Looking for a really good d20 Combat Tracker

[Kalex the Omen]

I'm looking for a program free- or share-ware, or even something more commercial that does Initiative and Combat Tracking for d20 games. I had been using the Initiative tab of GMGen (now included with PCGen), but there is a bug reloading the saved files and the programmers over at SourceForge don't seem interested in fixing it.

Features I am looking for include; the ability to save the adventuring party and reload the party; the ability to save the encounters (opponents) ahead of time and reload when the adventuring party is already loaded; the ability to import XML stat blocks (from eTools preferably); the ability to track duration and effects of multi-round spells and other effects; the ability to set surprise and flat-footed tags at the beginning of an encounter; if it tracked and divided XP as well it would be just about perfect.

Other non-critical features would be application of damage (opponent --> party at least, since my players still like to roll their own dice), but a simple damage entry method is fine, application of negative levels (in the form of a reminder to make the save at least), and anything else along the lines of bells and whistles.

I'm looking for something with a fairly shallow learning curve too. I don't want to have to take weeks to figure such a program out.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kalex the Omen

 

[DMFTodd]

DM's Familiar does all of that. It's commercial though, $29.95.

the ability to save the adventuring party and reload the party: DMF has a combat board that is persistent. So each time you start the program, the PCs would be loaded up. You can even quit the game in the middle of a combat and then, the next time you start DMF, the combat is sitting right there.

the ability to save the encounters: DMF does this in the Codex Tree. You can setup entire adventures in the tree. Each encounter can then have as many creatures of as many types as you want. When you drag an encounter from the tree to the combat board, it rolls inititiave for creatures, rolls hit points. Both of those being optional.

the ability to import XML stat blocks (from eTools preferably): DMF imports stat blocks. There are XLS sheets for PCGen and E:Tools specifically.

the ability to track duration and effects of multi-round spells and other effects: You can manually add durations to the combat board. When casting a spell for a creature, a duration is created automatically.

if it tracked and divided XP as well it would be just about perfect: DMF does that as well.

I'm looking for something with a fairly shallow learning curve too: DMF is a pretty basic type-in-what-you-want program. No scripting to learn, no goofy interface.

application of damage: DMF does that. You can manually enter damage to any creature/PC.


Your other options would be Roleplaying Master, DMGenie, and Crystal Ball (for the mac). All of those are commerical.

 

[soulcatcher]

What's the details of the bug? I'm the lead programmer on it, and I'll get something taht bad moved up to P9, and fixed before within a week if you can give me a full bug report.

Devon Jones

 

[Hand of Evil]

Have you looked in the download area: SEE HERE

 

[reveal]

HUGE second for DM's Familiar. Easy to use and it makes combat a snap to keep track of.

 

[Kalex the Omen]

What's the details of the bug? I'm the lead programmer on it, and I'll get something taht bad moved up to P9, and fixed before within a week if you can give me a full bug report.

Devon Jones

I reported the bug on October 30th. It is number 1057447. It has yet to be assigned, thus my assertion.

Kalex the Omen

 

[soulcatcher]

So the bug is now fixed. RC2 should contain that bug fix.

One thing to understand, is we try to get to things as quickly as we can - but bugs like this should always be repaired before a production release. As per usual, the beta/alpha releases are always riskier.

we opened a new bug, but I just closed yours now that loading gmi files is working again.

If it's not fixed for you ,please open up your bug again, and assign it to soulcatcher.

Devon Jones

 

[Aristotle]

DMF is a solid utility and given your requests it is likely the best fit for your situation.

I recently purchased DM Gemie. It has a slightly higher learning curve (depending on whether or not you want to get involved with scripting to automate feats and such that you enter into the utility). I went with it because I like how it tracks the parties items/load, lets me easily handle leveling the party, and lets me generate encounters (creautres with full class levels and such) on the fly. I'm two sessions down and, while I still have a lot to learn, I see a lot of potential in this little application.

 

[punkorange]

Do you all recommend DMF over DM Genie?

 

[reveal]

Do you all recommend DMF over DM Genie?

I do. DM Genie had too much of a learning curve for me. DMF was a lot easier to just jump into and start using.