DM Software for statting monsters/npcs

[aurin777]

Well, just as the topic says, does software exist that does such a thing? It would make everyone's life much easier, so I assume it exists. What does everyone use? also, does it have all the trimmings, such as the splat books, BoVD, etc?
~~Brandon

 

[randomling]

Jamis Buck's NPC generator.

Don't have a link to hand, though it's somewhere in the ENWorld downloads section. Free, and it's rather nice too.

 

[Piratecat]

There is (at least partially) such a thing, but that'll be in the software forum. I'll slide this over!

 

[EricNoah]

Well, just as the topic says, does software exist that does such a thing? It would make everyone's life much easier, so I assume it exists. What does everyone use? also, does it have all the trimmings, such as the splat books, BoVD, etc?
~~Brandon

You've got a couple of choices:

PC Gen

eTools

Your place to start for both is www.codemonkeypublishing.com

Both have their quirks; PC Gen is free (though I'm not sure if the 3.5 data sets are free or not) so you might as well give it a shot; PC Gen will have some data sets that are not free (stuff that's not in the core rules I believe).

I personally am getting good results from eTools but I've had the luxury of keeping up with the many patches and updates, plus some people don't have that kind of cash to spend. Sample Etools character (customized character sheet though!)

Other solutions exist but to what extent they work or what exactly they do I'm not sure.

 

[AutoSponge]

I like to use HeroForge to stat out the character's levels. It's an excel spreadsheet so I can always customize it to suit my needs, including making my own statblock output that I can quickly import to DMF (DM's Familiar) which I use for actually running the combats.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

You've got a couple of choices:

PC Gen

eTools

Your place to start for both is www.codemonkeypublishing.com

Both have their quirks; PC Gen is free (though I'm not sure if the 3.5 data sets are free or not) so you might as well give it a shot; PC Gen will have some data sets that are not free (stuff that's not in the core rules I believe).

Hmmm, the D20 version of 3.5 for PcGen is indeed free.

The Dungeons & Dragons version of 3.5 will cost you some money.

The biggest difference of course is spell names and IP creatures like mind flayers and beholders.

The Auld Grump

 

[thullgrim]

does etools do templates yet? That is the biggest thing that has kept me from jumping on it.

thullgrim

 

[Silvanos]

does etools do templates yet? That is the biggest thing that has kept me from jumping on it.

thullgrim

Nope. But it is supposed to be in the 1.5 patch, which is a month to two months away.

I've posted this over on thier boards... But what the heck.

Etools has really grown into a classy program. Many of the things that drove people nuts with the 1.0 Fluid release have been fixed. A week or so ago they released the 3.5 data set, which you have to pay for. That actually makes since, seeing that they had to go through and manually enter all of that data. Problem is, many of the feature they are shooting for do not work until the 1.5 patch mentioned above is released.

If you are playing v3.0 D&D then get etools NOW! It is awesome in its flexability, and the shear number of add ons (Data Sets) avaliable. They have gone through and entered the data for the following products:

Arms and Equipment Guide
Bastion of Broken Souls
Book of Challenges
Book of Vile Darkness
City of the Spider Queen
Deep Horizons
Defenders of the Faith
Deities & Demigods
Enemies and Allies
Epic Level Handbook
Faiths & Pantheons (Not yet completed)
Fiend Folio
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Heart of Nightfang Spire
Hero Builder's Guidebook
Into the Dragns Lair
Living Greyhawk Gazatteer
Lord of the Iron Fortress
Lords of Darkness
Magic of Faerun
Manual of the Planes
Masters of the Wild
Monster Manual II
Monsters of Faerun
Oriental Adventures
Pools of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor
Psionics Handbook
Races of Faerun
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
Savage Species
Silver Marches
Song and Silence
Stronghold Builder's Guidebook
Sword and Fist
The Forge of Fury
The Speaker in Dreams
The Standing Stone
The Sunless Citadel
Tome and Blood
Unapproachable East


Pretty much every feat/NPC/skill/Monster from those books has been entered for 3.0.

For example, I want to see Rufus from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I open up Etools, open the core info, select WotC, then ToEE, and boom! Rufus:
Male Human Ftr8: Medium Humanoid ; HD 8d10+8(Fighter) ; hp 69; Init +1; Spd 20; AC 22(Flatfooted:21, Touch:15); Atk +11/6 base melee, +9/4 base ranged; +13/8 (1d8+6, +2 Battleaxe); +10/5 (1d8+3, Mighty composite longbow +3, Masterwork); AL LG; SV Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +3; STR 16, DEX 13, CON 12, INT 15, WIS 10, CHA 14.
Skills: Bluff +4, Climb +4, Gather Information +4, Handle Animal +8, Intimidate +4, Jump +5, Listen +2, Ride +9, Sense Motive +2, Spot +2, Swim +9.
Feats: Armor Proficiency: heavy, Armor Proficiency: light, Armor Proficiency: medium, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency.
Possessions:
Weapons: +2 Battleaxe (8,310 gp); Mighty composite longbow +3, Masterwork (700 gp).
Armor: +2 Chainmail (4,300 gp).
Shields: +1 Shield, large, steel (1,170 gp).
Magic: Potion: Cure Moderate Wounds (3) (300 gp); Potion: Endurance (3) (300 gp); Wondrous: Cloak of resistance (+1) (1,000 gp); Ring: Protection +1 (2,000 gp); Wondrous: Periapt of proof against poison (4,000 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp); Wondrous: Dust of disappearance (3,500 gp).


Now if your playing v3.5... I would wait until the 1.5 patch is out in the next few months.

Drew

PS I forgot to mention that the data sets are not free. For that fill list above it will cost you a bit onve 100 bucks. Also, it is not a free upgrade from 3.0 to 3.5. So if you are in 3.0 but considering 3.5... I would go ahead and get 3.5, so you do not have to pay the 100 beaners again.

*EDIT* A few more things that I forgot in mention in my rambleings...
The Monkeys (Current Developers) are AWESOME! They respond to concerns, problems, and suggestions.

On the data sets: They also include a "HELP" file for each of the above data sets that contains the TEXT of the book. It does not include maps/graphics in the help file. So if you get the modules, don't think you get the maps too.

Umm. I guess that is it.

 

[kingpaul]

You've got a couple of choices:

PC Gen

eTools

Your place to start for both is www.codemonkeypublishing.com

Ummm...not quite Eric. That's where you start for eTools. PCGen, which is a separate entity from CMP, can be downloaded from http://pcgen.sourceforge.net/

eTools is a WotC product that CMP has the license to work on and create datasets of WotC books. They also have the license to create datasets for PCGen.

 

[Zulithe]

Impressive Character Sheet, Noah... PCGen has some nice output methods but I don't think they look quite that nice.

I still prefer PCGen though. Cause, well, it's free! After spending hundreds of dollars on books, I think it's a little overkill to pay for that data again.:\