Intiating into an art?
 

So some rituals and metamagics are blocked but I don't see any way to actually get the prerequisite arts. Is this function just not in yet?

In the Help menu...Shadowrun (5th) FAQ, find the "Where are the high arts?" question, and that will give you the ruling from Jason Hardy that we base Hero Lab's handling of high arts on.

The only issue I see with the way the High Arts are handled (at least the ones that only have Rituals) is that there isn't a way to "initiate into" the art. The way I understand it, in order to learn Necromancy (for example) is to "spend" your initiation learning that art. In the process you learn the first ritual of that art (Grave Binding for Necromancy). From then on, you are able to learn the other rituals of that art as per the normal ritual learning process.

The way it is currently handled, every magician who initiates even just once has access to all of the rituals of Geomancy, Necromancy, Divination, and Invocation. Plus they can still choose a metamagic. I don't believe that was the intention, and that particular aspect is not answered in the responses from Jason Hardy.

In the mean time, I did some quick scripting and made up "Metamagics" for the arts of Geomancy, Necromancy, Divination, and Invocation. This allows the user to Initiate and select one of these four arts and it automatically gives the character the appropriate ritual:
Geomancy: Aspect Mana Line
Necromancy: Grave Binding
Divination: Augury and Sortilege
Invocation: (defaults to) Summon Great Form Spirit, but there is a drop-down box that allows you to select Ally Conjuration instead.

*These new metamagics have the Source of "Ritual-only Arts are selectable as Metamagics" which I set to be listed under Street Grimoire Optional Rules

*I am not truly sure this is the correct interpretation, just what I interpreted. As such, I provide this user file as an option to those that agree with this interpretation.

*Technically, this file does not change the mechanics as they currently exist in HeroLab, I did not want to risk making something that would alter the mechanics for these rituals. These changes simply give the user a way to "select" one of these arts specifically. It does not prevent purchasing the ritual if you have simply initiated.

Your interpretation is how I read it as well.

My character tried to initiate into Invocation last night and that was when I ran smack into this problem.

I suppose you couldn't quickly tell me how to add/install the user file you provide, I've never had to do anything like that as the base system was normally enough for me.

Sure thing, sorry it took me a little while to reply...

Adding .user files so that you can use the extra content is really easy. You will need to find where your data files are being stored on your computer.

The default location is: C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\shadowrun5
Note, the ProgramData folder might be hidden when you go to your C drive. You might need to change your settings to let you view hidden files/folders.
In that "data" folder, you will see all of the different game rulesets for HeroLab. So obviously for adding something to SR5 you need to select the shadowrun5 folder.

Every file in that folder will be added to your SR5 dataset whenever it resets. So by putting a .user file in that folder it will become a part of your SR5 HeroLab when you load it up.

To gain access to the content I added in this particular .user file, simply scroll down to the Street Grimoire Optional Rules and check the box for "Ritual-only Arts are selectable as Metamagics"

Should be as simple as that, let me know if you have any trouble.

No problem on the delay. I'll probably try it out during game tomorrow.

Thanks for the step by step instructions :)

Quick question, what happens if I load the character with a copy of HL which doesn't have the .user file?

If you load the character and the file where something is from isn't there, it will pop up an error. All of the content that is missing, just won't load (because it isn't available).

But the good news is, getting that content into another copy of HL is as easy as putting that .user file in that same folder.

Thanks @Kiirnodel

Installed and worked sweet :)

Awesome! Thank you so much for this! I was pulling my hair out trying to find Invocation in Hero Lab!