CHARGEN (V1.16) by Troels Poulsen
          (Amiga AD&D Utility on SynTax Disk 1241)

            Reviewed by P.A.Hardy on an Amiga

CharGen is an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) Character
Creation System, a tool for Dungeon Masters to use with the
tabletop Role Playing Game. The program allows you to create
characters for your AD&D games down to the minutest detail, and is
quite easily the best program of its type I have ever seen.

The fact CharGen is totally menu-driven is a big asset to the
program, and the keyboard is only needed to input such things as
a Character's name, alignment, hair and eye colour, backpack
equipment, description and character traits - everything else is
worked out automatically for you in the blink of an eye.  Upon
loading, CharGen displays an AD&D Character Sheet with six menu
options above it, being Project, Edit, Equip, Abilities, Design,
and Settings, with which to control the software.

PROJECT: This menu allows you to create a new character, load an
already created character, save the character information and
print it, too.

EDIT: This menu allows you to change aspects of a Character you
have already created, such as Race, Class, Ability Scores, Level,
Experience, and Saving Throws.

EQUIP: Here you can change a Character's Armour, Weapons, Magic
Items, Equipment and Wealth, to suit your needs.

ABILITIES: Fighting Abilities, Proficiencies, Spell Casting,
Thieving Skills, Turning Undead, Psionics and any Extra Abilities
a Character possesses may be modified from this menu.

DESIGN: From here you may create new Races, Character Classes,
Armour, Weapons, Proficiencies, Spells, Priesthood data, Wizard
Schools and Psionics. A versatile addition to the software!


SETTING: This option allows you to change fonts, printer settings,
screen formats, icons and a whole host of other data. You can even
specify which AD&D sources will be used to create your Characters,
from books such as the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide,
Ravenloft, Planescape, Legends of Lore and many others.

A11 these menus barring Project allow you to modify an already
existing Character, which is very easy and fun to do. It is even
better to create a totally new character though, and this is done
from the Project menu, selecting New and then following the easy
steps below.  The program follows these steps automatically,
bringing to the screen each menu as and when it is needed, in the
following order:

1) From this first menu you may select for your new Character a
Gender (Male/Female), a Race (Human, Gnome, Dracan, Half-Elf,
Dwarf, Halfling, Elf, Lizard Man, Giff or Scro) and a Character
Class (Bard, Druid, Fighter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Psionicist,
Ranger, Thief, Wizard as well as multi-classed Classes for
demi-humans:  Fighter/Druid, Fighter/Priest, Fighter/Psionist,
Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Wizard, Priest/Mage, Psionist/Thief,
Ranger/Priest, Thief/Wizard, Fighter/Priest/Mage and
Fighter/Thief/Mage).Naturally, Race restrictions apply to
Character Class, so you will not be able to create a Dwarf Mage,
for instance!

2) If the Character is a Cleric, you may select one of twenty-five
Gods for him to serve, straight from the Legends & Lore
sourcebook. Simply click on the name of the God you require to
highlight it, and confirm your choice by clicking on the
'Continue' button, which appears on every menu. (If the Character
being created is not a Priest, this menu is bypassed).

3) A new screen will now appear showing your Character's seven
Ability Scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence,
Wisdom, Charisma and Comeliness) all of which will be randomly
worked out for you by the computer. Class Requirements are listed
beside the Ability Scores, along with the Racial Maximums, so you
are fully aware of the potential for the Character you are
creating.

You may if you wish keep these randomly generated Ability Scores,
or opt to "Reroll" fresh ones, and thus create new random numbers
for each score. Alternatively, you may manually "Modify" one or
more Ability Scores as you see fit, so it is perfectly possible to
transfer an already existing Character from paper onto the CharGen
character sheet template. This is an excellent feature if you wish
to update your character sheet and make it look more presentable,
and much easier than using a Word Processor to do so!

4) Next, you are given the chance to tinker with a Character's
Level and Experience Points. Selecting a new Level for a character
will give him the minimum number of Experience Points to attain
that Level.(ie:  A 7th Level Fighter will have 64000 Experience
Points). You may now modify the Experience Points total to reflect
how many points you think the character should actually have. If
you modify his Experience Points and this puts him at a higher or
lower Level than the one he is currently at, CharGen will
automatically change his Leve1 for you, to reflect this.

This Experience Points screen also shows the Character's current
Hit Points total, and every roll used to arrive at it, in
accordance with the Player's Handbook. (ie: Fighters gain 1d10 HPs
up to 9th Level and +3 HPs per level thereafter, whereas Mages
gain 1d4 HPs up to l0th Level, and then +1 HP per Level acquired
after that).

The program automatically ensures no demi-humans exceed their
Racial Maximums in any given Class, unless the Settings menu is
used to allow Slow, Unlimited Advancement for your non-human
Characters.

5) A new table appears, showing your Character's five Saving
Throws (for Paralyzation/Deathray, Rod/Staff/Wand,
Petrification/Polymorph, Breath Weapon, and finally Spells), which
are all worked out automatically for you in accordance with The
Player's handbook. Yet once again, these can be modified if you
wish, and changed to whatever figures you decree.


A sub-table also automatically calculates "adjustments" for
Dodging, Electricity, Fire, Mind Affecting, Poison and Protection,
and, if you are not totally satisfied with these results, you
have the ability to modify these as well.

