This is pretty exciting news and I'm happy to share it. And yes, it's me posting this. Why? Well, expect some news on that soon as well. :)
July 2, 2010 (SAN JOSE, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash.) – Lone Wolf Development announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with Paizo Publishing for Hero Lab to be the only officially licensed character management tool for the bestselling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As part of the agreement, Hero Lab will not only include content from the Core Rulebook and Bestiary, but also from the soon to be released Advanced Players Guide, in addition to all of the setting specific elements from Pathfinder products published by Paizo.
“In the last year Pathfinder has really taken the industry by storm, and those of us here at Lone Wolf are delighted to provide a valuable service to such a great product,” said Lone Wolf President Rob Bowes. “Paizo is one of the companies that just gets it. They understand that software tools like Hero Lab are critical to the success of games published in the 21st century and by lowering the barrier to entry, Hero Lab makes it easier than ever for Pathfinder to attract new players, and for existing players to maximize their gaming experience."
“We’ve been watching the development of Hero Lab for years, and it’s been amazing to see how the Lone Wolf team has adapted the tool for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game,” said Paizo Publisher Erik Mona. “I can’t wait to use Hero Lab to help me design cool characters for use in my own campaigns as well as in future Paizo books and adventures.”
Released in 2006, the ENnie award-winning Hero Lab includes an easy-to-use, intuitive interface integrated with a versatile database engine. Users can add their own custom content to existing Pathfinder and/or other roleplaying games. Players can even create data files for entirely new game systems. The combination of powerful, user-friendly software and the diverse RPGs it supports make Hero Lab one of the most successful character management tools ever released.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fully supported tabletop RPG, with regularly released adventure modules, sourcebooks on the fantastic world of Golarion, and complete campaigns in the form of Pathfinder Adventure Paths like Kingmaker and The Serpent’s Skull. The Pathfinder RPG is also compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest roleplaying game.
For more information and a free demo of Hero Lab, please visit www.wolflair.com
Lone Wolf Development specializes in creating innovative digital tools for the tabletop gaming industry, allowing players to streamline game preparation, eliminate errors, and spend more time playing the games they love. With an ever-growing suite of tools, including the award-winning Army Builder and Hero Lab products, Lone Wolf’s digital tools are in regular use by tens of thousands of gamers, from miniatures games to card games to role-playing games. Find out more about Lone Wolf Development by visiting our web site at www.wolflair.com.
Paizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo's Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game, the result of the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming, was the most successful RPG launch of 2009. Pathfinder Adventure Path is the most popular and best-selling monthly product in the tabletop RPG industry. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the eight years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than a dozen major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.
Hero Lab, the Hero Lab logo, and Army Builder are registered trademarks of Lone Wolf Development, Inc.
Paizo Publishing, LLC, the Paizo golem logo and Pathfinder are registered trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and Pathfinder Chronicles, Pathfinder Companion, Pathfinder Modules, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and Pathfinder Society are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC.
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.
|
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.
Mac + VirtualBox + Windows XP works fine for me. I almost had it working under Wine as well, so no Windows needed that way, with a little bit of tweaking.
Who knows, perhaps we will see the whole thing ported to use a cross-platform widget set like Qt?
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.
Wait, didn't they say they're flat-out against anything that doesn't support those other operating systems? Wasn't that the reason they gave for not supporting FG?
Eh, as I see it $30 for a piece of software that can be a tremendous help at the gaming table is hardly expensive, certainly not compared to other software out there.
Yeah, but it looks as if this can get real expensive if you want extra stuff. Bestiary costs 15 bucks on top of that, and APG will probably be even more expensive.
|
Eh, as I see it $30 for a piece of software that can be a tremendous help at the gaming table is hardly expensive, certainly not compared to other software out there.Yeah, but it looks as if this can get real expensive if you want extra stuff. Bestiary costs 15 bucks on top of that, and APG will probably be even more expensive.
