Auto-grant a feat for all characters?

[Adam.Ormond]

I want to implement a house rule that grants Weapon Finesse to all characters, but only if they actually qualify for the feat. I know I can add a data file to bootstrap it, like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<document signature="Hero Lab Structure">
	<bootstrap index="278" thing="fWepFin"/>
</document>

But this ignores the pre-reqs. Is there a more elegant solution?

[Mathias]

You can use the Mechanics tab instead of hacking it into the program. All mechanics are added to all characters, so you can bootstrap the feat from the mechanic. That also allows you to add a source to the mechanic, so that this only applies to someone who wants to make use of this house rule.

I'm afraid you'll need to use a script to figure out whether the character qualifies for that feat. If they don't qualify, then find the feat you bootstrapped, and assign the following tags:

Helper.FtHide
Helper.FtDisable
thing.skipprereq

That will hide the feat and disable its effects, so it will act as if it were never added. There's currently a bug in weapon finesse, so the disabling will not currently do anything (it'll act as if its still there), but once I get a chance to fix that, this will allow you to grant Weapon Finesse only under certain circumstances.

In the meantime, you can use the source you added to the Mechanic to manually decide whether that specific character qualifies - if they don't, turn off the source.

[Adam.Ormond]

I created a source ("adamHRules") and a Mechanic ("mechHRules") which bootstraps the fWepFin thing. That part works fine, and when I select it in the Configure Character dialog, characters are granted the feat.

However, regardless of whether the source is selected in the Configure Character dialog, I receive the following error when loading a portfolio:

Attempt to access non-live source pick 'mechHRules' from script
Location: 'eval' script for Component 'BaseRace' (Eval Script '#16') near line 23
Attempt to access non-live source pick 'mechHRules' from script
Location: 'eval' script for Component 'BaseRace' (Eval Script '#16') near line 6

What am I doing wrong?

[Adam.Ormond]

Anyone? I can't figure out why 'BaseRace' is interacting with my mechanic, or how to stop it/fix it.

[Mathias]

Would you mind bumping this after Gen Con, please? I don't have enough time to study this right now.

A quick glance tells me the interaction is in the script that figures out whether a feat on the hero is one of those that will be suppressed when you click the "Customize?" checkbox for a race, but I can't see at a glance why it's a problem.

[Adam.Ormond]

Any time to look into this now?

[Adam.Ormond]

Still hoping for a fix or work-around that isn't 'hacking' the program

[Charender]

I was attempting to do something similar(add a mechanic that grats certain feats for free), and I ran into a similar error.

When I open the portfolio, I get a bunch of errors:
Attempt to access non-live pick via script fails for pick 'mHouseRu' from script
Location: 'eval' script for Component 'BaseRace' (Eval Script '#16') near line 23

mHouseRu is the name of my house rule mechanic.

The problem appears when I add my summoner to the portfolio. After that, I have to create a new portfolio and import all of my other characters to make it go away.

[Charender]

Double Post

[Adam.Ormond]

Yeah, I gave up hope on getting a fix. I'm back to 'hacking' the program -- the only way to do this that actually works without producing errors every time you open a portfolio.