# HeroForge!



## mikebr99 (Jun 16, 2004)

Here's one major update by Shannon Greene... http://home.san.rr.com/blackbart/


Mike


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## Eternalknight (Jun 17, 2004)

Thanks for that.  Now, if he would only add Epic support...


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## Ghostwind (Jun 17, 2004)

Indeed. Epic level support would really make my life so much easier. All they need to do is take it to 60th level. Really, I'm not asking much, am I?


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## mikebr99 (Jun 17, 2004)

Yes... EPIC & Gestalt would be really nice. But what can you really expect for a free (& excellent) program?



Mike


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## Eternalknight (Jun 17, 2004)

Very true.  My only thing is I can no longer use it, as my sorcerer is now 22nd level (I used it all the way from 1st to 20th).


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## Mercule (Jun 17, 2004)

I'd like to see support for some things from Unearthed Arcana, specifically, spell points.  I've been using HeroForge for long enough, though, that I'm rather comfortable modifying it.  I figure that once Psionics are back in, I'll see if those can be cribbed for the other classes.


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## adienpryde (Jun 17, 2004)

Anyone know how to add feats? I just want to add one.


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## Ghostwind (Jun 17, 2004)

Maybe someone who is experienced with modifying the programs would care to write a tutorial with the necessary formulas for inserting such things as skills, feats, spells, weapons and armor. Adding classes probably adds a new layer of complexity, but maybe the above won't.


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## BlackBart (Jun 18, 2004)

adienpryde said:
			
		

> Anyone know how to add feats? I just want to add one.



I do. Select All->Format->Columns->Unhide. Scroll to the bottom. It may prove easiest to paste a copy of the last row, or simply move across and follow the "template" from above. You'll want to modify the prerequisite formulas and adjust the checkboxes to point to the correct row. Now for the tricky part, if you care to use the import/export features. There are a number of named ranges that will need to be adjusted:

    ExportFeatsSelected
    TblFeatsSelected
    ExportBonusSelected
    TblBonusSelected
    ExportListSelected
    TblListSelected​Also, for the Availability and Resets to continue functioning properly:

    TblFeatSelections
    TblFeatReset​You can use Insert->Name->Define to do this, or drag the last row of these ranges down a row (among other methods).


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## BlackBart (Jun 18, 2004)

Ghostwind said:
			
		

> Maybe someone who is experienced with modifying the programs would care to write a tutorial with the necessary formulas for inserting such things as skills, feats, spells, weapons and armor. Adding classes probably adds a new layer of complexity, but maybe the above won't.



Something I should do, but then I wouldn't have time to do the updates I do.

Skills are problematic to some degree, as they require changes to the Class Info, Race Info, and Skills sheet to keep everything in sync, as well as the need to adjust some ranges.

Feats I briefly described above, but that only accounts for a feat that has no effect on something you want to track (such as Weapon Focus).

Spells are either pretty easy, if all you are doing is adding a spell, to excruciatingly difficult, if you are adding a new caster with its own spell list. Adding spells to casters that select spells known kind of sucks, as you have to go through their spell selection sheets and manually add the spell to the correct level, and there are some formulas that aren't visible. Check boxes have to point to the correct rows (for which there is a macro: AdjustSpellChecks). There are some range adjustments to keep track of as well (for Export and others). Here is a prime example of where inserting data is better than appending, though the Export ranges need to be handled separately.

Classes are a nightmare. Class Info and Class Abilities sheets hold the bulk of what needs to be done, but a lot of the class abilities require modifications throughout the whole sheet (skill bonuses on the skills sheet, attack bonuses on the attacks sheet, AC adjustments, bonus spells, etc.). Woe unto you if you the class has its own spell list, or bonus feats. Major suckitude.

The best approach is to simply mess with it, but you will need to have at least an intermediate ability to use excel and VBA to really figure it out. It's actually quite an interesting learning tool.


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## Ghostwind (Jun 18, 2004)

Any chance of adding epic level stuff with the next update? That would really make a lot of people happy, including myself...


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## BlackBart (Jun 18, 2004)

Ghostwind said:
			
		

> Any chance of adding epic level stuff with the next update? That would really make a lot of people happy, including myself...



We'll see. There's some technical difficulties associated with how certain things are implemented that I'd have to work around. My next priority in terms of HeroForge, though, is probably adding the new Psionics material; as somebody provided the data entry I'd hate to have it sit and waste away. In any event, it wouldn't be anytime soon, as life is fast catching up and will leave me with a scarcity of free time.


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## mikebr99 (Jun 18, 2004)

BlackBart said:
			
		

> We'll see. There's some technical difficulties associated with how certain things are implemented that I'd have to work around. My next priority in terms of HeroForge, though, is probably adding the new Psionics material; as somebody provided the data entry I'd hate to have it sit and waste away. In any event, it wouldn't be anytime soon, as life is fast catching up and will leave me with a scarcity of free time.



Again, Shannon, thanks for all your work!