Aye, that's true. Still, if you want an expansion pack, it's going to cost. ;)
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.Wait, didn't they say they're flat-out against anything that doesn't support those other operating systems? Wasn't that the reason they gave for not supporting FG?
Yep I remember seen Lisa saying that somewhere on this board.
As for the price: $30 for the program itself, $20 for the Core Rules, $15 again for the Bestiary, probably $15 at least again for the APG. Simply too much for my taste.
As for using a virtual machine, that still requires a Windows license which means another $100 or so.
Also, very restrictive DRM. Not my cup of tea at all.
Disclaimer: I work on the PCGen project.
Sold!
|
Bought this several days ago and am liking it. It was $29.99 and seems to come with all the Core stuff and, right now, the six new base classes -- I think the latter will have to be an add-on after the APG is available to everyone.
The price kept me away for a while, but you can flesh out a character concept in minutes with it.
One thing: If you buy a bunch of scrolls, it has trouble listing them on the character sheet. Would be nice if someone could look into that.
Wait, didn't they say they're flat-out against anything that doesn't support those other operating systems? Wasn't that the reason they gave for not supporting FG?
It seems they have backed off of that particular requierment.
*Snip*
“Paizo is one of the companies that just gets it. They understand that software tools like Hero Lab are critical to the success of games published in the 21st century and by lowering the barrier to entry, Hero Lab makes it easier than ever for Pathfinder to attract new players, and for existing players to maximize their gaming experience."
Seems they have relaxed that requirement. So, maybe there is something in the works for Fantasy Grounds II as well. We can hope at least.
As for the price: $30 for the program itself, $20 for the Core Rules, $15 again for the Bestiary, probably $15 at least again for the APG. Simply too much for my taste.
Disclaimer: I work on the PCGen project.
Purchasing the program includes a license for the rules set of your choice, so if you don't use Hero Lab for another system the Core rules are included in the initial $30. I debated about the price for a long time before I decided to buy HL. If I played in one campaign that met infrequently, it would be too expensive to justify, but I track multiple PFS characters and no less than two AP characters at a time, so for me it is very worth the price. (This as a LONGTIME champion of Heroforge.)
From a thread on ENWorld Pathfinder Character Builder, the cost is $30 for the program and one ruleset (ie. PF RPG, or 3.5, or .....), $15 for the PF Bestiary, and $15 (estimate) for the PF APG, so $60 total.
I have some "issues" with the program:
1) No customized output, it is either their output sheet or statblocks. I am not sure that it supports html output, as I asked specifically and only pdf was mentioned.
2) Another issue that I found, on their forums, is that you can't have multiple spell books and keep track of them separately, which hurts when you have a wizard like one of my players who has enough spells to fill up multiple books, plus the captured spell books he has. The response on their forum was along the lines of "major re-write to accommodate that".
3) Entering data seems clunky to me, and while I do not have a ton, I do enter at least some data for each campaign that I DM.
4) I don't like the "look and feel" of the program. Too many tabs, the blue bothers my eyes.
Now, if none of the above are issues for you, the program is quite nice, albeit somewhat expensive, so I would recommend it.
-- david
Papa.DRB
ps. I am an old "green screen / all CAPS / Assembler / It was hard to write, it should be hard to understand / mainframe / command line" type of guy, so take that into account with my comments.
I've noticed that one ruleset is included, but still, expansions can make that expensive.
And what about all the stuff from things other than the books they support now? What about Feats, Spells, Traits, Monsters and everything from the APs? What about that stuff?
Now, if they (Those wolfies and Paizo) came up with something that allowed me to get everything, and at a good price (maybe something to tie into the subscriptions), this could become interesting...
I've noticed that one ruleset is included, but still, expansions can make that expensive.
And what about all the stuff from things other than the books they support now? What about Feats, Spells, Traits, Monsters and everything from the APs? What about that stuff?
Now, if they (Those wolfies and Paizo) came up with something that allowed me to get everything, and at a good price (maybe something to tie into the subscriptions), this could become interesting...
