Character Generator

[jontherev]

From what I can tell, 4E overall looks very promising.

Having said that, I wish I could pay a one-time fee for a GOOD character generator that actually works. I do not want to pay a monthly fee to play D&D and do not care about online stuff. I do not want to buy ebooks either.

I would also pay an extra 5 bucks or so for a patch release with each supplement that I buy that updates my character generator. I guess this is a pipe dream. :\

Am I the only gamer with these needs/wants? Everyone I game with wants this, not some monthly online stuff that we won't even use. And noone I game with wants an ebook either. Sorry if this has been discussed to death already, and yes I know some gamers have different needs than us.

If I'm reading this information correctly, it appears as though any gamer who wants to buy actual books for supplements is SOL as far as having an updated character generator goes.

Here's to hoping there's an excel wiz out there who doesn't have a job or a family and can make up a nice generator for the rest of us.

 

[psionotic]

I don't have a link handy, but I had thought that I read that the character vault through gleemax would be free to all... If that's so, there must be some way of posting characters up there, maybe a stripped down version of the generator will be free...?

 

[jontherev]

I'd love a link if I'm off base here...from what I've gleaned, only the core rules will be available to non-monthly-paying folks. For those of us who buy supplements, we are out of luck. So, basically if you do not pay the monthly fee for D&DI, you will only be able to generate characters using the core rules.

I would pay at least $75 for a character generator that works and is updated with each supplement in a timely manner. Am I asking for too much here?

 

[RFisher]

Having said that, I wish I could pay a one-time fee for a GOOD character generator that actually works.

I want a game for which character creation doesn't benefit from software.

 

[hopeless]

Character creator

I'd expect to be able to create a character without having to pay a monthly amount unless I had to use the online facility after all does this mean the dm of the game has to delay the game whilst programming in the character of their pc's because someone at WOTC decided it would be a neat idea to force people to pay for something that could encourage to WANT to do so, but didn't because they didn't want to pay $10 or so a month for a single character for example?

And by online I mean want to run a game myself or participate but don't have access to a group locally rather than accessing the site to create a character so I can print off a copy to show what my character looks like but don't have the requisite artistic skills to do so normally.

 

[Glyfair]

I'd expect to be able to create a character without having to pay a monthly amount...

A couple of my friends use a character generator that he has used for every system he has ever played (and he has played a lot). It;s paper & pencil. Yes, he insists on creating every character with paper & pencil, and won't touch a computerized character generator.

 

[jontherev]

I want a game for which character creation doesn't benefit from software.

What do you mean? How can character creation benefit from software if it's following the same rules that are in the book?

 

[Christoph the Magus]

I posted something very similiar to this a few weeks back. I am VERY concerned about the character generator option, as Etools is the only thing that has allowed me to DM 3.0/3.5. I'm not interested in a subscription, so a character generator as a stand alone product is a must for me if I'm going to convert.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

What do you mean? How can character creation benefit from software if it's following the same rules that are in the book?

I think what he means is he wants a game system that's not that complex that you feel you need a computer just to create a new character.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Pretty much everything I've heard about the character generator is that it will be very tied to online, since it will basically auto update with every feat, skill, spell, prc, etc that comes out. I gathered that it was likely all the information would be stored online and the character creator would check online for the list each time you clicked on the "feats" tab, as an example.

This way it would be able to see which products you had registered and give you full information on the books you paid the "registration fee" on.

And, given that it is pretty much the biggest part of the D&D Insider service from everyone I've talked to(both in terms of the amount of effort on WOTC behalf in order to get it finished and how much people want it), I doubt they'll let people pay once for a product that continually updates itself for free.