New update - v3.98 (beta)

Hi everyone,

In the run-up to working on M&M3, I went through my to-do list and implemented a whole bunch of requested features that could be useful in both the old and new editions. Given the sheer number of changes I made, I'd like to get a second (and third, and fourth) opinion before I "go live" with v4.0 of the M&M files. I don't want to accidentally break something and not be able to fix it for a while, so I'd like you guys to beta test the files for me.

You can download the beta version of the files here:

http://www.wolflair.com/download/hp/mutants_beta.hl

(Note: This requires Hero Lab 3.6c, which we also released today.)

Please take this for a test drive and let me know if anything is broken. I'm particularly interested in features that are working in the current version (v3.8) but are broken in this new version. (If you run into any of those that seriously impede your progress, you can just download the old v3.8 version from the updates mechanism and use it until I get stuff fixed.)

Here's the full list of changes that were made this release:

Enhancements & Changes

* Added an "NPC Power Level Scaling" feature. This can be found at the bottom of the Abilities tab (for NPCs only), and allows you to "scale" an NPC up or down one or two level at a time. NOTE! This is an approximate scaling process, so perfect results are not guarenteed - we recommend you scale an NPC up or down as a guideline, then tweak appropriately to achieve the results you want.
* Dynamic alternate powers now work! You can now choose the number of ranks to apply to each dynamic alternate power, and Hero Lab will verify that you haven't spent too many points on powers overall. The number of ranks allocated to each power determines the effects of the power, and can be adjusted up or down on the Powers tab.
* Added History Tracking for all traits. Mouse over an ability score bonus, saving throw, or skill, and you'll see a breakdown of everything that's currently affecting it, like bonuses from feats and powers. (Note that this doesn't include conditional bonuses that only apply under certain circumstances.)
* Added History Tracking to power point tallies. Mouse over any "power point tally" value, and you'll see a complete breakdown of what you spent points on.
* Added a "Stacks With" power extra, which lets you choose another power that this power stacks with. When a power is active, any powers it "Stacks With" are given a rank bonus equal to the rank of the stacking power. This is intended for when you have two versions of a power on the hero, one of which boosts the other when activated.
* Chained powers now correctly calculate their cost for the purpose of alternate powers. This means that you can add a power like super-speed, then go in and add alternate powers to the chained "Quickness" and "Speed" powers. You can even make the alternate powers dynamic!
* The Super-Speed power now chains in the Improved Initiative feat, instead of modifying your initiative value itself. This means you can modify the rank of improved initiative on the power, for an extra cost, if required.
* Being a construct now correctly adds a "Immune to Fortitude Saves" power costing 30 points, instead of making the Fortitude save cost -30 points, since this way is how it's represented in statblocks.
* Equipment is now displayed at the bottom of the Feats summary panel, instead of on a separate Equipment summary panel. This makes better use of the available space, both horizontally and vertically.
* Added "Throwing Distance" to the Special tab.
* Inactive powers are now greyed out on the Powers summary panel.
* A new "Reset" button appears on the Condition tab for each hero, allowing you to reset all conditions at once.
* Sidekicks, Minions, etc of NPCs now calculate their power level independently of their parent NPC.
* Added an option to display a hero image in printed statblock output.
* Added an option to include background details in statblock output.
* Added an option to hide feat descriptions in printed output.
* Added house rules for 2 and 3 skill points per power point spent.
* The Power Point tally breakdown is now printed on character sheet output.
* Movement powers now always appear in the specials list, even when they're not active. (If so, they're displayed in greyed out text.)
* You can now replace the Time & Value Progression Table and the Extended Range table with your own values in the editor, up to 50 ranks.
* Alternate power costs are now broken out separately on the Edit Power form.
* Top-level powers (i.e. powers which aren't alternate powers) are now activated by default when added. Alternate powers are still turned off by default.
* Added an Image tab for HQs, Vehicles and Mechas to specify images.
* Mousing over your toughness save, defense bonus, or attack bonus on the Abilities tab or Abilities summary panel will now display the maximum trait bonus for this power-level, and any trade-offs that are possible.
* An error message is now displayed if you don't cap your Toughness Save / Defense Bonus and Attack Bonus / Save DCs, since failing to do those can result in an underpowered character. You can turn the message off by selecting the "Hide Power Level Cap Errors" optional rule. (The message doesn't show up on printed output.)
* Added a condition for Total Defense, and the Improved Defense feat bonus now applies when you activated it.

