Replaces Thing ID + User Source

[alientude]

I'm trying to modify Hero Lab for a homebrew Pathfinder-derived system I'm cooking up, and I need to replace a skill with another one. So I created the skill, tagged it with my source, and entered the replaced skill in the Replaces Thing ID field. However, the replaced skill no longer shows up, ever, even if the source is not checked. Presumably this is because Hero Lab compiles the game system using the .user file (removing the skill), then adds stuff as the source is checked (adding the new skill).

Is there a way, using a source and the normal Pathfinder system, to replace a skill while using a specific source, but not remove it from the system as a whole when not using that source?

[AndrewD2]

I think you want to use the Preclude tab with your source to hide the skill and not the replace id.

[RavenX]

Originally Posted by alientude

I'm trying to modify Hero Lab for a homebrew Pathfinder-derived system I'm cooking up, and I need to replace a skill with another one. So I created the skill, tagged it with my source, and entered the replaced skill in the Replaces Thing ID field. However, the replaced skill no longer shows up, ever, even if the source is not checked. Presumably this is because Hero Lab compiles the game system using the .user file (removing the skill), then adds stuff as the source is checked (adding the new skill).

Is there a way, using a source and the normal Pathfinder system, to replace a skill while using a specific source, but not remove it from the system as a whole when not using that source?

Replaces thingid should only be used if you are replacing something permanently... Preclude is what you want to use for this.

[alientude]

Thanks for the tip, that works perfectly.

[Valdacil]

Thread necro...

So here is the problem with Preclude vs. Replaces. So let's say I want to change how an existing feat works... say Power Attack. If I create a new feat and Preclude the existing Power Attack if the specified source is selected, then what happens if say a class ability grants Power Attack as a free feat as a bootstrap. If I use Replaces then the new Power Attack gets added via the bootstrap. But if I use Preclude, then it does not, correct?

So it's more like I want the new feat to Replace if the source is selected and use the original feat if the source isn't selected. That is not currently possible. If you use Replaces, it doesn't show the feat at all if you don't have the source selected.

If there was a way to alter a thingid's Replaces via a script, I could script a mechanic script to add the Replaces to the feats if the source is selected.

[Mathias]

Replacements are not something that a script will ever be able to handle. Replacements can potentially override everything about a pick, so they need to be absolutely the first thing Hero Lab does when setting up the database of potential items, because every other step in constructing that database could be looking at different data in the replaced item. And only once the database is built does HL present that to the user and start running scripts.


I can see two ways around the issue you're describing - the first option is to replace the bootstrapping pick with a version that bootstraps both the original and precluded versions of power attack, and put a bootstrap condition on the regular version that's the opposite of your preclude. That way, it may be bootstrapping both, but only the one that is currently active will actually be live and available to the user.


The second option would be to do the scripting changes for power attack in a mechanic, rather than in the feat - it'd be complex - you'd need to basically set up one script that does the exact opposite of what power attack does, so that the end result is that there are no changes when you activate power attack, and then set up a second script that applies the changes you want to happen. There may be a middle ground where you only need partial cancellation, depending on how drastically you're changing things.