How many character sheets is to many?

[JmOz]

I am working on a memebr of my Centurians, at last count she is going to have 20 different character sheets:

1 for her
4 for her followers
1 for her base
Okay so far not really that bad, here is where things get confusing, this part she is also getting points from another member (who also chipped in on the base):

2 Vehicle, one I have not designed yet, but it will probably only be one sheet, the other has the following however:

2 Multiforms
2 MORE multiforms
5 Duplicates, one of the duplicates has
1 Summon and
2 Multiforms

For a total of 20 Character sheets...YIKES

Also one of the multiforms (the first set of two) include the same summons AND the other includes one of the Duplicates, the second set of Multiforms all have the duplicates (all five)

YOUCH

[Tech]

Well, I don't know if this is quite the same but I'll throw this out. I have a character with roughly 20-25 sheets:

1 for the Character Sheet
1 for the Villains he's met
1 for the sheet I doodled on way back when

as for the rest, well, they're a combination of old, cool looking sheets - not used but still cool to look at; a few sheets of other player suggestions how to use his small Variable Cosmic Power Pool; several pictures of the character ranging from B/W to color to variations of the picture; a couple sheets where I recorded Stun/Body/End use and kept it because by looking at it remember some most excellent episodes.

[TheEmerged]

One of my PC's (Hexadecimal) has 17 characters, all told

"Janie", the base form, which happens to have the ability to create 15 duplicates of herself (minus her Multiform) and 16 multiforms (one of which she can't enter willingly).

At a total of 17 forms, an average of two pages per form... You get the picture :)

[starblaze]

What do you mean too many character sheets!?!?!!?!?
You can never have enough sheets!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D :D

[Doug McCrae]

More than one, I'd say. But I'm a pretty hardcore minimalist.

[Law Dog]

My old friend Chris would say even one is too many. We were playing back in the 80's with 275 point characters. He made an energy projector called Spectrum with a seven slot MP (One for each color). Everything was based around 60 active points and he could rattle the character off to you on demand, including XP spent, perfectly every time. Used to give the GM fits, which is okay since he was a pretty crappy GM. :D

[Thirdbase]

Originally posted by JmOz
I am working on a memebr of my Centurians, at last count she is going to have 20 different character sheets:

1 for her
4 for her followers
1 for her base
Okay so far not really that bad, here is where things get confusing, this part she is also getting points from another member (who also chipped in on the base):

2 Vehicle, one I have not designed yet, but it will probably only be one sheet, the other has the following however:

2 Multiforms
2 MORE multiforms
5 Duplicates, one of the duplicates has
1 Summon and
2 Multiforms

For a total of 20 Character sheets...YIKES

Also one of the multiforms (the first set of two) include the same summons AND the other includes one of the Duplicates, the second set of Multiforms all have the duplicates (all five)

YOUCH

Put the pencil down and step away from the character sheets.

[BNakagawa]

Originally posted by JmOz
I am working on a memebr of my Centurians, at last count she is going to have 20 different character sheets:

1 for her
4 for her followers
1 for her base
Okay so far not really that bad, here is where things get confusing, this part she is also getting points from another member (who also chipped in on the base):

2 Vehicle, one I have not designed yet, but it will probably only be one sheet, the other has the following however:

2 Multiforms
2 MORE multiforms
5 Duplicates, one of the duplicates has
1 Summon and
2 Multiforms

For a total of 20 Character sheets...YIKES

Also one of the multiforms (the first set of two) include the same summons AND the other includes one of the Duplicates, the second set of Multiforms all have the duplicates (all five)

YOUCH

Is there any need for other player characters in this game?

Aside from helping to pay for the base, I mean.

[st barbara]

Gee I have a nice, simple little energy projector and the character sheet runs to about eight pages. I hate to think what it might look like if I had "multiform" or "followers' or a vehicle ! Please chief "st. Barbara's" head hurts, can I take an aspirin and lie down for a while ?"

[Agent Escafarc]

Originally posted by st barbara
Gee I have a nice, simple little energy projector and the character sheet runs to about eight pages. I hate to think what it might look like if I had "multiform" or "followers' or a vehicle ! Please chief "st. Barbara's" head hurts, can I take an aspirin and lie down for a while ?"

I know what you mean my Cat[II](martial-artist) and just her background/orgin runs 5+ pages. But then again I've been playing her off & on again for 20 years;)

[JmOz]

This is actualy just an NPC type of thing

[DoctorItron]

Did I read that correctly? A vehicle with duplication, multiform, and summon??? Wow!

Weird game balance issues can happen with any 1 of those 3 powers. If you combine all 3 of them, abandon all hope of game balance. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea, but it's an extraordinarily very complex character that stresses the rules. Hero will still do a better job with it than any other system, though.

My suggestion is to just fudge the character sheets.

What's the concept for the vehicle?

