Greetings to the Community

While a veteran table-top player and GM, I have only recently begun Anima (I'll be starting my third session today), and like most newcomers, have found the poorly-translated core book to be difficult to understand, and even more difficult to navigate. In the interest of learning the rules and helping myself, I have begun work on an Excel-based character sheet, with the goal of auto-calculating most of the basic primary and secondary ability items. It worked so well that I thought I'd share it with you. There are a number of limitations, which I will address below, but if there is sufficient community response I will attempt to fix these over time (as it is, the sheet already performs nearly everything I need for my character). The sheet DOES keep track of DP spent/remaining, class skill costs, resistances, level, etc. All you have to do is enter your XP (it tracks character level for you), and select a class from the drop-down menu. Then, just spend your DP. There's a sample spell sheet, equipment page, and several other nifty things that should save you a helluva lotta time. It has for me, anyway. No excel experience required, but it could certainly help.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3r2pfoxc10q3y2s

A couple of points to consider:

• The sheet is only currently compatible with Excel 2007 (and up), because that's what I use. If enough people use 2003, I can make the sheet backwards compatible for 2003 and OpenOffice, but you'll need to let me know.
• I used a wide-screen laptop to create the sheet, so please let me know what the display looks like on your screen. What's cut off, if anything, etc.
• I'm playing a Creationist Summoner, which means that I have no idea how ki powers or psionics work. I'm learning, and probably will incorporate these over time, but again that depends on community response.
• No Advantage / Disadvantage support yet. I'm OK in Excel, so this may be difficult to implement.
• Yes, there's an instructions page, but you can send me feedback by posting a message in this thread, and I should get back with you shortly.

Though the sheet does not include supernatural powers, in practice I have put such abilities and their costs in the notes section. Creating my summons and homunculi has been a breeze, so it could also serve as a great GM aid. Yes, I am aware that another Excel character sheet exists, but I was not at the time that I created this. Also, I've never used Media Fire before. Let me know if you have any problems. Thanks for testing!

Alright, even though I've recieved no responses, I can only assume that this character sheet has been helpful, though mostly because I haven't had any complaints after 80+ views. Of course, that could simply mean no one has downloaded and tested the file. In any event, I have updated the character sheet to include Ki Abilities. Accumulation and multiples, custom technique space, and martial styles are included, and auto-calculate DP and MK spent, as well as MK earned.

http://www.mediafire.com/?o9gj5ymyajjkfa2

I'll take this opportunity to ask for testers; I'd genuinely like to know if this resource has been helpful to the community, and if there are any changes I should make to improve user friendliness or functionality. I still do not have Psionics included, but I plan to add this at a later date, as well as an updated equipment section. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Also, I stated in my previous post that the sheet was designed using Excel 2007, but it may also be compatible with the latest version of OpenOffice. There should be few errors, if any. Please let me know if there errors in other software, and I'll try to make the sheet more universally compatible.

Hello, I have Open Office 3.2.1

I downloaded the file to test it out.

I haven't done much with it yet, but I noticed to get it work I had to remove the unknown command of iferror from almost everything that is auto-calculated.

Once the iferror was removed it looked liked things worked as the should, but I also haven't done much with it yet, so I might be wrong.

What is the iferror command suppose to do for excel?

I actually just had a chance to test the sheet out in OpenOffice myself, and there are a few issues. I did not realize it at the time, but the IfError command you reference is specific to Excel 2007. It simply provides an "if" case where errors occur. In this case, it clears the cell to remove the potential eyesore. Not long after I started it, I realized that the eyesore would disappear the moment the player selects his / her class and characteristics, making the command unnecessary. It's not integral to the sheet in any way, so feel free to remove it. The other issue I found was on the new Ki Abilities page, where I have a diagram utilizing several arrows to mimic the basic Ki Abilities table in the book's character sheet. In 2007, the arrows display perfectly, but in OpenOffice, the larger arrows are wildly distorted. I'll be posting an OpenOffice-friendly version soon, hopefully after I've managed to either refine the rather weak equipment section or develop a psionics tab for everything Mentalists will need.

After I fix the two sections mentioned above, I'll probably post this guide in the other Anima forum (which seems to be a bit livelier), in order to continue getting feedback and improving the sheet. As I've said, it's extremely handy for me and my GM, and I suspect it will be for others as well.

