Elimite's Leveling Spreadsheet

[Elimite]

WARNING: My spreadsheet requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010 because macros must be enabled for a number of the functions of the sheet.

I don't know how to post downloads directly on this site so here's the link to the download.

Hey all. Let me start off by saying thanks for this website. I've been lurking around for years. So much great stuff on here for us fans.

My buddies and I love to play Heroscape. And while traditional games are fun, we love to make our own dungeon adventures with characters that can level. We did probably about a dozen different leveling methods (and maybe I'll post those sometime) before we fell in love with my current one.

The current leveling method we use is an excel based spreadsheet fashioned after the leveling system in Final Fantasy 12, the License Board. So here's a brief explanation of how it works.

Basics



The License Board is broken into 4 quadrants: Magics, Equipment, Augments, and Techniques. To be able to equip armor or weapons you must learn the appropriate license. Similarly, to learn a magic or technique you must learn its license. The augment section increase base stats.



Equipment requires that you purchase the license AND buy the item (or take it from a dead orc archer, haha). However, Magics and Techniques only require that you purchase the license.

How to Buy Licenses

Licenses are purchasable via License Points (LP). LP can be earned via killing enemies or rewarded by the Dungeon Master (DM). The board is marked with LP costs already. (I award 1 LP for every 10 points the card is worth). Once you have enough points you may purchase a square adjacent to a square you already own (which includes the center square where you'll be starting). To purchase a square in my spread sheet simply turn the square you wish to purchase the darker green in the Standard Colors section.

Then press the "Update" button.

Augments purchased will then increase your stats section and Magics/Techniques will be viewable in the Skills drop down list. And new licenses adjacent to the one you just purchased will now be visible.

Some licenses have multiple levels. For instance, there is Ice 2, Ice 4, and Ice 6. You may purchase them in any order you wish. However Ice 4 will be unusable until you purchase Ice 2. And Ice 6 is unusable until you purchase Ice 2 and Ice 4. This is in place to keep people from skipping to the strongest abilities early in the game.


If the LP system is too hard for your heroes (I sometimes play with 7 yr olds) then I award 1 LP per kill (not per card) and ALL licenses cost 5 LP. The numbers are smaller and easier to crunch for little ones.

Equipment

To equip an armor, weapon, or accessory you must have the appropriate license. Once you do and you own the item you may equip it in the corresponding area to the right. Look at the "Weapon" drop down box. There are 6 swords listed, 6 staves, and 6 bows. They each require a different license. For instance, Broad Sword requires Swords 1 to be learned, the Long Sword requires Swords 2 to be learn, the Bronze Sword requires Swords 3, and so on.


Once an item is equipped any stats that are affected are automatically adjusted.

Magics

To use a spell it costs Magic, a new stat that I added for my RPGs. Spells cost any where from 1-10 Magic. Once a player has used all his/her Magic it can be regenerated a few different ways. Magic is automatically fully regenerated outside of combat. There are also techniques, spells, and items that can regenerate Magic.

Frenzy

Each hero may roll for an extra turn 1x each round. The Frenzy number starts out at 21 making it impossible to get a 2nd turn. However, through augments, spells, techniques, and equipment this number can be reduced to 2 (giving a 95% chance of a 2nd turn).

Leader Bonus

For continuity and speed of the game I have my heroes select a leader at the beginning of the game. This person is makes the final decisions of the group and helps keep people in line (sometimes I have 10 year olds playing that want to try diplomatic solutions to every fight *sigh*). This person is given a bonus for their troubles (1 Attack and 1 Life). To give this bonus to someone simply turn that cell green (located top center).

Summons and Masteries

Summons are hidden around the outside of the License Board. They are discoverable when a player purchases a license next to them (they automatically show up). They may then purchase it once they have enough LP. I choose not to tell my heroes they even exist until 1 is discovered. There are a total of 8.

If a player manages to learn EVERY license in a section (minus the summons) he/she will be given a free Mastery. These are great bonuses and abilities that show which players really have determination. Upon purchasing all licenses in a section the Mastery will show up but must then be manually turned green to give its effect. I do tell my heroes Masteries exist and that they're worth it but I don't tell them what they are. There are a total of 4 (duh).

Technical Stuff

If you want to see a master copy of the license board, add/remove/change any of the abilities, or see what I deem as the "Ultimate" characters. You can unhide the hidden sheets by right clicking one of tabs and selecting "Unhide".

Need to add another player? Right click on the "Template" tab and select "Move/Copy". Check the "Copy" box and click "OK". Then right click the new tab and "Rename" it the name of the player.

When we play we have a laptop for the DM, and 1 for every 2 players (we normally do 4 players, so a total of 3 laptops). This keeps us from having to waste time passing the laptop.

Questions?

I know I just quickly went over the spreadsheet. I might of left our parts or went into too much depth. I strongly suggest opening the spreadsheet up and fiddling with it. As long as you don't delete the Template, Master, Skills, or Equipment sheets you can't hurt anything.

If after that you still have questions post them here and I'll be glad to help.

[Elimite]

OH and feel free to edit the file and make it your own leveling spreadsheet. But please don't post your edited version back up. I've put over 100 hours developing this spreadsheet/leveling concept. I'd appreciate keeping as mine.

[Elimite]

Updated OP to include pictures of the spreadsheet.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

Wow, you've put a lot of work into this guy! I haven't tried it, but I've been thinking about how to level during a dungeon crawl and this may be what I'm looking for. Nice work

[Elimite]

Download link updated. A couple bugs fixed.

[fallow]

This looks very nice!

I love FFXII and the license system so this makes perfect sense to me.

I'll give it a try soon... hopefully... if I ever get my house finished and make my big HS map

Thanks for the hard work!

[elitebeatk]

No gunblades.......

[Elimite]

sorry, the stories I DM the lore doesn't go with guns
It's easy enough to add gunblades into gear and change the License Points from Bows 1,2,etc to Ranged 1,2,3.
That's what's so cool about this leveling system, it's very customizable if you know a little Excel.

[elitebeatk]

I need to use the wink smiley more often. People never seem to know when I'm joking........
Cool though!

[Xorlof]

The link in the original thread has been broken for a while. I dug up the copy I had of this nifty looking system and added to the Heroscapers downloads system. Here it is.

I haven't tried it out (I don't have a regular play group to do it with), but Elimite has clearly done a lot of work on it, and apparently has playtested it (playing it regularly), so it could be a winner.

If anybody does try this out, I'd really be interested to hear back how it plays.