[4e] Combat Tracker Utility

[Mortaneus]

Again, great program, use it every time I DM.

I have a feature request. I think there should be one of two things:

1. Hotkeys for common effects. A button to add automatically: "Ongoing 5 Damage" "Ongoing 10 Damage" "Marked by *current combatant*" "Dazed, Save Ends" that kind of thing. These could hang out somewhere on the main screen, or even sitting in the dialogue that comes up after pressing 'Add' on the effects area. Or, preferably if possible and you think it would be useful...

2. Customizable hotkeys for adding effects. This way, if you know your party has certain effects that are used often, like Ongoing 5 Fire Damage, or Dazing(save ends) or whatever, they'll be at your finger tips quickly.

Also, would it be possible and useful to make Regeneration and ongoing damage automatic?

Thanks for reading and great work.

The issue with hotkeying such effects is that the list of possible effects is HUGE. I was originally planning on adding nearly everything you could think of as lists of radio buttons, checkboxes, and data entry fields on the 'Add Effect' window. I actually got about halfway there.

However, I simply couldn't find any way to arrange them that didn't turn that screen into a massive overflow of information, and made finding anything a nightmare. I mean, seriously, it made this look user-friendly:

I eventually wound up trashing the whole thing, and simply turning the effect-name box into a freeform dropdown with a lot of premade entries.

My next major project is looking to be the addition of 'preset' effects for each source, so that you can enter 'Defense Penalty -1 until start of source's next turn' effects for your Invoker using Visions of Blood, or 'Marked until the end of source's next turn' for your fighter. Then, when entering effects, those will always be on the list on the effect screen when that character is the source. You'll be able to do the same for monsters (though setting them up will still be a manual process).


That being said, I am still considering ways to do regen and ongoing damage, but to do so, I'd also have to properly code for resistances, which isn't easy. Additionally, I'd also have to properly handle regen that can be temporarily disabled, such at that possessed by some types of undead.

Perhaps at some point it'll happen, but it probably won't be soon. Sorry.

 

[Panthanas]

Perhaps at some point it'll happen, but it probably won't be soon. Sorry.

Hey, don't sweat it. This program is amazing! I use it for my 4E WotBS Campaign and combat runs pretty smoothly. I actually prefer the Free-Form drop down for custom effects.

I love that I can create the custom WotBS creatures in the Adventure Tools and paste them right into the combat tracker. Good stuff, and incredibly easy to use!

Additionally, one of my players runs a FR 4E game (we alternate every other week or so) and he uses the program too.

Thanks for all of your work! It's really appreciated around my game table!

 

[CAFRedblade]

Ah Mort, excellent thoughts about the penalties. There are a number of
effects which apply negative modifiers to PC's and Monsters, and it would be great if I could even have a space to type in the current modifier value.
Also, any progress on the idea of saving the current encounter mid-stride so to speak. Perhaps taking a snap shot of the current settings versus full values as a separate file that can be re-added later to the default saved encounter? Just some musings.

 

[Mortaneus]

Ah Mort, excellent thoughts about the penalties. There are a number of
effects which apply negative modifiers to PC's and Monsters, and it would be great if I could even have a space to type in the current modifier value.
Also, any progress on the idea of saving the current encounter mid-stride so to speak. Perhaps taking a snap shot of the current settings versus full values as a separate file that can be re-added later to the default saved encounter? Just some musings.

Negative attack modifier? It may be possible, but it won't be reflected in the statblock, as the basic bonuses are part of the text of the powers, and parsing those is quite difficult.

As for saving the entire encounter, as is, it's on my to-do list. It'll probably be coming in the near future, truthfully. It'll be a modification to the current 'save encounter' logic, so that it saves EVERYTHING, not just the framework of the encounter.

It's actually pretty simple, except for one thing...importing another encounter into the current one. I'll have to think about how to merge two (possibly ongoing) encounters into one in the code. It should be doable, but will require some care.

 

[Mortaneus]

The new version 1.6.0 is up!

You can find it here: DnD4e Combat Manager Page


Changes:

• When 'Save Encounter' is used on a currently active encounter, all combat data is now saved.
• Added Right-Click menu to the main initiative list for quick access of Move-to-Top, Ready, and Delay options.
• Added a tabbed section to the Statblock-edit window to give more room for data.
• You can now manually preset effects that a PC or Monster can generate, and they will appear on the 'Add Effect' window. These must be manually set up on the Statblock-edit window on one of the new tabs, and will be saved normally. This will allow commonly created effects to be pre-entered for the major combatants of an encounter, saving the GM some typing time when adding effects during play.
• 'Notes' tab has been added to the Statblock-edit window for entry of Tactics, Monster Knowledge, etc. It will appear in the statblock summary, and is saved as normal.
• Improved parsing of Aura powers from rich text (mainly to handle weird formats, such as the Kyuss monsters)
• Fixed a bug with adding effects to PCs before combat begins

 

[SkidAce]

Changes:

• When 'Save Encounter' is used on a currently active encounter, all combat data is now saved.
  

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Now it is extremely usefull for my PBP game.

again, thanks.

 

[Mortaneus]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Now it is extremely usefull for my PBP game.

again, thanks.

Hrm...just realized one problem...if the combat is NOT currently ongoing, it won't save PC damage.

I'll have to fix that in the next version.

In the meantime, you should be able to work around that by rolling initiative for the party before saving. You can then end the encounter after reloading, and it should keep the hit point info, since it'll technically be 'ongoing' when you save it.

 

[SkidAce]

That won't be a problem for a while...my PBP game is painfully glacial.

 

[_NewbieDM_]

What a great program. I used it this week for the first time in my game and I love everything about it. The fact that you can paste the rich text from the monster builder and load characters form the character builder make this invaluable to me.

Thanks for making it and continuing to update it!

 

[Mortaneus]

A new version is up, mainly just a quick fix to a bit of 1.6.0 functionality.

You can find it here: DnD4e Combat Manager Page

Changes:

* When saving, all PC status information will be saved, regardless of out-of-combat status


Big change:
Now, I have ALSO placed the source code up on the page, freely available for any and all who want to mess with it. It is looking like I may not have much time in the near future to mess with it, and continue updating it, so I'm tossing it out there for whomever wants to play around with the code, see how it works, and possibly make it do all sorts of new and wonderful things. Feel free to do with it as you want, though please toss me an attribution if you use it for your own project.

I admit that it's messy, and not well commented. It was primarily created for two reasons: 1) So I could manage my DnD combats without pulling out my hair and going through notepads like candy, and 2) To figure out VB.NET

It has done both of these things, and I'm satisfied. Unfortunately, it was NOT written with legibility by others in mind, so it's fairly hack-ish inside. Just a warning.

I may get back to it at some point, but it'll likely be a while. Enjoy!