Also, if anyone spots any errors in Excel 2003, please let me know. I don't have access to the older version, but would still like things to display properly for those who might not have upgraded to 2007. In fact, anyone using 2010 is welcome to leave comments as well.

Thanks Lost in Thyme!

One of the things I noticed is that for Magic Projection and Psychic Projection, your sheet has no reference to Dex mod.

As far as I know any use of Magic Projection or Psychic Projection will include the Dex mod, so I was wondering why you didn't include it in your sheet with the projections.

As far as I can tell, the Dex mod is included in Magic Projection. I tested it after reading your post thus: on a clean sheet, select wizard for class and then place a positive score (anything with a bonus) in the Dexterity cell, leaving everything else blank. In my case, a Dex of 7 added 5 to my Magic Projection, before I spent any DP doing anything else. Check to see that the formula reads something like this (I copied this from my current sheet):

=SUM(dex_bonus,J23,FLOOR((dp_magic_proj/magic_projection_cost),1), K23)

You are correct in the Psychic Projection. This section is not complete, as I was not familiar with those mechanics at the time that I wrote those formulas. I am learning those mechanics with my GM this week, and earnestly plan to have that section well on its way (if not fully complete) by the end of this week. Thanks to your vigilance, however, I can at least correct that cell before I move on to creating a setup similar to what I have for Ki Abilities. Also, do you know how to post screenshots? I'd like to show you what the Ki Abilities chart is supposed to look like, so that I can confirm whether or not it looks that way for you.

Thanks again Lost in Thyme.

Ok. I recheck and your right, dex is included for your magic projection.

To post a screen shoot.

Take the screen shoot. Ie "Print screen"

Upload image to image hosting site, photobucket etc.

Put link to image.

Alright! At this point, I've put about 40 hours into the sheet, between learning game mechanics and implementing them in Excel. It seems to have paid off: the newest version of the sheet is OpenOffice friendly, and has psionic support as well. I've cleaned up the sheet, and destroyed a few bugs.

As of this release:

• The class growth bonuses to attack, block, and dodge cap at +50
• Corrected the ki abilities chart arrows on the ki abilities tab for OpenOffice
• Removed the iferror function from all cells for OpenOffice
• Removed a stray formula, the origin of which I have no idea
• Fixed the psychic projection error Lost in Thyme pointed out

http://www.mediafire.com/?qh45ryc7tnv6jhk

Above is the link to the latest version. Sadly, there's no way to move existing characters from older versions to the newer one, but recreation doesn't take long. My next update should be a refined equipment section, as mine is rather weak at the moment. Any ideas are welcome, as well as comments regarding ease of use, display, quick access, future releases, etc. If I don't add a full supernatural creature section, I'll probably add some tables and things to help the creation process along at a later date. Thanks for downloading, and don't hesitate to post your feedback!

Hi.

Just started using your sheet, I find making Anima charaters much easier now. Thanks a lot. I'll post if i find anything missing, thusfar the only thing is a slight misspelling of the word Constitution, which isn't really much to complain about.

Thank you for a great sheet.

I just started using your character sheet. It is great. It saves a lot of time. Sure it isn't complete but for the most part it, what it claims to do, it does.

My one concern is that it doesn't calculate Life Points Correctly. I just built a Weapons Master and no matter how may DP I invest into the Life Points, they do not increase. I could be doing it wrong though.

Sorry I just figured it out. Disregard my previous post. I love the spread sheet. I would love to see it expanded. Especially so that I can build monsters with it. I expect that a lot of my time as a GM will be making monsters.

Also it would be good if there were another sheet for printing out that didn't have all the information that you don't need. (I am not sure this is possible in Excel)

Hrathen, Calimbandil, thanks for the feedback. I corrected my misspelling of constitution on my sheet, and it will be updated with the next release. I'm glad it seems to be saving time for you, and hopefully others.

Hrathen, it's definitely possible to create another, print-only sheet with just basic information. I could not get everything I wanted on the Character Sheet tab to display in a print-friendly format without massive scrolling / too many pages, so I opted to forgo that route. Plus, I generally use and update the sheet on-the-fly on my laptop while we play. However, your suggestion of another tab with a printer-friendly display is an excellent one. I have a few ideas already, but what information do you (and anyone else who'd like to comment) consider necessary or basic? Obviously combat abilities, skill totals, and vitals, but should I include anything else? A notes and primary equipment section, perhaps? I could probably save quite a bit of space by dropping DP Investments and other miscellaneous items, and including just the final totals. And which would be more favorable: portrait or landscape?

