Junior Member
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Hey HL gurus,
I'm curious if you have any plans to implement the tracking of spell effects or conditional modifiers to the HL engine. It's a hassle to manually switch off all the modifiers which expire on round X, or turn Y. Some buttons on the "In Play" tab would be great. (Round)(turn)(Minutes)(Hours)(days) click it, or enter the # and click it, and the console edits all the effects and switches off all the expired ones, or at least kicks out a red flag for expired ones, so that the user can uncheck them. |
#1 |
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 21
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This is something that would be a great enhancement.
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#2 |
Senior Member
Lone Wolf Staff
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 13,207
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It is something we've discussed among ourselves, but it turns out to be a very large can of worms in terms of what needs to be activated and deactivated at what time - there is such a large variety in durations in the Pathfinder files.
This is currently on the back burner, I'm afraid. |
#3 |
Junior Member
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I understand that this would be a big project, thanks for it's consideration, at the very least.
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#4 |
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 31
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How about something a bit simpler Mathias? Just decrement any timers by one each round and pop up a timer expiration message - that would at least automate the tracking of time, of course we would then have to go remove any affects on other creatures, but that still would be very useful.
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#5 |
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 21
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Would it be possible to just set it to rounds? That way once you ended that one person's turn, it would just subtract one from the duration field for each status being tracked with a duration.
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#6 |
Spy
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Van Nuys, California
Posts: 1,220
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If you just set it to combat rounds, you never have to worry about the actual real time durations. So, for example, if rounds are 6 seconds each, the DM can extrapolate how long something last, like say Mage Armor, which 600 rounds per level, though in a combat situation, this is tantamount to a permanent adjustment. Or if some system has 1 minute rounds, then you as the DM can just adjust accordingly, such that Mage Armor now last 60 rounds per level. It's just manual input with a countdown counter, with a popup as above, allowing the DM to remove conditions or effects from the character at that time. Hell, d20Pro already does it, so I don't know why that is really a "can of worms". Maybe I'm missing something here.
Or do it like TrackWorks does, just a simplistic timer that shows effects have expired as per the tactical rounds input by the DM according to his or her game system. It can easily be just an isolated system from the HeroLab console itself (outside of applying or removing effects, which is left to the GM still). This tactical console is SUCH an improvement from TrackWorks, that I want to use it exclusively. However, my biggest problem with almost all tactical console systems is that effects and conditions have multiple durations, such that it becomes a nightmare to figure out what effect has expired or not without some sort of duration tracking. Like I said, TrackWorks does it, and I can just name the effect, but it's nice to also be able to apply the effect like the HL tactical console does. We already check and uncheck conditions and create and delete effects, what's a simple isolated timer that adds the duration to the current round, and compares that duration to the current round to indicate whether the DM needs to have the condition/effect expire? Hell, I'll work on it if you want me to, for free. Last edited by Kendall-DM; January 24th, 2011 at 01:48 PM. |
#7 |
Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 35
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Sorry for the thread necro, but I've been curious about this too.
For me, this would be most useful while using the tactical console. If a creature/character is affected by a condition, check the condition and enter the number of rounds the condition is in effect. If permanent, maybe offer a check box or indicate that the letter "P" (or some non-number entry) in the "Rounds" area. Each time the tactical console cycles through that character, the rounds are decreased by one. As long as "Rounds" != 0, then the condition affects the creature; if "Rounds" = 0 then the condition no longer applies. But, I definitely understand how this might not be as easy to implement as it is for me to describe. ;-) |
#8 |
Spy
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Van Nuys, California
Posts: 1,220
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With two added features, the TC would be the best on the market bar none. Duration tracking of course, where the TC auto-deselects when the round limit is met. The other is a way to group select an effect on heroes. These two things alone slow down the combat experience in my game far too much, that if fixed, would really streamline the process.
While I'm on the subject, there are a few GUI layout changes that are needed (for the d20 system at least, and possibly Pathfinder). 1. A separate mouse-over list for feats and special abilities (currently lumped together) would be nice. 2. Better display of weapon choices and weapon damage, including both ranged and melee (rather than just melee). 3. Displaying the space/reach on the info mouse-over. 4. Base attack bonus without the size modifications (minor issue). |
#9 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: West Germany
Posts: 10
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This is my first post after registration and this is exat the thread I need.
I used TOS+ up until now but there is not enough group interaction with those singular excel sheets. But I am to a countdown of the duration of conditions. When the initiative is over, there should should be one round deducted from each condition, except those with permanent. Have I missed the integration of this feature or is it truly gone to the backlist? |
#10 |
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