Entering Monsters

[AWizardInDallas]

So, I've been trying to figure out how to add monsters into Hero Lab and am finding it a rather daunting task. I would like to reduce the time it takes from days or hours. Minutes would be even better

I have managed to figure out that this is done via the race tab in the editor? Also, I've managed to figure out that when you do add a new monster, it appears on the race tab (as a selectable race) rather than in the encounter builder. Odd. Here's an example of what I'm trying to get entered (I'm running Savage Tide and this is a monster particular to the adventure):

RHAGODESSA
CR: 2
XP: 600
N Medium vermin
Init: +1; Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2
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AC: 14, touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp: 22 (4 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +3
Immune: Vermin traits
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Speed: 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee: 2 pedipalps +7 (grab), bite +7 (1d8+6)
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Str 19, Dex 12, Con 13, Int –, Wis 14, Cha 6
Base Atk: +3; CMB: +7 (+11 grapple); CMD: 18 (30 vs. trip)
Feats: Spring AttackB
Skills: Climb +12
SQ: Powerful bite
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Environment: Warm hills or underground
Organization: Solitary or pair
Treasure: None
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Pedipalps (Ex): A rhagodessa’s pedipalps do not deal any damage on a hit, but a
creature that escapes a grapple with a rhagodessa with an opposed combat
maneuver check takes 1d6 damage as the pedipalps’ hooks and suckers tear their
flesh. A creature that escapes with Escape Artist does not suffer this damage.
Powerful Bite (Ex): A rhagodessa applies 1-½ times its Strength modifier to bite
damage.

[Farling]

For one-off monsters, you could just create them directly as a character by choosing "bestiary monster creation" as the race on the Background tab.

It is far quicker than trying to build a monster from lots of elements in the editor (around 10 minutes for the above).

"Pedipalp" just requires entering as a new ability that is linked to a specific natural attack. I chose to use claws since that is a primary natural attack.

[Farling]

The encounter builder shows "characters" that you have saved as .stock files instead of .por files (and the .stock files have been put into the pathfinder data folder).

[AWizardInDallas]

Originally Posted by Farling

The encounter builder shows "characters" that you have saved as .stock files instead of .por files (and the .stock files have been put into the pathfinder data folder).

So I think what you're saying is that the creator makes stock file content and that I should save it with a .stock extension and put it in the data directory?

[AWizardInDallas]

Originally Posted by Farling

For one-off monsters, you could just create them directly as a character by choosing "bestiary monster creation" as the race on the Background tab.

It is far quicker than trying to build a monster from lots of elements in the editor (around 10 minutes for the above).

"Pedipalp" just requires entering as a new ability that is linked to a specific natural attack. I chose to use claws since that is a primary natural attack.

So I'm having a few issues:

1. The bite is the primary attack. If I enter a claw or pincher attack for the pedipalps, it reduces the bite damage from 1d8+6 (correct) to 1d8+4 (incorrect).
2. I added a pedipalp "New Ability" but don't see how to tie it an attack, like pincer or claw?
3. The edit is not recognizing the bonus feat even though I: 1) added a bonus feat via "Feats Allowed" and +1; 2) Identified "Spring Attack" as a bonus feat using "Feat, Mark as Bonus."

[Farling]

1 - you are missing the "Powerful Bite" special quality - make sure you pick the one that gives 1 1/2 strength bonus (not double).

2 - For Pedalps, I set "statblock location" to "specific natural attack" and chose "claw x2" in the next box.

3 - add the "Spring Attack" to the "racial bonus feats" on the "Background" tab.

4 - set the number of legs to 8 gets your CMB to 26 vs trip - there is a bug in HeroLab which means that having 6 legs or more only gives your a +8 bonus vs trip - it should be +2 per extra leg. Incrementing the #legs counter only updates the trip value every second update (by +4 per 2 legs).

[AWizardInDallas]

All excellent advice! Thank you.

I had to turn off unarmed attacks from the character settings as I didn't see another way to do that. The monster has 10 legs, but the CMD is coming out with 26 vs. trip instead of 30 (the number of legs is 10).

I also just noticed that vermin traits doesn't appear on the stat block output. I was able to add it in the immunities section, but shouldn't it appear automatically based on type selection?

[Farling]

Originally Posted by AWizardInDallas

I also just noticed that vermin traits doesn't appear on the stat block output. I was able to add it in the immunities section, but shouldn't it appear automatically based on type selection?

It probably should. The information is listed in the racial tooltip, but it should also be on the main character sheet. Maybe you should submit a bug for it.