Rifts Automated Character Sheet (RACS) - Questions & Answers

[Greg Diaczyk]

Hey folks,

The Rifts Automated Character sheet is now up on DriveThruRPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/36 ... et?src=sub

And the instructional Videos are starting to roll out on the Palladium Books Inc. YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWjzM ... tdqdAuQ5kQ

This thread is for anyone who has questions about the Rifts Automated Character Sheet, how to use it, what's part of it, troubleshooting issues, etc. Feel free to post away and I'll do my best to answer it.

If you have constructive criticism on the Rifts Automated Character sheet they will be taken note of, but an update is not likely for a bit. All Trolls and complainers will be remove from the thread.

[Warshield73]

So I had a chance to play around with this tonight and just a few points.

1: The print areas don't seem to be set up to allow printing of the character sheet. I did set the areas that I wanted but I would be interested in how you suggest people print these out especially to PDF.

2: Many parts of the sheet are protected, I understand why I do the same with mine, but I would like to unprotect it to make a few changes, mainly adding skills and psionics and phase powers. Maybe a quick video on how to add a few things like that complete with the pass code.

3: I don't know how you are planning to do the videos but I want to suggest you do several, short, specific videos so it can be easy to go back and find what you want.

Great work on this Greg, I probably won't use it for PCs if I have a player group anytime soon but I will use the heck out of this for important NPCs and convention characters.

[Greg Diaczyk]

Yes, there a bunch of videos going up in the next 24 our so I think? all about 6 mins, with the last one 14 minutes. Each goes through the ins and outs of the sheets. The last one is an "Advanced Options" and it talks about protecting/unprotecting sheets, moving things around etc. Note: The password is listed for each page on the Instructions Sheet.

I tried to set up print areas in earlier versions, but found that it ended up printing weird sizes and shapes and make a printed copy look really odd. I forgot about it in the later versions though. If you unprotect the sheet you can add your own print areas and print as you like.

[Greg Diaczyk]

Videos for: Psionics, Skills, Magic, Cybernetics & Bionics as well as Advanced Options are now live!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWjzM ... tdqdAuQ5kQ

[ShadowLogan]

I tried to set up print areas in earlier versions, but found that it ended up printing weird sizes and shapes and make a printed copy look really odd. I forgot about it in the later versions though. If you unprotect the sheet you can add your own print areas and print as you like.

Re: Printing

If I might offer a suggestion(s) w/o having seen the file:
-setup a custom sheet to handle your printing needs that pulls all relevant data from the other sheets
-create a Pivot Table to act as the printable sheet (if this was Access I'd say just create a Report, but Excel AFAIK doesn't do that)
-this requires doing some VBA coding to create an external file, I'm not up on Excel specific VBA, but core VBA has the necessary commands to create a text file and do some layout. I'm not sure if this would create something better or worse than what you had.

[Dakchronos]

Fantastic Content. The more I use RACS the more I Love it.

Could use a bit of a fix though, For PP and PE, the bonuses gained calculate past 30, Our game group likes to tie in HU2 with our Rifts so Stats get chunky.
The fix so far has been to adjust our bonuses accordingly.

[Ankhr]

I've used the sheet, and like it. I have noticed the strength calculations seem to be high. Are the using the HU formula, because it seems high to me.

[Greg Diaczyk]

Fantastic Content. The more I use RACS the more I Love it.

Could use a bit of a fix though, For PP and PE, the bonuses gained calculate past 30, Our game group likes to tie in HU2 with our Rifts so Stats get chunky.
The fix so far has been to adjust our bonuses accordingly.

You are correct, there is no camp in the formula. I was expecting GMs to have warn players about limits, thus players would not build character with a P.P. or P.E. above 30. But in the event that that is the case, just put a negative value in the custom section to offset the extra bonus. We will look into putting a cap on the next update.

[Greg Diaczyk]

I've used the sheet, and like it. I have noticed the strength calculations seem to be high. Are the using the HU formula, because it seems high to me.

Yes, you are correct, the lifting and carry capacity are from Heroes Unlimited. I've always found it more useful especially when a dragon tries to pick up and toss a giant robot, those values may have snuck in from my own game. My apologies, I'll be sure to add that to errata list for the next update.