Mike


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## frog (Jun 18, 2004)

Shannon,

This thing is OUTSTANDING. It has everything that I have been looking for in a character management sheet. One thing tho...where do I send the bug reports? The Spellcasting Prodigy feat calculates the # of spells you get just fine, but it seems to be missing adding the modifier to the spell DC's in the Spell Sheet "Spell Save DC" table.


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## BlackBart (Jun 19, 2004)

frog said:
			
		

> Shannon,
> 
> This thing is OUTSTANDING. It has everything that I have been looking for in a character management sheet. One thing tho...where do I send the bug reports? The Spellcasting Prodigy feat calculates the # of spells you get just fine, but it seems to be missing adding the modifier to the spell DC's in the Spell Sheet "Spell Save DC" table.



My email address is on the website (I don't know why people point to the main.html, just drop that and the full site will appear, along with the email address). I'll look into fixing that.


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## Piratecat (Jun 19, 2004)

BlackBart, HeroForge is a wonder. You've done a magnificent job on this, and I just wanted to thank you.

So... err... thank you.


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## johnsemlak (Jun 20, 2004)

Just downloaded it.  

What exactly would happend if I opened this on Windows 98?  It seems to work fine, but it says it requires Win 2000.


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## BlackBart (Jun 20, 2004)

johnsemlak said:
			
		

> Just downloaded it.
> 
> What exactly would happend if I opened this on Windows 98?  It seems to work fine, but it says it requires Win 2000.



Requires Office 2k, not Win2k. Even then, I've just never verified anything in Office 97, but it may work.


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## Cougar (Jun 20, 2004)

frog said:
			
		

> Shannon,
> 
> This thing is OUTSTANDING. It has everything that I have been looking for in a character management sheet. One thing tho...where do I send the bug reports? The Spellcasting Prodigy feat calculates the # of spells you get just fine, but it seems to be missing adding the modifier to the spell DC's in the Spell Sheet "Spell Save DC" table.




According to the Summary of Updates at the website the Players Guide to Faerun was added. The feat Spellcasting Prodigy was updated to 3.5 and no longer adds a modifier to spell save DCs.


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## mikebr99 (Jun 21, 2004)

BlackBart said:
			
		

> Requires Office 2k, not Win2k. Even then, I've just never verified anything in Office 97, but it may work.



HeroForge works just fine in Excel '97.

Mike


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## frog (Jun 21, 2004)

> According to the Summary of Updates at the website the Players Guide to Faerun was added. The feat Spellcasting Prodigy was updated to 3.5 and no longer adds a modifier to spell save DCs.




Thanks. I hadn't checked there for any information on updates to the feat. I am so used to playing 3.0 that the move to 3.5 for this game is going to catch me on a lot of items like that. 

That feat is nowhere near as fun as it was before. I wonder if I can get my money back on it


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## mikebr99 (Jun 21, 2004)

frog said:
			
		

> Thanks. I hadn't checked there for any information on updates to the feat. I am so used to playing 3.0 that the move to 3.5 for this game is going to catch me on a lot of items like that.
> 
> That feat is nowhere near as fun as it was before. I wonder if I can get my money back on it



Usually, if it's a 'must-have', then it's broken. 


Now, it is just a good feat.


Mike


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## frog (Jun 21, 2004)

mikebr99 said:
			
		

> Usually, if it's a 'must-have', then it's broken.
> 
> 
> Now, it is just a good feat.
> ...




All too true. After being DM for the last 3 years, I should have remembered that cardinal rule when I went back to being a player.


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## AutoSponge (Jun 22, 2004)

I <heart> heroforge.


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## Piratecat (Jun 23, 2004)

A few bugs I noticed and still remember:

- the half-fiend template doesn't add the additional intelligence modifiers to the final stat score
- I believe it's missing the Tome & Blood metamagic feat Energy Substitution
- No Hexblade spells (this may just be because they aren't entered)

It's amazing that I've seen so few bugs, considering how complex this is.


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## BlackBart (Jun 23, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> A few bugs I noticed and still remember:
> 
> - the half-fiend template doesn't add the additional intelligence modifiers to the final stat score
> - I believe it's missing the Tome & Blood metamagic feat Energy Substitution
> ...



Half-Fiend fixed in 6/20 release.
Energy Substitution removed since Energy Affinity is an obvious replacement (though I realize it lacks sonic).
Hexblades don't gain spells until 4th level (5th if you don't have a bonus spell), though there may be a bug related to their bonus spells. Better to email me the bug reports.


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## SnowyOwl (Jun 29, 2004)

*Timpani*

If you like HeroForge, chances are you'll like Timpani.  There are versions for 3.5e as well as 3e.

Timpani started when I was using HeroForge several years ago, and wanted to fix a couple of bugs and add a new race.  I found it very awkward to do that, there were a few other changes I wanted, the developer at that time hadn't updated it in months... one thing led to another, and a friend and I ended up making a new tool.

