A petition to WOTC to License Hero Lab!

[daplunk]

Hi Everyone!

It's time to ensure LWD and WOTC know that we as consumers would like access to official Dungeons and Dragons 5e content within Hero Lab!

Please take the time to sign the petition and lets see if we can get their attention. Click the picture!

 

[Fenris447]

Not to be too contrarian, but I like the current state. I buy every book as it comes out, and I like not having to buy it all again digitally just to get it on Hero Lab.

I'm looking at you, D&DB.

 

[dungeonguru]

Not to be too contrarian, but I like the current state. I buy every book as it comes out, and I like not having to buy it all again digitally just to get it on Hero Lab.

I'm looking at you, D&DB.

D&DB shade aside, the current state and having official content available for purchase are compatible - you don't have to buy any pre-made stuff - you just have to be willing to code stuff in yourself (or hint: make a copy/backup of all the COMmunity files in your 5e folder, because the community will stop publishing official content if LW gets a license).

What I don't want to see is having to buy it for both HL and RW for the same price - which is why I would rather see a HL and RW merge somehow.

 

[RavenX]

Keep in mind that if there is an official license you will have to pay for the books because the people who add the data have to get paid to do it. The Lone Wolf Staff doesn't work for free. And the Lone Wolf staff could easily implement features the community struggles with because they have full access to the source code, which the community does not get.

 

[daplunk]

I would happily pay to avoid doing the work myself

 

[Malevolus]

Honest reply that is not intended to be rude or disrespectful. Since Hero Lab has indicated their future business model will be ultimately moving to the online subscription model, my personal future purchases will just move to DND Beyond. The offline classic tool was an overall better tool but there is no real reason for me to choose Hero Lab anymore because WoTC obviously won’t allow their own sales to be undercut in pricing by Hero Lab.

 

[daplunk]

DDB is just another 3rd party company paying a license fee to WOTC. Curse aka Amazon set the price for their service. Therefore having more licensed products in the market will drive more competitive prices and innovation.

It's win win.

 

[Mergon]

I hope that HL never goes to an online model like D&D Beyond, or WotC's online version from 4E.

I can't always play with an internet connection and have always found such to be a let down.

I fell in love with HL in its currect incarnation back when I played Pathfinder full time.

I'd love to see HL with a full license, and would pay for a 2nd set of books (Electronic) if its was available in HL.

I find D& DBeyond irritating in that in addition to having to buy the books, you also have to pay a month subscription if you want to have more than 2 characters. With HerLab, I've built dozens, if not hundreds of characters. I may not get to play them all, but they are there if I want them, or I need a fast character for a new player.

 

[Fuzzy]

I honestly don't mind the current state - it's not like D&D even has enough content to make maintaining the community pack difficult.

On a positive note (and making my care for 'official 5e' even more moot), they are supposed to be supporting the PF Playtest on release.

 

[MNBlockHead]

For those who keep mistaking D&D Beyond for a WoTC product or THE official character app for 5e (as opposed to AN official app), Roll 20 just released its character maker, which supports 5e.

I've not tried Roll 20's Charctermancer tool yet, but it looks promising. More competition is good. It also gives me hope that there will eventually be support for official 5e content in Hero Lab.

 

[ScottA]

Doesn't sound like much interest. I've expressed my opinion elsewhere so see no need to repeat it...

 

[RavenX]

Doesn't sound like much interest. I've expressed my opinion elsewhere so see no need to repeat it...

As much as I would like to see this, keep in mind Hero Lab is the official character builder of Pathfinder and Starfinder, who are direct competition to WotC. It is very unlikely WotC will issue a license to a product their competition has been using for many years on an official basis.

 

[MNBlockHead]

I didn't know that HL was the official character builder of Pathfinder. Does Pathfinder not allow character-creation and management in Fantasy Grounds and Roll20?

I have no idea what contractual obligations LWD has with Pathfinder or WoTC, but I would be surprised to learn that LWD has entered into an exclusive deal with Paizo.

It would be disappointing to me if that were the case, as I don't play Pathfinder, and HL & RW system neutrality was part of what drew me to these products, but it may make sense for LWD to tie itself to Pathfinder rather than compete on 5e support.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

I didn't know that HL was the official character builder of Pathfinder.

That totally depends on what you mean by "official". HL is the most used software by Pathfinder players without a doubt. It is even used in-house by actual Paizo employees to create statblocks and NPCs and monsters. Its why the statblack generation part of HL was changed to match 100% to paizo statblocks.

This does not mean that Paizo has not sold a license to other software makers or has a solo deal with LW only. Paizo is very open with giving licenses that help expand the resources players and GMs can use for Pathfinder. This in turn expands the amount of income also!

Paizo learned a hard lessen when WotC shut down Dragon/Dungeon and the Star Wars magazines years ago. They learned that running a company on a single or very small source of income is dangerous. Now they try and have as many revenue streams as they can so if one dries up it does not end the company.

The reason 5E does not have official full support in HL is all because of Hasbro.

 

[MNBlockHead]

@ShadowChemosh That's what I thought. Given that the major VTTs also sell official core-book content and--at least for Roll20--are moving into character creation and management--for both 5e AND Pathfinder, I see no reason why either Paizo or Wizards would prevent LWD from providing official 5e content. I suspect it comes down to licensing costs and--probably mostly to--limited resources and the need to focus on StarFinder and PFv2. Once things are sorted with Paizo, I suspect LWD will be releasing official 5e.

 

[Fuzzy]

RavenX did not say (or even imply) that LWD's agreement with Paizo somehow prevented them from making a licencing agreement with WOTC. He simply stated that he thought WOTC would choose NOT to make the deal with LWD because they work with Paizo. I don't believe that to be the case - I think WOTC will avoid making a deal with LWD simply because they want to push all 5e users to dndbeyond.

 

[MNBlockHead]

@Fuzzy, if they wanted to "push all 5e users to dndbeyond" then why are they allowing Roll20 to license 5e IP for their character creator?

Roll20 officer Pathfinder content as well as 5e content.

So does Fantasy Grounds.