The Strength calculations for damage are from Rifts Ultimate Edition, starting on page 285.

[Ankhr]

I've used the sheet, and like it. I have noticed the strength calculations seem to be high. Are the using the HU formula, because it seems high to me.

Yes, you are correct, the lifting and carry capacity are from Heroes Unlimited. I've always found it more useful especially when a dragon tries to pick up and toss a giant robot, those values may have snuck in from my own game. My apologies, I'll be sure to add that to errata list for the next update.

The Strength calculations for damage are from Rifts Ultimate Edition, starting on page 285.

Thanks for your answer. No problem at all. I love your sheet. I'm using it alot. very well done.

[Greg Diaczyk]

I've used the sheet, and like it. I have noticed the strength calculations seem to be high. Are the using the HU formula, because it seems high to me.

Yes, you are correct, the lifting and carry capacity are from Heroes Unlimited. I've always found it more useful especially when a dragon tries to pick up and toss a giant robot, those values may have snuck in from my own game. My apologies, I'll be sure to add that to errata list for the next update.

The Strength calculations for damage are from Rifts Ultimate Edition, starting on page 285.

Thanks for your answer. No problem at all. I love your sheet. I'm using it alot. very well done.

Thank you for the compliment and the feedback!

[Dakchronos]

Fantastic Content. The more I use RACS the more I Love it.

Could use a bit of a fix though, For PP and PE, the bonuses gained calculate past 30, Our game group likes to tie in HU2 with our Rifts so Stats get chunky.
The fix so far has been to adjust our bonuses accordingly.

You are correct, there is no camp in the formula. I was expecting GMs to have warn players about limits, thus players would not build character with a P.P. or P.E. above 30. But in the event that that is the case, just put a negative value in the custom section to offset the extra bonus. We will look into putting a cap on the next update.

Cool and thank you for the fast reply.

[Borast]

Hey folks,
This threat is for anyone who has questions about the Rifts Automated Character Sheet, how to use it, what's part of it, troubleshooting issues, etc. Feel free to post away and I'll do my best to answer it.

Depending on the nature of the threat, it could be a Criminal Offence.

I very much like the idea, hope my W7 laptop with Office 2007 can run it!



Before anyone says it... BAD! BAD you! NO to W10!!!!!

[Greg Diaczyk]

Hey folks,
This threat is for anyone who has questions about the Rifts Automated Character Sheet, how to use it, what's part of it, troubleshooting issues, etc. Feel free to post away and I'll do my best to answer it.

Depending on the nature of the threat, it could be a Criminal Offence.

I very much like the idea, hope my W7 laptop with Office 2007 can run it!



Before anyone says it... BAD! BAD you! NO to W10!!!!!

Lol...yes, I have turned the "threat" back into "thread"...to beat silly questions of course...lol...

[carriath]

First, thank you very much! I have worked on designing my own one of these for a while, and I was wondering how you like the features I've added in?

I appreciate that it is protected, and again, there are some things I wish were unprotected so I could turn them directly into drop down lists. But I can simply reference them to drop down lists.

Demo
https://youtu.be/Hmq-eMNOfEM
Shallow Code Dive
https://youtu.be/Hmq-eMNOfEM

Note: I am not making the code shareable, but I don't mind teaching people how to Excel VBA so they can GM easier

[hup7]

Hello,

I recently purchased the RACS, what is the password for the "data" sheet?
Edit: Yes, I do know how to hack a locked excel sheet but would rather the password was included, since there is a lot of stuff to add for particular Rifts campaigns.

Without it you cannot add anything to the sheet, and it is not the same password as the other sheets. Yes, some sheets have passwords in the instructions.

Edit: Tiny spelling mistake in data!e10 +5% of Gymnastics known, +2% if Hunting known
(Sorry, not being super picky just alerting you)

thanks

[Arrow21570]

First off thank you for creating this and making it available this is wonderful.
I went through the Magic and Advanced videos you posted on You Tube thank you also for those, they cleared up a few things right off the bat.
I'm hoping to customize the magic page with new types of magic. I'm wondering if it might be the subject of another video?
Similar to how you have created the separate magic tables with pre-populated spells for common, ocean, necromancy, and biomancy spells, I'd like to be able to build my own for other types. How do you create/populate the dropdowns with all of the spell data?

