What changes/enhancements would you like to see?

[zarlor]

It would also be nice to get more of the basic Edges/Hindrances to have User Activated abilities on them where appropriate. For example, it would be helpful to have something like the following on the Champion Edge at Pre-Traits/5000:

if (field[abilActive].value <> 0) then
   perform #traitadjust[trTough,+,2,"Champion - vs. supernaturally evil/good"]
endif

That way I could just click the checkbox for "Champion" that shows up on my"In-Play" tab to show that increased Toughness on my character when that character happens to be engaged with supernatural good/evil as appropriate. I could put together a list of appropriate Edges/Hindrances where I think this might apply, if you like.

EDIT: This has been added in v2.7

[zarlor]

I'd like to request that the abBurrow (Burrowing) Racial Ability have it's Eval Script moved from occurring at Pre-Traits/5000 to occurring at Final/1000 to accommodate those places where the abilValue (aka Pace) for the Burrowing ability might need to be computed from a trtFinal value.

[CapedCrusader]

Hmmm... I'll check this. I can't think of anything right off-hand that requires it to be at Pre-Traits/5000.

[CapedCrusader]

As far as the Activation, that would be very cool. Some of those Edges might need to have back end code written for them. Sometimes for Edges that weren't on all the time the back end code was not created. Run that list up, and I'll verify them.

[zarlor]

I've been going through and doing the "User Activated" version for a bunch of the ones in the data files I've got but I'll try to take a look at the basic ones and get back to you on which of them I think might benefit from it.

[zarlor]

Caped, you may well regret having asked me for this list since it also brought up some ideas for other feature requests to go with it. But here goes, as I may as wll get this posted before the hitman comes to get me...

I would recommend a User Activated effect for the following:

Edges

Champion- +2 Toughness (+2 damage as well but I'm not sure there is a way to add that globally) agaisnt supernatural.

Double Shot (FC) - -2 Shooting for the attack using this. Arguably this is for Bow only but I don't think checking for that is particularly important. The Improved version doesn't need a checkbox since it just removes this -2, so they just wouldn't bother checking the box.

Exorcist (HC) - +4 opposed Spirit and Faith test -v- deamos/supernatural evil. Somewhat specific but it could be for extended tests so may well be worthwhile to include, IMHO.

Frenzy - I'm torn on this one, but for a Frenzy fighter they may well do this constantly, so should probably have a checkbox for the -2 Fighting penalty. (Improved removes the penalty so no need for anything there.)

Giant Killer - This one would require adding a +1d6 bonus to all the damage values on the sheet if checked. Not sure if that is even doable, really.

Investigator - Add the selection for the +2 Notice part only (when searching through evidence). Although that one may not be all that common.

Liquid Courage - Vigor +1 die and ignore one wound level modifier. There is a further effect if fully inebriated (-2 Smarts and Agility) but I assume there is no way to have two activation boxes.

Marksman - +2 Shooting and Throwing (only when no movement during the round and RoF 1 is used.)

One of the chosen +1 (HC) - +1 to Fighting, Shooting, Throwing, and any arcane skill (but only vs. supernatrual Evil).Text needs to be fixed to remove "either" from the first sentence.

Sunder (FC) - This one might not really be possible, adding AP 1 to all weapons when check


Hindrances
Allergy (SPC) - -2/-4 penalty to all rolls when exposed.

Blind - -6 to everything when selected. Although it is only for "physical tasks" if you really wanted to go through the list and determine what is and is not physical. If you do that, though, then it's also -2 to "social" tasks (so Persuasion, Streetwise, and Intimidate, presumably.

Doubting Thomas - -2 Guts (only for supernatural horrors). This might be a candidate for not doing it, but with some settings it could be pretty common.

Hard of Hearing (Minor) - -2 Notice for hearing checks only.

Phobia - -2/-4 to all Trait rolls when in the presence of the Phobia.

Terminally Ill (SPC) - -1 to all Trait rolls for a session.


