Feature Request: Better Tracking of Gear

[Valdacil]

The Gear tab in Hero Lab is cumbersome and here are some of my ideas to improve it:

1) Ability to sort by various fields (name, weight, value)
2) Ability to give a custom name to default items, especially containers (like backpacks and chests). So we could name things like "Crafting Chest", "Adventuring Backpack" or whatever else we wanted to organize things.
3) Ability to filter the view (ie. hide/unhide certain containers). Example of usage would be to add a chest, name it Manor Storage, put in items not being taken on an adventure, then hide that chest while adventuring to de-clutter the display while adventuring.
4) More designations for location besides 'dropped on ground' for things like containers left at stronghold/manor/etc.
5) Tree type view so items in a container show immediately below that container (but indented). So it would show Backpack (2 @ 10), then right beneath that would be the 2 entries, indented.
6) Ideally, the 'tree' described above could be expanded and compressed. So have a button, checkbox, + sign or other button that would expand/compress the contents of the container. Ideally, one could compress all and see just a list of containers, then expand just the one you wanted to look inside and the contents would show inline (but indented) under that container.
7) Since most containers (like backpack) limitations are based on volume not weight, it would be nice to have an option of showing how much volume items take up and how much volume is used up in a container. I list this as an option since some groups may not bother with this rule, therefore they may wish to be able to turn it off.

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by Valdacil

5) Tree type view so items in a container show immediately below that container (but indented). So it would show Backpack (2 @ 10), then right beneath that would be the 2 entries, indented.
6) Ideally, the 'tree' described above could be expanded and compressed. So have a button, checkbox, + sign or other button that would expand/compress the contents of the container. Ideally, one could compress all and see just a list of containers, then expand just the one you wanted to look inside and the contents would show inline (but indented) under that container.

This would definitely make the whole idea of containers and such way, way more useful than it is now.

[Silveras]

Some of these you can do now, or mostly do.

Re: 2, for example. In the editor, copy the Chest(s) to a new Gear Item(s). There is a setting to allow user text for additional naming and clarity. Or just use "Custom Container" and name it as you like.

Re: 4, for example. Use a Custom Container and call it "Inn Room" or "At Home". Don't set its location to being "on Hero", and it is now a Free-floating place to hold gear not currently with the hero.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Silveras

Re: 4, for example. Use a Custom Container and call it "Inn Room" or "At Home". Don't set its location to being "on Hero", and it is now a Free-floating place to hold gear not currently with the hero.

Custom Location would probably be better for that, since it doesn't need to be moved to the "dropped to the ground" container, it and its contents automatically don't count their weight against encumberance.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Valdacil

7) Since most containers (like backpack) limitations are based on volume not weight, it would be nice to have an option of showing how much volume items take up and how much volume is used up in a container. I list this as an option since some groups may not bother with this rule, therefore they may wish to be able to turn it off.

Problem with this is that most items only have weight defined in the rules, not volume. Waffle irons weigh 5 lbs, but how much space does one occupy? What about items with a certain amount of squishyness, like bolts of cloth or a feather pillow?

[ShadowChemosh]

Originally Posted by Aaron

Problem with this is that most items only have weight defined in the rules, not volume. Waffle irons weigh 5 lbs, but how much space does one occupy? What about items with a certain amount of squishyness, like bolts of cloth or a feather pillow?

Stop it and your crazy "logic" Aaron!

[JustinThomason]

Originally Posted by Valdacil

5) Tree type view so items in a container show immediately below that container (but indented). So it would show Backpack (2 @ 10), then right beneath that would be the 2 entries, indented.
6) Ideally, the 'tree' described above could be expanded and compressed. So have a button, checkbox, + sign or other button that would expand/compress the contents of the container. Ideally, one could compress all and see just a list of containers, then expand just the one you wanted to look inside and the contents would show inline (but indented) under that container.

I agree with @Roadie that these two improvements would be a really great quality of life improvement, and would make containers much more useful.

[Valdacil]

Originally Posted by Aaron

Problem with this is that most items only have weight defined in the rules, not volume. Waffle irons weigh 5 lbs, but how much space does one occupy? What about items with a certain amount of squishyness, like bolts of cloth or a feather pillow?

Yeah, it's really a problem with the rulebooks since they give limitations on things like backpacks in cubic feet, but then don't define how many cubic feet items take up.

[Ualaa]

At the moment, it is a judgment call.

Can the packrats (my players) fit three suits of full plate into a Bag of Holding type I? How about six maces as well. They'll keep going, until I "guess" that it is full. Wealth, along with levels, is power in the game.

[Silveras]

The magical storage containers (Bags of Holding and Handy Haversack) have specified weight and volume limits for their contents, while the mundane backbacks and belt pouches have only volume measures. I pulled the weight capacities from my old D&D books to put together a composite list (p.17 in the attached PDF).

The other limit that Players tend to forget is the opening of the container. The bag of holding may be able to hold 250 lbs of gear, but it still has an opening that is only "so big". The bag is described as 2ft x 4ft ... so the opening is 4ft in perimeter, Anything that can't be fit into 2ft x .01 ft (flatttened) or is rounded and more than 1.2 ft in diameter isn't going in.