[4e] Combat Tracker Utility

[fuzzlewump]

This is very nice Mortaneus, keep up the good work!

 

[Mercule]

Still loving the app. One thing we noticed last night, though, is that a Readied character can get lost in the shuffle if their action isn't triggered. For example, when using index cards, I'd just rotate the character's card and, if they were still readied on their next turn, I'd ask them if they wanted to remain readied or factor in again -- or just ask them what they wanted to do for their turn.

I'm not totally sure what I'd like to see done, but it would be nice to have some sort of placeholder for a readied character. I think putting them back into the initiative for their normal turn would be my top pick, but I could see a pop-up like the conditions save being appropriate, too. Not sure if the same should be done for Delayed characters or not -- I probably wouldn't, but it makes sense to at least consider.

The other thing I noticed was that the Initiative and Damage tabs look so similar that I found myself occasionally changing an initiative when I meant to be applying damage. I caught myself when I went to click "Damage", but there wasn't an undo for that field. Either having cntl-Z or Esc cancel a change or altering the layout a bit (maybe put the initiative textbox on the right of the buttons) would be helpful.

No big issues, but some feedback on a couple of minor things. Thanks for all the work.

 

[mac1504]

Still loving the app. One thing we noticed last night, though, is that a Readied character can get lost in the shuffle if their action isn't triggered. For example, when using index cards, I'd just rotate the character's card and, if they were still readied on their next turn, I'd ask them if they wanted to remain readied or factor in again -- or just ask them what they wanted to do for their turn.

I'm not totally sure what I'd like to see done, but it would be nice to have some sort of placeholder for a readied character. I think putting them back into the initiative for their normal turn would be my top pick, but I could see a pop-up like the conditions save being appropriate, too. Not sure if the same should be done for Delayed characters or not -- I probably wouldn't, but it makes sense to at least consider.

The other thing I noticed was that the Initiative and Damage tabs look so similar that I found myself occasionally changing an initiative when I meant to be applying damage. I caught myself when I went to click "Damage", but there wasn't an undo for that field. Either having cntl-Z or Esc cancel a change or altering the layout a bit (maybe put the initiative textbox on the right of the buttons) would be helpful.

No big issues, but some feedback on a couple of minor things. Thanks for all the work.

I've been meaning to stop by all week to report on my experience of using Mortaneus' Combat Tracking Utility, and I have to say that most of my experience can be summed up by Mercule's post.

I'm not sure how to fix the readied action part either, but I found on two accounts screwing up the entire initiative order due to this. And I also found myself making the mistake of overwriting initiative with damage and vice versa. I like Mercule's suggestion, and would also suggest just having the initiative rolls locked in until a reset is pressed.

Otherwise, I love the utility- it makes combat much more enjoyable, and my players were quite shocked when I told them that I would be running initiative (historically, they've always been in charge of that).

Keep up the good work!

 

[CAFRedblade]

I've been trying this wonderful program out with my group. And while I've run into the readied action issue/reset once, mostly by accident. I was wondering if it was possible to save an encounter in progress and reload it later with all the information intact. I tried it in version 1.33, but it only saved the Encounter group, not the current progress. Thankfully I took a photo of the current progress. Maybe I'm not saving it correctly, or it's not implemented, or even possible?

 

[Mortaneus]

Currently, the only information that is saved with encounters is the specific list of participants (with statblocks), notes, and custom names.

Actual HP/Status information is reset between encounters. I'll have to look into what would be involved in being able to save everything.

On a different note, I'm currently looking into the Ready problem. The main issue is that the Ready action is a really weird action...it's not quite a delay, and not quite a real action...you maintain your current place in the initiative, but your initiative is also in a state of flux at the same time.

What will probably wind up happening is that Ready will cease being an initiative status, and will instead become a special state that a combatant can be in...which will be cleared by them starting their turn, either from their initiative coming up again, or by the user hitting 'Move To Top' on their initiative.

I originally implemented it as a variant of Delay for ease-of-use, but that's not really quite the case.

Hopefully I'll have something soon.

 

[Mortaneus]

A new version is up, and in a new place!

Yep, I created a webpage for it...on the RPGnet Wiki.

You can find it here:

DnD4e Combat Manager Page

I'll be keeping it current there from now on, though I'll probably continue posting to this thread to notify of updates.


New Version: 1.4.2

(Mostly changes requested by various people in this version. Enjoy!)

Changes:
* Reworked Initiative and Damage tabs to be more distinctive
o Changed initiative and damage/heal entry boxes to be numeric up-down boxes
o Added 5 and +5 to damage/heal tab for fast values
o Added Surge and Maximum to damage/heal tab for fast values
o Removed Slay button to make room (just hit Max then Damage and it'll do the same thing)
* Added Feat line to Stat Block
* Altered Ready functionality to conform to the rules (it doesn't remove from the initiative structure anymore, just marks as *Rdy*. This will clear when next turn starts, or is moved to start of list)
* Several overhauls and cleanups to 'Start of Turn' functionality
* Changing a statblock in the library will now update current combatants
* Changed 'Undo Turn' button to 'Back Up', and reworked functionality (still doesn't undo damage/healing dealt)
* Moved 'Remove Fighter' button to Initiative tab
* Removed 'Roll Initiatives' and 'Reset Encounter' buttons from main screen. They are menu options under the 'Combat' menu, and don't need to be front-and-center, since they're only accessed twice a fight.

 

[Mercule]

Awesome! Those all sound like great changes. I'll let you know how it works.

 

[CAFRedblade]

Sweet Mortaneus, thanks.
I can't wait to try this out for my game next week.
Just finished tonight's game using 1.41.

Oh, quick question. Any chance we can copy a PC from the Character Builder into the tracker using RTF or something else?
I thought I'd ask if it was possible.

 

[Mortaneus]

Sweet Mortaneus, thanks.
I can't wait to try this out for my game next week.
Just finished tonight's game using 1.41.

Oh, quick question. Any chance we can copy a PC from the Character Builder into the tracker using RTF or something else?
I thought I'd ask if it was possible.

That's an oft-requested feature, and one I'm going to work on when I get time. Specifically, I'm going to add a feature where you can import a PC from the .dnd4 file that the Character Builder saves.

However, please keep in mind that while I can get a lot of information from that file, I cannot get the actual descriptions of powers, as those are not in the file. Those are kept internal to the Character Builder app.

Nothing I can really do about that right now, unfortunately.

 

[Erywin]

Awesome! Nice to see another update for this amazing program. Will try out the new version on Sunday and report back. So far it has made my DMing immensely easier, especially once the number of NPCs gets past 3 or 4. Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
E