Paizo's plans for Digital Tools? Suggestion


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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I would guess that Piazo might be looking around for a vendor to handle
"Offical" digital tools. I would like to suggest one to you guys that already has support for the Pathfinder RPG ruleset, Lone Wolf's "Hero Lab".

I personally have been using "Hero Lab" for about a year now and it was in fact the thing that turned me on to Piazo's Pathfinder products. As I am now switching all of my 3.5 games over to Pathfinder it would be a great benefit to see the two company's working together. Lone Wolf's commitment to community support and openness in their development process it unmatched in my experience except for Piazo it's self. Also you won't find many(if any) other products with the level of polish and customizability that Hero Lab has.

Any way that is my two cents and I hope you guys here at Piazo keep up the fantastic work you are doing for the community.

Silver Crusade

mindcloud wrote:

I would guess that Paizo might be looking around for a vendor to handle

"Offical" digital tools. I would like to suggest one to you guys that already has support for the Pathfinder RPG ruleset, Lone Wolf's "Hero Lab".

I personally have been using "Hero Lab" for about a year now and it was in fact the thing that turned me on to Paizo's Pathfinder products. As I am now switching all of my 3.5 games over to Pathfinder it would be a great benefit to see the two company's working together. Lone Wolf's commitment to community support and openness in their development process it unmatched in my experience except for Paizo it's self. Also you won't find many(if any) other products with the level of polish and customizability that Hero Lab has.

Any way that is my two cents and I hope you guys here at Paizo keep up the fantastic work you are doing for the community.

I agree, ever since my DM has gone with Pathfinder, we've been hoping for a digital tool that handled the Pathfinder ruleset. I couldn't believe I found Hero Lab so easily! I quickly bought it, then showed how well it handled Pathfinder to my DM and HE bought it! One of the guys at my table saw how it ran on my labtop and is buying it this week.

The experience with Herolab has been incredible, I would ask Paizo to seriously think of this digital tool for official Pathfinder stuff, Lonewolf has a very good grasp on Pathfinder (haven't tried their other datasets yet) and has been so great with the community support.

Just putting in my vote since someone posted about Hero Lab for Pathfinder.

EK

Liberty's Edge

Paizo has some tools for the Iphone/IPad/Ipod that are supposed to come out this year. That's the word on the street anyway, no official dates or announcements.

Hero Lab is indeed cool... and with version 3.6 coming up soon and the new classes and Bestiary add on being released this month, things should be really awesome. Definitely got some money set aside for that!


Here, here on HeroLabs! I have been using this tool as a GM since we swiched to Pathfinder and it has been great! Their support and quick turnaround on bug fixes has been nothing short of awesome!

I would love to see more Paizo support for digital tools and remote gaming paradigms.


My vote for Hero Lab as well. I love HL.

Liberty's Edge

Note to self - look into purchasing this HeroLab product.


Fris wrote:
Paizo has some tools for the Iphone/IPad/Ipod that are supposed to come out this year.

Who gives a frack about those? I don't have an iPaidTooMuchMoney. I have a computer.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

HeroLab is a nice program BUT I would not like to see it the "official" "Digital Tool" for Pathfinder---at least insomuch as it would somehow become the only licensed digital tool for Pathfinder. (And if that's not what you mean by "official," what do you mean?)

Part of Pathfinder keeping an open game license is that different people can make tools (as long as they follow the rules) to suit them, and I would not like to see Paizo wave their flag over any one particular Third Party Software Developer.

I also have some specific issues with HeroLab in that you have to pay extra for every game license beyond the first you activate with the game, which depending on what you want to use it for, can become an unnecessarily expensive proposition (in my personal opinion; I have already had disagreements with other people on this and there are alternate viewpoints that are as equally valid as mine). While that's not a problem for people who only use it for Pathfinder, even they will also have to pay extra for the Bestiary pack, despite that being OGC (as is my understanding at least).

I also know some users disagree with Lone Wolf's somewhat strict DRM/license activation policy. Obviously not all do, but it's something to bear in mind.