Hrathen, you also mentioned you'd like to see the sheet expanded to include monster (supernatural) abilities. Since I've started this project, I've searched this forum and the official one for Excel-based character sheets. All do what they claim to do, but I've yet to find one that includes Advantages / Disadvantages, which is essentially what supernatural abilities are. Instead of working as much on the equipment section (sorry!), I've actually been experimenting with adding this feature to my sheet, starting with common creation point advantages. It's been very, very slow going, partly because I'm learning new Excel mechanics at the same time that I'm designing the sheet. When I first started this project, I didn't even know what a vlookup was! I have made some progress, however, and plan to continue working to add this feature. If I am successful, including supernatural abilities would be an obvious next step. No promises whatsoever on a timeline because of the tediousness of this endeavor, but I will be releasing other updates in the meantime, so keep the comments and ideas for improvement coming!

I really will work on the equipment section this time, and will hopefully have that available soon. Though I don't plan on automating much with this next release in terms of weapon / armor stats, that is a possibility for those of you who would like to see it - just let me know!

Now seems as good a place as any to thank two people who've helped out quite a bit in this endeavor. Xultanis (on this forum), my GM and long-time friend, helped me understand the rules for Ki and Psychic abilities as well as organize them in a coherent way in the sheet. Erian_7, from the Paizo forums, inspired me to create this sheet with his own development of a COMPLETE Excel-based sheet for the Pathfinder RPG. Dissecting his work has taught me quite a bit about the program, and handy organization techniques. While my sheet will probably never reach the depth and awesomeness that his already has, I hope that more and more people will find my work to be useful.

I have two basic thoughts on a print friendly version. One (the one I know how to do) pretty much requires a different tab for each (or at least a different tab for every power type.) I built a quick weapons master and ranger. They pretty much don't use any of the magic, psychic or ki elements of the sheet. I built a pychic warrior and he uses the psychic section and the combat section. You can see how using different tabs would quickly multiply. I was wondering if Excel could some how detect which sections had been used and then only include them in the printable version (this is the thing I want you to do for me because it is way over my Excel head).

I noticed that the character sheet does not include a section for weapon modules nor does it total the dp spent in each section. I think these sections could be pretty quick

I believe a DP breakdown was something that AndYouNeverWake and I discussed and decided to postpone for a later date, focusing on functionality of the more important parts first. I'm not certain how much detail he wants to put into that, but a basic per-section breakdown should be fairly simple.

As for the print friendly format, I don't think there's any ways to make excel recognize which tabs have been 'used' for character purposes, although if you can provide more information on what specifically you'd like from a print friendly version (what information would be critical, what would be most important for sorting purposes, etc.), I have some ideas on how I can help AndYouNeverWake setup a print-friendly tab that auto-fills the important information based on the other portions of the sheet.

Also, since there's no specific weapon module/style section, you can use the Martial Arts section on the Ki tab for the same information, since these are effectively martial arts but for weapons. Just leave the attack/block/dodge columns blank and fill in the DP spent. I don't know his plans for weapon or style modules though, so he may be planning to add this in later.

I was thinking if you just had a section for other expenditure of points and then maybe a tab that you choose what section the point totals get added to that might be a great (maybe temperary) fix for a lot of things.

You could put anything from Weapon Modules to Monster Powers. Then all that would be nessisary to build monsters with your spread sheet is some way to account for damage reduction.

Amend: Damage reduction and size

Greetings all! I apologize for the delay, but it's the end of the semester, and my professors are piling on papers and research projects like there's no tomorrow. Hardly surprising, but definitely not helping with timely updates. The good news is, we have two more weeks or so of class, and then summer break - during which time I expect to make quite a bit of progress.

