PF& PFS Character Generator / maintenance CD

[markjsb735]

I think the reason for the success of D&D 3.0 and 3.5 was the inclusion of a PC generator/maintenance CD with every 3.0 Player's Handbook.

If Paizo includes such a CD with their upcoming August release of their Player's Handbook (and maybe a "web enhancement" to make the program PFS compliant) it would get all those "On-The-Fence" players into Pathfinder....a nice chunk of new revenue for Paizo.

[Morgen]

While an interesting idea, I think your suggestion is coming far too late in the time frame of getting the book out to the public.

[Vic Wertz]

Morgen wrote:

While an interesting idea, I think your suggestion is coming far too late in the time frame of getting the book out to the public.

Also, that's just not within our current area of expertise. We'll let the third parties who already do such things do them.

[Satin Knights]

I have been tinkering with a new output sheet for PCGen for those that play with their laptop open. The sheet is coming along and becomes a bit more interactive for tracking "of the moment" changes. The resulting output is a single html sheet that uses a large number of dynamic divs to show or hide information as it is needed. It only requires a javascript enabled browser, so the sheet can be displayed on any old laptop, like mine, without the overhead of Java and the full PCGen program running.

The beauty of the system is that 90% of the Pathfinder data set is done and will only take a little while "after release" to mold into an all encompassing, comprehensive tool. Now that I have earned my first two XP this weekend, I have a little better idea of what would be needed for a specific PF Society dataset that is stripped back to only what is available to those who wander the path. I still have to figure out how to do the "you have earned access to ..." on low/high tier for scenario n, and not just make it several individual files to load and track. Once I have a working template, then I will have to go ask the proper permissions.

So, Yes, someone is at least working on something useful in their head and waiting until the final data is ready.

[CullynDragon]

Personally, I always thought very little of the CD included with the PHB 3.0. While it contained promise, it never really amounted to anything in the long run. If a character creation program cannot be maintained, it quickly becomes worthless.

That aside, I'm glad to see that Paizo sounds like they're more than happy to have 3rd party companies deal with this. Myself, and I admit to some bias here, I'd love to see work done with Lone Wolf Development's Hero Lab product and/or RPGXplorere's Characters & Rules product. Both have proven to be very good character creators.