Community Files
 

First a big "Thank You" for the 5e data-set! I think it's great and I really like the UI and the editor. Very cool!

So, with the Community files, what can we add and what should we be working on?

To be honest, I am not sure what more we can add, (other than private files) and how much work we should put into it, if an official licence is within the foreseeable future.

While waiting I would say the "immediate" think to work on.. feats? :) There are not TOO many and it is something that everyone would like and not truly want to wait on.

I once thought the same when doing my version of the 5e Datafiles. Be warned a LOT of feats need changes in the general codebase of the dataset.

For example how do you want to implement "Dual Wielder" if you cannot modify the code for the calculation of the AC in the character sheet? And without the .dat files being available - as far as I understand - we cannot modify the implementation of the character sheet printout.

Or do I miss something obvious?

To some extent, extra specs might be the easiest to do. Though a lot of them also need change in the general mechanics. For example implementing the battlemaster would need some way to implement a Superiority Dice Resource for the Character Sheet PDF. And how should this work without access to the character sheets datfiles?

If the intention is that the community adds the Non-SRD-Stuff then I think we need a full .dat-file-release. I *think* the in-Herolab Editor cannot handle changes to the game mechanics or the character sheet.

Sorry if this sounds negative, but at least I cannot see how else to do this (of course this might be a bit a theoretical issue, as even if we had the full dat files the problem even for community stuff would be that - it is not in the SRD, and releasing the non-SRD-parts might get WotC against you :( ). I have to admit I was expecting more from the SRD, I had hoped EVERYTHING RELEASED FOR 5E UP TO NOW would be in it in some form.

If I wanted to do a WotC's-licence-violating community release, I could have done that months ago already. It IS sitting on my harddrive... (Well, not all magic items from DMG implemented and some other minor stuff missing...).
I had my hopes for a full licence-compatible version (either by Lone Wolf or by me, I don't care) which covers "everything 5e"... well, maybe my hopes where too high...

Best regards,
MagicSN

As an FYI, forum user (ShadowChemosh), offered to host any community files. Please PM him for more details.

Hi, Liz!

The problem is not so much where to host the files - the problem is as there is only this .pkg file available (no idea how to decrypt that format, probably an internal format of your company?...) and not the individual .dat script files, some things are not really implementable.

How can I change the character sheet PDF when the actual code for the character sheet is not available? This cannot be solved with the editor I think, the actual character sheet .dat file would be needed unless I completely misunderstand something.

Especially adding new features is an impossibility then, and also implementing some of the non-SRD things would be hard (and some might be not possible). But again, maybe I misunderstand some things about how this works (I have to admit in 4e/5e datafiles development I nearly never used the editor, I mostly worked directly with the .dat files - much easier also to see the whole overview if looking inside the text editor over the implementation, and I worked especially a lot with copy/paste/change).

I really want to help with the community stuff, but when I cannot look at the .dat files right now I don't know how I should do this.

Best regards,
MagicSN

Wouldn't a community file be breaking the SRD agreement with WOTC?

Regardless of whether Lone Wolf or just some community member hosts it, it will still be in breach of the SRD and therefore likely to attract the same attention that stopped people from releasing it previously.

Although if the file was able to be hosted on http://www.dmsguild.com/ then wouldn't that allow the rest of the rules to be used?

having an issue with the backgrounds on the character generation. It only shows acyolte and custom, I cannot get any other backgrounds or personality items to come up at all. Has anybody else have this issue and how did you resolve it. I have paid for the full rights for the system.

Acolyte is the only background in the SRD.
So if you want something else you have tho add a custom.
I put in Soldier for my Fighter and it took just a couple of minutes.

you have to use the editor if you want add other backgrounds or really anything not in the srd

Sorry, I didn't mean to get anyone upset. I just wanted to know what we can and should work on that would be ok to share with everyone.