The AP specific stuff is included with the regular license. In the 'options' area you can check mark the individual AP you are playing and it makes the campaign traits and such available for use. The spells, monsters and such are not included, but I suspect that will be changing with the new partnership. (I would think the monsters would be tied to the Bestary license and the rest to the Core.)
I've noticed that one ruleset is included, but still, expansions can make that expensive.
And what about all the stuff from things other than the books they support now? What about Feats, Spells, Traits, Monsters and everything from the APs? What about that stuff?
Now, if they (Those wolfies and Paizo) came up with something that allowed me to get everything, and at a good price (maybe something to tie into the subscriptions), this could become interesting...
You could, instead of paying for the expansions, enter in the feats and the classes and the spells and such yourself using the editor. That would save you a crap load of money.
Me, I just buy the expansions that I plan on using because in the end I value the time saved in putting the characters together more than I do the money used to buy the expansions. Trust me if this were 10 -15 years ago (sans wife, kid, dog, work, school and other engagements) I'd be entering this stuff myself. I'm sure that once youve done a few yourself the rest will go like lightning.
From a thread on ENWorld Pathfinder Character Builder, the cost is $30 for the program and one ruleset (ie. PF RPG, or 3.5, or .....), $15 for the PF Bestiary, and $15 (estimate) for the PF APG, so $60 total.
Correct as for the current prices. I expect the APG will be priced as you think.
I have some "issues" with the program:
1) No customized output, it is either their output sheet or statblocks. I am not sure that it supports html output, as I asked specifically and only pdf was mentioned.
HTML output is supported. As is BBcode and Wikitext. There is also a d20Pro output extension.
2) Another issue that I found, on their forums, is that you can't have multiple spell books and keep track of them separately, which hurts when you have a wizard like one of my players who has enough spells to fill up multiple books, plus the captured spell books he has. The response on their forum was along the lines of "major re-write to accommodate that".
Do you actually track which spells are in which book? If so, then yeah. It would be an issue. If not, just adda generic 'book' to inventory and call it good.
3) Entering data seems clunky to me, and while I do not have a ton, I do enter at least some data for each campaign that I DM.
Custom entries do seem a bit tedious to me, but I know nothing about code entry and can still do it. And now that I have started, I'm quickly getting the hang of it, so... I don't know. This could be an issue, but I lack the experience to know.
4) I don't like the "look and feel" of the program. Too many tabs, the blue bothers my eyes.
Now, if none of the above are issues for you, the program is quite nice, albeit somewhat expensive, so I would recommend it.
-- david
Papa.DRBps. I am an old "green screen / all CAPS / Assembler / It was hard to write, it should be hard to understand / mainframe / command line" type of guy, so take that into account with my comments.
Yeah, that last bit's an individual preference issue and you can't please everyone.
You could, instead of paying for the expansions, enter in the feats and the classes and the spells and such yourself using the editor. That would save you a crap load of money.I've noticed that one ruleset is included, but still, expansions can make that expensive.
And what about all the stuff from things other than the books they support now? What about Feats, Spells, Traits, Monsters and everything from the APs? What about that stuff?
Now, if they (Those wolfies and Paizo) came up with something that allowed me to get everything, and at a good price (maybe something to tie into the subscriptions), this could become interesting...
This is totally doable.
Been using this program for a couple of years, and I find most of the content is added without cost. Only the major projects are charged for, and they are not required to play. I have Pathfinder, nWod, and Call of Cthulhu characters in mine, and wouldn't consider playing these games again without HL. I actually use the program at the table while playing. It's really cool to just check a box for whatever condition you're in, and have the modifiers applied automatically. I also have all the summonable monsters in the cohorts section, so I just check on the ones I've summoned and all pertinent stats are there. Also keep a journal of what we've found and what / who we've encountered here along with gp rewards, and xp totals for the group. It has definitely made life easier both for creating characters, and for in-game play. They are constantly updating and fixing bugs in the program and the auto-updater keeps things current.
The content is completely editable, and it's possible, though not easy sometimes to create whatever you wish in the software.
