Not everyone has a laptop to drag to a game, not everyone has a computer that's easily accessible for game time, and outside the U.S., (like say here in NZ) you have data limits. Go over X amount and either you pay more, or your connection gets capped (hello dialup). And of course, there _are_ folks that don't have broadband accounts for a variety of reasons too.
Also as a practical aspect... let's face it, when you've got a hosted program, eventually... it's going to go away. You'll get bored maintaining it, something will happen with the hosting... whatever. Nothing is forever.
A downloadable version though, means that even when life has come up and you just can't work on it for [whatever] reason, or you're bored with it, or whatever, at least folks can still benefit from the work you put into this thing.
Just something to consider.
NPC Designer might fit your needs if you are using windows and want offline
A downloadable version is on my to-do list. It will be accomplished eventually one way or the other...eventually. This is not the idle promise of a half-hearted developer but the promise of a application developer who loves D&D...so let it be written, so let it be done.
You gave pretty much everything I could wish for with the random encounter updater. I was especially happy when my forest encounters ranged from centaur druid to a combo of a vampire elf and a fiendish half-elf.
I did find myself deselecting "humanoid" and "goblinoid" a lot, checkboxes for "don't add class levels" or "don't advance by HD" could be good.
Oh, it seems like clicking humanoid once to select it and once to deselect it would be more "natural" than holding down Ctrl to deselect it, but you did include the note right there when I had problems figuring that out.
You gave pretty much everything I could wish for with the random encounter updater. I was especially happy when my forest encounters ranged from centaur druid to a combo of a vampire elf and a fiendish half-elf.
I did find myself deselecting "humanoid" and "goblinoid" a lot, checkboxes for "don't add class levels" or "don't advance by HD" could be good.
Oh, it seems like clicking humanoid once to select it and once to deselect it would be more "natural" than holding down Ctrl to deselect it, but you did include the note right there when I had problems figuring that out.
I am planning on having several checkboxes to "turn off" several things like templates, template rules, multi-classing, etc.
As far as the clicking I am using the built-in default for all browsers. I have written my own widget for such things that you can see on the main Monster Advancer (see the template list). I could use that if that would be nicer.
I can't seem to use the advancer - I get an error: (HTTP status 500) The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request. Is it compatible with IE7?
The application is currently compatible and tested on Firefox 2.0-3.0, Chrome 1.0 & 2.0, Safari 3.0 & 4.0, IE6,IE7 and IE8 and Opera 9+. Actually, I have had no reports of browser specific issues (which is something I shoot for).
The quickened version and random encounter generator also book work pretty well on an iphone (safari mind you). The main application actually works as well but it takes a bit as it does a fair amount of work.
The site does not show any official downtime as I am emailed if the server does go down automatically. It seems like a localized problem. If the problem persists let me know I would be happy to help trouble shoot if it comes to that. I hope you have better luck!
(As a side note-I also have a number of regular users from Denmark so don't lose hope it works!)
1) Can you add the rest of the SRD feats (psionics and divine section especially, but also epic)?
2) Does the advancer check feat prereqs? I seemed to be able to add Deflect Arrows to an aboleth without Improved Unarmed Strike.
3) When adding levels, can it automatically add to stat boosts?
4) Anyway to generate spells prepared/spells known lists when adding spellcaster levels to critters?
A quick question: Why doesn't yours, or any other npc generator I've found, include Kobolds? Are these trademarked like Beholders? Or is it simply because no-one likes a yipping lizard with 1d3-1 ranged damage?
I am simply still in the process of entering all the creatures and kobolds aren't in there yet but they will be making the next release. It is possible that their small sizes caused me to overlook them but I will remedy this shortly. I will let everyone know when the next release is coming as soon as possible. I apologize to kobolds and all dragon-kin for this oversight.
1) Can you add the rest of the SRD feats (psionics and divine section especially, but also epic)?
2) Does the advancer check feat prereqs? I seemed to be able to add Deflect Arrows to an aboleth without Improved Unarmed Strike.
3) When adding levels, can it automatically add to stat boosts?
4) Anyway to generate spells prepared/spells known lists when adding spellcaster levels to critters?
1) I am planning on getting most feats in there that are SRD. If you have certain ones that you would like let me know and I can slip a few in as I am focusing on a lot of other elements currently.
2) It does not currently enforce prereqs but it is already set up to do so. Currently, it seemed more problematic to set up a system to turn rules on and off but I was planning on displaying some sort of text that at least told you when you were about to break the rules and including the prereq lists in the feat descriptions. So, in short, it will be able to do this as it is already programmed just haven't tied all the pieces together.
3) It will definitely be auto-adding stat boosts before too long.
4) Spell lists will come but is probably farther down the list than some would like.
Wrap up) In general I have a ton of things I would like to do and will do, but I am currently prioritizing to get the core SRD monsters entered at all. I will eventually have up at least a partial list of feature priorities on the front page so that people can at least vote if they would like certain features moved up in priority...as well as just see how many things I am doing/planning.
Hope this information is helpful and never fear that I am working tirelessly to get the things you want in.
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