Chrisalanh
First Post
I had planned to post all of this on the Fluid boards, but that doesn't seem to be an option right now. I had also planned for these to be separate posts for ease of subject-line browsing, which is why this is a series of short posts with subject lines.
Here's my list of suggestions. Bugs are in a different thread.
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Magic item type changes should be functional.
I can understand that implementing fully functional, user-created magic items would be difficult, if not impossible. Still, when simply copying an existing item into a new type, it seems like the bonuses should still apply.
My wife’s ranger has a belt of dexterity +5. We attempted to create this by changing the standard gloves of dexterity +6 to a belt (and reducing her base Dex by one.) As I suspected from reading these boards, the dexterity bonus granted by the gloves was not granted by the belt.
It’s not like we were creating a whole new, unlikely item here. We didn’t even try to change the stat bonus. Why is the item creation feature limited in this way?
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Lack of appearance and background information.
I am unashamedly more of a roll-player than a role-player. Nevertheless, the lack of any sort of appearance or background information seems like a big oversight.
Every character sheet I can remember seeing has a big block of stuff that I almost never fill out detailing the character’s point of origin, complexion, childhood friends, hobbies, and so on. While I don’t have much use for such stuff, I can certainly respect that some players do, and that it can affect the way they play and be useful for their DM to build upon.
Even discounting information about turn-ons and turn-offs, I looked in vain for a place to note that my dwarven monk is completely bald. This really seems like something that should be added to the character editor.
Fluid plainly expected there to be a place to enter at least some of this stuff - I just noticed spots for Hair and Eye color on the HTML character sheets e-Tools generates.
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No info on SA/SQs, cannot create new ones.
One of the three reasons I was excited about e-Tools was the race generator. I have a long-running game that has taken bits from all sorts of places, and I have a lot to convert to third edition D&D.
So I sat down with the race editor and began to create the Deodanth from the Arduin Grimoires. I came to an abrupt halt when it was time to choose the SAs and SQs. I skipped over to the Homebrew screen to create the Deodanth’s “Time Slip” SQ, and was distressed to find that I could not do so. I tried setting it up as a bonus feat, but the feat creator lacks the ability to make race a prerequisite. Without the ability to define new SAs and SQs, the race editor is of extremely limited use. Apparently I can create anything I want, so long as it uses only powers found in the Monster Manual.
What’s more, I was surprised to find that I could use the Light Bulb to get specific information on Feats, Skills, and Spells, but not on SAs, SQs, or class or race abilities. I mean, the feats and skills are pretty universal – creating just a few characters will get you a working knowledge of most of them. But class abilities you never need to worry about until you play that class, and monster abilities vary so much that each is nearly unique. It seems backwards to me that I can, with a few clicks, get reminded of the difference between Mobility and Spring Attack, while I have to break out the rulebook for details about a Gargoyle’s Freeze SQ.
This feels to me like an OGL issue, which is ridiculous (isn't it?) since this is a WOTC product.
--
“At the table” synergy bonuses
I completely understand why e-Tools doesn’t handle synergy bonuses that are situational. Yet these seem to me to be exactly the sorts of modifiers that get overlooked and forgotten, and I think they need to be on the character sheet somewhere.
So how about, if some skill grants a situational bonus to another skill, it gets listed on the Features screen? It could be an SQ for the character, or could get listed under a new “Skills” category. Having 5 ranks in Bluff would trigger a feature that lists '+2 to Innuendo when sending a message' and '+2 to disguise when you know you’re being watched'.
--
Unsizable windows
While I don’t think this is quite as heretical as the programmers who’ve pointed it out do, I did find it frustrating. I was using the software for two days before I found the tip line and light bulb button hiding down behind my taskbar.
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Make the DM sheet more useful
If the DM information sheet is going to print with the regular character sheets, why not have it include some other, usable stuff? I don't need to know how many times they fudged their rolls - I know my players, and we'll roll characters with dice and enter them in the software later. What I could use are AC, Listen, Spot, and Search values, and possibly Alignment and Dexterity. Also useful would be Flat-Footed and Touch AC, but those don't seem to be calculable by e-Tools (they don't appear in the stat blocks).
--
Character name should be on all printed sheets.
Is there any drawback to having the character's name appear on every page of their print-out? Between myself, my wife, and my sons, we're currently managing about a dozen characters, and we've barely started converting our old 2E ones or entering characters for my other players. That means we have big stacks of character sheets, and if the inventory page or the spell page gets separated from the stat page it becomes a real puzzle.
--
Extra-Turning is misleading on class features page.
Extra-Turning is listed on the cleric class features page, with this explanation, "With this feat, you can turn undead four more times per day than normal." This makes it seem like the cleric gets the feat for free as a class feature. It probably ought to be titled 'Can take Extra-turning' and read, "This character can take a feat which allows additional turn undead attempts per day."