On the down side...the customer service has improved but still has a ways to go. Any technical issue is treated adversarially (is that a word?), which makes me stay away from commenting on things, so I won't be ridiculed.
Technically the output for printing is very limited, and leaves a lot to be desired.
The DRM is absolutely the worst idea ever. I've had multiple weekends when I was down due to some DRM conflict; which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't rely on the program so much. I keep backup pdf's of each character change and print them all, simply because I can't rely on the program working...again this is because of the DRM not the stability of the program.
IMHO the developers of this software have an inflated opinion of the value of their product, and treat it as though it was some major mainstream product about to be pirated by millions.
In Summary fantastic product...best rpg support product I've ever used. If it wasn't for the attitude of the developers it would get 5 stars. As it is still a solid 4.
I really enjoy Hero Lab. It takes a little bit to get used to adding your own material but once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. Most of what you would want to add can be easily copied. The tutorials are pretty useful. There are several people on their forums who are knowledgeable and helpful.
One of the things I noticed about the "adversarial" attitude of their forums is really them trying to get people to work out the common issues on their own. For example, I was having a hard time getting a racial skill bonus to add in for the half-ogre race from Tome of Secrets. I asked how to do it and the first response I got was to look up other races and see how they did it. Knowing that, I was able to quickly add all three races from the Tome. I quickly was able to add in the missing dragons from the Bestiary and the mind flayer.
I would like to see a variety of options for character sheets. I don't mind the one they have but it isn't as customizable as I would like.
I love this program and I have purchased 3 different games for it. Im a complete computer idiot and I figured out how to create my own monsters on it in about 1 day of trying
I cant wait for all the new paizo stuff to come out
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.Wait, didn't they say they're flat-out against anything that doesn't support those other operating systems? Wasn't that the reason they gave for not supporting FG?Yep I remember seen Lisa saying that somewhere on this board.
As for the price: $30 for the program itself, $20 for the Core Rules, $15 again for the Bestiary, probably $15 at least again for the APG. Simply too much for my taste.
As for using a virtual machine, that still requires a Windows license which means another $100 or so.
Also, very restrictive DRM. Not my cup of tea at all.
Disclaimer: I work on the PCGen project.
Who needs a disclaimer to say you don't like a program that costs $100 to create a character using OGL content?
If I could figure out a good XML format for game rules, a character creator for a single rule set is much simpler. The guy over at Redblade needs to release the Redblade 2.0 as open source.
Disclaimer: I think PCGen is one of the most user unfriendly products I have ever used and I have recently expounded upon how god awful a program Excel is.
Oh, lonewolfdev did not mention html output. I have customized output sheets that I use with my current software program, and I've gotten used to it. He did say that customized output would be coming the end of this year, so I have placed a tickler on my calendar to look then.
Yea, I have my wizards keep track of spell books and pages and captured spell books. I also have the archers keep track of arrows and/or bolts. While I don't, yet, have them keep track of rations, I do insist that the cleric pray for "Create Food and Water" daily at 5th level. Next campaign, Kingmaker, they will have to keep track of rations, water, etc.
-- david
Papa.DRB
HTML output is supported. As is BBcode and Wikitext. There is also a d20Pro output extension.
Do you actually track which spells are in which book? If so, then yeah. It would be an issue. If not, just add a generic 'book' to inventory and call it good.
Wha wha wha, does it mean that HeroLab will include Golarion-specific stuff ?
Yes. The license allows us to now include *everything* for Pathfinder - not just the OGL content. Granted, it will take some time to get it all in, but you should see that material start becoming available within Hero Lab in a few months.
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.
We're actively working on a native Mac port right now. The plan is to have a Mac version available late this year.
As for expense, that's really a subjective decision and everyone will draw the line somewhere different. There's a lot of work that goes into developing quality software, and the complexities of an evolving game like Pathfinder greatly increase the workload. There are solid tools available that are free as well. However, we believe Hero Lab offers a great deal more ease of use, power, and flexibility than the free tools.