Now, since HeroLab exists already with a butt-ton of Pathfinder datasets, and any given person wants to use it for their purposes or convince their gaming group to use it, nothing is stopping them from doing that right now. I don't see what making it "official" (again, what does that mean?) will improve what the program already does. (Nor for that matter will it affect the people who use PCGen or other tools, or are waiting to see if Anurion at RPGXplorer will actually finally get around to doing the Pathfinder update now that they're no longer on hiatus.)

Now, if Paizo wants to develop its own in-house set of tools, awesome, but HeroLab as one of a few options is great and I'm happy with things as they are.

Grand Lodge

DeathQuaker wrote:

HeroLab is a nice program BUT I would not like to see it the "official" "Digital Tool" for Pathfinder---at least insomuch as it would somehow become the only licensed digital tool for Pathfinder. (And if that's not what you mean by "official," what do you mean?)

Part of Pathfinder keeping an open game license is that different people can make tools (as long as they follow the rules) to suit them, and I would not like to see Paizo wave their flag over any one particular Third Party Software Developer.

I also have some specific issues with HeroLab in that you have to pay extra for every game license beyond the first you activate with the game, which depending on what you want to use it for, can become an unnecessarily expensive proposition (in my personal opinion; I have already had disagreements with other people on this and there are alternate viewpoints that are as equally valid as mine). While that's not a problem for people who only use it for Pathfinder, even they will also have to pay extra for the Bestiary pack, despite that being OGC (as is my understanding at least).

I also know some users disagree with Lone Wolf's somewhat strict DRM/license activation policy. Obviously not all do, but it's something to bear in mind.

Now, since HeroLab exists already with a b%&~-ton of Pathfinder datasets, and any given person wants to use it for their purposes or convince their gaming group to use it, nothing is stopping them from doing that right now. I don't see what making it "official" (again, what does that mean?) will improve what the program already does. (Nor for that matter will it affect the people who use PCGen or other tools, or are waiting to see if Anurion at RPGXplorer will actually finally get around to doing the Pathfinder update now that they're no longer on hiatus.)

Now, if Paizo wants to develop its own in-house set of tools, awesome, but HeroLab as one of a few options is great and I'm happy with things as they are.

While I have no beef with any of Herolabs choices, I second your viewpoint. I'd like to see what they could come up with.


DeathQuaker wrote:

HeroLab is a nice program BUT I would not like to see it the "official" "Digital Tool" for Pathfinder---at least insomuch as it would somehow become the only licensed digital tool for Pathfinder. (And if that's not what you mean by "official," what do you mean?)

Part of Pathfinder keeping an open game license is that different people can make tools (as long as they follow the rules) to suit them, and I would not like to see Paizo wave their flag over any one particular Third Party Software Developer.

To clarify my idea of an "Official" "Digital Tool". It would give Lone Wolf access to Prerelease content as well as be licensed to use non OGL content. I Personally would love to see the Hero Lab version of a "Bestiary II" or "Advanced Players Guide" released simultaneously with the printed and PDF products. This would not impact the ability for other tools/projects to continue to use OGL content. But it would add in IMO apreacable value to both companys products. Espically if say you buy the PDF or Print version and you get a voucher or discount for the digital version.

DeathQuaker wrote:
I also have some specific issues with HeroLab in that you have to pay extra for every game license beyond the first you activate with the game, which depending on what you want to use it for, can become an unnecessarily expensive proposition (in my personal opinion; I have already had disagreements with other people on this and there are alternate viewpoints that are as equally valid as mine). While that's not a problem for people who only use it for Pathfinder, even they will also have to pay extra for the Bestiary pack, despite that being OGC (as is my understanding at least).

I can understand those issues and I shared them when I first looked into the product. I however quickly came to understand that each game system license "D20 SRD, PFSRD, WOD, CORTEX, Savage Worlds(Authoring Kit), 4E, and M&M" each represent a huge investment in time to develop and maintain. Even so to me that is only half of what you are buying the other piece is their stellar support and openness in their development process. You can't get that kind of support from many companies much less the polish.