--
Here's my list of suggestions. Bugs are in a different thread.
--
Magic item type changes should be functional.
I can understand that implementing fully functional, user-created magic items would be difficult, if not impossible. Still, when simply copying an existing item into a new type, it seems like the bonuses should still apply.
My wife’s ranger has a belt of dexterity +5. We attempted to create this by changing the standard gloves of dexterity +6 to a belt (and reducing her base Dex by one.) As I suspected from reading these boards, the dexterity bonus granted by the gloves was not granted by the belt.
It’s not like we were creating a whole new, unlikely item here. We didn’t even try to change the stat bonus. Why is the item creation feature limited in this way?
--
Lack of appearance and background information.
I am unashamedly more of a roll-player than a role-player. Nevertheless, the lack of any sort of appearance or background information seems like a big oversight.
Every character sheet I can remember seeing has a big block of stuff that I almost never fill out detailing the character’s point of origin, complexion, childhood friends, hobbies, and so on. While I don’t have much use for such stuff, I can certainly respect that some players do, and that it can affect the way they play and be useful for their DM to build upon.
Even discounting information about turn-ons and turn-offs, I looked in vain for a place to note that my dwarven monk is completely bald. This really seems like something that should be added to the character editor.
Fluid plainly expected there to be a place to enter at least some of this stuff - I just noticed spots for Hair and Eye color on the HTML character sheets e-Tools generates.
--
No info on SA/SQs, cannot create new ones.
One of the three reasons I was excited about e-Tools was the race generator. I have a long-running game that has taken bits from all sorts of places, and I have a lot to convert to third edition D&D.
So I sat down with the race editor and began to create the Deodanth from the Arduin Grimoires. I came to an abrupt halt when it was time to choose the SAs and SQs. I skipped over to the Homebrew screen to create the Deodanth’s “Time Slip” SQ, and was distressed to find that I could not do so. I tried setting it up as a bonus feat, but the feat creator lacks the ability to make race a prerequisite. Without the ability to define new SAs and SQs, the race editor is of extremely limited use. Apparently I can create anything I want, so long as it uses only powers found in the Monster Manual.
What’s more, I was surprised to find that I could use the Light Bulb to get specific information on Feats, Skills, and Spells, but not on SAs, SQs, or class or race abilities. I mean, the feats and skills are pretty universal – creating just a few characters will get you a working knowledge of most of them. But class abilities you never need to worry about until you play that class, and monster abilities vary so much that each is nearly unique. It seems backwards to me that I can, with a few clicks, get reminded of the difference between Mobility and Spring Attack, while I have to break out the rulebook for details about a Gargoyle’s Freeze SQ.
This feels to me like an OGL issue, which is ridiculous (isn't it?) since this is a WOTC product.
--
“At the table” synergy bonuses
I completely understand why e-Tools doesn’t handle synergy bonuses that are situational. Yet these seem to me to be exactly the sorts of modifiers that get overlooked and forgotten, and I think they need to be on the character sheet somewhere.
So how about, if some skill grants a situational bonus to another skill, it gets listed on the Features screen? It could be an SQ for the character, or could get listed under a new “Skills” category. Having 5 ranks in Bluff would trigger a feature that lists '+2 to Innuendo when sending a message' and '+2 to disguise when you know you’re being watched'.
--
Unsizable windows
While I don’t think this is quite as heretical as the programmers who’ve pointed it out do, I did find it frustrating. I was using the software for two days before I found the tip line and light bulb button hiding down behind my taskbar.
--
Make the DM sheet more useful
If the DM information sheet is going to print with the regular character sheets, why not have it include some other, usable stuff? I don't need to know how many times they fudged their rolls - I know my players, and we'll roll characters with dice and enter them in the software later. What I could use are AC, Listen, Spot, and Search values, and possibly Alignment and Dexterity. Also useful would be Flat-Footed and Touch AC, but those don't seem to be calculable by e-Tools (they don't appear in the stat blocks).
--
Character name should be on all printed sheets.
Is there any drawback to having the character's name appear on every page of their print-out? Between myself, my wife, and my sons, we're currently managing about a dozen characters, and we've barely started converting our old 2E ones or entering characters for my other players. That means we have big stacks of character sheets, and if the inventory page or the spell page gets separated from the stat page it becomes a real puzzle.
--
Extra-Turning is misleading on class features page.
Extra-Turning is listed on the cleric class features page, with this explanation, "With this feat, you can turn undead four more times per day than normal." This makes it seem like the cleric gets the feat for free as a class feature. It probably ought to be titled 'Can take Extra-turning' and read, "This character can take a feat which allows additional turn undead attempts per day."
--
