3.5 Creature Creation program? (not E-Tools)

[Sir Brennen]

I'm looking for a quick, easy-to-use downloadable program which allows creation of monsters for DnD 3.5.

Before anyone posts it - yes, I know E-Tools has this feature. I even have E-Tools. But it has more than one bug which makes it annoying to have to double-check and correct the monster output each time (skill points are broken, Weapon Finesse isn't applied to attacks, all attacks are considered "primary", etc.) I also know the latest patch, still about a month away is suppose to address some of these issues (hopefully all.)

Until then - any recommendations? There was an old Java program specifically designed for Monster creation I thought was good, but the author hasn't upgraded it for 3.5 yet. The Kencyclopedia website also has a great tool, but it's online.

 

[kingpaul]

You can create monsters in PCGen for the revised edition.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Not PCGen either...

You can create monsters in PCGen for the revised edition.

:\ Maybe I need to be clearer on my definition of "create."

I mean a program which lets me build a new type of monster from scratch. PCGen just lets me pull up existing monsters and modify them somewhat, with templates or classes. Adding new monsters requires editing the .lst files, a tedious process which takes longer than hand-writing up a new creature.

If this is not the case, and you can build completely new types of monsters from the interface, then something in PCGen is escaping my immediate understanding, and thus failing my criteria of quick and easy-to-use.

Any other suggestions? Anyone?

 

[kingpaul]

:\ Maybe I need to be clearer on my definition of "create."

I mean a program which lets me build a new type of monster from scratch.

Yes, you can do this one of two ways.

1. You can create your own *.lst file, following the current monsters as example
2. You can use the Lst Editors (Tools -> List Editors) to create stuff. Race is one of these options. You can copy an existing monster (you have to load at least one source to get into the editors) and then edit it.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Yes, you can do this one of two ways.

1. You can create your own *.lst file, following the current monsters as example
2. You can use the Lst Editors (Tools -> List Editors) to create stuff. Race is one of these options. You can copy an existing monster (you have to load at least one source to get into the editors) and then edit it.

I appreciate your responses, KP, but this is still almost as much work as doing it manually. In PCGen, if I want to make a magical beast, I still have to let it know to give the beast a d10 hit die. This is not classified as "quick-and-easy" to me.

Again, I point to the Kencyclopedia web site (or even E-Tools, if it worked) for the type of program I hope is out there - if I select Magical Beast, the program should know all the non-variable rules that define that creature type.

PCGen is a feature-rich, well-supported product, and I have used it on occasion. But there are times when I feel it is a program written more for other programmers than the typical end user. In some cases I find it allows too much detail for my needs.

So, I'm still looking. I see alot of views on this post. Anybody seen the type of program I'm looking for?

 

[Sir Brennen]

PCGen bugs, too!

Okay, I got broke down and tried the Edit List tool for PCGen (5.6.0), tweaked a race, and tried to make a "character" from it. Had to try a couple of times, search through the Help files, hit the online tutorials in the Yahoo groups, read throught the PCGen forums... in short, give myself a crash course in PCGen .lst files.

I came away with - another potentially awesome but broken tool.

All racial bonuses to stats from my custom file get cancelled out by the "Other modifiers" column, leaving me with a flat 10 for all stats. All my saves are -5. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, as I found people with similar probs and that it has also been added as a bug on the PCGen site.

Not as big a deal, as PCGen is free, and as such, has an amazing amount of community support for it and its development. I'm just a little discouraged.

So... this is a rather elaborate bump to say... I'm still looking for a good monster making prog for 3.5 :\

 

[smetzger]

Have you tried this?

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/shadows/Handbook/MonsterCalc.html