jasoncof's page

Thank you everyone for your feedback! This is very helpful.

I plan to charge about the same rate as WotC's product. They charge $10 a month. I may charge a little more or less depending upon interest--the more interest the less I have to charge to keep the project going.

Right now I'm trying to brainstorm stretch goals and rewards for the Kickstarter. If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them. The most obvious reward is coupon codes for the application (basically preordering the product at a greatly reduced rate). But I'm sort of at a lose for other rewards. Especially the higher end rewards.

Please let me know your suggestions. Thanks!

A tool like this for Pathfinder would be amazing, most of the group I game with are 'story first' kind of people, so there are always amazing moments in our sessions (drama and comedy abound). But combat falls to the wayside, due to many people not truly grasping all the rules. (One particularly memorable event, we redid an entire combat because our Monk forgot he used level for BaB while flurrying...and forgot to add his STR, which explained why he missed everything first time) Something like this would speed up his character management significantly, allowing him to focus on immersion as he prefers, while we all can continue to level at a decent pace.

Exactly this! This is exactly why I wanted to create a character builder. I've been playing Pathfinder with my 11 year old son and his friends. They don't have a firm grasp of the rules. But also, being 11 years boys, love combat. However, it slows down the game a bunch as I help them with their characters. It takes us out of the moment. We are no longer adventuring, but doing math (not that math isn't fun for some people, but there is a time and a place ;).

Thank you for your support!

How are you handling the data. So say when you push though the APG feats, classes, etc. Is that hard coded or do you have a database or some sort of XML set up. (again just curious and if it's too much to ask please feel free to deny my curiosity) lol.

I'm sorry if this is too technical for the rest of the audience, but here is the answer to Kaelizar's question:

I've been keeping the data as simple as possible. Simple data (language lists, weapon stats, etc.) are CSV files. More complicated data, like feats which have stat changing effects and complicated prerequisites, are done using a Ruby domain specific language (DSL). So, for example, the combat feat Wind Stance looks like this:

feat "Wind Stance", "Gain 20% concealment if you move", "Combat" do
dex_prerequisite 15
feat_prerequisite "Dodge"
bab_prerequisite 6
end

It will be easy to abstract this into XML, JSON, or any other serialization format if I want to. I haven't had the need to yet. But I will when I allow users to create their own options.

jasoncof wrote:

The first release will include the rules from the Core Rulebook. I will be adding options from other rule books, starting with Advanced Player's Guide, after the initial release. Adding new character options at that time will be easier because the core mechanics will be done. So I will try to release a new race, class, etc., every week or two.

How much and how quick you can support as many options as possible will be CRITICAL to the success of your builder.

Very few characters nowadays are created using only the core rulebook.

You need to support at the very least: Core, Advanced Player, Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic VERY quickly once you are released or your builder might just be forgotten quickly.

Understood. I can either release early with the core rules and add the advanced rules later, or I can wait until everything is done before the launch. I will think about it some more. I guess it depends on how much support I get from Kickstarter. If it gets well funded I can hire more help and release on time with the additional character options.

Seems to be REALLY interesting, WoTCH Character builder is one of the good thing from DnD 4 and I would really like to have something similar for pathfinder.

Hero Lab is way too expensive and not that good anyway.

I signed up on your list, when do you plan to have it testable?

Thank you Lauraliane for signing up to the mailing list. I send updates to the list and will provide early access to those on the list as well. Also, it helps me gauge interest and keeps my morale up, haha. Working on this has been hard at times.

Regarding how long before the launch, I would say about three more months of fulltime development. I have been working on this fulltime for about six months. But money is running low, so I'm going to start a Kickstarter project in about a week to help fund the last stretch of development.

Hey jasoncof. I've actually done a VERY simple 3.5 builder in high school and I've toy'd with the idea of making a pathfinder one.

I was just curious on what you coded this project in? and any particulars you wish to share about the project (Scope, time taken, how you are incorporating all of the different books, etc)

:D

Hi Kaelizar!

The application is written in Ruby, using Ruby on Rails, with lots of Javascript. It has as rich UI which accounts for all the Javascript. It has taken me a considerable amount of time. I would say about 8 months of full time development (spread over the course of a year or so). I think there is about 3 months left.

The application isn't just a spreadsheet style builder. It actually handles all the calculations for you, manages prerequisites, etc.. You could have no idea how to create a Pathfinder character and still create a valid character. Of course, you can explicitly override rules to create house ruled characters. If you ever played around with WotC's Character Builder for D&D it is like that, but better ;).

The first release will include the rules from the Core Rulebook. I will be adding options from other rule books, starting with Advanced Player's Guide, after the initial release. Adding new character options at that time will be easier because the core mechanics will be done. So I will try to release a new race, class, etc., every week or two.

Let me know if you have any more questions. You can also check out the FAQ section, and if you haven't my recent blog post When can I have a Pathfinder character builder?.

Hello all!

I wanted to let you know that I have been working on a character builder similar to the WotC Character Builder but for Pathfinder. It is called Character Explorer. It is an ambitious project but it is almost finished; I just wanted to start spreading the word and getting feedback. Please let me know what you think.

http://www.characterexplorer.com/

Oh, and be sure to check out the blog.

Thanks!

More questions:

How does your product compare to character generators already on the market, like Hero Lab or PCGen?

Will it just support the Core Rules and APG, or will there be support for character options found in other Paizo books? What about 3PP sources? Will this support be in the initial release, or available later? Will you be charging for extended support separately (like Hero Labs does)?

I'm directly competing with Hero Lab. I will post a comparison on my web site on a later date. I haven't really played around with PCGen that much. But again, it looks like I will be competing with that tool as well. This will be similar to D&D 4e's tool. But I think Trailblazer is turning out to be much better than 4e's tool. WotC has a terrible time creating good software.

First release will be Core Rules, second release will be APG. After that I will be adding support for rules based upon popularity. My early goal was to let people create their own character classes and rules. But supporting the creation of classes without any coding is very, very difficult. But letting people add feats, equipment, etc. is a little easier, so I will probably add that in a later release.

So will this be a strictly web-based application?

Pay? Fees?

While I appreciate the polished look and feel of the site, I'd love to know more about what you plan to do in terms of release, platform, and the like. Can I do this on my phone? Will the characters be stored locally on my machine, or will they exist in a repository on your site?

Can I eventually access a "grab bag" or "bin" of characters other people have created for use as drop-in NPC's for my game?

So many questions! :)

I'm still working out the payment model. I would first like user input before I finalize anything.

This is a web based application, however, I am planning to support iOS (iPad, iPhone) and Android with HTML5 optimized views. Meaning, it will be very functional on your mobile devices.

Your characters will be stored in the cloud. However, I plan to offer an import/export feature that will hopefully work with 3rd party applications (i.e. Hero Lab).

People will be able to make their characters public or private. If they are public they will be available for you to use as NPCs.

Keep the questions coming. They will help me develop the FAQ section.

FYI

http://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-New-Horizons-3-5-Roleplaying/dp/144950360 8

Dont know if it maters

Yeah, someone pointed this out to me yesterday. I don't think it will matter. At least I hope not. :)

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I've been working on a new Pathfinder character generator. Please checkout the site and signup for the newsletter if you are interested in beta testing it when it is ready.

The url is: http://www.trailblazerapp.com/

I hope you like what you see. Thanks!