To highlight just a few features that I've seen mentioned here, Timpani offers

data tables specifically designed for easy customization: add your own races, classes, skills, feats, spells, deities, domains, armor, weapons, languages...
export custom game data to share with your gaming group
epic support through level 50
tested in Excel 97/98 and later, on both PCs and Macs
sheets to track the effects of rage, wild shape; fatigue, polymorph, divine power, other spells and conditions; rings of protection, cloaks of resistance, other items; negative levels, stat drains, etc., including stacking and non-stacking bonuses
overrides for most numbers, to accomodate special items and house rules
a help sheet explaining how to do all this stuff

I have enormous respect for HeroForge, at least the version I saw back in 2001 (when Christopher Mathieu was still writing it), and I'm sure it's only gotten better.  I haven't looked at HeroForge since we started developing Timpani three years ago, but I assume the two tools are still pretty similar.  This isn't a contest... but I happen to like Timpani quite a lot (reasonably enough ), and you might too.

- Pam Greene
(no relation to Shannon "BlackBart" Greene)


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## adienpryde (Jun 30, 2004)

SnowyOwl said:
			
		

> If you like HeroForge, chances are you'll like Timpani.  There are versions for 3.5e as well as 3e.
> 
> Timpani started when I was using HeroForge several years ago, and wanted to fix a couple of bugs and add a new race.  I found it very awkward to do that, there were a few other changes I wanted, the developer at that time hadn't updated it in months... one thing led to another, and a friend and I ended up making a new tool.
> 
> ...




I would down load it but all it gives me is a 4.05 meg empty zip file.


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## Sir Whiskers (Jun 30, 2004)

SnowyOwl said:
			
		

> If you like HeroForge, chances are you'll like Timpani.  There are versions for 3.5e as well as 3e.





I downloaded the file but WinZip says it not a valid archive. Any ideas?


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## SubMensa (Jun 30, 2004)

Sir Whiskers said:
			
		

> I downloaded the file but WinZip says it not a valid archive. Any ideas?



It is in a GZip archive which WinZip will not open. you can try using 7-Zip from http://www.download.com/3001-2250-10229169.html it's a free program that should do the trick for you.


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## adienpryde (Jun 30, 2004)

SubMensa said:
			
		

> It is in a GZip archive which WinZip will not open. you can try using 7-Zip from http://www.download.com/3001-2250-10229169.html it's a free program that should do the trick for you.




Nope, still didn't work


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## Sir Whiskers (Jun 30, 2004)

SubMensa said:
			
		

> It is in a GZip archive which WinZip will not open. you can try using 7-Zip from http://www.download.com/3001-2250-10229169.html it's a free program that should do the trick for you.




No offense, but if you want many people to try this, you should consider using WinZip - using any other program puts some substantial limits on your potential customer base. Just IMO.


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## SubMensa (Jul 1, 2004)

adienpryde said:
			
		

> Nope, still didn't work




have you tried redownloading the file, your download mey have been screwed up.



			
				Sir Whiskers said:
			
		

> No offense, but if you want many people to try this, you should consider using WinZip - using any other program puts some substantial limits on your potential customer base. Just IMO.




Just trying to help out. I had trouble at first because of the file type, and I figured that I could offer some advice to people hwo wanted to try it out.

Personally I agree though I agree, WinZip is the defacto standard. If the file is in some other standard SnowyOwl should have given some info on how to open it. Not all of us would recognise the extension, we're Role Playing geeks, not necessarily CompSci geeks.


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## adienpryde (Jul 1, 2004)

SubMensa said:
			
		

> have you tried redownloading the file, your download mey have been screwed up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I downloaded it 6 times from 2 different sites and I get the same thing.


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## adienpryde (Jul 3, 2004)

adienpryde said:
			
		

> I downloaded it 6 times from 2 different sites and I get the same thing.




Has anyone gotten this file open? and if so what program did you use?


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## Agamon (Jul 4, 2004)

I got it open in the browser, but I can't save it to file without a user name and password.  I downloaded the zip, and 7-Zip doesn't support that type of archive.  Looks like it wants to opened by WinRAR, but my trial period is up, and I just don't use WinRAR enough to buy it (I've used it once).

By the way, Shannon, HeroForge rocks.  I used it for my 3.0 PCs and was disappointed it wasn't FR compatible when I started playing that with the launch of 3.5.  My jaw hit the floor when I saw what you did for the new release a couple weeks ago.  Good job!


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## realmaster (Jul 5, 2004)

Agamon said:
			
		

> By the way, Shannon, HeroForge rocks.  I used it for my 3.0 PCs and was disappointed it wasn't FR compatible when I started playing that with the launch of 3.5.  My jaw hit the floor when I saw what you did for the new release a couple weeks ago.  Good job!



First I also give my congrats and my thanks to shannon. I have been using heroforge since I found the original on the lorekeeper website from chris. As for the FR compatible I found a copy of the original with the FR added into the program. So right now I have 4 different copies of heroforge. I have converted a couple of my gaming friends to heroforge users. 10 thumbs up to shannon.


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## mps42 (Jul 5, 2004)

*Timpani*

I was able to open it with WinRAR and am briefly looking at it. I also re-compressed it with Winzip so if anyone wants to have a look, let me know where to send it and I will (author willing).  

