 3 adjacent options from the list as described in the rulebook.
• Can't reproduce the strength bonus anymore, but movement seems to be 1 point higher than your agility bonus (for instance, your half move is 5 if your agility bonus is 4). Is this some rule I missed or just a rounding error?
• I still don't exactly get the 'Ignore Requisition Cost' checkbox. For instance, I create a clean character (set characteristics, chapter and speciality) and add a second Bolt Pistol. Regardless if the checkbox for ignoring the cost is checked, it sets the total requisition from 0 to 10. If I then remove the second Bolt Pistol, it sets the total requisition to 5. If I add the second again, it is 20, remove it, it becomes 10, add it, 30, remove it, 15, and so forth.
  Or if I want to add a signature wargear item for free this way, as you suggested, it still add the cost regardless.

I'm sure the removal is a bug in the calculation, but without the ability to revert to your default equipment or adding requisition cost free items, the requisition tracker becomes progessively less accurate over the course of a character, when it gains things as signature wargear or bionics, or temporarily replaces an item of his default equipment for a mission. How do you do this yourself?

Ah, never mind the Movement Bonus thingy, found the rule that states you determine movement as if your Agility Bonus is 1 higher (probably due to the Hulking trait).

Update available: v04r16_280611

Fixed:

• Wargear Costs - These are hopefully now all calculating correctly and the Ignore Requisition will simply allow you requisition gear at 0 cost. When you remove gear the cost wil be deducted under the assumption that starting equipment is removed last (where you have duplicate items). If you remove a starting item and want it back, simply check Ignore Requisition (and possibly Ignore Renown) and then select the item. This is also applicable for Signature Wargear items.

Updated:

• Random Power Armour History is now totally random, i.e. I've excluded the 5 result from Table 3-10 in RoB (pg.153). This means that you either choose completely random or manually select. You cannot randomly roll from Core Rules only, RoB is always included in random result.

Redemption NL - I still can't see a problem with the Strength bonus from Power Armour. I've uploaded a character file [Tricky.dwc] that has a Strength of 60 (30 + 10 [rolled] + 20 [PA]). This correctly gives a bonus of 10 (40 / 10 = 4, x 2 from Unnatural Strength = 8, +2 [+20 / 10 from PA] = 10).

I'm still working on the Custom Chapter and the improvements to Signature Wargear (included limiting Advance selection).

Tricky110974 said:

Many talents,skills,power armor histories,renown,etc have a description. Could you add at that description what the exact bonuses or penalties what you have selected will give to the players. It will help new players very much to decide what to select. Thank you very much.