Bug Fixes

* Fixed the spelling of the Japanese language.
* Certain skill bonuses (the Disguise bonus from Morph, Intimidate from Growth and Stealth from Shrinking) should not be capped by the power level limit.
* Equipment quantities now show up in output.
* Fixed an unclosed sequence in statblock output.
* Corrected the description of the Disguise Kit.
* A number of items were not flagged as being from the Mecha & Manga supplement.
* Some Chi Sense options were incorrectly appearing for Super-Senses instead.
* Corrected the descriptions of "(Saving Throw) Protection" and "(Strength Bonus) Strike". Also, "(Strength Bonus) Strike" may no longer take the Mighty power feat.
* Sidekicks, Minions, Duplicates etc no longer get Hero Points.
* Fixed some cases where hit points were not displaying correctly.
* Only top-level heroes may now take the Minions feat.
* Dynamic alternate powers now correctly display as costing 2 points (the display used to be wrong, although the correct amount was being charged).
* All "Damaging" power extras now interact correctly with partial ranks by lowering the save DC of their parent power.
* The "Affects Others" extras now correctly make their power Touch range.
* HQs and Vehicles can no longer take other HQs and Vehicles as equipment.

First off, thanks Colen. Love that list of things, how can I not since some of my stuff is there. lol So certainly I'll give it a whirl....or so I thought! <<cue dramatic music to co-incide with the crash of thunder and the flash of lightning>>

Anyway, now I'm feeling stupid as I've downloaded the "mutants_beta" file and placed it into Hero Lab\Download. Booted HL, no change. Removed the "mutants" file and try with m_b there. Nope. Renamed m_b to just "mutants" and again no joy.

So, I put the m_b file into Hero Lab\Data\Mutants and no change. Removed the "mutants" file and try with m_b there. Nope. Renamed m_b to just "mutants" and again no joy.

I've now put the original "mutant" files back and removed the m_b file.

I am using HL Version 3.6c.

So, what am I doing wrong?

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

Just download the file (it should be named mutants_beta.hl) and double-click it. Hero Lab will launch and offer to import the file for you, just like it does when you download it from the updates mechanism.

Colen said:

Just download the file (it should be named mutants_beta.hl) and double-click it. Hero Lab will launch and offer to import the file for you, just like it does when you download it from the updates mechanism.

Click to expand...

Thanks Colen, that worked. Guess I try to overcomplicate things when it is late at night. lol

I found one pre-existing character is now mysteriously 4 points over budget....going to pen, paper, & calculator check to check the math of the old character. If that comes out right then the cost of something must've changed between old and beta HL. I'll let you know what I find.

I see Jumping shows up in Specials and on the printout and I love the addition of throwing distance. Would it be possible to have the baseline (non-Speed) running values (MPH & ft/round) show up as well?

Please ignore the attached JPEG, that was before I found where you talked about the "off button" in the Configure Hero settings. Might I suggest that that be an optional "on" button instead?

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

Colen said:

Here's the full list of changes that were made this release:

Enhancements & Changes



* Added History Tracking for all traits. Mouse over an ability score bonus, saving throw, or skill, and you'll see a breakdown of everything that's currently affecting it, like bonuses from feats and powers. (Note that this doesn't include conditional bonuses that only apply under certain circumstances.)

.

Click to expand...

