How useful is HL for a GM?

[Meatpuppet]

Yeah it's awesome and the recently released Combat & Spell adjustments make it even awesomer.

The only thing missing IMHO is a better integration of the Dice Roller. It would be nice if it could "auto import" the chosen characters modifiers and add it to the roll. I know it may sound silly but when running a large scale combat with four players, wouldn't you rather click for a result than search for a modifier?

Making group rolls would also be spiffy. My DM job would be so much simpler if I could figure out with one glance which one of these 12 orcs (some having class levels) has survived the Fireball.

Just my two copper pieces

(And yeah a breakdown of attack modifiers would save me a lot of head scratching)

[FifthWanderer]

I mostly use HL as a Mutants & Masterminds GM. It's very handy for checking PC builds, and for creating NPCs quickly.

When I play Pathfinder, I use HL to keep track of my character. It made creating a character a snap! It wasn't without its hiccups, but overall I have found HL very easy to use.

[ShadowChemosh]

For myself I use it as a DM primarily to help my players have correct character sheets. I have all of my houserules and races setup in HL and it makes checking players sheets a snap. Instead of everyone having a different sheet and having to double check the math one thing at a time I just have my players send me their .por files and load it up in HL and it instantly tells me if something is wrong.

I have gone from taking hours to check characters to minutes so that right their is a HUGE saving to me.

I also use HL to create custom monsters. For example in Rise of the Runelords I needed a more bad-ass White Dragon for chapter 4. My players are WAY over powered for the module and their are 5 of them. So I was able to quickly add more HD, feats, and HP to a white dragon. This made the fight with freezemaw a awesome fight and the fact that it took just minutes of prep time to do was even better.

Also the still in development Realmworks is meant to interface with HL or at least use HL character files is a nice perk coming down the road. And that tool is meant to be 100% DM use.

[Nyarlathotep]

I sat down and used it a couple of weeks ago for an impromptu session. Only used the console for one combat, but it seems like it could be really useful, especially at higher level play.

Only downside was I'm not super proficient with it yet, so it seems slower for some things. Someone had mentioned hotkeys for it though, any ideas where I might find a list of them?

[djc664]

Originally Posted by Nyarlathotep

Someone had mentioned hotkeys for it though, any ideas where I might find a list of them?

That was me... it was a poor choice of words now that I re-read it. What I meant for HL's tac con was more getting used to what each icon and button on the display meant, and using the keypad to type in values where you can rather than clicking the value keys up and down.

Once you don't have to read the tool tips to remember what the button does, it goes a lot faster.

[Shayd3000]

HL is crucial for the GM. All PC's in my group are required to be created in it. I am running RotRL. I am not using the tactical console yet, but it is an option I am considering. If there were a way to tie the tactical console in with everyone elses character sheets then it would be worth having everyone else in the group buy teh program and start using it that way. Right now, everyone pretty much creates their characters and I enter them into HL to validate the build.

In a heomebrew I was running, the Bestiary stuff was a godsend. I was able to build several encounters up very quickly in HL, putting combinations of stuff together that took my veteran players by surprise and generated a lot of positive comments about afterwards. If I had been doing that manually, the encounter may never have happened that way because of the amount of time it would have taken to build them manually.

[Tordek]

Originally Posted by ShadowChemosh

For myself I use it as a DM primarily to help my players have correct character sheets. I have all of my houserules and races setup in HL and it makes checking players sheets a snap. Instead of everyone having a different sheet and having to double check the math one thing at a time I just have my players send me their .por files and load it up in HL and it instantly tells me if something is wrong.

I've just begun using hero lab and I am the GM of a group of experienced hero lab users. A couple of questions about this...
1) How do you handle any errors you receive (on loading) when you import the character portfolio they send you?
2) Will these errors cause their stats to be incorrect when you use the imported character in the tactical console?
3) If they have made custom items themselves, what should they send me so that I can add it to my system.

Sorry in advance if these n00b questions have been answered somewhere else before, I have been searching but have not found any answers yet.

[ShadowChemosh]

Originally Posted by Tordek

I've just begun using hero lab and I am the GM of a group of experienced hero lab users. A couple of questions about this...
1) How do you handle any errors you receive (on loading) when you import the character portfolio they send you?

The errors I was talking about was things like taking too many skill points or a feat that is not valid for them. I am pretty much the only one in the group that does stuff in the editor so my players use my data set so that we match.

Otherwise what your probably getting is just Source error messages which is not that big of a deal.

Originally Posted by Tordek

2) Will these errors cause their stats to be incorrect when you use the imported character in the tactical console?

It will depend on the errors. If you are missing .user files like it sounds like from #3 then yes it will cause some issue as those custom Things will not exist when you load it up. Including any custom scripts.

Originally Posted by Tordek

3) If they have made custom items themselves, what should they send me so that I can add it to my system.

They need to also send you any .user files that allow their character to be created.

Originally Posted by Tordek

Sorry in advance if these n00b questions have been answered somewhere else before, I have been searching but have not found any answers yet.

No problem ask questions as that is what this forum is for.

My recommendation would be have everyone in your group use the same custom .user files(the files made in the editor). This way everyone has the same sources and Things and you will be able to load up their stuff without HL errors.

This is why for my group I actually control the data set for the group so that everyone is using the same version of .user files and no issues come up then. So you may wish to do something similar or at least make sure your players send you their .user files along with the characters.

Hope that helps.

[Cutter]

Personally I find HL to be a fantastic tool for the DM. Keeping track of all the character builds and enforcing the rules becomes almost a no-brainer.

I have been using Tactical Console to run fights as well, but I find it actually rather cumbersome and a bit slow in actual game use.

My personal recomendation is currently to use HeroLabs for all character management, but run the fights with Combat Manager (www.combatmanager.com) which is freeware, and handles imports of HL portfolio's. It has a beautiful interface and is quick and easy to use.

So my choice of ultimate DM tools currently - HeroLabs for character creation, building and maintenance. Combat manager for handling actual combats. Using both side by side seems ideal to me.

[Shayd3000]

Thanks for the link Cutter! Will check it out!