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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Therigwin" data-source="post: 2009367" data-attributes="member: 6679">Ok, to start - Packaging - I give it a 4 out 5.  It doesn't waste space, has a nice look, etc. 1/2 point off because of incorrect system requirements. 1/2 point off because no warranty info card or registration card.CD - I give it a 3 to 4 out of 5. Because it appears that there may be up to 3 different version out there is one reason to go as low as 3.  The version I have is probably the more recent version. It contains the setup.exe and a readme.txt.  The readme.txt says that the CD should autorun and gives the correct system requirements.1 point off because the CD does not auto-run.1 point off because they had enough room to include the MDAC and Jet updates from MS on the CD as well as an update to IE 5.5 or IE 6 which is required for printing.Ok, onto the program itself.Speed - 5 out of 5.  I have a slower computer, below the minium specs (Pent II 300) and it runs very well.  Just a couple of pauses here and there, but I expect that with my PC.Interface - 4 out of 5.  I like the interface, but pop helps would be nice, and it was already mentioned, but the user entered ability scores on the roll is not the best.  Other than that, I find it very easy to use.Character Editor - 4 out of 5.  It does a good job with generating characters. Plenty of options for dice rolls of stats. My only complaint deals with the companions sections and poor implementation of Blackgaurds. I have sent these bugs onto Fluid and Wizards and hope that they get fixed.  Everything else works great (except for a few data bugs, but those are easily fixed.)Moster Editor - 4 out of 5.  This does a good job as well.  It has the ability to even generate treasure within the monster that matches the standard, or 10% goods, or whatever (based on the race file).  The only reason this gets a 4 instead of a 5 is that it does not give direct access to some of the fields that you can enter into the race creator.Race Editor - 5 out of 5.  This is where the program shines.  I have made a couple of custom races and they work great.  You can even enter in all the descriptions, etc.  The main problem is some of this extra info would be useful if it was linked to the monster or character that was generated with the race.Random Character Generator - 4 out of 5.  It uses the NPC tables from the DMG.  This gives you a fully equipped character. It then will assign a random race to it as well.  You can then go in and tweek it a bit.  The reason for a point off is that it is just the core classes.  It would have been nice to have some NPC classes mixed in as well.Random Monster Generator - 5 out of 5. This works great at generating a random monster.Treasure Editor and Random Treasure Generator -  4 out of 5.  It works great, but it does not allow you to put in % of goods, like you can do in the monster editor.  Again, this could be easily fixed in the patch since the program has the capibilty already programmed in it.House Rules - 3 out of 5.  This is where they could have spent more time. You can enter Feats, items, magic items, spells, gods, domains.  But the reason it gets a 3 is that most of the items you can't get to affect your stats. (Unless you modify the database directly with MS Access 2000 or MS Access XP)  But for the most part it is easy to use.Tables - Wow.  This is another part that is really cool.  I give it a 4 out of 5 because I found if you create random treasure in the table generator, when you launch the treasure editor, your treasure is blank.  But still, you can create almost any imagined treasure generator.Missing Features - Templates.  1 click templates.  This is the biggest missing feature.  However, there are some work arounds.  You can manual make the race file with the template applied to it.  Then you can use the table generator to switch out the race of a premade character.  This definitely sets the program at a 4 rating.  The other is really the ability to make items out of other materials (DMG pg 242), but Fluid is aware of this and is looking into some of our suggestions.  The only other thing missing is custom classes and PrC, no splat books, etc... But that was not promised with eTools, so it is not affecting my rating.  (On a side note, I did add the Shifter PrC from MotW directly in Access and works fine.)Die Roller -  5 out 5.  This is great little quick roll a bunch of die rolls.  Need to figure out an epic spell that does 24 d 8 + 20 points of damage, no problem.  I think this is one of the most missed features that is not talked about.  It works great for some powerful quick rolls.Manual / online help - 4 out 5.  A little difficult to read at times, but it does contain much of the information from the 3 core books.  The problem is that they need to update it with the errata.Overall - 4 out 5.  Sure, there are some bugs, but they are being addressed.  But this program does contain 95% of the functionality of the 3 core books.  When they get a patch out, then the software should really rock.Therigwin-------------"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." --  J.R.R. Tolkien</blockquote>

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