So, I've started playing Ars Magica again after a break, and I've wanted to learn to use spreadsheets properly, so I thought it would be a good learning experience to build a character generator in a spreadsheet. It's been fun, and it's gotten to the point where I quite like what I have, and I was wondering a) if anyone here would be interested in having a look at it, and b) if Atlas Games has a problem with me posting it online.
At the moment, all it includes is the main rulebook, and there are no descriptions of the Virtues, Flaws, Abilities and so forth - just the names to choose from, and calculations based on that. So I don't think there's a copyright issue or anything like that, but I don't want to step on toes or anything like that. Please let me know if there are any issues.
Also worth mentioning is that I make no promises of accuracy - I am learning as I go, and while I'm trying to catch any problems, I may have failed...
Tried building Conscientia of Bonisagus (from MoH). Used Excel 97 (because that's the only version I have, old, but still works).
Seems to be missing Difficult Spontaneous Magic, and Affinity with Magic Theory. Otherwise, I "think" it was ok, but that's more excel than I like to use, so didn't try anything more.
Thanks for the feedback It was tricky, but surprisingly fun!
Also, damn. Looks like I missed adding Difficult Spontaneous Magic, and Magic Theory from the list of available abilities for Virtues. I will add those to the bug list, should be easy to fix.
The sheet's updated to version 1.15: I've made a few bug fixes, and I strongly recommend getting the new version if anyone's using these - the printable sheet wasn't displaying all skills!
I've also added a Companion sheet - it's the same sheet without the Magus-only parts.
You can have MS Excel print only those Abilities the character has if you want. You don't need to print all skills (even if just as 0's). I find this particularly useful with Spell Mastery since some characters (Flawless Magic) will likely have over 20 versions of this Ability, while others will have few.
Edit: Speaking of Spell Mastery, I see you didn't list it among the Abilities, only with the spells. It does not seem that the points have been integrated properly with those of the rest of the Abilities.
Now, as I test it, the character sheet doesn't print any abilities that are at 0 xp. However, I don't have Excel to test it in, I'm using LibreOffice - is it coming up with all the abilities for you? That would be problematic, as I don't think all the skills will display! The OpenDocument version only shows those abilities which have more than 0 xp in them.
Spell Mastery is something I haven's addressed at all yet; I confess it had pretty much slipped my mind that it's relevant at character generation. My next project for is going to be to make the Grimoire sheet more useful, and I'll include Spell Mastery skills in that update.
I will see what I can do about that. Excel viewer doesn't give that error, though, so I won't be able to find it until I get hold of a machine with Excel.
Are you using the most recent version of the spreadsheet?
What should happen (and does when I test it) is that it calculates your Magus' Later Life xp by subtracting 20 years from your age. So first 5 years = Childhood (5 years), then any Later Life (age - 20 years), then Apprenticeship (15 years). What it doesn't do yet is offer a way to add years after Apprenticeship - I will try to add that in in a later update, it's what the Magus column is for in theory. But that's complicated, as you can spend those points on spells as well as Abilities and Arts, and you can also spend that time on lab activities... I am trying to work out how I want to deal with that.
The amount spent on Arts... should be there but I see it is not. Damn. I will fix that in the next update!
Well, I can confirm it works on the PC version of Excel 2007 for what that's worth. Sorry it's not working for you!
If you are interested in going to the effort... LibreOffice is free to use, and since it's what I use to make the sheets, that should work (though I'm using a PC, and have no Mac to test on, so no promises).
The childhood abilities doesn't show/work right for me (excel97). It has Carouse instead of Charm, and is missing Stealth, Survival and Swim. I also don't seem to be able to add any additional xp from the childhood allotment onto native language, but i'm not actually sure if that's a bug, or raw (I doubt it's something that would often arise).