Lots of Pathfinder players will view Hero Lab as well worth the investment, while others will prefer to use the free tools. Everyone will weigh the pros and cons a bit differently, so we make Hero Lab freely available for full evaluation. This allows everyone to take all the different tools for a test drive and decide which option best suits their needs.
Also, very restrictive DRM. Not my cup of tea at all.
I noticed that, too.
Disclaimer: I work on the PCGen project.
How's PCGen doing, especially in regards to Pathfinder support?
I have some "issues" with the program:
1) No customized output, it is either their output sheet or statblocks. I am not sure that it supports html output, as I asked specifically and only pdf was mentioned.
Correct. We view this as the one remaining major thing missing from Hero Lab right now. It's a high priority for us to address in the next major feature update. FYI, the only HTML output currently produced is statblocks (also text, BBCode, and Wikitext for statblocks).
2) Another issue that I found, on their forums, is that you can't have multiple spell books and keep track of them separately, which hurts when you have a wizard like one of my players who has enough spells to fill up multiple books, plus the captured spell books he has. The response on their forum was along the lines of "major re-write to accommodate that".
There are some fundamental assumptions in the current design of the Pathfinder data files that are built around wizards having a single spell book from which to memorize their spells. It wouldn't be a "major re-write", but it would entail some significant work.
We prioritize our work based on the number of users who would benefit from a given feature - which often translates to how many have asked for it. We've only had (I think) two people cite this as an issue, so we've focused on features that larger groups of users will benefit from. If this is a more common problem, let us know on our support forums and the priority will be boosted accordingly. :)
3) Entering data seems clunky to me, and while I do not have a ton, I do enter at least some data for each campaign that I DM.
We've designed the Editor interface to be optimized for users who aren't experienced programmers like yourself. This results in a much lower learning curve so that *all* users can add their own custom content successfully - not just programmers. The drawback is that the power and flexibility of directly manipulating data files (such as PCGen's LST files) is reduced.
But there's good news for those hardcore programmers. It is also possible to edit Hero Lab's data files directly and take full control. All our data files are simply XML files, so they are fully editable. However, there is obviously a correspondingly greater learning curve associated with editing the files directly.
4) I don't like the "look and feel" of the program. Too many tabs, the blue bothers my eyes.
I don't think you've looked at the Pathfinder data files - only the d20 3.5 data files. The Pathfinder data files have a parchment colored skin, so there's no blue.
This means you also may have last looked at how the editing works before we launched the Pathfinder RPG files last GenCon. The Editor has been vastly improved over the past year, and it's now pretty simple to add all sorts of content to the Pathfinder data files. You might find it worthwhile to take another look. :)
In fact, there are a bunch of users who have been actively adding all sorts of content and sharing it with each other. They have sites setup where users can download those files and just drop them in for immediate use.
I'm a big fan of HeroLab as well. I've tried Excel based programs and other free tools, but HeroLab blows them out of the water. The interface is neat, aesthetically pleasing, and idiot-proof. After several days of fiddling around with my program, I was able to make my own templates and monsters.
Converting a whole Savage Tide adventure took little less than an hour and a half. (I am the type of person who deliberates a lot on how I present the baddies to the players -- no published stat block is free from getting under my scalpel)
Please continue what you are doing! I like all the free updates.
Within the past week, I tried out both HeroLab (demo) and PCGen. I wasn't happy with either:
The HeroLab demo was clearly labelled as limited functionality, but I'd hoped everything it did do would be done right. Somehow the 6th L Human Cleric I built was only entitled to 2 feats instead of 4. Also, I knew the demo would not allow me to save or print the result, which is fine, but the Print Preview image was so small as to be useless.
PCGen is, as has been noted elsewhere, user unfriendly. Tabs are arranged left to right in the order you might expect to do steps for character creation: Summary, Race, Class, Skills, Feats/Abilities, Domains, Spells, Inventory, Description and Character Sheet. It took me a while to figure out that I had to skip over to the Description tab and select a deity before Cleric was a legal class option.
