How to apply a Campaign House rules to a race

[dgagnon99]

I did ask this question a while back, but I never did follow up until now. In our current D&D 3.5 campaign, I am currently playing a Drow. My DM wants me to use the Drow as defined here: http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Drow_%283.5e_Race%29

Is it possible to create a House Rule file that will allow to apply the different changes between the Drow race as per the link without having to create a new race entry within HL? If not, I am looking for suggestion on how to create this variance of the Drow for inclusion with my HL (also need to provide a copy of the modified files to my DM).

I am using the Community Generated 3.5 D&D data set (latest version).

Thanks,

[Sendric]

Without seeing the differences, you can use preclude to remove certain things that would be removed, but if you are adding things you'll have to edit the race. At that point, it might be easier to just create a new race.

[dgagnon99]

@Sendric,

As I see this as a possible learning experience into HL, How do I start with creating a new race that is compatible with the d20/CG 3.5 data sets? I have looked at the template example with Savage Lands, but I would prefer to learn with a data set that I am more familiar with.

Thanks for any help/suggestion you might provide.

[Sendric]

If you have the community set, you can create a new .user file for yourself and do new (copy) in the race tab. Look for drow, select it and you're halfway there. If you don't, you can still use new (copy) but I don't think drow would be available. You could do Elf instead, but you'd probably need to do more changes. Give it a new thingid, and save it. Then you just need to see what's being bootstrapped, and determine what needs to go. Remove the unnecessary specials, then figure out what needs to be added. You can make those in the specials tab, then bootstrap your new items to the race. If you need help with specifics, just post it, and someone will surely help you out. You can also look at other specials using new (copy) or simply open up the 3.5 - monster manual file in the editor (assuming you have the community set) and see how the specials there are done. I haven't taken a close look at this specific drow race so I don't know how different it is, but I don't imagine it would be too much. Let us know if you need any help, though!

[dgagnon99]

I have created the new .user file and added the drow info from Monster Manual 1. I have change the thing id so I could avoid any potential conflict if HL try to compile my new .user file.

I am currently going through the bootstrap, but I would like to understand where to find the thing id "rDrElf", which is part of the group "SpecSource" so I can complete my comparison.

I would be also curious as to how to add a language that is not part of the srd_language.dat (i.e. Beholder).

Thanks,

[Sendric]

There is a language tab in the editor. It's pretty easy to set up new languages. Do you have the community set? You can look at the files there to see how others did things.

[Aaron]

SpecSource is the Group ID of a set of tags (tags that indicate what source adds the tagged special), while rDrElf is that specific tag (which has the same Unique ID of the race).

So for example, the dwarf race (rDwarf) will have racial specials with a SpecSource.rDwarf. Similarly, class abilities attached to the barbarian (cHelpBbn) class will have SpecSource.cHelpBbn

[dgagnon99]

So I created a thing ID rDrElf3 for my race variant. Should I Replace the Thing Id "rDrElf", considering that there is already a Thing Id "rDrElf2" that is also replacing the rDrElf. I have tried and got the following error message "Duplicate attempt to replace thing 'rDrElf' by things 'rDrElf3' and 'rDrElf2'. If I don't replace thing rDrElf, than many of my Bootstrap that are tagged to rDrElf don't really work.

As my goal is just to add my campaign variant of the Drow and not to replace the one created by the Community Created data set, I am interested in your suggestion/comment.

[Sendric]

You can't have two things replace the same thing, so that's not an option. You would have to replace the community version instead to only have one drow race option. There is another option, though. Create a source for your new drow race. Something like "My House Rules" or whatever you want. Then, in your .user file, go to the Preclude tab and create a new entry. Enter rDrElf2 as the thingid and your source id. Then, when your source is selected, only your drow race will be available.

example of a source id would be CompPsi for Complete Psionics.

[dgagnon99]

Got it working with the proposed changes. It is not complete yet, but that was a big step forward for me. Thanks.

I am certain I will have more questions later