Calculations and values

Values and calculations are the numbers and rolls underneath every character sheet; add your own and a sheet can track and roll anything your game needs.

For: Game Masters · Plan: Pro · 4 minutes

A character sheet is a set of numbers that depend on each other: a Strength score, the modifier worked out from it (the bonus you add to a roll, such as +3 for a score of 16), and the attack roll that adds that modifier to a d20, a twenty-sided die. Values are the numbers, and calculations are the rolls built from them. Add your own when your game tracks something the standard sheet doesn't, such as a sanity score or the attack for a homebrew weapon, and you want the sheet to do the maths and roll it in one click.

Plan: the value, calculation and item tools are on Pro.

Beta: these tools are still rolling out, so they may not be on your account yet.

Values

A value is a number on the sheet with an ID, such as STR (Strength) or AC (armour class, how hard the character is to hit). The ID is the short name formulas use to refer to it. It can be:

  • a number you type, or
  • a formula starting with =, which works it out from other values: =STR*5, or =5*PALADIN_LEVEL.

RollQuest works the formulas out as the sheet changes. Each class a character has gives a level value, such as WIZARD_LEVEL, and effects from items and encumbrance (the weight a character carries) can add to a value, or set it.

Calculations

A calculation is something to roll, such as an attack, a save or a damage roll. A save, or saving throw, is a roll to resist something, such as a trap or a spell. Once a calculation exists, anything on the sheet can roll it. Open Calculations from the toolbar (hover over the icons to find it) and click + New:

  • Name and ID: the ID is what formulas and cards use to refer to it, such as STR_MOD (the Strength modifier) or PROF (the proficiency bonus, added to anything the character is trained in).
  • Formula: the dice and values to roll.
  • Damage type, for a damage roll.
  • Description.
  • A follow-up calculation to roll next: the damage after the attack, say.

Test Roll tries it out.

Calculations that come from the game system are locked: you can't change or delete them.

Put them on a Canvas sheet

A Canvas sheet is a character sheet drawn on artwork, like a printed sheet, where players click to roll (see Design a Canvas sheet). Placing values and calculations on the artwork is what makes those clicks work. In a sheet's Canvas Edit mode:

  • Drop a value from system places one of the system's values on the artwork. Quick Mode places them one after another: click on the artwork where each one goes.
  • Add places something new:
    • Action: an area to click that rolls a calculation. Set its Name, Label, Calculation, Notes (Markdown) (Markdown formats text with simple marks, such as asterisks for bold), an Image, its Opacity, and whether it fires a trigger, such as a long rest, that other parts of the sheet respond to.
    • Value: a number field.
    • Toggle: a switch that turns an effect on or off.
    • Inventory / Container: somewhere to keep items.
    • Slots: spaces to fill, such as spell slots, the number of spells of each level a character can cast before resting.

Items and effects

These tools cover what a character carries and the bonuses that come and go during play.

  • Items lists everything a character can carry and use, from the game system and the game's homebrew. See Homebrew.
  • Effects change values while something is active: +1 to AC while a ring is worn, say.
  • Sheet Hierarchy shows how everything on the sheet fits together.

If the Game Master (GM) has turned on Freeze characters, players can't change calculations or effects. See Who can see and change a sheet.

Customise a sheet layout · Design a Canvas sheet · Game systems