Help filling out Character Sheet?

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skmt999
Shelled Plebeian
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 16, 2015 8:44 pm

Help filling out Character Sheet?

Post by skmt999 »

Ok, so I've had the book for a while, and have been reading it over in preparation for a long distance game with my old group (I moved), and I've used the section on Character Creation to write up some good NPC's and whatnot.

My problem lies in that when I go to actually fill out the character sheet - the sheet and the section on creating a character do not match. I found SOME information on the spots I'm to fill in on the sheet like TV and DX by using the index, but the Combat Stats section of the sheet is full of stuff that the character generating section of the book/pdf doesn't obviously cover.

I'm speaking of the Combat Stats boxes for ROLL / DX / END specifically.
When I look at the sample characters, the ROLL section doesn't seem to match any number on the character's description, so - how is this figured? Is ROLL the number of dice added when they use that specific attack, or what? I'm confused.
DX I found by flipping to the index and going to another page, but END? This is an endurance modifier maybe? Sample characters have a smallish number here, but then the standard Endurance stat is still 40, so... does it stand for something else then? That I could not find in the index.

I never played the pre-Kickstarter version, so maybe I'm missing something. I feel a little stupid after having made several text based characters following the chapter guidelines and then not being able to figure out how to translate it directly into the Sheet. But if I can't figure it out, how am I supposed to tell my players? :(

I've got some backup on the Roll20 website for doing a long distance game, and someone gamely tried their hand at making a Character Sheet for the site, even having never played OVA or having any idea what I was asking for really. Testing their sheet was when it really drove home that I didn't know what some of the values were for.

If I can get the sheet issues worked out, then all I'll need is a dice rolling script and we're golden.

Sorry for being so dense. I'm probably overlooking something simple, but some people learn best if you explain the same things in a different way. Maybe that's me tonight.

I guess I'm asking for a step by step on how to take a character concept with all the abilities and weaknesses figured out and stick it into the sheet?
Malancthon
Exalted Amphibian
Posts: 279
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 4:55 pm

Re: Help filling out Character Sheet?

Post by Malancthon »

The combat box is a quick reference for what the attacks do.

Roll is the amount of dice you roll. All characters start with 2d6, this is increased by Abilities such as Agile and Combat Expert. You can also increase it with the Accurate attack perk or lower it with the Inaccurate flaw. When you roll the dice, you either keep the highest one rolled, or the total of the highest duplicates roll (so, say you roll 5 dice, you get a 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, you ignore the 1 and the 5 and add the 3s together for a 9).

DX is the damage modifier and is equal to 1 plus your Attack and Strong (for physical attacks) levels and can be increased by the Effective perk or decreased by the Ineffective flaw. If you succeed in beating the defenders Defense roll, then you multiply the amount you beat by the attack's damage modifier. So, say the defender roller their dice and got 1, 3, 4, 6. Compared to your 9, you beat the defense by 3. If you're DX is 5, then you do 15 (3x5) damage to your opponent.

END is the Endurance cost of the attack. A basic attack has no Endurance cost. By selecting Perks like Accurate or Effective makes you have to burn Endurance to fuel the attack. By selecting Flaws, you counter the Endurance cost with a disadvantage. So say you do a basic stab with no modifiers, it burns no endurance. But if you wanted to make it more effective, you can charge the attack by burning your Endurance to increase the Effective and allow the attack to do more damage. All characters start with 40 Endurance, which can be increased by Vigorous or decreased with Languid.

One thing to note is that a character who has lost all their Health can still function by using their Endurance points as a 'back up' Health, and they're not out of combat until both Health and Endurance is exhausted. Similarly, a character who uses up all their Endurance with Attacks or Magic or such can use their Health points as a 'back up' to pay Endurance costs.
skmt999
Shelled Plebeian
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 16, 2015 8:44 pm

Re: Help filling out Character Sheet?

Post by skmt999 »

This is why I was afraid to ask an 'obvious' question. I think I phrased my question badly.

I was confused by the ROLL and END boxes, because those specific computations weren't well explained while making the characters. When I look at say, the character example for Natsuki, page 34 - I see in the Attacks and Combat Stats box for 'Gauntlet Bull' a ROLL of 3. Her listed Ability for Attack is +2 and I didn't see anything listed that screamed ADD ME to the number to reach the 3 for her actual attack. Most of the character description pages are like this. Some, like Raine, I could get. Attack +3 and Combat Expert +4 = the 7 ROLL in the boxes for his listed attacks.

I guess what I'm missing was just the numbers in the fine tuning for each attack that modify the final roll. It didn't jump out at me logically. I've been tired lately, I blame long hours at work before coming home to try and create a campaign with materials I'm unfamiliar with.

Same for the Endurance modifier. I didn't realize it was essentially the attack's "cost", and would be obvious to each individual attack as I create them from the list. Most of the character examples have an END number and when not looking at the pages for perks and whatnot for each attack it just seemed a little arbitrary.

I've got several pages of potential character ideas drawn up, and 90% complete. I didn't go so far as to make the named attacks and I think that's why I never got as far as needing the costs and final rolls. For a couple of the NPC's I'd tossed together, they really don't need all that, so I just shrugged and stopped when it looked good enough.

Anyway, thank you for putting a different perspective on it for me. Sometimes I think my head is filled with cabbage for all the good it does me.
Malancthon
Exalted Amphibian
Posts: 279
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 4:55 pm

Re: Help filling out Character Sheet?

Post by Malancthon »

'Attack' can be a little confusing since it doesn't actually contribute to the attacking roll, just the level of Damage Multiplier.

Let's look at Natsuki's Gauntlet Bull attack for you.

All character's start with a base ROLL of 2 six-sided dice. Agile and Combat Mastery adds dice equal to their levels for ROLL. Natsuki has Agile 2 but no Combat Mastery. So her default ROLL would be 4 dice. The attack has the Stunning perk and the Inaccurate and Weapon flaw. Inaccurate lowers the ROLL dice by 1. So her final ROLL for using this attack is 3.

DX is the damage modifier. This starts at 1 for everybody, and is increased by the Attack level (+2). Natsuki also has the Strong Abilty (+3), which adds it's levels to any attack that uses her physical strength (this is determined by common sense; usually any melee attack, though). So her total DX is 6.

END is the endurance cost of using an attack. Most perks have a cost of 5 endurance, although some of the stronger ones can have a 10 or 15 cost. Likewise, most flaws lowers the endurance cost by 5, although some of the bigger flaws can lower by 10 or 15. Natsuki's attack has the Perk Stunning (a stronger perk, so it has an Endurance cost of 10) and the flaws Inaccurate (-5) and Weapon (-5). The two flaws negate the Endurance cost of stunning, so Natsuki can use this attack anytime without cost (provided she has her weapon).

Looking at another of Natsuki's attack, the Gauntlet Crash, it has Area Effect (+10 END), Stunning (+10 END), Ineffective (-5), and Weapon (-5). The Ineffective and Weapon balances for Stunning but not for Area Effect, so to use this attack, Natsuki has to burn 10 Endurance every time. This attack does not have Inaccurate, so it uses her normal base Roll of 4. However, it does have Ineffective, which lowers her DX by 1, so that is now 5 instead of 6.
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