Zair's page

I'm getting ready to run Hell's Rebels. For my games I use Combat Manager but have noticed that some of the monsters are missing from it. (I haven't gone through it too carefully yet, but it appears that the monsters listed in the Bestiary at the end of the AP books haven't been entered into Combat Manager).

I'm wondering if anyone has created custom monsters based on the books and, if so, would they mind sharing the export files?

(If not, I'll start doing this soon beca for use running combat is much easier for me using the program.)

I wish I was savvy enough to scrape the SRD and plop it into a database like I'm pretty sure they did while it was still being updated. I've manually entered a few monsters that I wanted from the new books, but I certainly don't have the patience or time to do all of em!

It may seem nasty, yet at CR13 save or suck effects can get nasty. At a DC of 23, it is a good thing void dragons tend to be rare.

It's true! And as a once-a-combat sort of effect from a dang dragon, I suppose it can BE a save-or-die. The RAW doesn't seem to limit the amount of times a void dragon can use that power, but with how nasty it is I'd think once per combat would be PLENTY. For my own peace of mind I still might house-rule my void dragons to allow more saves in line with the Mass Suffocation spell. With that high DC I still expect some death, but it'll draw it out more, make the PCs suffer longer, you know. ;)

Thanks!

In regards to the awesome Void Dragons from Bestiary 4, how does their Suffocating Breath power work?

"Instead of dealing cold damage, a very young or older void dragon can breathe a cone-shaped suffocation effect. An air-dependent creature that fails its Fortitude save suffocates for a number of rounds equal to the dragon’s age category. The save DC is Constitution-based."

Does it immediately set them to suffocating per the environmental rules (Unconscious @0hp, -1hp and dying, dead), does it just make them hold their breath, or does it allow multiple saves a la the Suffocation spell?

It seems like the first option is a good recipe if you hate your players and want a TPK, and the second is only useful for flavor since darn near any PC can hold their breath 12 rounds, The third seems more balanced though still nasty, but also not really supported by the ability description as written.

In regards to the awesome Void Dragons from Bestiary 4, how does their Suffocating Breath power work?

"Instead of dealing cold damage, a very young or older void dragon can breathe a cone-shaped suffocation effect. An air-dependent creature that fails its Fortitude save suffocates for a number of rounds equal to the dragon’s age category. The save DC is Constitution-based."

Does it immediately set them to suffocating per the environmental rules (Unconscious @0hp, -1hp and dying, dead), does it just make them hold their breath, or does it allow multiple saves a la the Suffocation spell?

It seems like the first option is a good recipe if you hate your players and want a TPK, the second is only useful for flavor since darn near any PC can hold their breath 12 rounds, and the third is balanced but still nasty, but also not at all supported by the ability description as written.

Is there a way to automatically give all the combatants the "flat footed" condition and have it automatically clear after their first action?

Is there a way to mark "Surprised" combatants during the surprise round?

I'm not aware of a way to do either, although both would be nice features, particularly the first one. I always forget about flat-footed!

I'm getting a fairly consistent crash on Windows 7 under very specific, but common conditions. It happens on the Combat tab when I right-click on a monster in the Initiative section to bring up the menu (to apply a condition, for instance). Interestingly, it only happens AFTER I've also been right-clicking monsters in the Monster section. In addition, it seems a monster with a template applied (Advanced, Giant, etc) MUST be present for it to crash.

The weird bit is that I can right-click on monsters, templated or not, allll day in the Initiative section with no problems until I also click on one in the Monsters section. THEN I can still right-click on monsters all day in the *Monsters* section with no problems, but as soon as I start back in the Initiative section it isn't usually more than 3-5 clicks before it crashes. Sometimes it crashes on the very first one.

I've spent a good 20 minutes intentionally crashing the program, and from what I can tell, no combination of clicks will crash it when I right click someone in the party, either in their section or in Initiative. But that might be because no one in the party has a template applied. I'd test more, but I've been avoiding work for long enough

Whew. I hope that was sufficient detail, but let me know if you need more info!

magnuskn wrote:

First off, thanks to Kyle for creating and regularly updating this great program. :)

Secondly, there is an issue I've noticed. I regularly use the advanced template on monsters, since my group is non-standard size and has quite experienced players. The only problem is that when I use the advance monster button in the application, the skills part of the statblock disappears. I presume that this is not something which should be happening and wanted to bring it to your attention.

Thanks. I've found the bug (I think) and I'll have a fix in the next release.

Excellent! I'd found a similar bug (very likely the same one, in fact) that removes the skills from all of my custom monsters when I export and import them. I took some screenshots from my desktop, then my laptop when I imported an NPC I've been working on.

Before: http://i.imgur.com/x9UYNIu.png

After: http://i.imgur.com/bD5ksVB.png

Both in 1.5.5 on Windows 7. I can send the export file itself if you'd like it, but I suspect this is easy enough to reproduce.

Also, I'd also like to say thanks for this program. It's ridiculously helpful and amazing. So, thank you!

Loving the program, but I'm having issues with two things on the PC version.

One, sometimes when I try to highlight a player or NPC name, the program essentially locks up. It gets stuck with the mouse having the barred circle icon Ø kinda like that.

I can see the program itself is still responsive behind that, but I can't click on anything, use esc or enter to get out, or anything of the sort, so I end up having to force quit.

Second, when I export and/or import my custom monsters, it strips them of all their skills. Everything else is intact, but they have no skills left, which is a bit awkward.

Apologies if these were mentioned before, but a quick search didn't turn them up.

Thanks!

I'd second the rogue or another melee character having the Menacing property. It just costs +1 equivalent, and it'd be very beneficial. The character with it doesn't even have to be flanking, just adjacent to the mob while you are flanking to get the bonus.

Also, if she doesn't already have a big enhancement bonus to dex through items, she could consider some potions of cat's grace. (+4 enhancement bonus to dex which with weapon finesse would be +2 to attack) 300g per is just a drop in the bucket at level 16. Even a potion of Heroism at 750g is pretty cheap and handy if there's no one giving a morale bonus.