Is etools worth it now?

[Gundark]

with the patches and updates, is it worth the $$ to buy etools?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I asked a similiar quesiton not too long ago and got moved to the electronic forum where it died a quite death.

From what I understand, the company is coming out with another engine. Don't know what that means for e-tools though.

 

[Psion]

For making characters and creatures using the core rules or any add ons you purchase, it's 1000 times better than it was before.

The only real limitation I see that it's hard to input new classes... you have to rely on a third party app that is not exactly easy to use. Templates and whatnot work, though.

 

[shady]

It's good, and well supported. Updates come out about once a month, and there are add-ons for almost all the WotC D&D books (they will catch up around March, apparently). They support a choice of 3.0 and 3.5 rules modes (and recently also added Eberron and Dragonlance), and they have also converted most of the 3.0 books for use with 3.5. All datasets are approved by WotC (which causes a slight lag) but it maintains a certain level of quality and means everything is official and above board.

Support for non-WotC stuff is patchy but "coming soon" ... as Psion says, adding certain things can be difficult ... you can create new creatures, templates, etc. (and can hack in new classes) but adding certain things like special attacks can be difficult, so the process can break down. Also more complex parts of some books (parts of Unearthed Arcana for example) aren't supported, they tend to release a book and then you get increments of function through the updates.

They are indeed writing a new engine, which will apparently support non-Windows systems and non-D20 gaming systems. I seem to recall that the datasets will be upgraded at no cost.

Personally, I think it's the best electronic D20 tool on the market. It can be expensive having to buy all the add-ons, there are some good bundle deals but new books are only sold singly and are about $5 each.

 

[The_Gneech]

I use it with ExPsiHB and CW added, and am very happy with it. (I expect I'll be adding Complete Arcane in the not-too-distant future, as well.)

-The Gneech

 

[Breakdaddy]

The newest patch, 1.5.666 is being touted as the final patch for etools. It has come a mighty long way and is now my primary resource for NPC generation and quick on the fly monsters (complete with class levels and/or templates as needed). I can create on the fly treasures randomly and roll my dice on the laptop. It is truly a laptop DMs best friend. Even if you are sans laptop at the table, its character generation is very good and aside from some minor glitches sometimes has become a reliable tool for creating PCs as well.

 

[Henry]

Word of warning: Codemonkey Publishing, the publisher of E-tools, is working on releasing something called RPG tookit, this year, at which time they cease all active support of e-tools. If you can survive a short while without it, I'd keep an eye on their website and forums for information on RPG Toolkit. If you don't feel like you'd be cheated by buying now, however, I hear it's a quite good product now, with all patches in place (Eric Noah recommends it ) PCGen is also available, and worth checking out, is free to use, but is not recommended for all users - it's well worth a look-see, however.

 

[Vascant]

I would have to say, be sure you know what you are getting before you go spending money. I won't say it was a mistake because I did learn a few things but over the course of 2 years I have paid for all of the major products available and in the end, nothing beats pen and paper. Now I am not blasting at CMP or anyone else but thats my point, they don't work for me and the only way I know that is because I tried them. Now for someone for the person in CMP who handles GUI design, they might be perfect for him. Gaming is so based on your own personal style it is impossible to get right. So unless you know for certain why you need it and what it will do for you, know that the odds are against you.

One key thing is house rules, if your game has them then there is a pretty good chance software won't be able to handle them and from personal experience, adding information from Dragon is less then, fun.

 

[Gundark]

so I can buy etools from my LGS and then get the patch (which I'm assuming is the 3.5 update). Or buy it from codemonkey as a download with the patch. then you can buy updated patches that include info from other books (ie. 3.5 psionics book).

Question:

Can you add your own classes (ie. I play an Iron Kingdoms game and would be interested in adding classes from that setting)

 

[Vascant]

Don't know if it can handle IK classes, though I do know someone who plays IK and can ask them if they ever tried. I do know it has some issues with classes from Dragon from personal experience.