Even so, I have good news - I was able to get some of the more basic advantages working. All core book advantages are selected via dropdown, and many of them are now functional, that is, they actually affect your stats when selected. Creation points are calculated, and I'm debating a place to put miscellaneous advantages your GM might award during the course of the campaign - especially if it's a campaign specific one not appearing in the rulebook. While it hasn't taken as long as I thought it would, quite a bit of testing and reorganizing will be required to make sure that it works the same for you as it does for me. Once that's the case, adding additional rulebook advantages (say, from the GM toolkit) shouldn't take too much longer. A caveat about this part of the project: so far, I am only automating things that would save you a decent amount of time, which has always been my goal. Because Add a Point to Strength would be far easier for you to enact that for me to program (believe it or not, I would have to change my whole layout), it's not automatic. Select it, then type the next largest integer into your Strength score. Things like Acute Senses and The Gift do auto-calc, however. I've also been working with the equipment section (really), and have scrapped my first idea in favor of another that will allow you to select primary weapons and armor, the values for which should auto-calc into your attack, speed, etc. Adding AT will be a must soon, too.

Hrathen, you've asked for a few items you'd like to see the character sheet cover. Thanks again for your feedback; I really do appreciate it. I'll list the items in terms of difficulty here so that I can remain organized as I develop the sheet. First, you'd like Weapon Group support. Easy enough, and this will accompany the next release, including DP totals. Second, you'd like a print version which detects sections used and organizes them accordingly. Sadly, Excel does not work this way as far as I know (the formatting is all definitely manual), but it is possible to create very small sections on the print page, such that a ranger doesn't have a significant amount of space dedicated to spells and such. Essentially it would have to be a much more compact, print-friendly version of the existing character sheet, otherwise (as you predicted) I'd be creating dozens of tabs for every possible combination of character types. This shouldn't be too difficult, although it will take time, as a good portion of the time I've spent on this sheet has been formatting. Third, you'd like a monster-builder. As I mentioned in a previous post, that would be a natural step to take after completion of advantages / disadvantages, which aren't taking as long as I had predicted. That would certainly have to be a summer project, but the more I learn about Excel, the faster each new section goes.

Finally, as of now I have two versions of the character sheet. The release version, which includes the last working update, and the test version, which is where I'm cooking up the new stuff. I'm keeping these separate to avoid releasing a buggy version and not having the old version for reference. In other words, if there's something you like better in a previous version, let me know. If anyone would like, I can also make each new version available separately in MediaFire, so you can pick what you like. Let me know, and thanks again for testing!

Hrathen, I just re-read your last post. What you suggested (a section that sums miscellaneous DP investment) is precisely what my group has been using for the various monsters I've created. Yes, my DM allows me to make my own monsters, provided that he spends at least 25% of the DP and that I clear the beast with him before it sees any gameplay. I'm not a cheater, so it hasn't been a problem. Back the the point, however. The layout you suggested is actually part of the idea I had for the monster-building section, although it would need a bit more than damage reduction and size (life point multiple / damage resistance, special attacks, etc.). Since this is primarily a GM tool, it would look a bit different than my character sheet, but would still include the basics. You'd also have a list of most if not all of the abilities, along with a total section. Either you could copy the line numbers into the "abilities" box and have it auto calc, or it would work like the Ki section - a simple yes/no dropdown which calculates all "yes" entries for total DP.

The real trouble begins, however, when you start making your own special attacks. I'm not sure how much automation I can include when you choose to give your beastie a 25' radius fire-element special attack with a range of 120' that also causes blindness. I honestly suspect that the actual descriptions will have to be hand-drawn by GM's, although the sheet would still perform the useful functions of totaling primary, secondary, and DP values. I'm not sure exactly how it will look, but as you know, I'm always welcoming feedback. Thanks again!

FINALLY! The semester is over, and I'm ready to start working on the sheet again. Those last few essays on Neoconservatism and changes in the U.S. Supreme Court left my brain feeling a bit mushy, but I've survived. The good news is, I'm posting a partial update now.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hur70oje1hh4qj7

As of this update:

• A print-friendly version of the basic character sheet (for you, Hrathen) now exists on the Print Sheet tab.
• I've revamped the equipment section for the third time, and kept it in the same printer-friendly format as the Print Sheet.
• Armor types are now included, and calculate as they should.
• Core rulebook Advantages can now be selected via drop-down menu. Most of them do NOT work as of now; I'm working on this feature.
• An extra DP Spent section is available in the Notes tab for those of you building monsters. Have fun!
• Weapon Groups are also active in the Equipment tab. Fill in any notes you think you might need.
• Shield speed penalties calculate, as do block and dodge bonuses.

