Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Character Builder?

[JRRNeiklot]

Not true actually. Yes there's DRM, but they've been *extremely* helpful when I've had license issues. In fact, most machines get 2 licenses just in case, and if there is a problem, a simple email is all it takes for them to fix it. I've had a license problem come up twice in the past 6 months (OS upgrades) and the first time the secondary license took care of it, while the second was fixed within a couple of hours of me sending the email.

Hyrum.

I don't care how helpful and great their customer service is. I'd still have a product that I have to depend on their goodwill for. It's tantamount to getting in my car and finding it won't start because I installed a new cd player. One phone call to Chevy might fix it, but I'm still late for work. I realize I probably wouldn't have any issues, but I object to that kind of crap in principal. When I buy a product, I want to use it whenever and however I see fit, within the bounds of the law, of course.

 

[Belen]

Purchasing anything from Lone Wolf is a risky issue. I purchased Hero Lab at GenCon. A few months later, I got a call from them letting me know that they had been hacked an my information was stolen.

I asked what they did about security and the girl on the phone said that they just could not stop hackers and they saw no reason to make any changes.

I would recommend that people avoid Lone Wolf. There was a thread on Circvs Maximvs about them that further detailed some of their poor business practices.

I would recommend PC Gen or Heroforge for free Pathfinder character builders.

 

[Papa-DRB]

Ah, Ok.. thanks.. I have been considering purchasing HeroLab but that would have been a 100% no.

If you don't mind, a couple more questions.
1) Cost of the program? ($30?)
2) Cost of the Pathfinder Core Ruleset?
3) Cost of the Pathfinder Bestiary?
4) Cost of the Pathfinder APG?
5) Can I have multiple characters open at the same time?
6) Can I print preview in Firefox?
7) Can I create personal html sheets for export & preview?

-- david
Papa.DRB

sorry, a couple grew...

What Mowgli said.

With one purchase you get 2 licenses.

Hyrum.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

Ah, Ok.. thanks.. I have been considering purchasing HeroLab but that would have been a 100% no.

If you don't mind, a couple more questions.
1) Cost of the program? ($30?)
2) Cost of the Pathfinder Core Ruleset?
3) Cost of the Pathfinder Bestiary?
4) Cost of the Pathfinder APG?
5) Can I have multiple characters open at the same time?
6) Can I print preview in Firefox?
7) Can I create personal html sheets for export & preview?

-- david
Papa.DRB

sorry, a couple grew...

1. $29.99
2. Initial cost includes one dataset.
3. Bestiary Add-On is $14.99
4. Cost of APG not released yet - likely $14.99
5. Can open several instances of HL simultaneously*
6. Can print preview the PDF through HL - uncertain about through Firefox
7. Can export stat-blocks, either with or without expendable resources indicated.

* HeroLab does include a Tactical Console, if that's what you're looking for. Haven't used it myself yet (though I plan to take it for a spin soon) but it should enable you to put together Heroes and Bad Guys and track the entire set through a combat.

 

[IronWolf]

I took a look at HeroLab and I think I will stick with PCGen. It looks to me that it could get pricey by the time I add on the supplements and such. Especially since even with two licenses I typically have at least three machines I like to install software on at home. Each typically only used by me, but each serving a different purpose. I'd rather put the money towards source books or half of an Adventure Path.

Reviewing the licensing page gives me further reasons to be hesitant. I certainly respect one wanting to protect their product, but the two machine limitation, license needing reactivated after an OS reinstall or potential upgrade - coupled with a remote check-in that may or may not cease to function should the Hero Lab makers fall on difficult times are turn offs. When I pay money for software I expect it to work with a minimum amount of hassle needing to jump through licensing hoops.

 

[lonewolfdevel]

Purchasing anything from Lone Wolf is a risky issue. I purchased Hero Lab at GenCon. A few months later, I got a call from them letting me know that they had been hacked an my information was stolen.

I asked what they did about security and the girl on the phone said that they just could not stop hackers and they saw no reason to make any changes.

I don't know how your conversation went, but that doesn't match what happened in regards to the hacker attack and how we dealt with it. Hackers hit our site and managed to get access to limited information before our automatic detection mechanisms spotted the intrusion and shut them down. In total, just over a dozen credit card numbers *may* have been compromised. I say "may" because those numbers *could* have been accessed by the hackers but we couldn't be sure they actually *were* accessed. We immediately contacted the cardholders of those cards to advise them that their card information *may* have been compromised.

We took everything offline for a few days while we investigated what happened. After figuring how they got in, we then instituted an entire additional layer of security to further safeguard against the problem happening again. Only after that was in place did we bring our system online again. And we've had no problems since then.

The reality is that there is no way to stop hackers from trying to hack systems. That's what they do. And they are constantly coming up with new ways to attack sites. So we're constantly striving to keep one step ahead of them. All I can assume is that you interpreted what you were told in a way that was very different from what was intended, which means the person on our end did a poor job of explaining. For that, I apologize, and we'll need to improve how we handle these things.

We definitely made immediate changes when the attack occurred and have always striven to maintain good security over the past 12 years we've been selling our products online. Heck, our system automatically detected the breach and shut the hackers out. You won't find many companies in this industry with that level of security in place.

 

[lonewolfdevel]

5) Can I have multiple characters open at the same time?
6) Can I print preview in Firefox?
7) Can I create personal html sheets for export & preview?

I'll expand a little further on what Mowgli already outlined in his post...