[Whiskeyjack]

I haven't gotten too far into the page yet. Main reason I bought the sheet was to get access to the spells. Any particular reason why ocean magic made it onto the page, but elemental magic was left off? Seems to me that elemental magic would be much more common in games than ocean. Are more going to be added?

[hup7]

@Arrow Just google "Data validation in excel" and "vlookup in excel" to learn how to do lookup tables.

@WhiskeyJack The author of the sheet is also the Author of Lemuria - so I guess they started with what they know best. I have all elemental spells in a spreadsheet but not sure I would be allowed to share that.

[Arrow21570]

@Arrow Just google "Data validation in excel" and "vlookup in excel" to learn how to do lookup tables.

Thank you

[Greg Diaczyk]

Thank you everyone for the great feedback and suggestions.

I am in the process of editing/updating the file and will release it as soon as it is done.

Would people be interesting in seeing a video on "How to Make A Character" as I go through making a character in the character sheet?

ShadowLogan
I will be adjusting the Print Area for each sheet so people who want to print stuff to pdf will have an easier time of it. I had played with a "Short Version" sheet that pulled all the data you entered into a shorter version of the character sheet, but scrapped it when time didn't allow it (wanted to release it so people could use and enjoy it, instead of tinkering with it until the end of time ). If sales are good I will revisit it.

Dakchronos
I will be adding caps to the various attributes that have caps like P.E. and P.P.

Ankhr
I will be resetting the strength values back to the Rifts ones (instead of Heroes Unlimited) and also be putting some of the unique values such as those for Crazies and Killcats.

carriath
Nice video! I left it opened but locked in certain areas to protect the sheets from damaging use, but for someone like yourself who likes to tinker and knows what they are doing I'll be unlocking it in the update with the standard password. From my design intent I knew with 600+ O.C.C. it would be extremely time consuming to enter all of them, so I focused on the commonality of most O.C.C.s (Skills, Psionics, Spells and Cybernetics/Bionics). Depending on how sales go we may go the route you propose and create an O.C.C/Race entry that makes it even easier to make NPCs, here's hoping.

hup7

Tiny spelling mistake in data!e10 +5% of Gymnastics known, +2% if Hunting known

will be fixing it.

Arrow21570 and hup7
I will be adding Elemental Magic to the update.
I will also be adding the standard password so people can customize the data on the Data tab.

Whiskeyjack
Ocean, Biomancy and Necromancy spells made it into the Character Sheet as I have written books with those spells in it and use them in many of my own campaigns. Elemental Magic was left off due to the Warlock not being a "core class" and it was specifically mentioned in the Elemental Fusionist that those spells were in another book. Now that people are requesting them I will be adding them to the revision I am working on and will release soon.

Any more questions? Keep them coming!

[Prysus]

Thank you everyone for the great feedback and suggestions.

I am in the process of editing/updating the file and will release it as soon as it is done.

Any more questions? Keep them coming!

Greetings and Salutations. I bought this a few weeks back just to check it out (I don't actually play Rifts, but the project itself interested me). How detailed do you want feedback? Do you want every typo and/or other mistake found?

On a suggestion: The dice roller that constantly rolls is a personal annoyance. I posted this on the Palladium Facebook page just a few days before the product was released (I thought there would be a longer delay), but I'll post it here: I'd, personally, recommend something like a Checkbox or a Radial, where you click that option to activate the dice roller. This could be something as simple as a line overhead saying: "Dice Roller" with "On" and "Off" over the Radial options. Link that to a cell (e.g. AA3). Then replace the formula for the dice roller with more of an IF statement. Something like: =(IF(AA3="TRUE", "", [enter in current formula])

I haven't done much with Excel for a year or two, so I may have messed up that formula (I didn't double check it). I could easily clean it up if needed, but I think should provide the concept. This would effectively allow the Dice Roller to be shut off. Note: This was essential for a project I did for a friend with D&D, as what he wanted lead to around 360 RAND formulas all going, and every time you typed it would just lag the entire sheet. So that led to a checkbox where he could turn on only the ones he wanted and then disable them again. Probably not as necessary for yours, but is more of a visual thing.