(edit for spelling)


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## adienpryde (Jul 5, 2004)

mps42 said:
			
		

> I was able to open it with WinRAR and am briefly looking at it. I also re-compressed it with Winzip so if anyone wants to have a look, let me know where to send it and I will (author willing).
> 
> (edit for spelling)




If you could send it to me would be great.

MSN and e-mail is bamsmn@yahoo.com

Thanks


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## SnowyOwl (Jul 5, 2004)

Various people said things like:



> I downloaded the file but WinZip says it not a valid archive. Any ideas?




Sorry about that!  As others noted, it was a gzip file.  I mostly use a Mac, and didn't realize Windows users would have problems opening it.  (Then I went out of town for the long weekend.)

Thanks to all the excellent suggestions here, Timpani is now available for download as either a ZIP file (use WinZip; best for Windows) or a StuffIt file (best for Macs).  The 3e versions are also available in those two formats; visit the main Timpani page to get them.

Again, my apologies for the trouble.  Please let me know if you still have problems with the download, and if you have any suggestions or comments for the tool.

- Pam Greene


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## SubMensa (Jul 5, 2004)

Shannon has come out with some additional updates to Heroforge in case anybody is interested. http://home.san.rr.com/blackbart/

It looks as though he has been busting his butt getting everything done lately, and has promised weekly updates going forward.

Again i have to say Thanks Shannon, you are the best!


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## BlackBart (Jul 6, 2004)

SubMensa said:
			
		

> Shannon has come out with some additional updates to Heroforge in case anybody is interested. http://home.san.rr.com/blackbart/
> 
> It looks as though he has been busting his butt getting everything done lately, and has promised weekly updates going forward.
> 
> Again i have to say Thanks Shannon, you are the best!




I may have to go back on that, as I'm trying to get Epic and Psionic support included, and I'm trying to avoid having to fork the sheet for it's current functionality. The next update is going to be a pretty major update; this means that some import functionality will yet again get hosed up, but I'll try to keep it as backwards compatible on the imports as I can. Fortunately the bug reports have been pretty thin (which is good for me, and good for everybody else). That said, if something catastrophic is reported, I'll make an effort to fix those things - but I don't want to have to maintain two versions if I can avoid it.


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## SubMensa (Jul 7, 2004)

My bad, I think I read a little too much into your update. I apologise for putting words in your mouth Shannon. Keep up the good work and dont feel pressured.

Again, many kudos, and thanks from the silent masses who use your program!


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## Dinubabear (Sep 3, 2004)

*HeroForge with Epic*

Well, I have a version of HeroForge that can be found here http://www.acer-access.com/~bearhugs@acer-access.com/EpicForge.zip that goes into Epic levels, although only 50 since I ran out of horizontal cells on the skill page.  Shannon Greene handled the skills differently in a very clever way, which could give me about 20 more levels.  However, the conditional formatting will probably trigger the Excel XP bug.  
Excel 2002 (and to a lesser extent 2003) has a bug where it sees too much conditional formatting as something it needs to "fix" since it uses the same memory as locked cells & auto-corrects it, freezing a cell here or there, or even blowing up!  So I mainly use Excel 2000, though I have it & my players with Macs only have 2003.

The bad thing about my version (well, not bad for me, but I get complaints from people not in my game) is it is for 3.0, not 3.5.  And it only has bits and pieces of Forgotten Realms as we don't play in it.  It does have 3.0 Psionics, and you can turn off MAD in the House Rules sheet, although I like MAD.  It has all the splat books but not the complete books.  If we switch to 3.5 I may convert it, but I dread it as it is a lot of work and applaud Shannon for what he has done in the conversion.  However, my players are resisting the change, so I don't need to worry about it for the time being.

Anyway, you are free to download my version, and copy or modify my Epic stuff from the sheet.


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## Talen_Quickblade (Sep 6, 2004)

*In need of a helping Hand (or hacker)...*

Okay, I've figured out most of what I need to know to MODIFY an existing class into something else entirely.  The only thing holding me back now is one tiny little cell on the "Class Info" tab. I'll say now that I am trying to modify the samauri class, so that is where I am pulling specific examples.

Column C; Rows 24 - 342. The formula used in these cells is "=COUNTIF(TblClassLvls,A65)" no problem, I can fathom this statement... Determine the number of times the value of "A65" appears in the array "TblClassLvls".

However, when refrencing this cell (C65) it appears as a variable name "SamLvl", this is my problem. I cannot find where this paticular variable is defined, nor does changing the "TLA" na (Column V) affect this.
    Anyone have an ideas? I need this variable name to be changed to "***Lvl".


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## BlackBart (Sep 6, 2004)

Talen_Quickblade said:
			
		

> Okay, I've figured out most of what I need to know to MODIFY an existing class into something else entirely.  The only thing holding me back now is one tiny little cell on the "Class Info" tab. I'll say now that I am trying to modify the samauri class, so that is where I am pulling specific examples.
> 
> Column C; Rows 24 - 342. The formula used in these cells is "=COUNTIF(TblClassLvls,A65)" no problem, I can fathom this statement... Determine the number of times the value of "A65" appears in the array "TblClassLvls".
> 
> ...