When mousing over the Ability scores (actually the bonus modifier below the score) gives an incorrect result: if you have an Ability (STR, CON, WIS, etc.) of 10 or 11, etc., the breakdown is showing "user (+10)" or "user (+11)" not "user (+0)" or "user (+1)" etc. If you've dropped an Ability to say 8 it shows "user (+8)" not "user (-2)"

Nigel Fogg aka The Wayfarer

I ran into a couple of issues briefly trying it before running off to work, although I'm not entirely certain what's triggering them. First off, the "power caps" check does not seem to be handling a character meeting caps by specialization. So, my guy with a +12 Strength bonus, 4 ranks of base attack, 2 ranks of attack focus (melee), and 1 rank of Attack Specialization (Unarmed), I believe he was being marked as not meeting his caps by two.

Secondly, and I wish I'd had a chance to zip up the file and send it, but I do have one character, Ubik, who somehow goes from costing 120 pp to costing 125 pp if I checkmark his Combat Powers container.

Can one of you zip up a file and send it where you get the chance? I checked the core archetypes and none of them had a problem, but it sounds like I missed something - it'll be a lot easier to track it down with a solid example that was already entered.

Thanks!

Can we have that 'Power Level Cap' warning turned off by default? I mean, it seems like it's indicating a 'broken' character when I haven't even built one. I'd rather it only showed up if I asked it to.

Just me, others can vote yea or nay, obviously

Edit- Well, I figured out where the check box was the third time looking for it. Sorry.

Colen thats an awesome list of fixes thanks and i dont mean to confuse things but i was reading through your list and got completely lost when i read the warning about capping saving throws and powers and such could you please pm me and explain? ty in adavance- also i read that strike strength bonus no longer takes mighty as it reads now the mighty feat says in order 4 str bonus to apply i need the str strike bonus to apply to all the traits so so should i now remove mighty from my current strike powers and just keep str bonus strike?

Also i noticed that as hero lab works now no warning is displayed when save DCs from powers etc exceed the pl limit (I.E. save DC max = 20 for PL 10) i was wondering if this was by design (consideing the core book clearly states that this is the rule- then immediately states that its up to the gm to enforce it or not-(paraphrazing there- Ive found out the hard way that strictly enforcing this cap seriously enhibits power rank (ie max pwr rank= no more then 5 at PL 10 in order to meet the save dc cap. )as i said HL doesnt violate me for going over that line...fine by meI caught it myself lol I was only wondering if this was an oversite or done by design to allow gm leeway?

ONE MINOR thing ID LOVE TO SEE= some images of the mayjor animal types for heroes who may have "pets"

* Only top-level heroes may now take the Minions feat.

What does this even mean? There's a level requirement for Minions? What about low-level but incredibly connected characters like the Pulp era Shadow? Or a villain who has a low power level but lots of points to send minions at his foes with?

@atlarman:
For a PL Y character, for each attack (including unarmed) that requires an attack roll, the sum of the attack bonus and the rank must equal 2*Y at most and many people argue that not having at least one attack that equals 2*Y is not meeting caps. Ditto with defense bonus and toughness save. What he added was displaying a warning if you do not meet caps. So, for example, if your only attack for your PL 10 character were a +10 DC 23 (+8 damage rank) attack, you're 2 pts under caps, while +12 DC 23 would be fine as would +10 DC 25 or +8 DC 27.

Your Strike comment sounds like you're referring to the DCA/M&M3E rules. The Hero Lab for that has not been released yet.

As for your second comment about Save DC, you can have ranks more than PL if the attack bonus is correspondingly under PL. See Page 24 of the core book for more details on Tradeoffs. Your comment about "no more than 5 at PL 10" baffles me. Could you explain yourself with an example? As far as I know, all fo the Save DCs are correctly implemented.

Shadowchaser said:

* Only top-level heroes may now take the Minions feat.

What does this even mean? There's a level requirement for Minions? What about low-level but incredibly connected characters like the Pulp era Shadow? Or a villain who has a low power level but lots of points to send minions at his foes with?

Click to expand...

If I were to hazard a guess, this means Minions and Sidekicks can't have Minions and Sidekicks, but I'm currently about 20 miles away from my copy of the software, so I don't know for certain.

