Questions about reading starting attributes

[Aranian]

Hi!

I'm trying to incorporate some of my house rules into a user data file. I watched the GenCon 2014 videos and had a look at the manual in the program itself.

I'm currently trying to output a warning when a user goes above 17 with a starting attribute (including racials). For this to work I need two things: a loop over all attributes:

foreach pick in hero from <Attributes>
  do stuff
  nexteach

But I can't find the correct component name for <Attributes>.
And to check the value I thought I could use the "aUser" field, but all fields ("aUser", "aFinalVal", "aNormal") contain the same, final, calculated value. And the "Racial" field is 0, even though the stat has a racial modifier.

I'm a bit puzzled now...

 

[TheIronGolem]

When trying to determine the correct component for things like this, here's what I do:

1. Find an example of the thing in question on an existing character portfolio (in this case, one of a character's attribute scores).
2. Right-click the thing and choose "Show Debug Tags for <whatever>".
3. In the new window that pops up, scroll down until you see tags starting with "component". They're almost always close to the very bottom.
4. One of the tags listed is the component you want, and it will usually be pretty obvious from the context.

 

[Aranian]

OK, seems like I'm just blind, not stupid. I did check those debug windows, but didn't pick up on that entry... Thanks! My code now works, except for the wrong value being checked (or the value being wrong):

var highest as number
highest = 0

foreach pick in hero from BaseAttr
  if (eachpick.field[aUser].value > highest) then
    highest = eachpick.field[aUser].value
  endif
nexteach

validif (highest <= 17)

 

[Mathias]

You're looking for field[aUser].uservalue, rather than field[aUser].value.

 

[Aranian]

Thank you, uservalue is what I'm looking for, as it seems to be never influenced by later changes (stat increases, items, adjustments), meaning the warning won't pop up at later levels. But I need to include the racial modifier for the attribute, which in the fields debug window is 0. Am I missing another field or do I need to go over the race to get the modifier? I noticed the racial modifier seems to be included in the "delta" value of the "aUser" field, but that also includes stat increases again...

EDIT: I think aStartMod is what I'm looking for.
EDIT2: Or not, as that includes later modifications again

 

[Mathias]

Why don't you quote the rule you're trying to implement? I'm not sure what it is you're trying to accomplish, so I don't know if this is the best way to accomplish it.

 

[Aranian]

I'm implementing a house rule to encourage more balanced stats:
No character can start with an ability score above 17 (including racial modifiers).
This means I can't just adjust the Attribute Cost Mechanics, as allocating 18 points into strength as a halfling is OK, as that gets adjusted to 16. But as an elf I'm only allowed to put 15 points into dexterity, as that brings me to 17 total already.

 

[AndrewD2]

what about field[aUser].uservalue += field[aStartMod].value?

That should give you a value that is the user entered number plus the start mod

 

[Aranian]

I tried that (see the edits to my previous post), but that field also contains later stat increases unfortunately (and "Ability Score (Starting)" adjustments, but one shouldn't need those, I think).

 

[AndrewD2]

Well you can always use it for character creation and then have the eval rule be valid above level 1

validif (#totallevelcount[] > 1)

 

[Aranian]

I thought about that, but wouldn't that screw with a character created at a higher level? If the player adds two class levels first he won't be warned if he only then increases his stats.

I know that is a corner case, but I want to do it right and learn more about the editor. As that is one of the more harmless rules I'll have to implement... ^^

 

[AndrewD2]

In general I require my players to go 1 level at at time to make sure feat selections and such are valid when they take them.

 

[Mathias]

I tried that (see the edits to my previous post), but that field also contains later stat increases unfortunately (and "Ability Score (Starting)" adjustments, but one shouldn't need those, I think).

The intent of the Ability Score (starting) adjustment is for things that count as racial modifiers or other core modifiers to a stat - the permanent adjustments that alter all the same things a racial mod would alter, like starting languages.

(It's actually somewhat left over from 3.5, where the INT increases every 4 levels would not increase your starting languages, but in Pathfinder, those later INT increases do add to starting languages, so the distinction of a starting field, intended to only be changed at 1st level is no longer really needed, but it's too late to remove at this point).