Critique my D&D tool

[eriktheguy]

You don't even have to print to PDF. When the printable sheet is rendered, every card is a separate png image. Just right click on the card(s) you want in your browser and copy or save the image, then place it in your document.

Thanks!

 

[Mechanimal]

It's definitely a great tool just from messing around with it for a bit. I haven't yet had the chance to use it in a game, but I will a week from this Saturday.

As for criticisms, or better yet, just suggestions:

• Resizable Sticky notes for labels above items, and just for convenience
• Way to select multiple items
• Maybe a way to snap things together for orders' sake

I resisted adding something like, "Add a combat manager/tracker," because I wasn't sure the direction you're taking the program, and that could be completely irrelevant. But, just for suggestions' sake, I wouldn't mind having all my eggs in one basket in this case.

Aside from suggestions, I want to thank you for the great application, and look forward to see where this is headed!

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Just trying it out, and it looks awesome - just for encounter design alone, its far superior to monsterbuilder (even the old one, given how easy it is to print of sheets with the monsters you need - well, in theory - see below ).

One thing, though... is it possible to program it to have more than one dice roller open? For example, it would be nice to be able to have a d20+ whatever open for one's attack, and a d8 + whatever open for one's damage.

Oh, and I guess another thing... is there some kind of guide as to what to type to get which icon? For example, if you type an "m" before a power, you get a melee icon... I was trying to get a close blast power, and couldn't figure out how to get it to work. Sure, I could pull up a monster with such a power and shift click it to find out... but a list of such things under the toolbox would be handy. Different icons for close burst and close blast would also be nice...

Oh, and one final thing, you might make "skill power" one of the autoprompts for "Class and level" when creating powers.

Oh, and I'm not sure why, but the numbers I got when changing the levels of monsters don't always jive from what I get when doing it in monster builder - for example, I bumped an Earthquake Dragon from 9 to 10, and got 212 HP (vs. 224 in MB), Reflex 22 (vs. 23) and Will 20 (vs. 22). Not sure why or whether you or MB is "more correct". It also doesn't remember if you've already clicked on the "high defence" button for elites and solos.

Likewise taking an Earth Elemental from 11 to 10 gave me 106 HP (vs. 11), AC 26 (vs. 25) and F/R/W of 23/22/22 vs. 24/19/21.... so something screwy is happening systematically somewhere.

I think I figured it out - it seems to be recalculating the monsters stats, which in turn affect their defences. Be nice if in the advanced options where was a "do not change" option in addition to the "pick high stat" one... indeed for all the options in the "advanced option" bar - I want to change the level of the monster without needing to double check I'm not changing its role, and stats, which seem to default to soldier and str, respectively.

Actually, leveling also doesn't seem to be affecting the plus to attack... not sure what you can do abotu that, though... though oddly the damage seems fine.

And... the rendering to print wouldn't work properly - I'm using IE, and all I get is those little boxes with red "x"s where the cards should be.

Oh, and one final thing - just discovered zoom out, which is awesome... but is/would it be possible to name the various screens in that view and/or have the background of the main screen match that in the zoom out?

 

[doublewumpus]

Hey guys, sorry for not answering, the latest update is taking a while...

I'll try to push out a hotfix for stickies that allows them to be resized soon. Later on they'll get cooler things like formatting, etc.

[MENTION=97538]Nullzone[/MENTION] Nice to meet you too! Hope you had a good PAX

[MENTION=81104]Dr_Ruminahui[/MENTION]
- The automatic stats button is most useful for creating new monsters. The rules for adjusting an EXISTING monster's level are different, and will hopefully be implemented soon.
- I need to add some help text to the monster editor, but you can look up all of the power codes here: Monster powers
- Not sure what you mean by having multiple dice rollers open? You can certainly add multiple dice rollers to the canvas...


A number of people have e-mailed me about this, so I should probably mention that you can rename/recolor spaces in the same way you edit cards (hold SHIFT + click). You can also drag them around to change their location.

 

[eriktheguy]

Keep up the awesome work! I just used this thing for the first full session, and it kicked ass. Combat is faster when I don't have so many papers. Thanks again man.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks muchly for the answers. Some comments back:

- that makes sense why the monster math is off. Looking forward to working with it when you have it all fixed.

- thanks for the link

- I couldn't seem to have multiple dice rollers open at once... I'll try again when I have a moment, then get back to you.

- Thanks for the heads up on renaming/recoloring spaces... but yeah, a little note at the top would be great.

- Any idea why printing preview screen was screwed up for me?

Anyway, thanks again for the hard work... its got a really nice interface.

 

[doublewumpus]

@Mechanimal (and everyone else who has requested resizable stickies):

Just uploaded a new version that enables resizable stickies. It doesn't support formatting or anything, but hopefully that will hold you over until I have time to rework the stickies more completely....

@Dr_Ruminahui The printing system uses a feature that IE8 only kinda supports (which is why most of the pictures look like red Xs). The good news is that IE9 fully supports dataURIs (Internet Explorer - Microsoft Windows), as do Firefox and Chrome.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I've actually had trouble trying to print; it opens the new tab with the print status, but it hangs at 0%. Tried on two separate machines. Both Vista32 w/ Firefox4.

To balance that complaint, since you mentioned that workspaces can be coloured and renamed and moved - it blew my mind AGAIN.

I'm using this to run my new campaign, and I can basically flowchart the entire adventure. It's awesome.

Is there a link somewhere to give you money for this? 'cause I wanna.

P.S. Beat THAT WotC!!!

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

Thank you so much for continuing to update this so quickly.
The way I use Power2ool most is to relevel monsters and then reduce their hit points and increase damage for exporting to my adventure docs. I would just use WotC's monster releveler for this purpose if it actually allowed me to edit them and then export in any useful manner.
So from my perspective, the most important update you should be working on is the math for changing the level of an Existing monster, with how it effects hit points, defenses, attacks, damage, and skills. I don't mind how the program currently gives you suggestions for the attack workspace rather than doing all the work internally, but the others should be simple enough to implement.

 

[doublewumpus]

I've actually had trouble trying to print; it opens the new tab with the print status, but it hangs at 0%. Tried on two separate machines. Both Vista32 w/ Firefox4.

Hmm. Worrisome. I've been trying to track that bug down for a while. Hrmph.

Is there a link somewhere to give you money for this? 'cause I wanna.

Awesome! I'll probably put up a donation link after I finish the next update. Need to think of a nice perk for donating, like unlimited spaces for a year or something....

Thank you so much for continuing to update this so quickly.
The way I use Power2ool most is to relevel monsters and then reduce their hit points and increase damage for exporting to my adventure docs. I would just use WotC's monster releveler for this purpose if it actually allowed me to edit them and then export in any useful manner.
So from my perspective, the most important update you should be working on is the math for changing the level of an Existing monster, with how it effects hit points, defenses, attacks, damage, and skills. I don't mind how the program currently gives you suggestions for the attack workspace rather than doing all the work internally, but the others should be simple enough to implement.

Yeah, the automatic stats button has been confusing people. Are the rules for monster level adjustment in the DMG still valid or are there updated ones?