Make all class custom abilities show up on SpecType statblock lines?

[Roadie]

Me with more Avowed problems! Jeez, I'm a whiner, aren't I?

So I've run into an intersecting set of problems here:

- Class custom abilities chosen from a configurable don't seem to show up on an exported stat block unless I set Helper.ShowStatbl on all of them individually (or have a script do it). If I do set that, they ignore the SpecType set on them and just show up under SQ.
- Class custom abilities chosen directly from a class helper ignore SpecType unless Helper.ShowStatbl is set on the ability and Helper.NoCustGrp is set on the class helper.
- ...and, of course, Helper.NoCustGrp only applies to the primary set of abilities, and I'm trying to juggle around 5 of them at once on the class helper.

For an example of this in action with configurables, add Eldritch Heritage to a character, pick a heritage, and then export a statblock - the actual choice doesn't show up anywhere on the statblock, just the feat and the abilities gained from the heritage.

With what I've looked at so far, I can't figure out a way around this. Are there any equivalents of Helper.NoCustGrp that apply to secondary/tertiary/etc abilities? Is there any way to force a configurable to display its choices on a statblock according to SpecType?

From what I can tell, a few previous data authors have worked around this by making abilities as racial customs instead of class customs - for an example, see the agathiel archetype for Vigilante - but it seems like a silly length to go to just to make things show up properly on the statblock (especially since I'm looking at 120+ custom abilities at the moment to cover everything in the book).

[Aaron]

The way custom special abilities normally work is that each table on the class stores its contents in a field on the class helper, and then each of those fields text are output in the statblock on a line which matches the tag on the same class helper. For example, cHelpBbn adds Rage powers to the first (primary) table, and the collected text is in the cCstSpList field. The contents of that field are shown in the SA line of the statblock, because the Class Helper has the "CstS1Type.Attack" tag. There are equivalent tags for the other 4 Custom Special tables on class helpers. Helper.NoCustGrp and Helper.CombScPrLs are both special workarounds for certain classes that do wierd things with their tables:


<value id="CombScPrLs"/><!-- When generating the Custom special lists for
this class, combine the secondary tables abilities
with the primary table's abilities. Used for the
alchemist, which combines Grand Discoveries with
Discoveries in the statblock. -->
<value id="NoCustGrp"/> <!-- The custom special abilities are not grouped
together for this class. Currently used for cavalier
orders -->

They aren't available for other tables on the class helper, unfortunately.

Now, configurables are something different. Because they are really flexible, we can't really tell what you intend for the contents, so you'll need to employ a statblock assistant ability. These are just dummy abilities which cycle through what is present on the hero and collect the names of a certain set of abilities, incorporate those into their own, and hide the originals. They generally aren't shown anywhere in the actual UI, operating in the background until the statblock is generated.

A good example is "abHelpExEl" the Expanded Element helper ability. Kineticists add their main elements and the expanded elements to the same table, but in the statblock these are supposed to be seperate elements. Here is the XML for the ability

  <thing id="abHelpExEl" name="Expanded Element" description="This is a dummy ability to consolidate the expanded elements into a single entry in the statblock. We can't do this through the normal channels, because both primary and expanded elements are added to the same table on the class." compset="Ability">
    <tag group="Helper" tag="ShowStatbl"/>
    <tag group="AbilFunc" tag="StatAssist" name="Statblock Assistance"/>
    <tag group="SbNamePar" tag="AppText"/>
    <eval phase="Render" priority="10000"><![CDATA[
      foreach pick in hero from BaseCustSp where "abCategory.KinetExpan"
        perform eachpick.assign[Hide.Statblock]
        field[abText].text = splice(field[abText].text, eachpick.field[shortname].text, ", ")
        nexteach
      ]]></eval>
    </thing>