 Insert->Name->Define, remove the reference to SamLvl. Select Cell C65 and rename it (in the upper left where it should now indicate C65, just select that and type the name you want). Note, you'll need to go through the entire workbook and replace/remove any formula references to SamLvl. Latest versions of excel have a find all that will look throughout the whole workbook to make this easier.


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## Talen_Quickblade (Sep 7, 2004)

*Thanks!*

Great! That, I believe, is the last thing I needed. I hope to begin documenting steps for adding Starting Classes and Prestige Classes during the remainder of the week.Thanks for the direction.


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## Host of Angels (Sep 8, 2004)

I just found Heroforge after perusing a few message threads - and it is the bee's bollocks. Despite having close to zero real programming experience, I can make the mods I need to bring it in line with my game. Top marks for Shannon, keep up the good work, you are an asset to the community etc etc.

If I have any problems - I'll post them here....


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## Greylock (Sep 18, 2004)

I've switched to BlackBart's HeroForge sheet for various reasons. One question:

Where are the Variant Classes (Ranger, Paladin, etc) from? I've been looking at the Variant Ranger. It seems to be the 3.0 Ranger. Am I wrong? Is it from another source? If so, what are the class features?


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## BlackBart (Sep 18, 2004)

They're from Monte Cook's Books of ... Might. They are a bit dated, I haven't gotten around to getting the 3.5 updates to those variant classes, though there is a good chance I will remove them from the next update.


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## Greylock (Sep 18, 2004)

Probably a wise move.

I'm loving this sheet a lot. It's not good for the customising I've seen on other's, but it's very user friendly and (I'm just guessing here) fully tested.

You'd have my vote if this were a poll.


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## GakToid (Sep 24, 2004)

BlackBart,

First, thanks.

Second, you posted a quick'n'dirty how-to on adding feats on the first page. Could you post a quick'n'dirty how-to on adding races?

So far I've found:
1) Add race to the 'Race Info' sheet.
2) ?? It has something to do with changing the drop down to include the line with the new race, but I'm not sure the correct way to do it. (Excel newbie)
3) ?? Are there other things to do?

Thanks again.

-Gak Toid


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## BlackBart (Sep 24, 2004)

GakToid said:
			
		

> BlackBart,
> 
> First, thanks.
> 
> ...



 General rule of thumb in HeroForge - Don't add data to the end of a list, insert it into the list. Insertion into the list will ensure that all tables are properly adjusted so that those new races, classes, weapons, etc appear in any drop downs or are searched for, etc. That said, formulas in the row above insertion will often need adjustment, as they may have a formula that should point at your newly inserted row, but instead point at the row below (which is the same data it pointed to before).

Also, in the case of races, there is a racial abilities sheet.


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## GakToid (Sep 24, 2004)

Thanks!

It looks like the sheets I need to modify are:
Class Info
Racial Abilities
Race Info

I noticed F7 on Racial Abilities is a pretty full field. Other than that I think it worked pretty well.

-Gak Toid


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## Ghostwind (Sep 24, 2004)

Shannon-

Kudos to the fantastic job you're doing. Any idea when the next update is coming out? I could really use that Epic level support for a campaign I am running.


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## getyourspotusa (Oct 6, 2004)

*Quick question*

First, Shannon I LOVE the sheet!   Heroforge is DA BOMB!   

My Question:  Maybe it's a quick fix, maybe I'm just dense.

Setup:  I usually insert a scratchpad worksheet for preparing item lists, party treasure tracking, etc.  For example, let's say I put "Rope, 50 feet" in Sheet1, cell A1.

On  Character Sheet II,   I go to the first cell in the Equipment listing ("Other Possessions"), and put "='Sheet1'!A1"  It reflects the Formula [='Sheet1'!A1], not the value [Rope, 50 feet]...

I tried pushing Ctrl-`, doesn't work.
Am I foolishly missing something?  I feel like its a 2-second fix, just can't see it...

Finally, would you accept an Amazon Gift Cert as a token of appreciation  for the awesome work you've done, and I have benefitted from, with this program?  PM Me.


Sincerely,
Mike Prieto


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## Mercule (Oct 6, 2004)

Hey, Shannon, one general Excel question (that's probably in the Excel help file I'm too lazy to search) that'd help some of us customize HeroForge for our own campaigns:

You use a lot of named regions in HF.  Is there a quick way to locate one of those?  I just find it a pain to try to figure out some of the formulas you're using.

Thanks.


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## BlackBart (Oct 6, 2004)

getyourspotusa said:
			
		

> First, Shannon I LOVE the sheet!   Heroforge is DA BOMB!
> 
> My Question:  Maybe it's a quick fix, maybe I'm just dense.
> 
> ...



 You're missing the fact that I've formatted the cell as a Text cell, so formulas don't work. You can re-format the cells as General and you should be good to go.


