Doing weird stuff with templates

[Ravencloak]

Ok, so templates seem to be a great way to add non-class features of just about any kind to a character, and I love it. However, there are some things that seem awfully difficult to do with templates--largely because they weren't designed add benefits at various levels.

So, I have two questions regarding templates.

1) How does one check a hero's total character level? I see how to calculate total class levels, and total Hit Dice, but not character level. Also, how does one work this into a bootstrap condition? In other words, how do I set a condition so that a bootstrapped feat gets added to a character at 4th character level?

2) Is there a simple way (other than using the In-Play mods) to add a set chunk of skill points to a character (especially in a template). I don't want to set a new number of skill points per level, I just want to give a set number as a one time thing. So, when the character takes the All Knowing template, he immediately gains 5 skill ranks as a one time bonus.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Colen]

Ravencloak wrote:
>
>
> Ok, so templates seem to be a great way to add non-class features of
> just about any kind to a character, and I love it. However, there are
> some things that seem awfully difficult to do with templates--largely
> because they weren't designed add benefits at various levels.
>
> So, I have two questions regarding templates.
>
> 1) How does one check a hero's total character level? I see how to
> calculate total class levels, and total Hit Dice, but not character
> level. Also, how does one work this into a bootstrap condition? In other
> words, how do I set a condition so that a bootstrapped feat gets added
> to a character at 4th character level?


You can do it by counting tags, depending on what you mean by 'total
character level'. If you mean total level, including level adjustments
from templates and so on, you can just count the class tags. For
example, you'd do this in a condition expression:

count:Classes.? >= 4

To exclude levels from races and templates, you'd do this:

(count:Classes.? - count:Classes.Race - count:Classes.Template) >= 4

(Now that I think about it, that's a little clunky, so I'll see if I can
figure out a better way to do it for the next version.)


> 2) Is there a simple way (other than using the In-Play mods) to add a
> set chunk of skill points to a character (especially in a template). I
> don't want to set a new number of skill points per level, I just want to
> give a set number as a one time thing. So, when the character takes the
> All Knowing template, he immediately gains 5 skill ranks as a one time
> bonus.


Currently there's no way to do this, because skill ranks are always tied
to a class. You could bootstrap a feat that allowed you to select a
class to assign the 5 skill points to pretty easily, but there's no way
to just have a floating "pool" of 5 skill points to apply anywhere.
Although I should probably add that to the list...


--
Colen McAlister, colen@wolflair.com
Chief Engineer, Lone Wolf Development