I got through most of the rest without too much trouble, but the Summary page says I still have these things left to do:
1. Ability Bonuses remain to be selected.
2. Favored Classes remain to be selected.
3. Channel Energy remains to be selected.
4. Gear needs to be equipped.
I can find no way to do the first three, and no way to randomly generate starting GP to finance any purchase of gear (though it looks like you can just type in an amount, or tell the program to ignore costs when equipping.)
I really wanted one of these to work for me, because I can't use any of the Excel-based sheets various people are working on: my (county government) office is well behind the technology curve, using Windows XP and Excel 2002 SP3, and as I sometimes work from home I need to keep my Excel version in sync with the office so documents can be created/read/updated in both directions.
Normally, using an older version of Excel causes me no problem, but it does mean the Excel 2003/2007 character builders aren't usable.
Also, very restrictive DRM. Not my cup of tea at all.I noticed that, too.
How's PCGen doing, especially in regards to Pathfinder support?
Disclaimer: I work on the PCGen project.
I don't want to derail this thread too much, so with apologies to the Lone Wolf guys, I'll keep this short here.
The Pathfinder RPG is heavily supported by PCGen now, and we are releasing a new maintenance release 5.16.3 very soon that will be bringing along updated versions of all the Pathfinder RPG data sets that were previously available separately, and some more. A first release candidate is already available now. For more about PCGen, we should use a separate thread, though.
Regards,
Stefan Radermacher.
(PCGen developer, Pathfinder RPG integration project lead).
PS. Damon Griffin: I can certainly help out with your problems, but I'd rather not do it on this thread.
|
|
Too bad it's still Windows only. And expensive.We're actively working on a native Mac port right now. The plan is to have a Mac version available late this year.
As someone who bought a copy a week or so ago for Windows (run in a VM on a Mac), will I be able to get my windows licenses invalidated and trade them in for brand, spanking new Mac licenses?
Also, are you in need of beta testers? ;)
Rob, thanks for stopping by and responding...
1. That is the biggie for me. I want my own html sheet. You add that, and I'll take a hard look at HeroLab.
2. Understand priorities. I worked as a mainframe support programmer for a lot of years, with "external" customers so I completely understand your response. This one is not a biggie.
3. I like editing files, guess it comes from editing host config files for various products and putting them live into a test system to make sure they don't blow up before moving to production... heh... So when #1 is coded, I'll take another look at the editors.
4. Actually, I downloaded HL36 install file, and this was the Pathfinder data. But like I said, I am an old green screen / etc. programmer so these newfangled color schemes sometimes bother the eyes. This one is not a biggie also.
-- david
Papa.DRB
PS. Damon Griffin: I can certainly help out with your problems, but I'd rather not do it on this thread.
Agreed. I'm at griffin @ idworld.net, just tell me where to go. So to speak.
I have not downloaded the demo yet, but looking at the description of the Pathfinder support on the HeroLabs web site, there are some issues that jump out at me.
Standard races, plus many animal races, with level adjustments properly applied, are all included.
Pathfinder does not have Level Adjustments.
Create Half-Dragons, Half-Fiends, Celestials, Lichs, Vampires and more with templates included from the d20 SRD
Pathfinder has its own Reference document. Using the d20 SRD for these templates will be functional, but not correct, in some cases.
Never forget a favored class bonus again - Hero Lab automatically adds your bonus skill points or hit points to the hero
This sounds like HeroLab expects the Favored Class bonus to be set once and repeated from level to level. The bonus is actually selected separately at each level (and the Advanced Players Guide adds new choices). HeroLab can remind you so you do not forget, but it cannot automatially make the choice for you.
Overall, it still looks interesting and I am likely to download the demo. It may just mean that the marketing text on the web site needs to be updated. Certainly, other Pathfinder-specific things (such as Paladin Mercies) are clearly mentioned.
