2018-03-14 Update - Build 1E8AE85

[Joe]

This major update for Hero Lab Online includes new NPC creation, now in Early Access. Please keep in mind that Early Access functionality is unfinished, subject to change, and potentially unstable, so any NPC character data you create during the Early Access period may be lost. We'll be continuing to refine NPC functionality moving forward, and once it is in a good spot, we'll take itout of Early Access, and these caveats will no longer apply.

Upcoming features similar to the HL Classic "Tactical Console" and other Player/GM interactions are still on our roadmap. NPC early access is primarily intended to get everyone kicking the tires on NPC creation mechanics, but we know there is still much to be done to get NPCs fully integrated into your games.

Major New Features

• Adds the ability to create NPC characters
  • Note that while all non-demo accounts have the ability to create NPCs, a significant number of options require Alien Archive to be purchased to unlock them
• Adds the ability to create Summoned Creatures as characters (Alien Archive required)
• Adds a new character selection screen that works better for large numbers of
  characters
  • Makes companion characters more obviously 'secondary'
  • Automatically groups characters based on metadata (PC, NPC, etc). In the future this will be expanded to a more freeform organizational system.
  • Adds a Starfinder Society badge indicator for SFS characters
  • Adds filtering selections to the character selection screen, based on thetraits of each character type
  • Adds helpful description for character types when creating a character
  • Adds a notice on the character creation screen for any character types that aren't available for a demo account
• Adds the ability to generate a statblock for a character to the application gear menu (upper right corner)
  • Available formats: Text, HTML, BBCode, WikiText

Changes and improvements

• Adds a validation report button to the right side of the app header, next to the Characters button. This report shows all validation issues for the entire character in one place for easy reference.
• Allows loose armor upgrades, Solarian weapon crystals, and weapon fusions to be moved from the hero to an appropriate armor or weapon.
  • Note that moving a weapon fusion to a weapon incurs the same cost that moving fusions between weapons already does.
• Allows armor upgrades, Solarian weapon crystals, and weapon fusions to be moved from the armor/weapon they are installed in to the hero.
  • Known Issue: Adding a weapon to powered armor, then moving it to the hero adds a second set of "free ammo", when it should not. As a workaround, you should delete this additional ammo. This will be fixed in a follow-up release.
• Adds spell DC information to the play tab and spell detail, if applicable

Application Bug Fixes

• Fixes a spell level selection not showing up for variable-level purchases like the spells in spell gems
• Fixes cases where nested details pages (such as for item materials) could show the wrong options
• Fixes checkbox inputs sometimes being squished against text labels
• Fixes spells showing up with doubled text on class tabs

Game Mechanic Bug Fixes

• Adding the Sonic Dampener armor upgrade to an Android's upgrade slot would not add the Sonic resistance or reduce the armor check penalty for stealth coming from your worn armor.
• The critical damage shown for the Acid dart rifle, tactical was incorrect once the weapon was added to a character.
• When using a quick pick array, characters were still getting bonuses from race and theme.
• Drones were gaining weapon specialization with all weapons at third level, not just with the weapons they are proficient in.
• The Shaken condition was applying a -2 to damage in some cases.
• Improved Quick Movement was not adding its movement bonus.
• The Skill Subroutines drone mod was not adding +2 to the drone's intelligence.
• When buying a stack of 30 small arm rounds, 39 credits would be deducted instead of 40.
• Custom Professions are now handled correctly by the Icon theme's theme knowledge ability.
• The professional's toolkit can now select custom professions.

Known Bugs

• Characters with 3+ classes won't split the fill set of classes into separate entries on the "Class" filter box on the new character select screen. This should be fixed soon.

[Ian]

Note that you might see blank character type headers on the new character select screen until the server has finished re-processing that data for everyone's characters, which will take another few hours. Once that's done refreshing the page will get the full filter functionality.