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## BlackBart (Oct 6, 2004)

Mercule said:
			
		

> Hey, Shannon, one general Excel question (that's probably in the Excel help file I'm too lazy to search) that'd help some of us customize HeroForge for our own campaigns:
> 
> You use a lot of named regions in HF.  Is there a quick way to locate one of those?  I just find it a pain to try to figure out some of the formulas you're using.
> 
> Thanks.



 Agreed, a lot of named cells. 

There's a couple ways to determined what those names are referring to. If you're lucky (or more to the point, if the sheet that contains the named reference is visible) you can just type the name into the top left are where it indicates the active cell and you'll go right there. Since, more often than not, those sheets are hidden you'll have to generally use a different means. Here you have two options: 1) Insert->Name->Define will bring up a list you can scroll through, though the interface sucks and it's very unwieldy; 2) Insert->Name->Paste->Paste List(It works best if you insert a blank worksheet first) will list all of the names, and their associated references. From there you can first figure out what sheet things are on and go from there.


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## Mercule (Oct 6, 2004)

Groovy.  Thanks!


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## getyourspotusa (Oct 7, 2004)

Thank you - Looking forward to the next one!
--mp


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## Obfuscated (Oct 9, 2004)

Does anybody know if Talen Quickblade ever got around to documenting the 'Heroforge Hacking' steps he talked about earlier in this thread?

I'm not holding my breath, mind you.  Since his only two posts lie in this thread.

That said, Heroforge Rocks!


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## darkpoet66 (Nov 6, 2004)

*need UA Paladin prestige classes added*

So can any tell me how in the heck i can add in the Paladin Prestige Class from the UA book. Mainly i am building a cleric - that will also have some paladin prestige levels and with it the class being added or me figuring out how to add it, i can't get the spells correct.


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## Rackhir (Nov 8, 2004)

The easiest thing to do is to replace one of the already existing prestige classes with the one that you want to add. 

Another key tip is that there are a lot of hidden sheets and rows/columns in HeroForge. The Classes sheet is one where you will need to do most of the modifications and you will have to unhide a lot of rows/columns on there. Which can make it kind of messy when trying to make things neat again.

There is a hidden sheet with Class abilites, where you will want to replace the old prestige class abilities with those for the new one. Skills is the other sheet where you will need to make a fair number of changes to reflect the new class skills. So you might want to pick a prestige class that has similar skills/HD/... etc which will help minimize the number of changes necessary.

The last tip I have to offer is that under the Tools menue item, there is a function called auditing. The two choices under auditing that you will want to use are the "Trace Precidents" and "Trace Dependents" these will help you to figure out where it is drawing data from and what functions in the sheet depend on that data.


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## darkpoet66 (Nov 9, 2004)

*ok now i have no clue*

ok pretend that i am not that computer smart. I am but not with this stuff.

is this something that you could do? if so can you just email me the spreadsheet or tell me more in detail how i do all of what you suggested?

thanks


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## Rackhir (Nov 9, 2004)

darkpoet66 said:
			
		

> ok pretend that i am not that computer smart. I am but not with this stuff.
> 
> is this something that you could do? if so can you just email me the spreadsheet or tell me more in detail how i do all of what you suggested?
> 
> thanks




Select a page that has no column or row headers (a-z,1-65,000). Select the menu item Tools > Options > View (tab) and click on "Show Row and Column Headers" box. This will reveal the row and column headers which will be helpful in editing the sheet.

Under the Format Menu You will see selections for Row, Column, Sheet. Under those selections you will have selections for hide, unhide. Unhiding sheets can be done from any page. Just select Format>Sheet>Unhide and it will pop up a dialogue box that lists the hidden sheets. To rehide something just do the same thing again only select hidden. Just unhiding the all of the sheets and using the "Trace Precedents" command will make things much clearer. It looks like the sheet has been made easier to modify. 

It is similar for hidden rows and columns. You can identify where these are by looking for discontinuities in the row and column headers. If the columns go from C to H then you have 4 hidden columns. Same thing for rows. What is usually quickest is to select the very upper left box, the corner where the row and column headers meet. That will select the entire page. Selecting Format>Column>Unhide and Format>Rows>Unhide will show all of the hidden rows and columns where the data is stored. 

Changing the abilities on the Class Sheets is fairly straight forward. Just replace the text with your own.

Just try fiddling with it for a bit. It is confusing at first, but it should become clearer as you work with it. I have found that in many cases the difference between a "Computer Smart" person and one who is not, is that the "Computer Smart" person starts poking and fiddling around with stuff to see what affects what, where as the non-"Smart" person just goes "I don't understand!" and does nothing. Just make sure you aren't working on the only copy of your character, make backups first.


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## Elocin (Nov 20, 2004)

Any word on how the next update is progressing?  Desperate crack feed fans want to know.


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## Chroma (Nov 30, 2004)

Has anyone heard from Black Bart or anyone else who's been working on HeroForge?  I'm not much of an Excel wiz, so I've been depending on their L33T skillz...

I just need psionics in there... *sigh*


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## darkpoet66 (Dec 4, 2004)

Well that is way to much work for me. I did what you said.. but i am just not that good with excel. Maybe someone else will update the sheet to work with the Prestige Paladin from the Unearth Arcana book... until then i guess i have to use two differnt character sheets.


