Tool: 'Thing' Parser

Hi Team,

I've been making some significant efficiency gains by using a spreadsheet designed to parse information from source books into HL Scripting Language.

This enables me to paste in a stat block of something and it returns the code required to make the 'thing' in Hero Labs.

WARNING: This is not a nice tool, it is ugly, it has flaws, it is unsupported.

But it does work... So for those of you who understand Hero Labs output and know your way around Excel you may be able to use this to benefit.

REMINDER: This is unsupported!

DOWNLOAD HERE

REQUIREMENTS:
Notepadd++
Hero Labs is open and running in "Develop > Enable Data File Debugging" mode.

SUPPORTED SOURCE BOOKS:
The (Not Really) Tome of Spells - It works but will not assign spells to classes.
Book of Lost Spells 5e - This works quite well actually. Lots of naming convention conflicts and a few unique range options will throw errors. Does not include break lines for paragraphs unfortunately.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Open the spreadsheet
2. Copy a stat block from one of the supported source books into the ORANGE Input cells. You should paste the name on the top Input Cell of each block just under a BLACK line.
3. Between every BLACK line you can paste a new stat block.
4. On the left you will now see a block of script starting with <thing> and ending with </thing>.
5. Click the top thing in column A and then shift click all the way to the bottom where you pasted your last stat block. Ie Cell 1 should contain <thing... and the last cell highlighted should contain </thing>.
6. Copy this
7. Using Notepad++ open the *.user file you want to put the 'thing' in. Paste it in the document after / before another thing in the file.
8. Save the document with Notepad++
9. Switch to Hero Labs and click Develop > Quick Reload Data Files
10. This will now tell you if any errors occurred and what line the error is on.
11. Switch back to Notepad++ and locate the line.
12. Locate the error and fix it.
13. Switch back to Hero Labs and click Develop > Quick Reload Data Files
14. Rinse and repeat until Hero Labs loads the files.
15. Common errors will include naming conflicts.

If you don't understand the HL Scripting Language or Excel please don't try this. It's an ugly ass spreadsheet with very little structure and it is almost guaranteed to produce errors that require manual intervention.

I have started working on making this work with Monsters with the hope that we will be able to quickly bulk up the Community Pack.

I'm only sharing in the hope that someone will find the concept useful and use it to feed the Community Pack more content I found that it was relatively easy to set this up for a second source book once I had done the first. Perhaps someone else will do something similar.

REMINDER: Did i mention this is unsupported

Will you be supporting this tool?

Sorry, I just had too....

[dafrca runs away to try and avoid the head slap that is sure to come...]

/Tackle

and

/slaaaaaaaap

Now supports Monster Manual... sort of.

DOWNLOAD

Makes the monster and allocates the following:

• ThingId
• Name
• Hit Dice #
• Dice Sides
• Default HP
• Speed
• STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA
• Challenge Rating
• Source Name
• Alignment
• Size
• Skill Proficiency
• Damage Resistance
• Damage Vulnerability
• Damage Immunity
• Condition Immunity
• Languages
• Type
• Flight
• Blindsight
• Dakvision
• Telepathy

Does not support special abilities.

Does not do any of this reliably

Have added separate tab for Special Abilities. Currently you need to then assign them to a monster manually.
Still not handling attacks.

Now supporting 5th Edition Foes stat blocks.

DOWNLOAD HERE

• ThingId
• Name
• Hit Dice #
• Dice Sides
• Default HP
• Speed
• STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA
• Challenge Rating
• Source Name
• Alignment
• Size
• Skill Proficiency
• Damage Resistance
• Damage Vulnerability
• Damage Immunity
• Condition Immunity
• Languages
• Type
• Flight
• Blindsight
• Dakvision
• Telepathy
• Calculate and Set Natural Armor Bonus
• Checks for Multi-Attack, Sets flag and text

More reliable than the MM, still won't create special abilities or setup attacks.

Still dodgy...