DeathQuaker wrote:
I also know some users disagree with Lone Wolf's somewhat strict DRM/license activation policy. Obviously not all do, but it's something to bear in mind.

Personally this is still my one gripe about the product. "I DON'T LIKE THE LICENSING". I can understand why they went about it the way they have and they have been very helpful. I went through a period of hardware problems on my main computer and reinstalled windows several times and every time I sent them an email and they gave me an extra activation.

But it is all just my opinion in the end!
Mindcloud


Herolab kicks a$$. Nuff said...


Cartigan wrote:
Fris wrote:
Paizo has some tools for the Iphone/IPad/Ipod that are supposed to come out this year.
Who gives a frack about those? I don't have an iPaidTooMuchMoney. I have a computer.

Who cares? Ummmmm . . . lots of people. But hey, if you don't have one, Paizo probably shouldn't pursue it. And yes, in case you're wondering I do have an iSpentTheMoneyandItIsWellWorthIt.

Liberty's Edge

The OP was asking about 'official' digital tools, and I'd say... Paizo internally developing tools is about as official as you can get.


Billzabub wrote:
Cartigan wrote:
Fris wrote:
Paizo has some tools for the Iphone/IPad/Ipod that are supposed to come out this year.
Who gives a frack about those? I don't have an iPaidTooMuchMoney. I have a computer.
Who cares? Ummmmm . . . lots of people. But hey, if you don't have one, Paizo probably shouldn't pursue it. And yes, in case you're wondering I do have an iSpentTheMoneyandItIsWellWorthIt.

So you don't have a computer? Are you typing from the iPhone right now? Making software for a computer is a far better venture than something for a piece of hardware with a much smaller market.


Hunh? What are you talking about? Where do you get the impression I don't have a computer? Did I some how enter into a debate over the comparative values of various business ventures? No, and no.

You posed a questions - who cares? I answered it. You made a disparaging statement regarding Apple products, which I disagreed with. Yes, I was a little smarmy, but you get what you give.

Unbunch your panties and take a breath.

Oh, and since you brought it up, making software apps for the iPhone is hardly something to sneeze at. It's certainly well worth any company looking at in terms of investment v. return, unless of course, they're like you and can't look past their own bias against a viable platform.


Well there are several things here that I do and don't care about
Making a program to access PF materials on the iPhone: Don't care
Making a digital tool related to character/game creation for the iPhone and computers: Don't care
Making a digital tool related to character/game creation exclusively for the iPhone: Care


My gaming group all use HeroLab and are all rather happy with it. I'd certainly endorse HL as an option for some sort of relationship with Paizo.

I'm most impressed with the customer service that Lone Wolf provides its customers. It feels very similar to the excellent way that Paizo treats theirs. So culturally the companies seem to have the same priority on customer service.


I have used rpgxplorer for 3.5 since it came out, and I hope they are able to continue to upgrade to pathfinder core.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Micco wrote:
I'm most impressed with the customer service that Lone Wolf provides its customers. It feels very similar to the excellent way that Paizo treats theirs. So culturally the companies seem to have the same priority on customer service.

This. All of this.

It is an excellent product, well worth the cost. The dataset for PF is phenomenal, and PF specific rules/changes aren't just tacked on to existing 3.5 mechanics. Where PF makes a departure from 3.5, HL supports it fully.

Heck, they even have PF Society character generation/leveling/chronicle-tracking support.

Skills are applied using the point system outlined in Pathfinder (no remembering to add 3 to class skills), Feats as described in Pathfinder, with actual effects on character stats and skill bonuses, not just text ripped from the SRD and a text line in the appropriate skill/feat box.

I'm talking about all those small things, too. Bonus HP/skill per level, arcane wizards being able to create a familiar or bonded item. Domain powers and sorcerer abilities listed correctly, etc. etc. etc. So far, there isn't anything I have to "remember to add manually."

I'd hate to see Paizo give out an exclusive license for all of the great reasons mentioned above, but I would think if any product deserved an official endorsement, it'd be Hero Lab.