Would people be interesting in seeing a video on "How to Make A Character" as I go through making a character in the character sheet?

I'd personally say this is a good idea. Keep in mind, I noted before this is of little benefit to me as an individual (I don't play Rifts). But I know I learn better by watching an example, so I figure some others would feel the same way. While small videos are great for people with little time or to focus on one particular topic, but I think there's a genuine benefit to seeing it all come together. Take that opinion for what you will.

I can do a deeper dive into the little things if you'd like, but I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're looking for or not. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Kagashi]

Please add in lesser known languages, like Wolven, Gromek, and others from the RCB. Likewise, the Phaseworld Trade Languages.

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. So I looked it over a bit more, and found a few things I'll point out. Note: I did not go over every formula or anything remotely close (as that could take a very long time), but I played around with it a bit just to see what jumped out at me.

1: Typo on "Instructions" tab, User Instructions, "Main" Sheet: In some cases (such as the skills), the list is quit large ...

2: On the "Main" tab, took me a moment to figure out why the bonuses from Boxing weren't showing up in the Combat Skill (Melee) section. After a bit, I realized that it was adding the bonuses to the Hand to Hand skill instead of showing them for the individual skill. I get why, and I'm okay with that, but took me a while to figure out that this only displayed for situational modifiers instead of all modifiers. Note: I didn't watch many tutorial videos, so if this is brought up in those, then that's on me. If not, then something you may want to mention at some point.

3: If I'm understanding the way this works correctly, the skills add the "per level" bonus starting at level 1. This is not the official rules, as the "per level" bonus for skills do not start until level 2 (so in my formula, I just used "LVL-1", or equivalent since it's not drawing the level from the character level). Which is fine as long as you're aware and this is a conscious choice. Note: RUE, page 279, Skill Check/Roll Under Your Skill (read the example). I believe the rule is located other places as well, but that's at least one source that I could list with relative ease.

4: On the "Skills" tab, "Lore: Demons & Monsters" with the synergy bonus from "Mythology" doesn't seem to add the +5 that's listed on the "Data" tab. I'm not sure if the formula is wrong, or if the Data tab is wrong for listing it. Maybe I did something, but feel free to check it out.

That's what I've found at this point (and I probably won't find much else because, again, I don't actually play Rifts and I did this more as a general interest than a specific interest). I didn't even look at the Cybernetics & Bionics page, because I just know so little about them I'd have difficulty even trying to figure out much with them. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know. Farewell and safe journeys.

P.S. A poster on the All Things Palladium Books section of the forums was asking about version compatibility with your sheet (Excel 2007). The topic can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=176753

[Kagashi]

yeah there seems to be a bit of house rules that snuck into this product rather than it being an actual RUE product. Like an IQ of 15 offers +1% skill bonus...even though thats not in the rules.

[Janos2001]

I might be making some serious mistakes, but The magic Section does not seem to have drop down menus available (or at least, not on the one I got). Instead you have to type in the spell name itself, at which time it does fill in the rest to a certain point. If the description is to long it will end up not being able to get more than the first line of the Spell Effects listed, and if you enter the name again, it just gives you the exact same thing.

Also, the part about the protect and unprotect... those options do not show up when I right click either. All in all, it has so much promise, but it definitely is not working as advertised (or as the instructions tab says it should).

I have completely removed the program and re-downloaded it, with the exact same results. I have looked to see if maybe there is an update and can not locate one either. I have not tried some of the other things, so I can't state anything in regards to them (though I can say that the things I did try besides Magic were working, except the part about Unprotect and Protect).

Thank you for your time and any assistance.

[Greg Diaczyk]

I might be making some serious mistakes, but The magic Section does not seem to have drop down menus available (or at least, not on the one I got). Instead you have to type in the spell name itself, at which time it does fill in the rest to a certain point. If the description is to long it will end up not being able to get more than the first line of the Spell Effects listed, and if you enter the name again, it just gives you the exact same thing.

Also, the part about the protect and unprotect... those options do not show up when I right click either. All in all, it has so much promise, but it definitely is not working as advertised (or as the instructions tab says it should).

