Obligatory E-Tools 3.5 Thread

Silvanos · Mar 17, 2004

I like Etools better than PCGen. For 3.5 it will cost you a few bucks to get the datasets...

Drew

Theocrat · Mar 17, 2004

eTools with 3.5

Hi all-
Well now that I've been using eTools for the past couple of weeks and have figured out that with Davin's eTools Helper and its database editor, things for eTools have been looking up. I too purchased the CD, but had always used Campaign Suite or just by hand for my NPC's. But lately, and now espically with the 3.5 add-on, I'm really enjoying eTools. The bad thing is that if you're using 3.5 eTools, and have the mega add-on pack for 3.0 you can't use that. So either they have to make an update or you'll have to buy it all over again. In either case, while I was using the 3.0 rules for my 3.5 game, I only used it to make monsters with classes - figured it was easier doing it that way then trying to figure it all out. Now that all those cool other books are removed, I don't get to use spells and such that were nifty and a suprise to the players.

But since I'm preparing a new Military themed campaign, I'm able to use eTools and ETH to make a few new classes, feats, abilities and so forth. I'm real disappointed that eTools hasn't incorporated all the features from ETH. I can't figure out why a separate program is needed - but then I don't do programming. It just seems like its a half way done project.

The other and most GLARING disappointment is that with all the other d20ish software programs there are others that input the information in and are willing to share it with you. With eTools, all I've heard is that you can't share information because then you are using IP. OK, sure I understand that, but then why doesn't WotC/AEG/K&C/Mongoose/etc go after all these fans of other software titles? I know that I did tons of inputing of information for Campaign Suite, and shared it with others on the CS yahoo group. I went looking for RolePlayingMaster stuff yesterday on their yahoo group and found all sorts of stuff. But when looking for eTools stuff that is non-WotC, I've been told that I can't share it, others can't/won't share it. Granted, CMP is looking out for themselves by saying that they can't share things - because of the PC Gen issue that they had, but I find it odd that if I input the AEG mercenaries classes, feats, equipment, etc. I can't share it with another person due to IP issues. I don't know anything about OGL/d20 or other law, but that just seems stupid. If I were a company, I'd want others to use my information in a program - someone in your group uses it, see's it and wants more information about the class - they may be tempted to buy it.

ok, that's my rant for and against eToos.

lordvorlek · Mar 17, 2004

Ok, so i re-installed my E-Tools and updated it to 1.4.1. looked it over again,, i have one question for anyone who has it and the packs. If i wish to create a +2 amulet of natural armor & +2 health, and equip it, how can i do that?

AutoSponge · Mar 17, 2004

Biggest failing of e-tools is you can't apply a template.

Silvanos · Mar 18, 2004

AutoSponge said:
Biggest failing of e-tools is you can't apply a template.

Templates are in the 1.5 patch. 1 to 2 months out.

mattcolville · Mar 18, 2004

I bought it recently and was very dissapointed. The first thing I tried to do with it (create a human Rog4 with the Lycanthrope, Fiendish, and Revenant template) could not be done.

Still foolishly hopeful, and impressed with the sheer amount of data in it, I tried to show it off to one of the two groups I GM for weekly. One of the players is running a Ghaele from Savage Species and I said "Hey, you can do your character with eTools!"

He came over and I fired up the app, only to discover indeed, no, the program does not handle racial levels that don't grant hit dice.

So...I guess it does a lot? Maybe? I guess that's nice. Still...I'd be a thousand times happier if it did what I needed.

kingpaul · Mar 18, 2004

mattcolville said:
I bought it recently and was very dissapointed. The first thing I tried to do with it (create a human Rog4 with the Lycanthrope, Fiendish, and Revenant template) could not be done.

Templates have never worked in eTools; the code never supported it. CMP has a work-around that will be going into the 1.5 patch that should be out in the next month or so.

mattcolville said:
He came over and I fired up the app, only to discover indeed, no, the program does not handle racial levels that don't grant hit dice.

Another known issue due to code limitation that CMP inherited. I don't know if there's a work-arond to this functionality or not.

Kid Charlemagne · Mar 18, 2004

Well, expecting it to handle Savage Species rules when it was created before Savage Species came out is a little unfair. And the template issue, while VERY big, has been known about since the initial release. It should not have been a surprise.

As Silvanos said, the template issue is being worked on and is hopefully near being fixed. I don't know what to make of the Savage Species - I know CMP has many add-on packs, but I suspect racial levels is something that might be difficult to handle without getting into the code.

kingpaul · Mar 18, 2004

Kid Charlemagne said:
As Silvanos said, the template issue is being worked on and is hopefull near being fixed. I don't know what to make of the Savage Species - I know CMP has many add-on packs, but I suspect racial levels is something that might be difficult to handle without getting into the code.

Well, just read this thread. It appears that 1.5 will take care of racial levels as well.

mattcolville · Mar 18, 2004

Kid Charlemagne said:
Well, expecting it to handle Savage Species rules when it was created before Savage Species came out is a little unfair. And the template issue, while VERY big, has been known about since the initial release. It should not have been a surprise.

When the site says "Buy this Savage Species dataset!" it does not then go on to say "Does not support racial levels." When it says "Eletronic Aid for D&D 3.5!" it does not then go on to say "Does not support templates." So, obviously it will be a surprise to any new customer, yes? Or are CMP deliberately trying to sell exclusively to those people who've been following the history of the product since it was released?

In fact, as you wind your way through their online store, there's NO product description at all. No list of what the product does or more to the point, doesn't do that you'd expect it to.

If you go out to buy a new TV, and bring it home only to discover it doesn't tune in channel 11, wouldn't you be kinda pissed? And would people saying "Well, these TVs have never tuned in channel 11" be, like, helpful or insightful or meaningful to you in any way? And wouldn't you think it was extremely disingenuous for a company to sell a TV that didn't tune in channel 11 without SAYING so up front when you tried to buy it? I'm not asking for progressive scan or component video, I'm asking for the basic functions of a TV. Which, in D&D's case, means the core rules. Which means templates. I'm nowhere near as dissapointed that it doesn't provide template support as I am that the guys who sold it to me were happy to do so without bothering to point that out on the product's page.

Telling me the TV has never tuned in channel 11 is, obviously, just going to piss me off because it presumes it's ok for a company to make such a product without telling you it doesn't perform the basic functions you're looking for.

It seems as though everyone assumes that CMP isn't a real company, and eTools isn't a real product. That they're just a bunch of guys trying to hack Fluid's product until it works. So it's ok that they don't bother to run their store like a real company's store.

But, gosh, they sure SEEM like they're really trying to sell a product on their site, and they sure took my money. I didn't consider that a donation to the cause.