They're active, they're intimately aware of the ruleset they're working with, their interface is intuitive, and they (maybe most importantly) set and regularly meet deadlines--that alone sets them apart in an industry full of abandoned RPG "awesome-ware."

Shadow Lodge

Hi,

I have been using Hero Lab sense day one of there release and I can say I have found it to be the best tool of it's kind for the GM and the player. Here is why.

1. You get an official baseline rule set to start with. Not an incomplete set of rules prepared for some other GM's game.

2. A working editor for adding your own material. (I should know I used it to help Lone Wolf get the big flood of M&M data files out)

3. Good response time form the company to bugs and requests for features. For having as few folks working there as they do and the amount of systems they support the folks at Lone Wolf allays seem to find the time to get back to you personally about an issue.

4. Extremely cheap as compared to other character generators out there. (Yes I know there are some free ones but many times you get what you pay for) You pay for a data pack once and every time it's updated you get the update. True some games have more than one data pack. But they are cheaper than buying an extra book, and thee is no monthly subscription cost that a certain group of shore dwelling sorcerers are charging for there generator.

5. Lastly it just keeps getting better and better.

Thank you for your time,

Dartnet

Sovereign Court

As a GM, I find Hero Lab to be fantastic with some of the best product support I've ever found in my twenty years of experience as a Network Engineer / Software tester.

I just recently switched off GMing to one of my players for a break, and HE purchased HL from my suggestion and has done nothing but sung its praises. More of my players are now considering it, just to be able to update their own characters and mail them to the GM... anything that makes my players inclined to do that is Awesome in my opinion.

With the addition of the Bestiary information, I think I will be running all combats in the Tactical Console... until now the times I've been able to have all the bad-guys in HL, it's been great to use.

iPhone app? Sounds neat, especially from Eric Mona's tidbits in his presentation (like the character sheets). My question would be does everyone have to have the iPhone for it to work?

That would mean that it would be very limited use at my table, which is made up of tech savvy professionals in the IT industry. We have 2 out of 6 players with iPhones. Android version possible? Even then, you're talking 66% of my table; but that's better than 33%.

That said... plugging the app into the Tectical Console?? What if the changes from the GM using Hero Lab shows up on that tactical console, and vice-versa on the app-installed smart phone of choice?

That could be beyond awesome. But that kind of development costs money, and one thing about open source products... you have to do a lot of things for free.

Bills don't get paid with free. So leaving it open is nice, but I'm suspecting that many people who talk about keeping it "open and free" are users who don't have the knowledge or skill to do any of that work in the first place and wouldn't want to work 20-40 hours a week for free in any event.

An honest days pay for an honest days work is what I'm advocating here. If a high quality end product requires one company to be made the Official provider, my vote would be for Hero Lab.


We us HL and it works great. Very happy with it.


I also enjoy Hero Lab and cant wait to see the Pathfinder Additional Material.
But If I have to buy a 20 dollar expansion for every new book that hurts my over all like for the product. Maybe like 5 dollars per expansion. I understand you need to make money on a product but when you purchased the 3.5 dataset you got all the monsters and everything.
With how Pathfinder is looking you will be buying each book seperatly maybe if they do like a beastiary expansion where all the future Beastiarys are included that would be cool.
I also like the idea that if we buy the products from Paizo maybe get a discount on it


I purchased of copy of HL after looking around at various different software. I like HL a lot. They software is stable. The customer service is awesome both on the forums and through e-mail. The updates are plentiful. I really like the ability to record notes and journal the adventure with the file. Makes record keeping much easier.

The basic use of the program is comprehensive for Pathfinder. Anything I need for character generation is there. You can also manage combat. You can also create customized classes and more. I am still learning about the capabilities of the software 6 months after I bought it. I probably use about 1/3 of its capabilities and I am completely happy with my purchase.


Basilforth wrote:

I purchased of copy of HL after looking around at various different software. I like HL a lot. They software is stable. The customer service is awesome both on the forums and through e-mail. The updates are plentiful. I really like the ability to record notes and journal the adventure with the file. Makes record keeping much easier.

