Creature building enhancements/fixes

[mototom]

Two enhancements I'd love to see:

While custom ancestries and abilities let us do whatever we want, often an opponent or NPC is essentially a modified version of an existing creature. These custom built foes (e.g., Veshumirix in Age of Ashes book 4) can have different DCs for different abilities. But I don't see a way to modify an individual ability's DC when creating a monster and starting with an existing ancestry. I can edit the Spell DC on the Customize Ancestry tab, but that changes all the creature's DCs.

Second, HLO displays the creature size/reach much like PF1. But in PF2, Paizo re-introduced tall vs. long creatures, so the general reach is often incorrect. And creatures often have a different reach on different attacks. It looks like, in Second Edition, anytime a creature has greater than 5-ft. reach, that is noted on the individual attack in the stat block. I'd love to see this convention adopted on the In Play tab, so we can see each attack's Reach at a glance.

 

[Daniel V]

For the first, I know they're a bit spotty and it's an ongoing task to improve them. I've made some updates back in my pre-API work to expand customization some, but more work does need done and I'll double check it's logged to dig into. Each ability should let you manipulate most its individual values, beyond making creature-wide modifications like you noted. No info on timetables there as we have A LOT to do, but it is something I'm very aware of and want to get done.

As for reach, that should be displaying already with my updates to weapon displays, I'll note it for investigation. We'll also have to assess the display of general reach, as yeah I seem to recall you being correct that it's a case-by-case basis. In a general sense we use it for things like giants for example that have a consistent "limb reach", so that reach will be applied to their weapon attacks if you equip them with weapons that differ from their default.

Thanks for bringing these up!

 

[mototom]

Thanks! FWIW, I'm seeing reach in the stat block only. It doesn't seem to show on the In Play tab or the character sheet printout.

 

[mototom]

Each ability should let you manipulate most its individual values, beyond making creature-wide modifications like you noted. No info on timetables there as we have A LOT to do, but it is something I'm very aware of and want to get done.

Thanks for the info. There's a creature in Age of Ashes that is a variant, and they only provide the abilities that are changed or added. That one is a bit of a pain—it has fire vs. its normal cold resistance, and I don't see a way to suppress the cold.

Also, when you have rider damage on a creature, like extra cold damage, that seems built into the weapon damage for that creature. So even if I can modify the weapon damage, I can't see any way to modify or change the additional damage.

Looking forward to future updates!

 

[Mathias]

Try the adjustments "Hide/Disable Selection" and "weapon extra damage"

 

[mototom]

Thanks! I don't see a Hide/Disable Selection adjustment on an NPC, only a Hide Gear adjustment.

Weapon extra damage allows me to add some damage text, but doesn't help me remove or change the existing extra damage.

I can suppress "Extra Damage" on the creature abilities (it's not removable) and add my own extra damage ability. But that shows the damage twice (i.e., 2d62d6 fire) and generates an error when rolling the damage.

And I don't see any way to suppress the cold trait on the creature.