I have completely removed the program and re-downloaded it, with the exact same results. I have looked to see if maybe there is an update and can not locate one either. I have not tried some of the other things, so I can't state anything in regards to them (though I can say that the things I did try besides Magic were working, except the part about Unprotect and Protect).

Thank you for your time and any assistance.

Hey Janos2001,

You should really look at the tutorials on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWjzM ... tdqdAuQ5kQ

But specifically this one at time interval: 6:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vksA9Pf9bk

As observed you can type in the spell name, but if you click on the cell, a dropdown menu box and down arrow will appear to the right of the cell. click on the arrow and the dropdown menu will appear. You can then scroll through the available spells.

As for the text being lost, it is there you just need to move the column and row tabs to adjust (see the video). You can move the rows down when the sheet is protected by grabbing the row tab and dragging it down, the cell already has wrap text so it should be there. The sheet will need to be unprotected to modify the columns.

Unprotect/Protect: Are you using Excel or something else to open the file? If you are using Excel see the video, if not you may have to check the help section of your non-Excel software to see how to unprotect the sheet.

Hope that helps!
If not let me know.

[Janos2001]

Hey Janos2001,

You should really look at the tutorials on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWjzM ... tdqdAuQ5kQ

But specifically this one at time interval: 6:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vksA9Pf9bk

As observed you can type in the spell name, but if you click on the cell, a dropdown menu box and down arrow will appear to the right of the cell. click on the arrow and the dropdown menu will appear. You can then scroll through the available spells.

As for the text being lost, it is there you just need to move the column and row tabs to adjust (see the video). You can move the rows down when the sheet is protected by grabbing the row tab and dragging it down, the cell already has wrap text so it should be there. The sheet will need to be unprotected to modify the columns.

Unprotect/Protect: Are you using Excel or something else to open the file? If you are using Excel see the video, if not you may have to check the help section of your non-Excel software to see how to unprotect the sheet.

Hope that helps!
If not let me know.[/quote]


Sir,

I had watched those videos (loved them by the way, they are the reason I bought the program.. that and I look forward to any updates you do). However, I Just double checked what program it was opening with and My Bad on that. I was on my Main Computer (I have several Desktops for different things) and for whatever reason I had removed Excel on this one (Win 7, other has Win 10) and it Turns out that the Computer was opening it via OpenOffice Calc and I didn't even realize it (been quite a few years since I have Used Excel for any reason). So, I apologize to you for the prior Post. I am downloading another copy of Excel 2013 to try it on. If that doesn't work I will try Excel 2019 (I just wasn't sure if 2019 would work on Win 7), and If THAT doesn't work, then I will hook up the other Comp and check there.

Again, I apologize for my prior post and I am eager to see if I can get it to work!

Very Respectfully,

Janos

[Greg Diaczyk]

Prysus, thanks for the feedback.

1: Typo on "Instructions" tab, User Instructions, "Main" Sheet: In some cases (such as the skills), the list is quit large ...

Fixed

2: On the "Main" tab, took me a moment to figure out why the bonuses from Boxing weren't showing up in the Combat Skill (Melee) section. After a bit, I realized that it was adding the bonuses to the Hand to Hand skill instead of showing them for the individual skill. I get why, and I'm okay with that, but took me a while to figure out that this only displayed for situational modifiers instead of all modifiers. Note: I didn't watch many tutorial videos, so if this is brought up in those, then that's on me. If not, then something you may want to mention at some point.

Yes that is intentional, people pick the hand to hand combat style (even if its none) to get all their bonuses added up. W.P.'s, Psionics, Robot Combat and few of the skills come in as additional bonuses when needed.

3: If I'm understanding the way this works correctly, the skills add the "per level" bonus starting at level 1. This is not the official rules, as the "per level" bonus for skills do not start until level 2 (so in my formula, I just used "LVL-1", or equivalent since it's not drawing the level from the character level). Which is fine as long as you're aware and this is a conscious choice. Note: RUE, page 279, Skill Check/Roll Under Your Skill (read the example). I believe the rule is located other places as well, but that's at least one source that I could list with relative ease.