The basic use of the program is comprehensive for Pathfinder. Anything I need for character generation is there. You can also manage combat. You can also create customized classes and more. I am still learning about the capabilities of the software 6 months after I bought it. I probably use about 1/3 of its capabilities and I am completely happy with my purchase.

To go along with this its really easy to use im pretty computer stupid and I can almost anything with hero labs I need to so for user ease it gets a high grade from me

Dark Archive Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games

I have never used Hero Lab, but heard good things about it. Does Hero Lab allow you to advance monsters and/or add templates to monsters/PCs?

Liberty's Edge

Larry Lichman wrote:
I have never used Hero Lab, but heard good things about it. Does Hero Lab allow you to advance monsters and/or add templates to monsters/PCs?

I use HL for several different games, 3.5, PF, M&M, Serenity and soon CoC and I love this program.

To Answer Larry yes it does. In the PF game I'm running the party just fought some orcs that were lvl 2 fighters as well as a lvl 4 wizard. HL made their creation easy and with their tactical console keeping track of HP's and initiative order is a breeze.

Dark Archive Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games

Doug Roderick wrote:
Larry Lichman wrote:
I have never used Hero Lab, but heard good things about it. Does Hero Lab allow you to advance monsters and/or add templates to monsters/PCs?

I use HL for several different games, 3.5, PF, M&M, Serenity and soon CoC and I love this program.

To Answer Larry yes it does. In the PF game I'm running the party just fought some orcs that were lvl 2 fighters as well as a lvl 4 wizard. HL made their creation easy and with their tactical console keeping track of HP's and initiative order is a breeze.

Sounds great! Does it allow me to add a Fiendish/Celestial Template to a monster? What if I want to change its size from Medium to Huge?

Will it allow me to advance Animal Companions, too?

If it supports these options, then I'm going to buy it today...


Larry Lichman wrote:
Doug Roderick wrote:
Larry Lichman wrote:
I have never used Hero Lab, but heard good things about it. Does Hero Lab allow you to advance monsters and/or add templates to monsters/PCs?

I use HL for several different games, 3.5, PF, M&M, Serenity and soon CoC and I love this program.

To Answer Larry yes it does. In the PF game I'm running the party just fought some orcs that were lvl 2 fighters as well as a lvl 4 wizard. HL made their creation easy and with their tactical console keeping track of HP's and initiative order is a breeze.

Sounds great! Does it allow me to add a Fiendish/Celestial Template to a monster? What if I want to change its size from Medium to Huge?

Will it allow me to advance Animal Companions, too?

If it supports these options, then I'm going to buy it today...

Well the Beastiary is not availible yet so only some monsters are currently on it

It does allow templats and to level your Animal Companion Ill have to look if it lets you use the size changing template


This is how easy it is since my last post I made a 2nd Level Fighter Giant Blackblooded Boggart =)

Here he is
Death Croaker CR 4
Male Boggard Fighter 2
CN Large
Init +2; Senses Darkvision (120 feet), Low-Light Vision; Perception +6
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, -1 size, +8 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 69 (2d10+3d8+35)
Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +2
Immune ability drain, energy drain, cold, poison
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd 20 ft., Swimming (30 feet)
Melee +1 Earth Breaker +10 (3d6+17) and
Unarmed Strike +8 (1d4+11)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Black Blooded Breath Weapon, Blood Rain, Chill of the Black Blood
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 24, Dex 14, Con 24, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; CMB +12; CMD 25
Feats Cleave, Dodge, Intimidating Prowess, Power Attack +4/-2, Weapon Focus: Earth Breaker
Skills Climb +11, Fly +0, Handle Animal +5, Heal +5, Intimidate +12, Perception +6, Stealth -2, Survival +5, Swim +19
Languages Boggard
SQ Amphibious (Ex), Boggard Skill Bonuses, Bravery +1 (Ex), Hold Breath (x4) (Ex), Sticky Tongue (Ex), Swamp Stride (Ex), Tainted Life (Ex), Terrifying Croak (DC 15) (Su)
Combat Gear +1 Earth Breaker;
--------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
--------------------
Amphibious (Ex) You can survive indefinitely on land.
Black Blooded Breath Weapon (Su) 30' cone breath weapon deals 6d6 cold damage, DC 17 Ref save for half.
Blood Rain (Su) Any creature within 15' of you takes 7 cold damage.
Boggard Skill Bonuses +16 to Acrobatics checks to jump. +8 to Stealth checks within swamps.
Bravery +1 (Ex) +1 Will save vs. Fear
Chill of the Black Blood You add 1d6 cold damage to all attacks.
Cleave If you kill a creature, you get an extra attack.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Hold Breath (x4) (Ex) You can stay under water longer than normal.
Immune to Ability Drain Immune to ability drain
Immune to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Power Attack +4/-2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Sticky Tongue (Ex) Tongue attack keeps target from moving much
Swamp Stride (Ex) Move normally through difficult terrain in a swamp and gain +8 Stealth in a swamp.
Swimming (30 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Tainted Life (Ex) Every day, you must make a DC 15 For save or suffer 1d4 CON damage.
Terrifying Croak (DC 15) (Su) Croak 30&apos; burst 1/H; DC 15 Will or shaken for 1d4r