I've left the older version up as well, in case you wanted to compare versions for whatever reason. Anyway, I do not have Disadvantage support right this minute; that will be a later update. I was going to wait until I had more finished, but I went ahead and submitted now for two reasons: first, I was not able to test this one in OpenOffice, and second, I wanted to get feedback on possible breakages before I got too far. Let me know what you think, what you'd like to see, and what I should be focusing on for the next update.

I will need to tweak several settings on the Equipment page; natural penalties and reduced penalties for high wear armor scores are not currently reflected. I also did away with a planned "Primary Weapon" dropdown, where you select an item from your inventory to auto-calc in the main page. I'll try and implement this later, but it wasn't working the way I wanted to right now. Sadly, that means you'll have to put in your weapon values yourself. Speed and other items calc for you, however. Anyway, keep testing for me, and hopefully I'll be able to get this thing into a solid package.

Please take a look at the Creation Points tab and let me know if you have any ideas for some of the more grisly abilities. Also, should I take the color out of the Print Sheet for reduced ink consumption?

I like this character creation sheet a lot, but I am finding one difficulty...

How do I "choose" a Creation Point advantage? I can't seem to figure this out.

SSB_Shadow said:

Ah, snap, nevermind! A friend just told me how it worked out. This is embarrasing.. x,D

I got no more comments yet. I will keep testing it.

SSB_Shadow said:

Tell me. I can't figure out how to use the CPs

I'm actually a little surprised; I expected problems to arise in other areas first. To select from a drop-down menu, first select (just click) on the cell you'd like to modify. If the cell has a drop-down menu, while the cell is selected a gray box with a small arrow facing downward will appear. Click that arrow, and all of the choices I've programmed in will appear. In this case, choose one of the cells under Advantages on the Notes tab. It's the same way you select your class. On that note, Hrathen, how did you select your class? Did you just type it in? You certainly can do that, but I include the drop-down menu for ease of use; simply click the cell and scroll to whatever item you wish.

I did catch a mistake, or rather, a remnant of a failed function. On the equipment page, in the cell for damage for the first primary weapon, there is a function that causes the box to appear empty during a certain event. It's cell O19 on the Equipment page - remove the function. You can do so by selecting the cell and then hitting backspace, or you can right click the cell and select "Clear Contents." You can also just type over it. On the equipment tab, the weapons group area utilizes drop-down menus. Try selecting the cell, hitting the arrow, and checking out your choices. If you have any more trouble, let me know, and thanks for the feedback!

Well, here are some issues..

1: The advantages doesn't always add in the bonuses automatically. Exceptional resistance doesn't do anything.
The Apptitude in a Field advantages doesn't allow one to select the actual field. Same thing with Half-attuned with a Tree.

2: The Weaponmaster's reduced cost for Weapon modules isn't accounted for, and I suspect it's the same with Tao's martial arts.

Thanks SSB_Shadow for testing! As you've noticed (and as I mentioned in my partial update post), most of the Advantages don't actually calculate anything yet. They're just placeholders as I work on the mechanics for each. I actually meant to write in the previous post to ignore the line in the Instructions tab regarding Advantages with asterisks - sorry for the confusion! In any event, most of them do not do anything. Advantage point costs do work, however. After reading your post and reviewing the sheet, I did find something else. On the Creation Points tab, Gestureless Casting does not have an associated cost. If you'd like, you can fix this by adding a 1 in the third column from the cell labeled "Gestureless Casting." It's cell D46. If you're not taking this Advantage, don't worry, it will be fixed in the next release.

You also mentioned that Aptitude in a Field does not work. Though the explanation above should suffice, I'll add that this one will take some time. Adding in a conditional bonus for each skill by group and individually based on Advantage and class combinations is going to be a nightmare. I'll still tackle it, though, and hopefully it won't take as long as I suspect!

Finally, you noted that certain classes don't get their Weapon Group discounts - I hadn't even considered this! I've added it to the Fix List, and if my current idea for it works, it actually shouldn't take too much effort to get working. Thanks for scouting the details SSB_Shadow, and keep it up - the more moving parts I add to this thing, the more likely I am to make mistakes or omissions. As always, your feedback is welcome, including anything you'd like to see changed or done differently.