Since I started playing back in the 80s I've always read it as written "per level of experience" with level 1 counting as a level. So I strongly disagree with the "Starting at level 2" example and chock it up as a typo/mistake...If people are hell bent on the other way I can change it, but that's a lot of code to go through...lol

4: On the "Skills" tab, "Lore: Demons & Monsters" with the synergy bonus from "Mythology" doesn't seem to add the +5 that's listed on the "Data" tab. I'm not sure if the formula is wrong, or if the Data tab is wrong for listing it. Maybe I did something, but feel free to check it out.

Somehow I missed that in the formula, I've now corrected it in the 003 update.

P.S. A poster on the All Things Palladium Books section of the forums was asking about version compatibility with your sheet (Excel 2007). The topic can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=176753

I ran it on Excel 2003 with out any problems, so it should be fine.

I'll be looking into the checkbox for the dice roller now.

[Greg Diaczyk]

Hey Janos2001,

You should really look at the tutorials on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWjzM ... tdqdAuQ5kQ

But specifically this one at time interval: 6:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vksA9Pf9bk

As observed you can type in the spell name, but if you click on the cell, a dropdown menu box and down arrow will appear to the right of the cell. click on the arrow and the dropdown menu will appear. You can then scroll through the available spells.

As for the text being lost, it is there you just need to move the column and row tabs to adjust (see the video). You can move the rows down when the sheet is protected by grabbing the row tab and dragging it down, the cell already has wrap text so it should be there. The sheet will need to be unprotected to modify the columns.

Unprotect/Protect: Are you using Excel or something else to open the file? If you are using Excel see the video, if not you may have to check the help section of your non-Excel software to see how to unprotect the sheet.

Hope that helps!
If not let me know.


Sir,

I had watched those videos (loved them by the way, they are the reason I bought the program.. that and I look forward to any updates you do). However, I Just double checked what program it was opening with and My Bad on that. I was on my Main Computer (I have several Desktops for different things) and for whatever reason I had removed Excel on this one (Win 7, other has Win 10) and it Turns out that the Computer was opening it via OpenOffice Calc and I didn't even realize it (been quite a few years since I have Used Excel for any reason). So, I apologize to you for the prior Post. I am downloading another copy of Excel 2013 to try it on. If that doesn't work I will try Excel 2019 (I just wasn't sure if 2019 would work on Win 7), and If THAT doesn't work, then I will hook up the other Comp and check there.

Again, I apologize for my prior post and I am eager to see if I can get it to work!

Very Respectfully,

Janos

No problem!
Good luck!

[Greg Diaczyk]

The 003 Update has been released, here are the things that have have been changed/added:

1. A checkmark box that allows you to turn the Dice Roller On/Off, some people were irritated with it always on.
2. Added the standard password (see the Instruction Sheet) to the Data sheet so people can create custom skills and do their own customizations.
3. Add CCW Languages.
4. Added Elemental Magic (Air, Earth, Fire and Water) to the spell list/dropdown menus for Elemental Fusionists and Warlocks.
5. Print Areas have been set to the character sheet, in case people want to print off pdf or hard copies of their character sheets.
6. Added attribute bonuses and caps on attributes over 30.
7. Correct Lift/Carry capacity amounts.
8. Some random typos that were noticed have been fixed.

You can watch a more detailed video of the updates and chances here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk2cP1ZFeYc

[Kagashi]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

[Greg Diaczyk]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

No, its a free update for those who have already purchased it once.

Did you get in on DriveThru or here on the Palladium Store?

[Greg Diaczyk]

Some people were having trouble with using the Dropdown Menus on the Spells and Cybernetics Sheets in older version of Excel, I found the backward compatible bug and have fixed it. The new 004 Release will have the fix in it and it will be uploaded soon.

[Kagashi]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

No, its a free update for those who have already purchased it once.

Did you get in on DriveThru or here on the Palladium Store?

Palladium Store

[Greg Diaczyk]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

No, its a free update for those who have already purchased it once.

Did you get in on DriveThru or here on the Palladium Store?

Palladium Store

You should be able to download the most updated version from the link you used to download it in the first place. If you do not have access to that link anymore or lost it you'll need to contact Wayne at Palladium Books.