[JmOz]

Originally posted by DoctorItron
Did I read that correctly? A vehicle with duplication, multiform, and summon??? Wow!

Weird game balance issues can happen with any 1 of those 3 powers. If you combine all 3 of them, abandon all hope of game balance. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea, but it's an extraordinarily very complex character that stresses the rules. Hero will still do a better job with it than any other system, though.

My suggestion is to just fudge the character sheets.

What's the concept for the vehicle?

It's not as bad as it looks:

The vehiicle is a Mecha similar to the ones in Macross (a fighter/Robot/Hybrid) that can combind into a giant mecha. The dups are the other vehicles, the two multiforms are (1) the Mecha/hybrid/fighter and (2) the giant Mechas. the other vehicle with Multiform is the same type of fighter/Hybrid/Mecha, The summons is a missile. like I said not quite as bad as it sounds

It has two giant mechas, one is when all six vehicles merge, the other is when only five merge

So most of the multiforms have the dup power on it to some degree (3/4 have it, 1/2 have it at the same level)

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by JmOz
It's not as bad as it looks:

The vehiicle is a Mecha similar to the ones in Macross (a fighter/Robot/Hybrid) that can combind into a giant mecha. The dups are the other vehicles, the two multiforms are (1) the Mecha/hybrid/fighter and (2) the giant Mechas. the other vehicle with Multiform is the same type of fighter/Hybrid/Mecha, The summons is a missile. like I said not quite as bad as it sounds

It has two giant mechas, one is when all six vehicles merge, the other is when only five merge

So most of the multiforms have the dup power on it to some degree (3/4 have it, 1/2 have it at the same level)

And all this is played with one PC? Man.. My GM would never alow it..

[JmOz]

No, it's an NPC, and an exercise in how to model certain abilities...

[JmOz]

Originally posted by DoctorItron
Did I read that correctly? A vehicle with duplication, multiform, and summon??? Wow!

Weird game balance issues can happen with any 1 of those 3 powers. If you combine all 3 of them, abandon all hope of game balance. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea, but it's an extraordinarily very complex character that stresses the rules. Hero will still do a better job with it than any other system, though.

My suggestion is to just fudge the character sheets.

What's the concept for the vehicle?

Actualy you did not: The Summon is only on a Multiform, and on a single dup, the main vehicle does not have it (It is still digusting, will post it when I get it done...

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by JmOz
Actualy you did not: The Summon is only on a Multiform, and on a single dup, the main vehicle does not have it (It is still digusting, will post it when I get it done...

If you're doing this with Hero Designer(plug), you could post the files to the thread on the Hero Designer Board(shamesless plug for thread I started...).

[Brutal]

OMFG
I usually have 1 (per character of course), sometimes 2 if i need it for a mutliform, vechile or whatever.

The Gamemaster keeps check of any villains, npc's etc. But 20 of them? Im still pondering how can you keep check of them all. Because really, the thought of bringing 20 sheets to the table when I play gives me the creeps :)

[Mayday]

.... a black spiral binder. It serves as both screen and holds any sheet I might need to access. No chance of players seeing a picture by accident and I can write on the plastic sleeves instead of on the character sheet.

I run things very much on the fly however, with an idea of what I'd like to do but I always start off with "So you wake up and.... tell me what you do?" The players can follow up any lead they've been given at any time, if they want to go off on a tangent that's fine too. Just more fun to me to have at least 5 plotlines going on at once, but as a result I have to bring the binder.

I dont print out my histories anymore tho. I put them online and give the GM the url.

[death tribble]

I thought this was going to be about numbersof heroes and villains not just the sheets for one character.

Let's see the Flame has his original sheet, one with a handgun when he lost his powers, one with an armoured suit when he lost his powers and at least three revisions. All sifferent drawings.

I kept the same sheet for the Magician except that one last time.

[st barbara]

Yes,well if we are going to get into how much space our ORIGINS take up i'm sure that we will all be up for several more pages. "St Barbara's" origin is several pages and explains such things as why she has a Dutch S & M porn producer as a (minor) hunted. Unless the @#*&@ has developed super powers I just WISH that he would track "St B" down (Snigger !). I'm sure that she'd like to have a word with him !

[AnotherSkip]

Sheer mechanics? no background bs?
Ill top everyone else so far.

1 150 point hero a mercenary unit captain/leader
3 50 point followers a 'priest' and his acolyte, plus a Mage (25 points cost to the main character)
1 DNPC follower for the mage (no cost to the main character)
4 30 point 'leaders' (16 points off of main character)
32 25 point followers (the rest of the unit) (35 points cost to the main character)

and because it was fantasy the other characters sheets were "only money"
1 Base
36 light warhorses
5 Wagons (1 for the spellcasters, 4 for the supplies)
10 oxen (for pulling the wagons)
1 Ballista
1 Catapult

A fan of the Earthdawn system took one look at the stack of paper I had and swore he would never run HERO.

