Can't Choose Race for Arcane Familar

[Olaf the Stout]

Hi all,

I'm new to Hero Lab. I was messing around with the program tonight, just creating some test characters when I encountered my first problem. When I create a Wizard character and I try and choose a race for my familiar I get the message "Nothing to choose from!".

After playing around with some options I discovered that if I checked the optional rule "Don't Restrict Companion Races" I can get to a selection screen for my familiar's race, but it does not show the usual options like Crow, Frog, Cat, etc.

I did a forum search and a Google search for this problem but came up empty. So what am I doing wrong?

Olaf the Stout

[Kendall-DM]

I'm not sure. I'm getting the regular selection choices just fine, and I don't have the optional rule checked. This may have something to do with the community file if you have them installed, or you have some other optional rules checked, otherwise I don't know. I don't make use of the community files, though I have a directory with them and mine work fine.

[Olaf the Stout]

Yeah, I'm wondering if that may be the problem. I installed the Lawful_Good data set from Cheeseweasel's website as I my group makes use of quite a few of the 3.5E splatbooks.

Perhaps I overwrote the standard SRD familiars by accident as part of that process. I might try reinstalling and starting from scratch to double check that I'm not getting that issue with the base installation, then install each update and add-on to see where the problem may lie.

Olaf the Stout

[Olaf the Stout]

Ok, the problem occurs after I install the Lawful_Good community update. I tried adding a familiar with just the base Hero Lab installation and it worked fine. I was able to add a Rat familiar to a Wizard with no problem.

Then I added in the Lawful_Good communinty update and now it tells me there is "Nothing to choose from!" when I try to pick a race for the familiar.

Can anyone tell me why? I followed the instructions on the Cheeseweasel PDF document.

Am I doing something wrong? Is this issue happening to anyone else?

My group uses a lot of feats and spells from the various Complete books so it would make the program a lot more useful if I could access them.

Olaf the Stout

[Sendric]

Ok, I was able to reproduce this. I did it by unchecking all the user content in the configure window. This may be a bug, but if you check on Monster Manual as a source in your configure window (for the wizard), you should see all the race options are now available for your familiar.

[ShadowChemosh]

Originally Posted by Sendric

Ok, I was able to reproduce this. I did it by unchecking all the user content in the configure window. This may be a bug, but if you check on Monster Manual as a source in your configure window (for the wizard), you should see all the race options are now available for your familiar.

The last update did accidentally mark ALL animals to the Monster Manual Source. This includes things like the Paladin's warhorse.

For now just make sure you activate the MM source.

[Olaf the Stout]

Thanks Sendric and ShadowChemosh. I'll give it a try when I get home tonight. That sounds like it should solve the problem.

Olaf the Stout

[Olaf the Stout]

Ok, I just tried adding the MM and it allows me to pick the various familiars. However, the bonuses don't seem to flow through to the PC's sheet now.

For example, chosing a Rat familiar doesn't add +2 to my Fortitude save, choosing a Toad doesn't give me +3 hit points, etc.

Any suggestions, or can anyone replicate this issue?

Olaf the Stout

[Sendric]

Go to the In-Play tab on your Wizard. You should see two "charges" for your familiar. Various effects require your familiar to be within a certain distance. For instance, by checking "Within 1 mile" on, you'll get the +2 bonus to fortitude when you have a rat familiar.

[Olaf the Stout]

Ok, that works. It must have been defaulted to within 1 mile in the previous update (when the familiars weren't in the MM) or something like that.

Thanks again.

Olaf the Stout