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## adienpryde (Dec 11, 2004)

Just wondering if anyone knows when it may be updated with Complete Arcane.


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## MacMathan (Dec 12, 2004)

First off let me say that this is the best program I have seen. Thank you very much for putting in so much hard work and keeping it free.

There maybe a better thread for this but there seems to be a number of interested and experienced users in this one so here goes: When I try to make a spellcaster in the new version (3.5-06/29/2004)(2.41MB)  of the spreadsheet I get a VB Error as follows:

Run time error '1004' application-defined or object-defined error. 

When I click on debug it takes me to this line of code:  .HPageBreaks.Add .Cells(LastRowDest + 2, 1)

in SpellSheetGen

I am running WinXP Home SP2 with Office 2k fully patched.

I have only try to update two different characters but the result has been the same on both: the first was a wiz5/elem.sav.9 the second a clr7/Lor.Mst.4.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I would love to be able to access the new data in the most recent update.

Thanks


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## darkpoet66 (Dec 19, 2004)

*Just wishing we could hear something*

I would realy like to at least get a update if shannon is going to ever come out with a new update.

i love the program.. but really want to be able to use it for the new things that come out.

i know he has been busy with life.. but if anyone can tell me if he is planing on any further updates that would be great.


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## Chroma (Jan 4, 2005)

Black Bart has posted an update on his site... sad news indeed.  I've been eagerly awaiting the psionics update... it's all I needed... looks like the wait will be much longer.

I wonder if another hero will be able to step up and fill LonePaladin's and Black Bart's electronic shoes...


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## Ghostwind (Feb 4, 2005)

You'll find a group dedicated to keeping Herforge alive and improving it here:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Hero_Forge/


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## Andre (Feb 5, 2005)

Ghostwind said:
			
		

> You'll find a group dedicated to keeping Herforge alive and improving it here:
> 
> http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Hero_Forge/




The group hasn't been able to get the latest build from Shannon, but two others have posted their versions, with some very useful features. Here's the link to one of them (fair warning - this version has some noticeable bugs):

http://www.d20zines.com/html/downloads/electronic_accessories/HeroForge-AndyGaskin.zip

Here's what the poster added:

Modifications to Shannon Greene's HeroForge:
-Expanded Character Statistics Block.
-Added sheets for Magical and Non-Magical Equipment (which affects a
lot of calculations). When an item is selected it automatically shows
up on Character Sheet 2. Also added Gear Info Sheet.
-Added another Drop Down Box for Small Sized Paladins.
-Added a column for Equipment on Skills Sheet.
-Added a column for Languages Selected on Languages Sheet.
-On Attacks sheet added a section for Barbarian when Raged.
-Added boxes for Dodge and Mobility AC on Character Sheet 1.
-Added a Character Sheet 1 for a Barbarian when Raged.
-Tweaked Character Sheet 2.
-Added Character Sheets for Animal Companion, Celestial Companion,
Familiar and Mount (realized when I was finished I did not make a
sheet for Fiendish Servant - working on that now).
-Added Spell Sheets for Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin and Ranger.
-On Class Info Sheet cleaned up the info for Animal Companions,
Celestial Companions, Familiars, Fiendish Servants, Mounts.
-On Class Abilities Sheet added calculations from Magical Items Sheet.

As far as I know, the other file is only available to the Yahoo HeroForge group, but if I see it posted elsewhere, I'll post the link. Or you can join the group and consider getting involved with the next version.


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## Greylock (Apr 30, 2005)

So how are things with HeroForge?

Any news of note?


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## Agamon (May 1, 2005)

An LG legal version of HF should be available within a few weeks.  We just finished adding the Complete books and the Race books.  The tech team is making all the added info work and the beta test team is already working on debugging beta versions of the new sheet.  The environment books (Frostburn, Sandstorm) might make the first release, I'm not certain of that though.

Eberron, Epic, and Psionics are being added, but I don't think they'll be ready for the first release.  Also, HF is getting way too big for it's britches, so it's being cut into four different apps, though I believe the techs are making them cross-compatable (meaning you don't have to enter info more than once for all four sheets).  They're divided up as follows:

Hero Forge - everything but spells, animals and items
Spell Forge - everything spell related
Critter Forge - familiars, companions, etc. (some new stuff to HF)
Item Forge - all the stuff (most of this is new material to HF)

The moment the new sheet is released, it'll be posted here.


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## talmar (May 2, 2005)

Agamon said:
			
		

> An LG legal version of HF should be available within a few weeks.  We just finished adding the Complete books and the Race books.  The tech team is making all the added info work and the beta test team is already working on debugging beta versions of the new sheet.  The environment books (Frostburn, Sandstorm) might make the first release, I'm not certain of that though.
> 
> Eberron, Epic, and Psionics are being added, but I don't think they'll be ready for the first release.  Also, HF is getting way too big for it's britches, so it's being cut into four different apps, though I believe the techs are making them cross-compatable (meaning you don't have to enter info more than once for all four sheets).  They're divided up as follows:
> 
> ...





