Tactical Console Suggestion

[ruhar]

When in the middle of a battle not only is there a lot going on but there is a lot to keep track of such as conditions. If a GM is using Tactical Console, she has all of the characters as well as the enemies on the console and is keeping track of each round by clicking on Next Round. I would like to have the Tactical Console let me know when a condition has expired so I can remove the condition from the PC or enemy as well as let the player know her condition has expired.

[mhossom]

+1 on this

[karrel]

thats why i use combat manger from http://combatmanager.com/

[ruhar]

Originally Posted by karrel

thats why i use combat manger from http://combatmanager.com/

It looks like it's very similar to Hero Lab and sounds like Hero Lab needs to make some add ons. LOL

Hey Lone Wolf, I am very happy with Hero Lab and with Realm Works and I don't want to add a third program to run a character or game. How about my suggestion for the Tactical Console?

[Aaron]

We've been wanting to spruce up the tactical console for a while. The issue, as always, is time.

[mhossom]

Totally understand Aaron. We are a demanding bunch, huh?

[Exmortis]

The TC is pretty damn good, but yes it does for sure need a little TLC.

This idea would be great as an addition, as well as being able to input "count down markers" into the initiative just markers you can add text too and a round number that comes up in the initiative as does any PC/NPC and counts down to its end.

So a marker could have say a few text boxes
Spell/Effect/Condition name: (space to enter info)
Cast/Effect by: (Space to enter info)
Affected List: (Space to enter info)
Rounds of Effect: (normal counter box you can enter into)
Inititive count of effect (same as any PC/NPC info box)

It follows the same rukles as any PC/NPC but each time you click end its action it counts down. I love the idea of just plain text boxes, since the GM can then use them to track anything, not just a drop down menu of things.

[Aldaron]

Well, if we're sprucing up the TC, I have a suggestion.
It'd be great if there was a way to add spell effects on a whole group, rather than one at a time. Say the party cleric casts "Bless" - at the moment, you have to go into each character, go to the "Adjust" tab, select "Spell Adjustments", find the "Bless" spell...and do that for each individual.

If there was a way of having a drop-down next to the spell in the cleric's record to select "All Friendlies" or a series of checkboxes, or something along those lines, it would certainly save a bit of time at the table.

[Exmortis]

Originally Posted by Aldaron

Well, if we're sprucing up the TC, I have a suggestion.
It'd be great if there was a way to add spell effects on a whole group, rather than one at a time. Say the party cleric casts "Bless" - at the moment, you have to go into each character, go to the "Adjust" tab, select "Spell Adjustments", find the "Bless" spell...and do that for each individual.

If there was a way of having a drop-down next to the spell in the cleric's record to select "All Friendlies" or a series of checkboxes, or something along those lines, it would certainly save a bit of time at the table.

That would be very cool from a GM point of view, we all run our own characters in HL on our tablets/lappies but GM runs the encounter mobs and they buff too, so as a GM having a "one click" buff the baddies button would rock!

+10 for this!

[Ckorik]

Stuff that I use DM's familiar for that I would love:

• The ability to click on an attack and have it roll 'to hit' and 'damage'
  
• The ability to roll a save or skill check
  
• The ability to click 'cast a spell or ability' and select from a list of options - which then take the spell/user per day counter for the npc/player down by one
  
• The ability to add 'ranged touch' and 'touch' to the 'attack roll' from above and also add dice sets to spells that let me roll damage/spell resistance/etc.

This is why I use DM's familiar for combat - I can do all that - comparatively the console in hero lab is not even close - what hero lab *does* do incredibly well is handle buffs/debuffs... however on that note it would be nice to have a 'generic' type condition that would let us handle the oddball or uncoded spell - something that had a dropdown with 'type' and 'modifier' so we could say... 'holy' '+2' and perhaps a third field with things like 'attack' 'damage' 'skills' 'saves' etc.

Or an easier way to custom make a 'buff' that has all the above which would let us handle buffs and let the program figure out the buff stack - which is the most annoying thing to track in Pathfinder, and the reason hero lab rocks.

*edit* I would be willing to pay decent cash for this type of addon to hero lab for the GM - I know you guys can do some of it as the dice rolling is in the IPAD app - adding the dice into the PC version shouldn't be more difficult than it was to put it in a tablet - note I didn't say easy - just not any more.