Dark Archive Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games

Thanks, Joey!

That is one big bad Boggart!

I'll definitely be picking this software suite up.

Thanks to all for the great info!

(Could I use any more exclamation points??) ; )


dartnet wrote:
4. Extremely cheap as compared to other character generators out there. (Yes I know there are some free ones but many times you get what you pay for) You pay for a data pack once and every time it's updated you get the update. True some games have more than one data pack. But they are cheaper than buying an extra book, and thee is no monthly subscription cost that a certain group of shore dwelling sorcerers are charging for there generator.

This isn't really the whole picture of what the pricing of the current market of character generators looks like. Lone Wolf's Hero Lab runs you $30 to start (which includes the core data of one game), and add-on books have an additional cost. According to this thread on their forums (which also appears to be the impetus for this very thread), the pricing for the upcoming Bestiary will likely be in the range of $10-15, and the Advanced Player's Guide will run you $10-20. HeroLab allows installation on two computers.

WotC's Character Builder is attached to a monthly subscription fee, that's true. But your Character Builder is not deactivated if you cancel your subscription; you won't get new updates, but your Character Builder will keep working just fine. The subscription fee is $10 per month at the most expensive rate, and includes all currently released 4e material (plus access to all their other Insider stuff), and if you just want the Character Builder you only have to pay that fee once. Each month, 1 or 2 full books worth of data is added to the CB, along with both digital magazines for that month. Additionally, the Character Builder can be installed to and updated regularly on up to five computers per account.

To put it another way, someone who just wanted a character generator would be looking at the following pricing:

- Hero Lab: $30 for the core book, plus $10-20 per additional book
- Character Builder: $10 for 37 books, 40 magazines, and preview material

The only real legs up that Hero Lab has over WotC's Character Builder is that it supports the Pathfinder rule set (which, granted, is definitely a big plus here) and that it's probably easier to fiddle with when it comes to house rules. In terms of pricing, integration with released material, and sheer content, the Character Builder has it beat.

Now, this isn't necessarily a problem; the Pathfinder RPG market for HeroLab is different from WotC's market for the Character Builder, for the most part. This is just to offer a different perspective on the issue - HeroLab is a fine suite of tools, but it definitely has room to improve. Perhaps if Paizo offers it official support it might end up doing just that.


Being required to pay for each additional book in the Pathfinder RPG on Herolab is patently absurd.

If Paizo wanted digital tools for Pathfinder, they should commission one a sell it themselves. They way they can dictate its design and updating.

Dark Archive Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games

Scott Betts wrote:


To put it another way, someone who just wanted a character generator would be looking at the following pricing:

- Hero Lab: $30 for the core book, plus $10-20 per additional book
- Character Builder: $10 for 37 books, 40 magazines, and preview material

Scott raises some good points, but I'm choosing Hero Lab over Character Builder.

