SR 5th ed. Character Validation

[Ariketh]

Please help! I have a problem with character validation/enforcement.

Previously I could break character caps (karma, cash, skill allocation, etc) no problem. While it would flag the validation errors, I could lock the character for advancement. I didn't need to add any adjustments. I currently have 2 characters saved that way, and I can go back and forth between locked and unlocked without issues.

Today, when creating a new character, I'm not able to do that. It throws a character validation error and refuses to let me lock the character for advancement.

Have I missed something?

The only thing that has changed is the update I ran today, as far as I can tell. Both characters have the same settings.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Ariketh

[Mathias]

Once a character has been locked for advancement, and then, had one of the following things occur:
Gear was purchased or sold/deleted
Something changed on a journal entry (like adding karma)
An advancement was added
Hero Lab will record a flag for that character that says "this character was played in a game". From then on, HL assumes that if you change back to creation mode, you're doing so in order to fix a mistake, or your GM has given you permission to RetCon something. When switching back to advancement mode after going to creation mode for that character, the normal tests for whether a character is allowed to switch are ignored. Before we added this, I've seen things as simple as throwing (and then deleting) a grenade keep a character from switching back to advancement mode if they went to creation mode to fix something - that grenade was just enough to change the amount of karma spent on gear, which means the character has no longer spent enough karma.

If none of those things have occurred yet, HL assumes that you've been thinking about this character during the period between when you originally created it and when you first played the character, and have decided to make a change. So, when you return to creation mode, change something, and return to advancement mode, the normal restrictions on going to advancement mode are enforced, and the starting cash is recalculated.

[Ariketh]

Thanks muchly! I knew it was something that I was missing.

-Ariketh

[Kiirnodel]

Would it be possible to (in the future) add a validation override? Say your game has a number of house-rules that break some rules and maybe not all of them are easy to duplicate using the adjustments. Or maybe you just don't want to spend all of your resources or something like that. When you go to switch over to advancement mode and it pulls up the "you have a validation error and cannot proceed" box, have a checkbox or an extra button that says "Yes, I know, do it anyway."

[Mathias]

I'd rather add adjustments that can handle whatever's needed. I had tried to add adjustments for each of the things that's checked by the canadvance test. What did I miss?

[Kiirnodel]

I was stating a hypothetical, off-hand I think you have it.

Although there has been talk about the Friends in High Places quality. It seems to be calculating the karma correctly, but the contact remains invalid due to having a cost higher than 7.

[Mathias]

The problem with that one is that I can see several things that might have been the RAI for that badly written quality:

1) If you take this quality, the normal <= 7 karma/contact limit is ignored for all your contacts.

2) A specific number of your contacts are allowed to ignore the rule.

3) Points spent from the pool supplied by this quality don't count towards the <= 7/contact.

4) The karma limit/contact is raised by some amount if you take this quality. This could be for a specific number of contacts or for all of them.

5) This quality can't be selected during character creation - only during play.

Although an adjustment that can select a contact and exempt it from that rule is something I can add, and lets users decide on their own interpretation.

[Kiirnodel]

Based on my reading of the quality, option (3) seems the most likely.

Since the minimum connection rating is 8 for these new contacts, the absolute minimum cost of any of these contacts would be 9. So by definition, the contacts gained from FiHP break the max 7k rule.

Plus, the quality never says it changes any of the other rules governing contacts. In fact, it makes a distinct point about keeping the karma for contacts from this quality completely separate. And you don't usually spend karma on contacts after character creation, during play they are usually awarded and you can't spend karma to improve them.

[gamer940]

It isn't badly written.

You take the quality and you get a special pool of Contact Points to be used specifically for Contacts with a higher Connection. Since that Connection is higher than the maximum total value of the 'normal' Contacts, the ones gained from the quality have to be exempt from the normal limitation, otherwise the quality becomes pointless to exist as Contact acquisition is completely different once play begins.