If these are repeatable problems, log a bug. The shortness of two hps seems very odd though and definitely should be repeatable.
I'm tempted to log a bug anyway, but AFAICT it's not repeatable, and I can't really guess what would have caused it. When I rebuilt the character from scratch the max hp value came out correctly.
Okay, there's your problem. When you modify the level, you need to recheck the numbers. Unless a monster is created with all standard values (unusual), then it's possible to screw them up, especially with large changes. Changing the level (I think) simply raises/increases all the modifiers across the board. I've seen some screwing things, too, so I just do a quick double check and many times simply click the "reset" buttons for wacky values.
I think this may, in part, be due to "fiddling"; I think the monster in question I wasn't sure what level I wanted it at first, and I may have changed it's level several times, so it may have been a cumulative issue. That being said, I guess I'm just disappointed because I figured that the ability to rapidly raise / lower monster levels was the one thing the MB ought to be great for. Having to drag out the books and figure out what the damage expression is supposed to be means that I'm not only having to fight with the program, but also do all the work it's supposed to be saving me by hand as well... Or, well, it seems that way. I suppose I could just make a note of the damage expression and then "reset" it and see what the difference is, and decide if it makes sense or not...
Actually, a question: some monsters (especially MM1, and that's the only physical monster book I own) seem to have rather odd (or at least non-standard) damage expressions. I've been assuming that this was intentional, that there was some sort of balance at work between damage output, conditions, etc. Is this actually the case, or should I just be sticking to the standard expressions across the board? If it is the case, is there any kind of standardized rationale behind it?
Can you explain what you mean? What is power-point tracking? What is "do something cool" with regards to character creation? Quite honestly, though, I would much rather have zero support for houserules and instead add more tools or work on stability for the current ones. That's me, though, and I just make the comment to point out that different customers have wildly different expectations and desires. For example, a feature I would like is a DM's option for the CB that let's me group multiple characters' stat/skill blocks and print them all out on one page. Or, how about an encounter builder? Mapping tool?
First of all: I understand that I'm not the omni-customer, and I certainly don't expect WotC to drop everything to cater to my odd-ball game, I'm just expressing my opinions / wishes.
As to an explanation, these are things that I, personally, would find useful: Power Points as in Psionic characters, they are an important part of these classes, and there doesn't seem to be any way to track them / remind the player that "Hey! You've got these things, every encounter! Use them!" Likewise a reminder that the character can "do something cool" (see pg. 42 of the DMG) would be nifty. And zero support for house-rules would mean that none of the games I've played or run since PHB2 could have made use of the CB because of the ubiquity (or, at least that's how it appears to me) of handing out Expertise as a "bonus feat".
But, the ability to search monsters AND powers is pure gold. Making a monster from scratch is now very easy and enjoyable. Just find a monster "close enough" and then tweak his abilities and powers. Search the DB of powers with a keyword or 3 and then you'll have lots of cool options. Drag and drop the powers? Awesome. It seems like an obvious interface now, and makes me wonder why no one has done this for previous editions.
Again, I wish there was some sort of guide for this stuff, because I'm just not getting the hang of MB in particular. The search function seems useless unless you already know the name of the monster you want, and I'm finding trying to create a monster that is anything but a slight adjustment to an existing creature is difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. And apparently if the monster isn't already an appropriate level, it's even more work than I had thought.
I'm entirely ready to believe that I just haven't gotten the hang of it, but every time I try it just drives me up the wall. Maybe I'm expecting too much as well, I'm not sure. The main thing that the MB seemed cool for was that, by allowing quick and easy de-leveling, it increased the otherwise rather small pool of low-level monsters to something more useful. What I'm finding instead is that de-leveling a monster more than a level or two causes all sorts of problems, and trying to fix those problems just seems to make a mess.
But all told, I'd really miss it if for some reason I couldn't use the tools anymore. They turn what could be hours of scribble-work into something quick enough to tinker with on the fly. I can make a whole party of PCs in the time it'd take for me to do one by hand--and that means a lot to a workaday gamer!
I agree at least 90%... But I'm a bit nervous about "tinkering" with CB anymore. I now always make sure to crate a new save of any character before I do any updating and print it out with the changes (via CutePDF if I'm not ready to kill more trees just yet) before trying to save it. It seems like, especially if you try to retrain stuff, making too many changes can result in a bad save file. At this point, rather than actually use the retraining option in the program I just re-build the character from level 1... (Which really isn't a big hassle, in fact I find that the more stuff I have figured out before I open the CB the smoother everything goes...)