Within the past week, I tried out both HeroLab (demo) and PCGen. I wasn't happy with either:
The HeroLab demo was clearly labelled as limited functionality, but I'd hoped everything it did do would be done right. Somehow the 6th L Human Cleric I built was only entitled to 2 feats instead of 4. Also, I knew the demo would not allow me to save or print the result, which is fine, but the Print Preview image was so small as to be useless.
Hi Damon,
If you add 6 levels of Cleric, you get the full 4 feats as described. It sounds like you created a 6th level character, but only added one level of cleric to it; you need to assign the remaining 5 levels before Hero Lab sets your feat count properly.
Also, the Print Preview window can be resized to fit your monitor, and there are three levels of zoom so you can expand the image to much larger than the default size. Hopefully this resolves your issue with the print preview image being too small.
Hope this helps!
As someone who bought a copy a week or so ago for Windows (run in a VM on a Mac), will I be able to get my windows licenses invalidated and trade them in for brand, spanking new Mac licenses?
Also, are you in need of beta testers? ;)
We're hoping to get something like this in place, but we can't release the details yet. You definitely won't need to repurchase the product to get it running on the mac.
And when we need beta testers, we'll definitely let you guys know. ;)
I have not downloaded the demo yet, but looking at the description of the Pathfinder support on the HeroLabs web site, there are some issues that jump out at me.
Thanks for flagging these to our attention. I based the Pathfinder page on our site heavily on the d20 page, so it looks like some old terms weren't removed - I'll ask Mathias, our pathfinder expert, to check the page for any other anachronisms. Rest assured, we support the new Pathfinder content as well as the old 3.5 stuff.
Never forget a favored class bonus again - Hero Lab automatically adds your bonus skill points or hit points to the heroThis sounds like HeroLab expects the Favored Class bonus to be set once and repeated from level to level. The bonus is actually selected separately at each level (and the Advanced Players Guide adds new choices). HeroLab can remind you so you do not forget, but it cannot automatially make the choice for you.
Hero Lab defaults the favored class bonus to a skill point every level, but you can change this on a per-level basis. We'll also be adding support for the custom favored class bonuses (e.g. +1 round of rage per day for some barbarians) in the Advanced Player's Guide too.
You can see how it works on the first screenshot on our Pathfinder page:
http://wolflair.com/hero_lab/images/pth_classes.png
I definitely recommend you download the demo version, so that you can check stuff out for yourself. :)
|
I have been using HL since last GenCon and it's a great help. I have three PFS characters and two standard RPG characters that I manage. While I agree that the character sheet output could use some customizing options, it nonetheless makes character management extremely easy. The adjustments section makes incorporating unsupported material easy. That being said, using HL to develop NPC and villian's is what I use it for most. As a GM with limited free time, I need to be able to build a mook, BBEG, etc quickly and the stat block output makes it easy to use at the gaming table. If it's a re-occurring villian, all I have to do is level 'im up and output again. I can also quickly try different skill/feat/ability score combos until the villian has the right feel. Now that HL is partnered with Paizo, I expect even more gamer goodness to support the "real" world's most popular role-playing game ;)
Well, I don't know why the first time it was all blue, but now it is parchment. Much easier on the eyes, thanks.
-- david
Papa.DRB
4. Actually, I downloaded HL36 install file, and this was the Pathfinder data. But like I said, I am an old green screen / etc. programmer so these newfangled color schemes sometimes bother the eyes. This one is not a biggie also.
|
Who needs a disclaimer to say you don't like a program that costs $100 to create a character using OGL content?If I could figure out a good XML format for game rules, a character creator for a single rule set is much simpler. The guy over at Redblade needs to release the Redblade 2.0 as open source.(...)
That's my issue, too.
Pathfinder RPG: a game using the open gaming licence, known for the free availability of its rules (--> PRD).
Hero Labs: a software using digital rights management (technically the opposite of what the OGL offers). I read discussions on why they use it and I understand their reasons. Nevertheless it doesn't go well with the openness of the Pathfinder rules.
Then there is this unclear pricing of Hero Labs (not talking about now, but who knows how much will be charged for future rule expansions?).