Here is some clarification as to why I'm making that choice (Thanks again to everyone for helping make this decision easy)- I'm using a 2 year time period for my comparison:

- Hero Lab: $30 for the core system of the game system of your choice, then say $40-$60 for all of the supplements released for that game system over the next couple years = $70-$90 AND the stuff is always available to you.

- Character Builder: $240 for 2 years of access to all supplements for 4.0.

Yes, you get access to more books with Character Builder, but it costs you significantly more over time if you want to keep up with the latest info. AND you are restricted to D&D 4.0 only. (Yes, I'm aware there are ways to dodge the system by canceling and renewing subscriptions, but I'm choosing to do it all above board for comparison's sake)

With Hero Lab, for the same $240, you could get access to a core system (Pathfinder), upcoming supplements for the core system (assuming 2-3 over 2 years) AND be able to access rule sets for 5 additional game systems.

To me, Hero Lab is a no-brainer, which is why I made my choice today. YMMV.


Larry Lichman wrote:
- Character Builder: $240 for 2 years of access to all supplements for 4.0.

Mmm, not quite. If you were actually aiming to stick with it for 2 years, you shave about $100 off that price; two full-year subscriptions run you $142.80. (By the way, if you reduced the comparison to one year instead of two, it becomes $50-65 Hero Lab, $70 Character Builder.)

But yes, with your priorities Hero Lab is clearly the right choice.


And with the $140 you also have access to Dungeon and Dragon magazines and other tools.


Cartigan wrote:
And with the $140 you also have access to Dungeon and Dragon magazines and other tools.

But for Us players of Pathfinder its Useless because its forth ed


Joey Virtue wrote:
Cartigan wrote:
And with the $140 you also have access to Dungeon and Dragon magazines and other tools.
But for Us players of Pathfinder its Useless because its forth ed

I think you missed the point being made here...

Sovereign Court

And with Hero Lab, you have an editor that lets you add in almost anything you want, including feats, traits, spells, domains, entire races and classes. And that's standard with the base purchase. They even have a toolbox dataset that lets you input any RPG system you want.

And before people get up in arms about the bestiary content being extra, note that this isn't just stats for monsters in this add-on, it's the ability to completely customize the monsters, with templates and class levels over and above all of the animal companions, henchmen, mounts and humanoid "monsters" that are already covered in just the base program.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

FWIW, with PC Gen, you pay $0. Not quite as a user-friendly interface, but $0.

I'm not suggesting PC Gen for an official "Digital Tool" either, but if you're going to look at various character generators and editors of choice...


Twowlves wrote:


And before people get up in arms about the bestiary content being extra, note that this isn't just stats for monsters in this add-on, it's the ability to completely customize the monsters, with templates and class levels over and above all of the animal companions, henchmen, mounts and humanoid "monsters" that are already covered in just the base program.

So you get the ability to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Sovereign Court

Cartigan wrote:
Twowlves wrote:


And before people get up in arms about the bestiary content being extra, note that this isn't just stats for monsters in this add-on, it's the ability to completely customize the monsters, with templates and class levels over and above all of the animal companions, henchmen, mounts and humanoid "monsters" that are already covered in just the base program.
So you get the ability to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Uh.. no, you get to add class levels and templates to everything in the Bestiary, not just the "near-human" ones, which are already in the base program.

And Hero Lab has a free demo feature. If one were curious about the quality, one could download and try the program out before they commit to purchase.

Oh, and it supports Pathfinder Society play, and lots of house rules are already programed in, you can just toggle them on or off.


Twowlves wrote:


Uh.. no, you get to add class levels and templates to everything in the Bestiary, not just the "near-human" ones, which are already in the base program.

So you get to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Sovereign Court

Cartigan wrote:
Twowlves wrote:


Uh.. no, you get to add class levels and templates to everything in the Bestiary, not just the "near-human" ones, which are already in the base program.
So you get to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Do you have some kind of point you'd like to make? If so, get to it.

This software helps players and soon DMs cut down on prep time and paperwork by letting them do what they could do with pen and paper already. What sort of "revolutionary" function were you looking for in a game aid, exactly?