[Kagashi]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

No, its a free update for those who have already purchased it once.

Did you get in on DriveThru or here on the Palladium Store?

Palladium Store

You should be able to download the most updated version from the link you used to download it in the first place. If you do not have access to that link anymore or lost it you'll need to contact Wayne at Palladium Books.

It keeps downloading 001 over and over.

[Greg Diaczyk]

Do I have to purchase this again to get the 003 release?

No, its a free update for those who have already purchased it once.

Did you get in on DriveThru or here on the Palladium Store?

Palladium Store

You should be able to download the most updated version from the link you used to download it in the first place. If you do not have access to that link anymore or lost it you'll need to contact Wayne at Palladium Books.

It keeps downloading 001 over and over.

You need to reach out to Wayne at Palladium Books to get a new link.

[swest]

Greetings,

I'm working through my first trial of RACS and I'm wondering something: Shouldn't there be a box on the Main page for an Initiative Bonus?

(b.t.w., I'm also new to Rifts... so, there's that.)

Thanks!

- s.west

[Greg Diaczyk]

Greetings,

I'm working through my first trial of RACS and I'm wondering something: Shouldn't there be a box on the Main page for an Initiative Bonus?

(b.t.w., I'm also new to Rifts... so, there's that.)

Thanks!

- s.west

Yes there is. When you pick a hand to hand combat style under COMBAT SKILLS (MELEE) on the Main Sheet with the drop down menu (pick Hand to Hand: None if you didn't pick a style) the initiative bonus is the first box ("Init" is written in the vertical direction, the red triangle also gives info if you hover over it). If you received a Non-Skills/Hand to Hand bonus from something like your Race or O.C.C. ability you can enter it in the Working Area to the right of the COMBAT SKILLS (MELEE) section, just be sure to enter in the same row/line as your Hand to Hand skill you pick previously.

Does that clarify things?

[swest]

Thanks for the response.

Yes, I saw that, and I saw the effect of adjusting the corresponding box in the Working Area.

However, and as an example of my first point of confusion, what do I do with the Juggling bonus of "+1 on initiative roll"? Where do I put that? It is unrelated to any particular Combat Skill. Do I end up adding +1 to every entry under Init.? Again, I just picked 'Juggling' as an example... there are other Skills with similarly-worded Initiative Bonuses.

Secondly, the consequence of having an Initiative Bonus directly correlated with a Combat Skill means that if I was to change weapons (i.e Combat Skill) in the middle of a Round then my Initiative might change.

Finally, on the 'Official' Rifts character sheet, there is a line item at the top for "Initiative". As I write this, I realize that I had made the assumption that this was a place to put your Initiative "bonus"... but maybe not. What is it for?

Thanks!

- s.west

[Greg Diaczyk]

Ha!

That my friend would be a bug...seems like I forgot to add the initiative bonus for Juggling...

But if you try other skills like Deadball it will show up.
Also some skills like Quick Draw and Sharpshooting are sub-skill dependent, i.e. you need to be holding a handgun to be able to gain the initiative bonus from sharpshooting, so you'd mentally add that bonus in the skill dropdown to the hand to hand combat initiative value.

I'll add the Juggling skill to the list of bugs to fix for the next update.

Did you catch anything else?

[Borast]

Regarding Juggleing Init bonus...

Admittedly, it's been a while, but I thought you had to *be* juggling to obtain the bonus.
I always thought the presumption was because you have a brace of knives in the air, the bonus was to attack with one of the knives.

[swest]

but I thought you had to *be* juggling to obtain the bonus.

I just assumed that mastering the skill of Juggling conferred upon one additional quickness of mind and body... in other things.

But, again, I'm new to Rifts.

- s.west

[swest]

Did you catch anything else?

Well, this isn't a 'catch', but I am struggling to figure out where to put something.

Specifically, I'm creating a Cyber-Knight, and I can't figure out where I would account for the character's Cyber-Armor (Living Armor). As far as I can tell, only S.D.C. Armor has an Armor Rating (A.R.), but the Cyber-Armor, which is M.D.C. Armor, specifies an A.R. The Armor section on the Equipment page doesn't appear to be set up to handle Cyber-Armor, but the Cybernetics & Bionics page also doesn't seem like the right place.