In addition to running multiple instances of Hero Lab, you can have any number of characters active at the same time within a single instance of Hero Lab. The Dashboard allows you to view all of the loaded characters and quickly switch between them. For players, this is handy for running multiple PCs, managing hirelings/henchmen, dealing with familiars and animal companions, etc.

The Tactical Console is targeted at GMs. Outside of combat, it serves as a quick reference of both PCs and NPCs, replacing whatever cheat sheet you currently utilize. In combat, it facilitates the overall process, handling initiative tracking, as well as easy access to all the PCs and NPCs. Damage, effects, conditions, and what-not can be readily applied to all participants, with the goal to streamline the combat and let everyone focus on the game, while the computer handles the bookkeeping.

Hero Lab prints out its own character sheets. There is an integrated Print Preview to see what the output looks like before actually printing. You can also generate PDF directly from within the product, as well as statblock output.

There is currently no support for customized output. That's a high priority for us to get into the next big feature update, due out late this year.

Hope this helps!

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

In addition to running multiple instances of Hero Lab, you can have any number of characters active at the same time within a single instance of Hero Lab. The Dashboard allows you to view all of the loaded characters and quickly switch between them. For players, this is handy for running multiple PCs, managing hirelings/henchmen, dealing with familiars and animal companions, etc.

How does one go about this? I've used the dashboard to handle a single primary character with henchmen, but haven't been able to figure out how to load multiple portfolios within the same instance of HL.

 

[lonewolfdevel]

I took a look at HeroLab and I think I will stick with PCGen. It looks to me that it could get pricey by the time I add on the supplements and such. Especially since even with two licenses I typically have at least three machines I like to install software on at home. Each typically only used by me, but each serving a different purpose. I'd rather put the money towards source books or half of an Adventure Path.

Reviewing the licensing page gives me further reasons to be hesitant. I certainly respect one wanting to protect their product, but the two machine limitation, license needing reactivated after an OS reinstall or potential upgrade - coupled with a remote check-in that may or may not cease to function should the Hero Lab makers fall on difficult times are turn offs. When I pay money for software I expect it to work with a minimum amount of hassle needing to jump through licensing hoops.

All valid concerns. Allow me to provide a bit more information for you to consider...

We realize lots of gamers have a second computer, which is why the basic purchase includes support for two different computers. We also realize that more and more gamers have a third - or sometimes fourth - computer that they use regularly. For situations like this, we offer additional secondary licenses for $10. This basically allows you to run Hero Lab on a third or fourth computer for a small, one-time cost. All add-ons purchased through the primary license are fully accessible via all secondary licenses.

There's a great deal of complexity in developing quality software. It's even harder to keep things constantly updated for a growing, evolving target like Pathfinder. We believe Hero Lab offers a great deal more ease of use, power, and flexibility than the free alternatives. Many will find the cost of Hero Lab well worth the investment, while some will prefer to use the free tools. Everyone will weigh the tradeoffs slightly differently, which is why we make Hero Lab freely available for full evaluation. That way, everyone can take all the various tools for a test drive and make their own determination.

The license reactivation process is handled through a simple wizard and takes less than 30 seconds to complete.

With regards to your concern about the company disappearing sometime, all I can do is provide some historical perspective. We've been in business for 16 years now. We've been selling software tools for tabletop gaming for 12 years, and we've grown every year. Dozens of other companies purporting to do the same have come and gone during that time, but we're the only ones who've made it through.

Over those 12 years, we've earned a loyal customer base by doing our best to treat everyone well. Have we made mistakes? Heck yeah! But we've learned from them and made corrections. We have two new products rolling out over the next 12 months, and we've secured licenses with many prominent publishers in the industry. So they clearly believe in us, too.

We're not going away....

 

[lonewolfdevel]

How does one go about this? I've used the dashboard to handle a single primary character with henchmen, but haven't been able to figure out how to load multiple portfolios within the same instance of HL.

HL uses a single portfolio at a time, but you can freely add/remove characters/monsters to/from a portfolio. If you're the GM, each of your PCs probably has a different portfolio that is maintained by the player. At the start of the game, you can have the players give you the portfolios for all their PCs (via email, memory stick, shared folder, whatever). You create a new portfolio and then import each of their characters into your portfolio. This is done via the "Import Hero from Portfolio" option on the "Portfolio" menu. As each PC is imported, it will appear within both the Dashboard and Tactical Console for use.

Let's take this one step further. Say you want to setup an encounter for easy use during the game. You create a new portfolio and then setup the various NPCs and/or monsters within that portfolio. You can create new characters/monsters by going to the Portfolio menu and selecting "Create New Hero". Once everything for the encounter is setup, save the portfolio as something like "Encounter #1".

During the game, you can import the entire encounter with a few mouse clicks. I'll assume you have the portfolio loaded with all of the PCs. Now go to the Portfolio menu and select the "Import Hero from Portfolio" option. Select the "Encounter #1" portfolio you created above. All of the characters/monsters from the portfolio are shown, so just click on the "Import All" button. HL then loads the entire encounter into your current portfolio for you. You can now use the Tactical Console to manage the encounter. When the encounter is complete, go back to the Portfolio menu and select the "Delete Hero" option, then the "Delete Multiple" sub-option. Check the boxes next to anything that needs to be discarded and click the "OK" button. The encounter is history and you're ready to proceed to Encounter #2.

Hope this helps!