6) The next screen allows you to type in a Name for the character
and, should you wish it, lets you change their Class, Race and
Gender; if this invalidates any information you have already
entered, CharGen will inform you of this, and take you to the
appropriate menu so things can be amended.

From this table you can also specify the Character's Alignment
(ie:  Lawful Good) and have the option to edit their automatically
calculated Age, Height and Weight. You can then make notes on the
Character's Work (outside of adventuring, presumably!) as well as
specifying their Hair and Eye colours, too.

Further text boxes allow you to make notes on such things as your
Character's distinguishing Marks, Behaviour, Belief, Fears,

Weakness, Hatreds, Desires, and Family & Friends he may have, to
help bring him more to life in your imagination.

7) The next step in Character generation involves selecting the
Armour a character is wearing, and whether or not he has a shield,
both of which have Class restrictions to certain character types
(unless this is overridden with the Settings menu). You can even
modify the armour and shield to make them magical if you desire
and the Character's Armour Class (AC) is worked out automatically
for you by the computer, and based upon your selections.

8) At this point you may input your Character's Combat
Proficiencies in Weapon Skills and Unarmed Combat. You may specify
their favorite types of weapons ie: piercing, bludgeoning) as well
as give characters proficiencies for individual weapons (ie:
daggers, crossbows). If you so desire, you can even specify if
your character is ambidextrous!

Now comes the chance to actually select weapons for your
character, and you are allowed to modify each one you choose, so
as to make any of them magical if you so desire. Class
Restrictions apply to weapon types (unless this is overridden from
the Settings menu), so you will not normally be allowed to create,
say, an axe-wielding Mage!

10) The next table contains room to input any Equipment Carried by
the character, and you may use the keyboard to type in the items
the character is currently carrying around with him.

11) From the next menu, spell-casting characters have the chance
to pick spells they've memorised from an immense list. All the
spells from The Player's handbook are included, and there are
numerous ways you can organise your spells, such as by School or
by Spell Level.  You may if you wish select a Magic User's spells
manually, or allow the computer to make a random selection for
you. And, if you wish, you can even increase or decrease the
amount of spells per Level the character may use.

12) The next table allows you to pick non-weapon proficiencies for
your Character. You are allocated a number of Proficiency Slots
which may be filled by clicking on the required Proficiencies from
a scrolling list of 96 non-weapon proficiencies. Proficiencies
which are not available to that character are shaded and may not
be selected. Once you are happy with the choices you have made for
your Character, you may input via the keyboard any Extra Abilities
the Character has, too, before progressing onto the next menu.

13) Now you are given the choice to make Notes on your Character,
as you see fit. A little bit of background information for the
Character could be used here, to flesh him out a little and make
him a little more solid in your imagination.

14) Characters with Psionics can now choose their psionic
capabilities from a menu very much like the one for Magic Users.
Once again, psionics can be organised as you see fit, and once
again the program will ensure your selections adhere to the AD&D
rules.

The character is now complete and the full Character Record Sheet
is shown onscreen. Now is a good time to select Equip from the
menu and then Wealth, to input the number of coins of various
types the Character has, both on his person and at his home.
Platinum, Gold, Electrum and Silver Pieces are catered for on the
initial list, but you may add further coin types (such as Steel
and Copper) or edit and change existing coin types and their
values, as you desire.

You need to do is print out your Character Record Sheet and marvel
at the variety and measure of detail available!

                     * - * - * - * - *

CharGen is a well thought-out, skillfully programmed and
incredibly useful piece of software, there is no doubt about it.
You are given the choice to tailor make your own AD&D characters
and even bend the official Character Generation rules if you so
wish. The wealth of options available is staggering, and veteran
Dungeon Masters will soon be wondering how they ever got by
without their copy of CharGen. The amount of hard work it cuts out

is phenomenal, and the ability to print Character Record Sheets is
a real asset to the software.

The program can even be used to generate Random Characters for
you, with Race, Class, Gender, Hit Points, Proficiencies, Armour &
Weapons, Spells and Psionics already worked out automatically for
you. Indeed, you only have to grace your Character with a Name,
Alignment and details of their Wealth, and the Character is ready
to use!

Also, you can create one Character and then 'clone' him, changing
one or more aspects as you see fit. For instance, you could create
five Castle Guards identical in every way except for Hit Points,
and then have a slightly higher Level Castle Guard Sergeant too,
using only a couple of mouse clicks to alter the originally
designed Guard Character. This is yet another of CharGen's
incredibly useful features, and prevents you having to create
similar Non-Player Characters individually.


The program's ability to allow you to create new Races, Character
Classes, Armour, Weapons, Proficiencies, Psionic abilities and
Spells is also a real bonus, taking CharGen one step further than
other AD&D Character Creators I have seen.

Recently I reviewed for SynTax programs called DigitalChar, NPC
Mage Spellbook Generator and NPC Priest Spellbook Generator, which
allowed the user to create simple Characters or create Mage spell
lists or Priest spell listings accordingly. CharGen does all this
and much more. In fact, CharGen totally knocks the socks off all
these three programs, and it cannot come any better recommended
than that!

VEPDICT : A simply 'must own' program for all Amiga-owning AD&D
Dungeon Masters. The best program of its type on the Amiga!




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