Using the Tactical Console for combat

[JustinThomason]

I've had Hero Lab for a few years now, but mostly I've been using it to generate stat blocks, or manage my own PC.

Recently I started looking into the Tactical Console, and it looks like it could be a very useful tool for a campaign I'm planning to start in a couple of months.

As far as keeping track of round order, who's delaying, etc, I think it is great, but what I'm missing is some way for me to streamline actual combat as the GM. Is there any way to have characters roll for attack and damage in Hero Lab? I know that there is the stand alone dice roller, but it really doesn't help with the on the fly math. When I'm dealing with multiple baddies on the table at any one time, I'd love to be able to click a single button and have an attack rolled for me taking into account all the situational modifiers that HL is so good about being able to apply on the fly.

It is very possible that I'm just missing something obvious, but I've looked around for tutorials or instructions and I'm just not seeing this covered. It seems strange to me that there is no way to make attack and damage rolls somewhere in the program, and I've see references to this sort of thing, but no hard explanations.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Aaron]

Unfortunately, rolling attacks is something that is only a feature of the Ipad version. It would be nice to add to the Tactical console though, I agree.

 

[JustinThomason]

That would be a huge feature to add. Especially with the Portfolio integration in Realm Works, streamlining the GM's job by including those sorts of calculations would greatly increase the value of both products.

 

[Farling]

Unfortunately the iPad version isn't very good for managing multiple characters in the combat, since you have to load each character separately before you can apply any changes to it.

 

[mhossom]

My daughter uses an iPad to manage multiple characters. If the portfolio contains multiple characters, then there is an option to switch heroes on the top right part of the screen.

 

[Fuzzy]

Currently, there's a big gap in Hero Lab's usefulness. You can use it to pre-generate your character sheets, and that works well, but misses out on a lot of the benefits of the live-math hero lab can do. You can use it as a 'living' character sheet, using a tablet or PC, and it is great for that, including tracking conditions and such. There is no way to multiple people to do this though, and have the characters still linked together to make good use of the tactical console.

What is needed is a way to 'share' a live character between the player AND the GM, where the character has only his portfolio open, and the GM can have a 'master portfolio' with all characters AND the encounter. This way he can use the tactical console with up-to-date information for all characters available to him.

Once this is implemented (though there has been no talk of going this route), tracking duration of effects/spells would be the next feature requested, and perhaps even action economy tracking, since the tactical console brings time into the mix.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

Once this is implemented (though there has been no talk of going this route),

It has been discussed by the LW several times actually on the boards here. I remember Rob saying he had most of the tech mapped out. My take is that RW came along and that road map changed. My "hope" is that RW and HL get integrated better down the road and we see this feature. This would go along with the hint about RW being able to hold .user files and .por files together. Which would be nice with the RWE.

Actually I would love a way improved TC myself. I don't actually use HL's TC at the table because it does not do any die rolls.

 

[karrel]

i use combat manager it does every thing i need it to do. http://combatmanager.com/

 

[Exmortis]

It has been discussed by the LW several times actually on the boards here. I remember Rob saying he had most of the tech mapped out. My take is that RW came along and that road map changed. My "hope" is that RW and HL get integrated better down the road and we see this feature. This would go along with the hint about RW being able to hold .user files and .por files together. Which would be nice with the RWE.

Actually I would love a way improved TC myself. I don't actually use HL's TC at the table because it does not do any die rolls.

The VTT D20pro Unlimited Kickstarter funded this feature when used with HL and RW. Lets hope it comes true.

 

[tkarn]

i use combat manager it does every thing i need it to do. http://combatmanager.com/

I use it too. It can import HL portfolios.

 

[Fuzzy]

importing HL profiles is one thing, but actually live connection with those profiles is really needed to create a complete solution. HL does this if you open up a portfolio with all actors in it, but there is no way to manipulate a single character by the player while the GM has it open.

 

[mirtos]

It has been discussed by the LW several times actually on the boards here. I remember Rob saying he had most of the tech mapped out. My take is that RW came along and that road map changed. My "hope" is that RW and HL get integrated better down the road and we see this feature. This would go along with the hint about RW being able to hold .user files and .por files together. Which would be nice with the RWE.

I remember those discussions as well. In fact i had been waiting anxiously for the client/server hero lab (it was discussed at one point) for quite a while, and Im hopeful that it comes back.

 

[Fuzzy]

my concern is that Realm Works appears to be cloud tied, and not truly client/server, so I'm afraid that may be how then eventually go with Hero Lab, if Hero Lab gets this treatment at all.