Twowlves wrote:
Cartigan wrote:
Twowlves wrote:


Uh.. no, you get to add class levels and templates to everything in the Bestiary, not just the "near-human" ones, which are already in the base program.
So you get to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Do you have some kind of point you'd like to make? If so, get to it.

This software helps players and soon DMs cut down on prep time and paperwork by letting them do what they could do with pen and paper already. What sort of "revolutionary" function were you looking for in a game aid, exactly?

I'm mocking your attempts to paint Herolab's charging for extra content for an already supported system as defensible because it is some new, revolutionary addition to the system when it is most certainly not. Programming wise: Human = Elf = Ogre = Rust Monster. There is no new added functionality to apply templates or class levels to some random creature if that functionality already existed for normal player races.

Grand Lodge

Cartigan wrote:

Being required to pay for each additional book in the Pathfinder RPG on Herolab is patently absurd.

If Paizo wanted digital tools for Pathfinder, they should commission one a sell it themselves. They way they can dictate its design and updating.

The price might be higher than I want to pay, but it's not absurd. As I recall that's close to the price of data sets that Code Monkey was offering for eTools. Say what you want about what you did or didn't like about Code Monkey or eTools, more than likely it would still be around if WOTC had not pulled the licence.

$10 to 15 for major rule books and 3 to 5 for smaller sets seems to be what I would pay out for. If service is ggod and the data work like it should, I pay for a quality product. I don't think that people working on free product will have the incentive to put together a quality product in a timely fashion if they don't have a incentive to do so.

I don't own Herolab at the moment, but I might give it a try. To really get me interested would have to be a consistant subscribe-able type release scedule so I can keep up with my current subscriptions at Piazo. I think I could work with a two month lag.

Grand Lodge

Cartigan wrote:
Twowlves wrote:
Cartigan wrote:
Twowlves wrote:


Uh.. no, you get to add class levels and templates to everything in the Bestiary, not just the "near-human" ones, which are already in the base program.
So you get to treat monsters as races. How revolutionary.

Do you have some kind of point you'd like to make? If so, get to it.

This software helps players and soon DMs cut down on prep time and paperwork by letting them do what they could do with pen and paper already. What sort of "revolutionary" function were you looking for in a game aid, exactly?

I'm mocking your attempts to paint Herolab's charging for extra content for an already supported system as defensible because it is some new, revolutionary addition to the system when it is most certainly not. Programming wise: Human = Elf = Ogre = Rust Monster. There is no new added functionality to apply templates or class levels to some random creature if that functionality already existed for normal player races.

Really. Prove that.

Sovereign Court

Cartigan wrote:
I'm mocking your attempts to paint Herolab's charging for extra content for an already supported system as defensible because it is some new, revolutionary addition to the system when it is most certainly not. Programming wise: Human = Elf = Ogre = Rust Monster. There is no new added functionality to apply templates or class levels to some random creature if that functionality already existed for normal player races.

According to the programmers at Lone Wolf, it ain't "just more of the same". It's a ton of work, and it's not just data entry.

Mock away if you like, but after years of dealing with 3.X ed freeware character builders, few even bothered to tackle monster advancement. So yeah, to me, this IS revolutionary. And well worth the $10-$15 they intend to charge, at least to this DM.

Sovereign Court

Herald wrote:
I don't own Herolab at the moment, but I might give it a try. To really get me interested would have to be a consistant subscribe-able type release scedule so I can keep up with my current subscriptions at Piazo. I think I could work with a two month lag.

They already update the base software for free, including support for the various adventure paths and stuff for Pathfinder Society.

Grand Lodge

Twowlves wrote:
Herald wrote:
I don't own Herolab at the moment, but I might give it a try. To really get me interested would have to be a consistant subscribe-able type release scedule so I can keep up with my current subscriptions at Piazo. I think I could work with a two month lag.
They already update the base software for free, including support for the various adventure paths and stuff for Pathfinder Society.

Well that just might make me try. Seems like more people here like it than not. Next payday is just around the corner.

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