Some of the following could potentially have such an effect but I'm not sure it's worth adding it because the situation it arises in is probably fairly rare.

Edges

Arcane Resistance and Improved Arc. Res. - +2 to all opposed rolls and +2 Armor (toughness) against arcane powers. That one may come up with some regularity but in a very piecemeal fashion (arcane this attack, mundane for these 4 others, etc.) I think it's best to leave this to the player to just remember. Although if you've got a big Mage Battle type of campaign I supposed it could be useful.

Brave - could add a selectable +2 to Spirit, but Fear checks are usually 1 shot rolls, not something you're making over and over again that you might need a reminder for it.

Counterattack - -2 Fighting is a very specific circumstance so I think this is also not a good candidate.

Mentalist - Same as Arcane Resistance but with the Psionics skill specifically, so I think this one is also probably not a good candidate (although maybe for a Psionic heavy campaign with lots of Psionic battles it could be useful?)

Quick Draw - Also seems to be a one-and-done roll, so probably doesn't need this.

Strong Willed - To add a checkbox only for the +2 Spirit and Smarts rolls when resisting Test of Wills. Pretty specific situation, but I suppose it might be worth adding for a campaign where Tests come up a LOT or something.

Sweep - -2 Fighting... might be worth having a checkbox for with a Fighter that does it a lot?

Tower of Will (HC) - Same comment as for Mentalist. I can see an argument being made to include this one, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it to do so.

Several others affect rolls for Shaken or Soak that I think probably just don't come up enough to justify adding a checkbox for them.


Hindrances

Anemic - -2 to Vigor but only for Fatigue checks, poison, disease, and the like, which may well be staggered among other standard Vigor rolls and the like, so probably not a good candidate for coding in.

EDIT: These have been added in v2.7

[zarlor]

I also noticed a couple of minor issues and/or feature requests I have with some items.

Edges

Adaptable (FC) - set to Unique but it should be allowed to be taken once per Rank. Also it should have code to add a Free Edge (limited to Racial Edges and only the non-Improved versions.)

Beast Master - (more a feature request here) would be nice if we could add an NPC creature Ally to the character for them to select. Doing so is just, IMHO, a nice way of showing folks how they can use some of the stuff on those other Tabs they may not always visit or realize can be used that way. It might also be nice to put a little note in the description explaining the need to select the creature type for the companion, too.

Fast Load (FC) - Not sure if this is doable, but it might be nice if it could cycle through the character's weapons and drop their Reload value by 1 (min 0).

Followers - Much the same as Beast Master, but this would add 5 NPCS (usually defaulting to "Solider" archetype stats. Not sure how adding 5 Allys (non-Wild Cards) would really work, though. Part of me would like to see an extra field for an NPC Ally like that where you can list a number of them, then decrement or increment the number if need be. That would also make it easier on GMs using the Tactical Console by keeping groups... well, grouped. Something that would also be helpful when setting up Encounters in Hero Lab so you can more easily create groups with their own card for the whole group and such (although how to keep track of how many in the group are Shaken I don't know.)

Trademark Weapon (and Improved) - This doesn't necessarily fit in with the Activated by User stuff, but on the In-Play tab you can normally add a Weapon adustment as a Temporary Adjustment where you then select a Weapon and fill in the modifiers. It might be nice if there were a way to automatically add this field, fill in the source with the Edge name and set the modifier appropriately then the player only needs to select the weapon they want to apply it to. ---This has been added in v2.7

Weapon Naming - Right-clicking on a Weapon name on the Armory tab shows a greyed-out "Edit name of" entry. It would be nice to allow the renaming of any added weapon for various reasons, like we can with Arcane Powers.

Improvisational Fighter - If possible it would be nice if this Edge would search the sheet for any "wpImprov?" entries and apply a +1 to attack and Parry bonus to them to negate the -1 penalty they normally apply.

Increased Range (FC) - Might be nice if this one could modify the Range entries on each Ranged Weapon on the profile to increase them.