What is LG Legal?  I didn't know Heroforge got WotC License approval to include all their stuff.  This is good news indeed.


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## Agamon (May 2, 2005)

talmar said:
			
		

> What is LG Legal?  I didn't know Heroforge got WotC License approval to include all their stuff.  This is good news indeed.




Living Greyhawk.  A lot of HF users play LG, so one of the data teams put together entered all the books used in it.  And nothing is entered verbatim, you still need the books to use HF properly.  We just continued the work Shannon was doing.


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## Patman21967 (May 3, 2005)

Guys, 
That is so cool...It will be free, I hope. Please keep us overworked GM's updated...


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## Agamon (May 4, 2005)

Yep, it's certainly free, we're all just volunteers that want the sheet updated to work with the newer books.


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## Patman21967 (May 7, 2005)

I still use the "old" heroforge...is there a link to a more current version?


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## adienpryde (May 8, 2005)

I would like to enter the Ki Swordsman from the Quintisential Monk 2 and was wondering if anyone had any tips as to how to do it.

Thanks


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## Rackhir (May 12, 2005)

adienpryde said:
			
		

> I would like to enter the Ki Swordsman from the Quintisential Monk 2 and was wondering if anyone had any tips as to how to do it.
> 
> Thanks




************WARNING : If you throw up your hands at the sight of something you are unfamiliar with then don't even bother trying to modify the sheet *****************

The easiest thing to do is to replace one of the already existing prestige classes with the one that you want to add. 

 Another key tip is that there are a lot of hidden sheets and rows/columns in HeroForge. The Classes sheet is one where you will need to do most of the modifications and you will have to unhide a lot of rows/columns on there. Which can make it kind of messy when trying to make things neat again.

 There is a hidden sheet with Class abilites, where you will want to replace the old prestige class abilities with those for the new one. Skills is the other sheet where you will need to make a fair number of changes to reflect the new class skills. So you might want to pick a prestige class that has similar skills/HD/... etc which will help minimize the number of changes necessary.

Under the Tools menue item, there is a function called auditing. The two choices under auditing that you will want to use are the "Trace Precidents" and "Trace Dependents" these will help you to figure out where it is drawing data from and what functions in the sheet depend on that data.

 Select a page that has no column or row headers (a-z,1-65,000). Select the menu item Tools > Options > View (tab) and click on "Show Row and Column Headers" box. This will reveal the row and column headers which will be helpful in editing the sheet.

 Under the Format Menu You will see selections for Row, Column, Sheet. Under those selections you will have selections for hide, unhide. Unhiding sheets can be done from any page. Just select Format>Sheet>Unhide and it will pop up a dialogue box that lists the hidden sheets. To rehide something just do the same thing again only select hidden. Just unhiding the all of the sheets and using the "Trace Precedents" command will make things much clearer. It looks like the sheet has been made easier to modify. 

 It is similar for hidden rows and columns. You can identify where these are by looking for discontinuities in the row and column headers. If the columns go from C to H then you have 4 hidden columns. Same thing for rows. What is usually quickest is to select the very upper left box, the corner where the row and column headers meet. That will select the entire page. Selecting Format>Column>Unhide and Format>Rows>Unhide will show all of the hidden rows and columns where the data is stored. 

 Changing the abilities on the Class Sheets is fairly straight forward. Just replace the text with your own.

 Just try fiddling with it for a bit. It is confusing at first, but it should become clearer as you work with it. I have found that in many cases the difference between a "Computer Smart" person and one who is not, is that the "Computer Smart" person starts poking and fiddling around with stuff to see what affects what, where as the non-"Smart" person just goes "I don't understand!" and does nothing. Just make sure you aren't working on the only copy of your character, make backups first.


----------



## Greylock (May 13, 2005)

Rackhir said:
			
		

> Under the Tools menue item, there is a function called auditing. The two choices under auditing that you will want to use are the "Trace Precidents" and "Trace Dependents" these will help you to figure out where it is drawing data from and what functions in the sheet depend on that data.




Aha! So that's what epiphany feels like.

Your instructions should be added to the Yahoo group "How-To" sheet.


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## MacMathan (Jul 29, 2005)

Any update news?


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## adienpryde (Jul 29, 2005)

You were right, it took some time but I got everything to work out. Thanks.



			
				Rackhir said:
			
		

> ************WARNING : If you throw up your hands at the sight of something you are unfamiliar with then don't even bother trying to modify the sheet *****************
> 
> The easiest thing to do is to replace one of the already existing prestige classes with the one that you want to add.
> 
> ...


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## Rackhir (Jul 29, 2005)

adienpryde said:
			
		

> You were right, it took some time but I got everything to work out. Thanks.




I'm happy it was of use to you.


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## joe2tiger (Aug 17, 2005)

*Agamon*

Hey Agamon, do you know when you are going to release your versions of Heroforge to the public? I have been looking for an updated version for a while with the complete books in them. I have a druid and it is hard putting in custom spells, or abilities in.


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