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<blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 3186467" data-attributes="member: 9254">&quot;Hit Die:d8&quot; is pretty simple.&nbsp; Something like &quot;may use Reflex Save in place of Fort Save as long as they are wearing Light or no armor&quot; is a bit more complex and pretty much require pre-parsing the data by hand or an english-language parser.&nbsp; If you value your time at $7.50/hour, you are probably spending the equivalent of $40/book on your manual approach.&nbsp; At 5 books, you'd be justified in buying a $200 english-language parser.&nbsp; Me, I'd spend $100 on WotC data files and run PCGen but maybe you think DMGenie's interface is worth $100.&nbsp; And whose idea did you think that was?&nbsp; I personally do not believe that the CMP folks would have argued for an exclusive contract.&nbsp; CMP was primarily formed as a reaction to Wotc.&nbsp; As I understand it WotC felt that the PCGen datasets infringed on their copyrights&nbsp; but were willing to license them for sale to a company.&nbsp;&nbsp; Had DMGenie been there first and made the contacts with WotC, they may have acquired the license and PCGen would have been out in the cold.&nbsp; I think PCGen was a better choice for WotC since the software is free, unlike DMGenie, and combined with the R/SRD and OGL datasets, has a zero cost to new users.&nbsp; Really hard to argue with free.&nbsp; Of course, I also think that the only thing PCGen might have infringed on was Trademarks but it wasn't my call to make.&nbsp; Well, I suppose it could be my call.&nbsp; If I were really rabid about it and willing to face the lawyers I could put out my own LST files of WotC stuff stripped of trademarks.&nbsp; But I think my wife would smother me in my sleep.&nbsp; A &quot;lifetime subscription&quot; is the same as buying something.&nbsp; PCGen is free (no initial cost) and included the R/SRD and some OGL materials.&nbsp; For the price of DMGenie ($35) you can buy the 4 &quot;Complete&quot; books, PHB, DMG, MM, and Expanded Psionics.&nbsp; The cost of PCGen was definitely no hurdle.&nbsp; DMGenie may, or may not be better.&nbsp; FYI, there are apparently LST-&gt;XML conversion tools available.&nbsp; Maybe you can find an XML-&gt;DMGenie converter.&nbsp; If so, spend the ~$5/book and get the WotC data files from CMP; they are still for sale the next 9 days.&nbsp; I've always known that if I hit a wall I could just buy the datasets.&nbsp; Now not having that safety net is making me nervous and willing to consider buying several of the data sets.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kigmatzomat, post: 3186467, member: 9254"] "Hit Die:d8" is pretty simple. Something like "may use Reflex Save in place of Fort Save as long as they are wearing Light or no armor" is a bit more complex and pretty much require pre-parsing the data by hand or an english-language parser. If you value your time at $7.50/hour, you are probably spending the equivalent of $40/book on your manual approach. At 5 books, you'd be justified in buying a $200 english-language parser. Me, I'd spend $100 on WotC data files and run PCGen but maybe you think DMGenie's interface is worth $100. And whose idea did you think that was? I personally do not believe that the CMP folks would have argued for an exclusive contract. CMP was primarily formed as a reaction to Wotc. As I understand it WotC felt that the PCGen datasets infringed on their copyrights but were willing to license them for sale to a company. Had DMGenie been there first and made the contacts with WotC, they may have acquired the license and PCGen would have been out in the cold. I think PCGen was a better choice for WotC since the software is free, unlike DMGenie, and combined with the R/SRD and OGL datasets, has a zero cost to new users. Really hard to argue with free. Of course, I also think that the only thing PCGen might have infringed on was Trademarks but it wasn't my call to make. Well, I suppose it could be my call. If I were really rabid about it and willing to face the lawyers I could put out my own LST files of WotC stuff stripped of trademarks. But I think my wife would smother me in my sleep. A "lifetime subscription" is the same as buying something. PCGen is free (no initial cost) and included the R/SRD and some OGL materials. For the price of DMGenie ($35) you can buy the 4 "Complete" books, PHB, DMG, MM, and Expanded Psionics. The cost of PCGen was definitely no hurdle. DMGenie may, or may not be better. FYI, there are apparently LST->XML conversion tools available. Maybe you can find an XML->DMGenie converter. If so, spend the ~$5/book and get the WotC data files from CMP; they are still for sale the next 9 days. I've always known that if I hit a wall I could just buy the datasets. Now not having that safety net is making me nervous and willing to consider buying several of the data sets. [/QUOTE]

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