Is E-Tools worth it?

[sfgiants]

I still dm a 3.0 game and was wondering what people have experienced with e-tools? s it worth 30 bucks?

 

[caudor]

To me it is worth 30 bucks.

Some of the benefits are obvious...saves time, does the grunt work as far as rules crunching, creates nice printouts, easy to level-up, etc.

The aspect of eTools I really like is the data set expansions. When I buy books such as Expanded Psionics, the class books (i.e. Complete Arcane), etc., I can simply purchase the data set for eTools and wala---it's all there at my fingertips. I'd never find time to manually enter all this data myself, so the cost of worth it to me.

 

[silvermane]

Just a quick warning - eTools is starting up quite slowly when you have lots of datasets installed. But perhaps this doesn't concern 3.0 (there is a single bundle after all).

When I buy books such as Expanded Psionics, the class books (i.e. Complete Arcane), etc., I can simply purchase the data set for eTools and wala

This guy asked about 3.0, and XPH, CA etc. is not 3.0.

 

[Zulithe]

What I don't like about eTools is that, from what I can tell by the way their store is setup, you MUST buy the 3.0 dataset (as it is part of the eTools "core" product) and the 3.5e dataset is a seperate product which costs extra.

I would prefer to just buy eTools bundled with the 3.5 dataset and not have to pay for the 3.0 dataset as I will never use it.

Another thing I noticed when I was using eTools at a friend's house, is that it takes a while to "import" datasets. Depending on the size of the dataset, anywhere from a couple minutes to nearly 15mins or more (probably a LOT more on slower PCs; we used a AMD 2200+ based machine) Also, each dataset must be imported seperately (from what I could find), and if you are working with multiple settings (say, 3.5 and a seperate one for Eberron) then you'll need to import it to BOTH which doubles the time it takes.

 

[Mystery Man]

I like etools...now. I hated it before, but with the latest patch things seem to be working OK. A couple things it still doesn't do right are changing the CR for advanced HD monsters, changing the DC for some effects in the description for feats that would increase it...litting irritating things like that. But otherwise it's been a huge help for me lately, I would recommend it.

 

[kingpaul]

What I don't like about eTools is that, from what I can tell by the way their store is setup, you MUST buy the 3.0 dataset (as it is part of the eTools "core" product) and the 3.5e dataset is a seperate product which costs extra.

That's a WotC decision, since they own eTools. This very complaint was raised when 3.5 came out, and the above reason was the one provided.

Another thing I noticed when I was using eTools at a friend's house, is that it takes a while to "import" datasets. Depending on the size of the dataset, anywhere from a couple minutes to nearly 15mins or more (probably a LOT more on slower PCs; we used a AMD 2200+ based machine) Also, each dataset must be imported seperately (from what I could find), and if you are working with multiple settings (say, 3.5 and a seperate one for Eberron) then you'll need to import it to BOTH which doubles the time it takes.

This is also a common complaint. Its a function of how eTools was initially designed. CMP has been trying to revamp the code base as much as possible, but there was only so much they could do.

 

[DonTadow]

I own etools and a couple expansions and I have several other programs. The problem with etools is the price which sucks and the fact you have to by all the expansions. If you buy a lot of wotc stuff, that's great, but if you don't you're stuck programming it in.

I prefer dmgenie better, has all the same stuff and its easier to put things in. Plus it has such a rich community that just about every book by wotc can be found in the forum.

 

[kingpaul]

Plus it has such a rich community that just about every book by wotc can be found in the forum.

And that is illegal. The WotC books are IP of WotC, and to distribute WotC's IP, you need a license. CMP is the only company of electronic character generators to do so.

 

[DonTadow]

And that is illegal. The WotC books are IP of WotC, and to distribute WotC's IP, you need a license. CMP is the only company of electronic character generators to do so.

i"m sorry, not the actual book but scripts for content from the books such as classes, feats and skills. There is usually a password on the file relating to the book the material came from which means you have to have acopy of the book to install the data into dmgenie.

 

[kingpaul]

i"m sorry, not the actual book but scripts for content from the books such as classes, feats and skills. There is usually a password on the file relating to the book the material came from which means you have to have acopy of the book to install the data into dmgenie.

But that's still distributing WotC IP. Do the people doing so have a license from WotC allowing them to do so?