Well I found something right away after downloading the beta- It completely deleted or at least ignored my heros pet rotwieler lol and yeah i got that friendly and annoying reminder that my attk bonuses arent 'capped' lol and i got something called a dependacy error"other hero" - im assuming its because of the pet i "had" oooh my poor dog! lmao
I even tried reversing this by re-downloading/importing v.3.6c but no luck lmdao!

Duggan-First off T Y for trying to clarify the caps thing- though for the life of me IDK where this comes from...the only thing i see in the rules regauding attack bonus is that at pwr level 10 your max attk or def bonus is 10 nothing i see mentions a 2*pl cap or a minimum or that ya need any attk at 2* pl - do you have a page reference mine is pg 17. (pocket players guide....probably close if not the same in corebook.)
As for save DCs- it does read on the table on page 17 "max save DC modifer +10 (@ pl 10) so when it comes to powers the max dc save ya can have would be 20 (if following this rule)
Lastly my "strike comment DOES NOT come from MM3- i havent seen that yet lol....it comes from both the txt under the mighty extra under stike and the discription of "STR bonus to srtike feat(or xtra ?) within HL itself.
Duggan: sorry dude ,I did not see the whole trade off section in ur post til after i wrote the last(yep i knew of trade offs but i was referring to the rule as isw/o trade( offs. AS for my max pwr ranks comment...i was referring to trying to keep the save DCs at 20 or lower(ie max save DC MODIFIER=+ 10 so total save DC(without trade offs) should be 20... now that im looking at it I see now that maxpower ranks would actually be 10 (powers save DC 10 plus rank. I must have confused this w toghness saves 15+ranks or something. If this is the case im at a complete loss to explain why i recently had to drop my mighty strike adamantine claws power down to 2 ranks in order to finally end up with a 20 save? IDK what's up with it.You should be alowed 10 ranks in a power and get a save DC of twenty. your right.

Duggan said:

If I were to hazard a guess, this means Minions and Sidekicks can't have Minions and Sidekicks, but I'm currently about 20 miles away from my copy of the software, so I don't know for certain.

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Ohhhh!

I thought it was a game 'Level' not a programming structure 'Level'. I was confused.

My bad!

Shadowchaser said:

Can we have that 'Power Level Cap' warning turned off by default? I mean, it seems like it's indicating a 'broken' character when I haven't even built one. I'd rather it only showed up if I asked it to.

Just me, others can vote yea or nay, obviously

Edit- Well, I figured out where the check box was the third time looking for it. Sorry.

Click to expand...

Well Shadowchaser, you're echoing my ealier comment on that. So that makes two of us voting for "off" by default. Hmm, I wonder how close that makes us to being the majority opinion?

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer.

Baki has +8 to hit and a DC 27 save on his unarmed strike as well as two non-damaging attacks with attack bonus +6 and DC 22, and yet is stated to not be meeting caps by 4. Ubik costs 5 more pp when his enhanced traits are turned on.

For Baki, removing Attack Specialization and buying up 2 ranks of Attack Focus (melee) does the same (which argues it's not just unarmed since then both the Trip and the Snare are +8, DC 22). Removing both feats and buying up base attack gets rid of the validation message.

For Ubik, it looks like I'm being charged twice for my feats. Turning on the Enhanced Traits adds 5 to my Feats value, for 15 to 20, odd since there's only 4 points of direct feats in the Enhanced Traits. and... ahah! It's the enhanced dodge focus and the enhanced defensive roll. I normally have 1 rank of Defensive Roll and 2 in Dodge Focus. These values go up to 5 and 3 respectively with the enhanced traits. The other feats probably aren't doing this since they're entirely separate while Defensive Roll and Dodge Focus are adding on to traits I already have.

^_^ Alright, on to check a few more of the characters.

the pet feat also seems to haxe vanished....its not even on the form for a brand new character to take...not to mention my existing chacter who had a dog is now supossedly in violation.

Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer said:

Well Shadowchaser, you're echoing my ealier comment on that. So that makes two of us voting for "off" by default. Hmm, I wonder how close that makes us to being the majority opinion?

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer.

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id prefer'off' default to that one too. in fact ive already hidden it and made that the default.