Martial Arts Master - Only supposed to be taken up to 5 times, but I'm not positive how you'd trap for that anyway (and being a Legendary edge how may people would ever really run into that problem anyway?)

Necromancer (FC) - The Zombie power should be modified to allow anyone with this Edge to take it at Novice. Or create an FC version of Zombie that is Necromancer only (since the Necro version also has a reduced point cost and some other little modifiers, mostly just changes to the text.)

Occultist - I'm not exactly sure how the "Forbidden Lore" source is actually implemented in Hero Lab. By the rules it is generally an item, but I don't see anything like that under equipment. In any case, though, the effect should be to at least require a Domain entry to the Edge to better mark down what it is for on the sheet.

Rich - Second paragraph, there's an extra space in the phrase "GM can fi gure out". BTW, a LOT of text all over the place doesn't follow this pattern of putting an extra line between paragraphs. That line makes these things a LOT easier to read so it might be nice if a lot of the other items could be given a quick run through to add that spacing for readability.

Sidekick - Like Followers it would be nice if this could add a Wild-Card NPC to the portfolio to give the player a starting point for how to implement this in Hero Lab.

Sunder (FC) and Improved Sunder - This one might not really be possible, adding AP 1 (2 with Improved) to all weapons would be nice. You could presumably add a User Activated check for tis to increase to to +2/+4 respectively, but that's only if you get a raise and I'd say leave that one to the player to track on their own.


Hindrances

Bad Eyes (Major) - the negatives given are for shooting and notice, but the text says "attack" rolls, which means Throwing should also be in the mix (and presumably fighting if you had a Reach 5 whip or something.) Since there is a 5" range limitation, though, maybe there should be an Activation for this one and at least add Throwing into the penalized traits.

One Arm - This is more of a Judgement call, but I would say the penalty should also apply to Lockpicking and probably Repair as well. Selectively it could apply to Fighting or Shooting when it's a two-handed weapon involved.

One Leg - Again, arguably, I would add Swimming as being one of those "Traits that require mobility". Admittedly there are situations where it might not apply as much, but I'd almost suggest that it's more likely to apply than not. ---This has been added in v2.7

As you can see from my other posts in this thread lately, I'm sure I've got lots more ideas to keep you busy.

[zarlor]

Speaking of User Activated I also think it might be nice to have some checkboxes on In Play for some maneuvers. I'm thinking especially about Wild Attack adding not only that +2 bonus to fighting and damage but also reminding you of the -2 Parry. Some of those might be really helpful for when trying to use Hero Lab at the table.

[zarlor]

This one just came up in play today. On the "In Play" tab of a Portfolio under "Activated Abilities" it would be really nice if we could get either a mouse-over pop-up, something showing up on the (?) button or even a new button that could tell us where the ability comes from. For example I can see "Stealth Skill Modifier" which happens to be from magical armor, but in no place does it show that's actually where that bonus comes from so I can know for certain when to activate or deactivate it without otherwise remembering where it's from or looking at all of my items on their respective tabs to find out.

May sound dumb but we've got 4 different games going and depending on who can or can't make it a specific week it's possible we might not have any particular character in front of us for several weeks and it's hard to remember where those things come from every time. :/

Also is there a way we could get a Power Point Tracker for Magic Items (obviously this is primarily a Fantasy Companion effect)? I'm thinking about things like Minor Artifacts that have a spell ability since they would have a separate set of Power Points that would be tracked from those of the character.

EDIT: This also applies to Gadgeteer items, racial abilities, certain Edges, etc... that might otherwise give a character a separate Arcane Power with it's own PPs (and possibly even it's own skill that it's activated from.)

[zarlor]

Yet another one that a post here made me think of... maybe we should have, I guess they would be like derived traits for things like Common Knowledge, Soak and whatever you might call a Recover from Shaken roll. There are quite a few Edges and Hindrances that affect those 3 in particular in some way and it would be nice to see those on the sheet/portfolio at a glance. (Getting sick of me yet, Caped? )