What is a good pdf/excel/app to use to create a computerized character sheet and power cards without the DDI (Dnd Essentials)

Question

I've been searching the net for a way to make a nice looking / easy to read/access character sheet, similar to the ones that are given out at encounters.

I've found a couple, and I'm curious if there are any gems I'm missing, or if anyone has experiences with these and knows which ones are best.

Again, I'm looking for something with Essentials support.

http://www.livingdice.com/616/create-your-own-dd-4e-power-cards/

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/charactersheet

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/297363-d-d-4th-edition-fillable-custom-character-sheet-essentials.html

http://www.dungeonwerksga.com/Power_Cards.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/293768-tikkchik-fen-tikktikks-ultimate-editable-character-sheet.html

http://dnd4.com/dd-4th-edition-character-sheet

Thanks!

Answer 1

As answered here, I recommend power2ool.com. While it has DDI integration, you can create your own well-formatted power cards on it with custom text.

For character sheet, I find that making my own really helps me understand my character. Of course, my character sheets (answered in detail here) are themed after weem's sheet. They are functionally checklists so that I can pre-articulate all of the standard strategies and things I need to be aware of for that character.

Answer 2

I second Brian's answer by saying that making your own character sheets and power cards is very helpful.

Personally, I combined them into one and created an excel spreadsheet for my character info and my powers. While the up-front work is significant, it's worth it if you are sticking with a single character for any amount of time.

The spreadsheet is awesome for a number of reasons:

1. You can insert comments on skills, powers, etc for special conditions (e.g. "Assassin's Cloak - Roll twice for all stealth checks)
2. You can use formulas for everything.
   • Level automatically increases when you reach the required amount of EXP
   • Skills are automatically calculated by level and ability score
   • Damage and to-hit formula changes based on conditions (the checkboxes in the screenshot)
3. You can create macros to do certain common actions (healing surge, short rest, extended rest, etc)

Note - if you don't want to have a laptop in front of you, this still looks beautiful printed out on paper.

Or, you can go the route my wife went and create your own power cards in an image editing tool like GIMP. I had a few card sleeves laying around from my Magic: The Gathering days, so you can even create templates and just fill in the numbers using a dry erase marker. This cuts back on paper and printer ink use as well since you can just erase and write in the new numbers when you level up or acquire new gear.

You can slide in a MTG or other card behind the one you printed so it has a sturdy backing.

Answer 3

I still have yet to find a decent character sheet besides the official one that I really like. As for power cards though I have found a few.

The power cards I like to use were originally created and found at a Google group called Tools for DMs. However it looks like that group may be wiped soon due to inactivity. I was able to download the files for the power cards though and stick them up at MediaFire for future downloads here. I really like the index card versions for ease of use in games. The wife and I just save whatever power cards we make as we play our characters and figured we'd eventually get most of the powers made after awhile.

Additionally while looking for those cards I stumbled across this site (DnDItalia.com) which looks to be pretty decent. I haven't used it though.

Answer 4

Personally I like the character Sheet of Hero Lab a lot (you get all the attacks/Damage data on the first page of the sheet !!!) Asides from that the iPlay4e Application is very good for handling your powers during play (if you have a Tablet available). Sadly the later does not accept Hero Lab data files, but only those of the CB.