In Digital Insider (#18), Bill Slavicsek includes the first page of the character sheet and one page of power cards for a level 30 ranger. And while the demonstration that the app goes that high is nice the pages clearly show that the Character Builder does not generate useful data.

1) The Feats, Race Features, and Class Features sections:

The first failure here is that Wizards is trying to combine two sets of useful data resulting in a useless blob:

1. List of all the character’s abilities and selections
2. Quick reference summary of available abilities or bonues

When constructing a character or referencing the build it is always useful to have a list of all the feats (or any other selections) made for the character, but during play this information can be largely useless.  For example, under class features Prime Shot is listed and under Feats Improved Prime Shot is listed — but when in combat all I care about is that I have a +2 bonus to hit with ranged attacks if no ally is closer to the target.  The result is that even with ~30% of the page devoted to these sections, there is still not enough space to include the full list of feats and features and the necessary descriptive text to understand what the feat or feature provides.

Second, this information is also frequently a duplicate of data stored elsewhere on the first page of the character sheet: the bonuses for Defensive Mobility and Combat Anticipation are in the Defenses section, Sneak of Shadows is reflected in the Skills Section (training in Thievery) and should create an additional power card, the bonuses for Improved Initiative and Skill Focus (Perception) are included in the Initiative and Skills sections.  Space on the first page is very precious and should not be wasted on unnecessary duplication.

Third, the data is not categorized in a way that makes it useful during play.  During play grouping abilities by origin is not useful.  This requires me to look in several locations on the character sheet to find a particular ability which at high level might be modified by data that has another origin.  As in the example above, Prime Shot and Improved Prime Shot are listed in two different sections of the page instead of being grouped together or, preferably, combined into one line item.  Wizards seems to partially recognize this, because as I point out above much of the information is duplicated in domain specific sections, but they failed to follow through.

2) Wasting space with Addition

The current character sheet is the same sheet that was designed to be filled out by hand, thus it has boxes to add the expected bonuses for a particular score to ease computation.  But for a computer generated character sheet this becomes wasted space. The skills section takes up about 1/6th of the first page of the character sheet but it could easily be reduced by half with the removal of the unnecessary computation space.

I do appreciate being able to see where a particular score comes from (such as a +29 to Acrobatics), but that can be accomplished by a separate printed page that can be carried with your character sheet and referenced as needed.  This reference page would also be able to have significantly more space to explain all of the applicable bonuses and their origin.

3) Healing Section is too small

In 4E encounters take longer, which results in more damage taken and healed during combat.  This means that it is necessary to have a large box for tracking the character’s current hit points.  The box on the WotC Character Sheet is very small, which requires that the player write very small or make frequent use of an eraser — both are suboptimal solutions.  Several classes also make extensive use of temporary hit points (Helllock, Barbarian, Battlerager Figher) and will need significantly more space than is provided.

Even at the start of the Heroic tier of play, characters will encounter numerous temporary conditions (buffs and debuffs) with short durations.  The single Current Conditions and Effects line isn’t even close to be able to track your buffs let alone your debuffs — which means that the DM has to keep track of the debuffs and several of the buffs can fall through the cracks unless someone remembers.  By providing a large space with room for info on a condition and its duration players are better armed to track their own state.

4) Conditional & Additional Effects

On each attack power card there is an Additional Effects section that includes some optional or conditional bonuses/effects that could be applicable to the power.  Unfortnately this space is quite small.  There is room for three short lines of text, which is sufficient for the first few levels of play, but it will quickly become inadequate.  This 30th level ranger has 10 feats/features that provide conditional bonuses or optional effects (3 attack bonuses and 7 damage bonuses).  There is no way to know about most of them from the tiny provided space, and as I pointed out in my first point above, the character sheet doesn’t display that information either.

It is far more efficient to have your conditionals stored in a single easily referenced location rather than trying to repeatedly cram them onto each power card.

5) The Senses Section

Wow this has to be one of the most pointless sections of the character sheet.  Even the most math-illiterate newbie can add 10 to get the passive senses score — and more importantly this is info that the DM should have on hand without having to ask the characters for their score.  It just needs to be cut.

Doing it right

Soon I’ll follow up with a post showing my current character sheet and how I resolve these issues.

The workers do deserve their money, but Republic has no money to distribute, so the workers are demanding that Bank of America “loan” Republic the money to pay them even though there is zero chance that they’ll get the money back. It is of course a stupid idea, but I don’t want to heap scorn on the workers (or even their union) because they’re just trying to get what they deserve. I do have nothing but scorn for the politicians that have rushed to embrace this cause — particularly Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D).