Sigh, good GM though.

oops just remembered.

the spellcasters could summon 5 critters among them....

[Badger]

Well, as many as you need I'd say. However, I've never had that kind of energy. Heck, I think I've probably given characters flying or teleportation just so I wouldnt have to bother creating a vehicle.:doi: (well, nothing really out of character, of course. It still would fit in character :sneaky:)

[Ice9]

I had a metamorph named Slick (natural form looked like a cat-sized blob of black oil, with eyes), that could change his/its structure and chemical composition, resulting a quite a number of Multiforms. In practice, this wasn't actually hard to keep track of however. I used a bunch of half-sheets (as in, the top half of a piece of paper) for the abilities that changed with each form, and a base sheet with the unchanging abilities on the bottom half. So to assume a form, I just set the relevant form sheet on top of the base sheet, put a paperclip on, and I was ready to go.

I've also played a dream-shaping summoner with a couple dozen summon-sheets (as possibilities, not all summoned at once), but I kept their stats simple enough to fit on notecards, so it wasn't unwieldy. Same thing as playing a VPP character - you just have to plan your moves while other people are acting, so your turn doesn't drag.

Obviously, it helps to abbreviate abilities as much as possible. I find you can cut the verbiage down 50% or more from what HD gives you without losing any information.

[CrosshairCollie]

Depends on the capabilities of the player, really. Some people can juggle sheets with ease, some can't even handle one.

[mattingly]

The most I've had for a PC in a game I've run is 8 sheets with 10 identities (two of them had Secret IDs, and one was even hired to track the other). That was also in the same game with a duplicator, with three distinct forms. So, in an 8 player game, I was actually running for 18 different PCs.

[Tech]

Heya JmOz! Based on what was written, it's how many sheets for a character. Mmm, I generally keep the old sheets for a character so I can see the progression of the character from it's beginning to it's current sheet. Some show a general progression of powers and skills, one shows a complete rewrite at some point. I usually have 1-3 sheets per character, although one of the players has a folder for just one character. :) If you start including things like scrapsheets for stats during the course of an adventure, background and whatnot, well.... Heheh.


I am working on a memebr of my Centurians, at last count she is going to have 20 different character sheets:

1 for her
4 for her followers
1 for her base
Okay so far not really that bad, here is where things get confusing, this part she is also getting points from another member (who also chipped in on the base):

2 Vehicle, one I have not designed yet, but it will probably only be one sheet, the other has the following however:

2 Multiforms
2 MORE multiforms
5 Duplicates, one of the duplicates has
1 Summon and
2 Multiforms

For a total of 20 Character sheets...YIKES

Also one of the multiforms (the first set of two) include the same summons AND the other includes one of the Duplicates, the second set of Multiforms all have the duplicates (all five)

YOUCH

[Fryguy]

This is a good thread. I entered an old character into the Hero Designer and when I went to preview the print it was about 9 pages. So I feel for y'all. I cannot imagine having to keep up with all that information...

[Escafarc]

This is not a new problem. Back in 1E AD&D days I had characters with 25+ sheets.

[CrosshairCollie]

This is not a new problem. Back in 1E AD&D days I had characters with 25+ sheets.

Ditto. I had all my spells and abilities written out so I didn't have to consult the books in mid-game.

Most recently, I had a character with I think 15 sheets; a Multiformer who switched between various special effects in a Ben 10 kind of way in that she didn't always tap into the right set of powers she wanted, but at least always got powers. It was easy to just turn the sheets upside down, shuffle them up, then pick one at random when I failed my Power roll to get the one I wanted. I eventually retired the character because one of the other players kept referring to my character as a 'novella' and it got on my nerves.

[BobGreenwade]

Too many character sheets is when...


...the GM announces that, in the future, all characters must be able to fit in a 3" three-ring binder.
...the GM carries a portable hard drive with your character's name on it.
...the GM's reaction to seeing the collection includes the words "Steve Long" and "Tyrannon the Conqueror."
...the GM is nervous about how you're going to spend your next five Experience Points.
...one of the other players, who also GMs, asks for copies and offers $24.95 plus shipping and handling.
...the only way you can tell the difference between it and The Ultimate Skill by touch is by feeling for the binding.
...the local copy center offers you bulk discounts.

Basically, if the GM's OK with it, then it's OK.

[Matt Holck]

me character sheet is never with me when I need
my characters tend toward simple so I rewrite them from memory
my friend has been keeping track of them
and my whip master "Troy"
has 5 incarnations at different value

[Ice9]

This is not a new problem. Back in 1E AD&D days I had characters with 25+ sheets.Definitely. In fact, the most sheets I've had for a character was a D&D Druid. Character + Animal Companion + Equipment + Spells (2 sheets) + Wildshape + Summons (4+ sheets) ... 10+ sheets, many of them double-sided. And this wasn't even with listing every possible summoned creature, wildshape form, or spell - just the ones I actually used.