Am I misinterpreting something here?

Thanks for your continued engagement.

- s.west

[Greg Diaczyk]

Did you catch anything else?

Well, this isn't a 'catch', but I am struggling to figure out where to put something.

Specifically, I'm creating a Cyber-Knight, and I can't figure out where I would account for the character's Cyber-Armor (Living Armor). As far as I can tell, only S.D.C. Armor has an Armor Rating (A.R.), but the Cyber-Armor, which is M.D.C. Armor, specifies an A.R. The Armor section on the Equipment page doesn't appear to be set up to handle Cyber-Armor, but the Cybernetics & Bionics page also doesn't seem like the right place.

Am I misinterpreting something here?

Thanks for your continued engagement.

- s.west

The Cyber-Knight Cyber-Armor is a tricky feature, if you were playing the Original Book version it would be on the Cybernetics & Bionics page, but with the revisions made in the Cyber-Knight Book in the Siege on Tolkeen series they made it "living" and have it grow additional M.D.C. as the Cyber-Knight levels up. I would put it on the O.C.C. Abilities Sheet and customize the M.D.C. field with the level advancements or if that is too complicated just add the M.D.C. when your character gets to that level. Same goes for many of the other Cyber-Knight abilities which are close to normal powers (Psi-Sword) but are different enough to require a custom write up.

[swest]

Ok, did that.

Regarding incrementing the Living Armor's M.D.C., by level, the only tricky part was dealing with the "Chest Plate (main body)" M.D.C., which adds 1D6/level starting at level 4. So what I did was to generate all 12 of the 1D6 dice rolls, put them into a running sum, and index into that running sum by level.

Although that worked pretty well, it necessitated creating a work area on the O.C.C. & Natural Abilities page, which will interfere with a clean printing of that page for a printed copy of the final character sheet.

But... even as I typed that last paragraph, I realized that I probably could have put that work area on the Data page. What do you think?

- s.west

[Greg Diaczyk]

Ok, did that.

Regarding incrementing the Living Armor's M.D.C., by level, the only tricky part was dealing with the "Chest Plate (main body)" M.D.C., which adds 1D6/level starting at level 4. So what I did was to generate all 12 of the 1D6 dice rolls, put them into a running sum, and index into that running sum by level.

Although that worked pretty well, it necessitated creating a work area on the O.C.C. & Natural Abilities page, which will interfere with a clean printing of that page for a printed copy of the final character sheet.

But... even as I typed that last paragraph, I realized that I probably could have put that work area on the Data page. What do you think?

- s.west

I probably would have done an incremental bonus of +1 (after level 3) to all M.D.C. locations, but for the chest you'd have to roll the 1D6 each level to see how much more M.D.C. you get to the main body.

[swest]

Ok, did that.

Regarding incrementing the Living Armor's M.D.C., by level, the only tricky part was dealing with the "Chest Plate (main body)" M.D.C., which adds 1D6/level starting at level 4. So what I did was to generate all 12 of the 1D6 dice rolls, put them into a running sum, and index into that running sum by level.

Although that worked pretty well, it necessitated creating a work area on the O.C.C. & Natural Abilities page, which will interfere with a clean printing of that page for a printed copy of the final character sheet.

But... even as I typed that last paragraph, I realized that I probably could have put that work area on the Data page. What do you think?

- s.west

I probably would have done an incremental bonus of +1 (after level 3) to all M.D.C. locations, but for the chest you'd have to roll the 1D6 each level to see how much more M.D.C. you get to the main body.

No, I understood that. What I did was to pre-roll all of the possible (future) 1D6s, put them in a column (adding them to the original 50 after level 3), and then select the entry corresponding to the partial sum for the current Level.

My question was whether I should move that table of pre-rolled entries to the Data page.

Thanks for your response,

- s.west

[swest]

I went ahead and placed it on the Data page at the bottom of the first few columns (down by row 568, columns B-D). It's working fine.

A further question (I'm not much of an Excel user): Would I be better off using Named Cells for this purpose? In case you change the format of the data in that area of the sheet? Can I even do that?

Thanks, again!

- s.west