The governor rushed to embrace the cause and has even ordered all state agencies to stop doing business with BoA until they accede to the workers demands. Nice. This is exactly what got us in the financial crisis in the first place — government pressure on business to act in an irresponsible way to achieve a social end. The actions of this douche just piss me off.

But then I saw the news this morning: Governor Blagojevich was arrested for trying to sell an appointment for Obama’s senate seat.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Sorry, I usually try not to enjoy the misfortune of others — but the his tears are so sweet. I love it when corrupt politicians get what is coming to them, and this douche just adds another layer of joy to his misfortune.

And of course most reports either fail to mention that Blagojevich is a Democrat or do so in later paragraphs…

In the past I have been a committed drug warrior — largely because of my fairness/retribution instincts — but I’ve been largely convinced that the “War on Drugs” is completely idiotic. The billions spent by all levels of government has done nothing to make people’s lives better, has lead indirectly to the deaths of thousands, and directly to the murder of innocent citizens at the hands of the police. The complete inability of the Drug War to accomplish anything positive demonstrates, again, how counterproductive government action can be.

Reason has been running several articles on this anniversary including: The Lessons of Prohibition.

Senario 1: You are attacking a troll. The troll is unaware of you so you have Combat advantage — +2 to your attack roll.

Senario 2: You are going to attack a troll. Two of your companions have flanked the troll, and the troll is dazed from an attack by your warlock companion. You have remained hidden so the troll is unaware of you. You have combat advantage 2 ways (dazed, unaware), or 3 ways in my reckoning (flanked, dazed, unaware), but your bonus to your attack roll is still +2.

When fighting stronger opponents it is very helpful to be able to stack as many tactical advantages as possible to increase your chances of hitting and doing damage — in other words wolf pack tactics. But it doesn’t make sense to stack some of the conditions (like Surprised and Stunned). My rule:

Combat Advantage (Mental): The defender’s mental condition has been compromised such that it is less able to defend itself. The attacker gains a +2 Mental Combat Advantage bonus to attack if the defender is Dazed, Helpless, Stunned, Surprised, or Unconscious.

Combat Advantage (Physical): The defender’s physical situation limits its ability to defend itself. The attacker gains a +2 Physical Combat Advantage bonus to attack if the defender is Balancing, Climbing, Prone (melee only), Restrained, Running, Squeezing.

Combat Advantage (Tactical): The attacker (or his allies) has the defender in a advantageous tactical situation. The attacker gains a +2 Tactical Combat Advantage to attack if the defender is Flanked, Unable to see the attacker, or Unaware of the attacker.

Stacking: Combat Advantage bonuses do not stack within type, but an attacker can stack Combat Advantages of multiple types. For example, an attacker would have a +6 bonus against an unconscious opponent with a melee attack (Mental: Unconscious, Helpless; Physical: Prone; Tactical: Unaware of, Unable to see attacker).

This is more complicated but strongly rewards parties (and nasty DMs) when they think creatively to place and opponent in the worst possible situation.

Natural 20: If you roll a 20 on the die when making an attack roll, you score a critical hit if your total attack roll is high enough to hit your target’s defense. If your attack roll is too low to score a critical hit, you still hit automatically.

From a realism perspective, this rule is fine — even though the 1st level Fighter rolled a natural 20 to hit the Ancient Dragon (and thus scored a miraculous hit) she shouldn’t do critical damage because it was a fluke that she could even hit the dragon. But from a game perspective this is just an additional rule complication that shouldn’t be necessary. Just about any opponent you face should be able to be hit by a 20 + your attack bonuses (and the reverse). If not the encounter is not balanced properly. Why not just simplify matters and have a 20 always be critical?

Natural 20: If you roll a 20 on the die when making an attack roll, you score a critical hit.

My rule change would be to add a new condition to the list of conditions on page 277 of the PHB:

Flanked
* You grant combat advantage

You would gain the Flanked condition under the same rules on page 285 of the PHB, but once flanked anyone attacking you would have combat advantage.

This rule change will help encourage parties (and nasty DMs) to use the tactical roles better. If two melee beaters maneuver to flank (perhaps with assistance from a leader), not only will they have an easier time hitting, but the fragile ranged specialists (e.g., bow wielding ranger, warlock, or wizard) will be able to take advantage of the opponents compromised position.