Paizo: signing an exclusive agreement with the makers of Hero Labs, preventing any other character generating programme from officially supporting the Pathfinder rules?
Frankly, I don't see the logic of that move. It contradicts anything of what I perceived about Paizo's attempts to promote Pathfinder RPG as an open rules set.
Acutally I'd have preferred to see Paizo offer some programme of their own own/ a web char generator or to give free reign to some open source team.
This looks as if the Paizo team just chose their personal favourite tool without any second thoughts on aspects like openness or availability on non windows platforms.
Just my two cents.
Kr,
G.
P.S.
On the iPad question above: HL cannot run on iPads. It only works on Mac computers using emulating software which technically pretends to be a windows computer. There's currently nothing like that for iPads (and I doubt that there will be).
Actually I am also somewhat taken by surprise by not considering iPads. The whole industry seems to be working on solutions for iPads and now a licence agreement is being signed which effectively excludes this platform?
|
|
This looks as if the Paizo team just chose their personal favourite tool without any second thoughts on aspects like openness or availability on non windows platforms.
Or a tool that, despite the negative voices in this thread, seems to be one of the most popular tools among the consumers? I very much doubt that Paizo would make any decision without considering every angle. That's just now what they do.
Actually I am also somewhat taken by surprise by not considering iPads. The whole industry seems to be working on solutions for iPads and now a licence agreement is being signed which effectively excludes this...
Who says Paizo hasn't considered iPads? None of us have actually read the agreeement made between Paizo and Lone Wolf.
If Lone Wolf is working on a Mac version of Hero Lab, who's to say that they're not also looking into iPad?
Might I suggest waiting with the assumptions until the folks at Paizo have had a chance to explain their reasons for making the deal with Lone Wolf?
Oh, lonewolfdev did not mention html output. I have customized output sheets that I use with my current software program, and I've gotten used to it. He did say that customized output would be coming the end of this year, so I have placed a tickler on my calendar to look then.
Yea, I have my wizards keep track of spell books and pages and captured spell books. I also have the archers keep track of arrows and/or bolts. While I don't, yet, have them keep track of rations, I do insist that the cleric pray for "Create Food and Water" daily at 5th level. Next campaign, Kingmaker, they will have to keep track of rations, water, etc.
-- david
Papa.DRBHTML output is supported. As is BBcode and Wikitext. There is also a d20Pro output extension.
Do you actually track which spells are in which book? If so, then yeah. It would be an issue. If not, just add a generic 'book' to inventory and call it good.
An optional work around would be to create 'characters' with the different spell books. Make a generic wizard, heck even 1st level with a spellbook. Then print a 'master' list from the actual PC with non-detailed lists of what book has which spells from the... Not PC files.
Might be a lot of extra work, but it's doable.
If you guys read the entired thread Hero Labs is working on a Mac Version and lets hope it will work on the IPad
My thoughts echoes what others have said.
I have tried Hero Lab and do not find it worth the cost they are charging. I think the only reason why Paizo made this decision was because Lone Wolf gave them enough money. I do not begrudge Paizo's decision.
Also, what does this mean for user created character generators/sheets such as Erian_7s or Ogre's? Does this mean LoneWolf can issue cease and desist orders to them? If so, then I will REALLY not be happy.
As to the comment 'despite the negative voices in this thread, seems to be one of the most popular tools among the consumers?' How are you measuring popularity? Sounds like a specious argument to me.
My thoughts echoes what others have said.
I have tried Hero Lab and do not find it worth the cost they are charging. I think the only reason why Paizo made this decision was because Lone Wolf gave them enough money. I do not begrudge Paizo's decision.
Also, what does this mean for user created character generators/sheets such as Erian_7s or Ogre's? Does this mean LoneWolf can issue cease and desist orders to them? If so, then I will REALLY not be happy.
As to the comment 'despite the negative voices in this thread, seems to be one of the most popular tools among the consumers?' How are you measuring popularity? Sounds like a specious argument to me.
As far as I know it's not an 'exclusive' license, just offically supported.