Standardizing Spell-Like Abilities
One of my biggest concerns about Spell-Like abilities has been that the current method of creating them (in d20, Pathfinder has a system that actually has a tab for them, jelly) is very time consuming. Making each ability a Special with a charge attached to it just seems like alot of clutter. Creatures that have a vast number of SLAs create a glut on the Tactical Console (or even the In Play tab). After a great deal of experimentation, I came up with a method in which I only had to make one Special (the description of the SLA itself, with the list of spells) and then bootstrap the actual spells to it. It is still time consuming, because you have to make copies of the actual spells themselves to bootstrap to the SLA Special, but I streamlined it so that it's just a bit of copy and paste for the code. Here is the process.
First, you'll need two pieces of code. On my computer, I have this code in a text file in the background while I have HL open. Whenever I need it, I copy & paste it into the Editor.
Code:
<<Post-Attributes (Users) 5000>>
~ Livename the spell-like ability.
if (field[sCastLeft].value = 99) then
field[livename].text = field[name].text & " (at will)"
else
field[livename].text = field[name].text & " (" & field[sCastLeft].value & "/day)"
endif
~ Check against daily castings.
field[sCastLeft].value -= field[sCastCount].value
Code:
<<Pre-Levels (Users) 10000>>
~ We need to have a caster level for spell-like abilities.
perform hero.assign[Hero.Caster]
Next, once you have these in a easy to access text file, you will need the spells. Note, once you make a spell available as a SLA, it can be reused by any other creature with a SLA (essentially, you don't have to make a new version, it counts for all SLAs no matter which creature has it). So, for each spell in the SLA of the creature, make a copy of that spell on the Spell tab, choosing the spell for the Sorcerer, then Bard, then Cleric, then any other spell class, in that order of priority (essentially, SLAs are closer to spontaneous casters than any other) until you find the spell. Use the copy button on the spell, give it an ID appropriately (I use sRacexxxx as the ID, but maybe you would use sSLAxxxx or something similar). Now go to tags and remove the sClass.<Class> tag from the spell (it will now list a Source of "-None-". Then copy and paste the first piece of code into an eval script with the supplied timing. Do this for each spell on the SLA list fo the creature (unless you've already done the spell previously).
Go to the Special tab, and create the SLA for the creature (you will have to make an SLA Special for each individual creature unfortunately). I always call the ability "Spell-Like Abilities" and select the Source as the creature race and designate the Ability Classification. I fill out the description as the creature has it (without the DCs), as in this example for a Drow.
Code:
1/day - {i}dancing lights{/i}, {i}darkness{/i}, {i}faerie fire{/i}; Caster level equals the drow's class levels. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
From there, copy & paste the second code above into the eval script with the specified timing. The tedious part is next, you now have to bootstrap each spell to the SLA Special, and for each spell that is bootstrapped click on the Fields... in the spell's bootstrap and insert sCastLeft with the number of times per day it can be cast in the Value box (enter 99 if the ability is at will).
Once that is done, you can bootstrap the SLA onto the creature it was made for. Now the SLAs will appear in the Spells list and no longer uses the Charges list to clutter up your Tactical Console.
Standardizing the SLAs in this way has cut waaay down on the amount of time it takes me to make the SLAs for creatures. The more spells I create for the SLAs reduces the amount of time I spend on future SLAs, since the spell I'm looking for can be re-used in any SLA, so the more I make, the less I have to make later. I tend to only make the ones I need (so I don't do every spell, just the spells I need).
One other note, there are some Supernatural abilities that often duplicate the effect of a spell. I don't recommend creating them the same way as SLAs, as they are better suited for making them Specials with Charges. Supernatural abilities are not spells. Stay tuned for more.