Stat Block creator on the site? Any plans for it?

[Berselius]

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

[Andrew Betts]

Berselius wrote:

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

Personally I don't see it happening when they already endorse HeroLab which I believe can do the same thing.

[Edgar Lamoureux]

Andrew Betts wrote:

Berselius wrote:

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

Personally I don't see it happening when they already endorse HeroLab which I believe can do the same thing.

It does a very good job. HeroLab should definitely be the go-to stat block generator. It's pretty cheap, and Pathfinder isn't the only system available, so if you play other games, you can use it with those too. If you already buy a ton of books, the added price of HeroLab shouldn't be too much of a bother.

[Berselius]

Quote:

It does a very good job. HeroLab should definitely be the go-to stat block generator. It's pretty cheap, and Pathfinder isn't the only system available, so if you play other games, you can use it with those too. If you already buy a ton of books, the added price of HeroLab shouldn't be too much of a bother.

From the perspective of someone who can't even afford to buy the real books and instead has to rely on PDF's, no...it's not real cheap and I also don't like the fact you have to renew your subscription every once and awhile as well as the fact that you have to spend additional money on the datasets as well. I'd much rather prefer Paizo.com come out with a free on site (or downloadable) official stat block generator. Hell, I'll even take a non-free generator from Paizo just as long as I don't have to purchase all the different books and buy a subscription every once and awhile.

[Mathias Gehl]

There has never been a subscription cost for Hero Lab. Once you purchase a data set it's yours.

[Papa-DRB]

PCGen has an output sheet (statblock5.htm) that very closely mimics the Pathfinder stat block.

CLICK HERE

Ignore that it is 'alpha' and 'unstable', as it is rock solid.

-- david
Papa.DRB

ps. Please don't turn this into a < x generator > is better than < y generator > nonsense. I am just presenting "a" (not "the") answer to the OP.

[Steel_Wind]

I would chime in that Herolab is the way to go for fans of the game generally. While I appreciate that your personal circumstances may make that difficult, that says much more about your disposable income than it does about the reasonableness of the price and perceived value of Herolab.

Herolab is inexpensive and is very reasonably priced, imo.

If you want to hand key in the data from all of the expansion material that is otherwise available for Herolab's Pathfinder core as data sets, you can do so. My guess is that you will soon find that work to be long and tedious. That's why Herolab does the work for us -- and charges us a price for that work, too.

Lone Wolf puts out a great product at a reasonable price. They deserve to be able to make money on it, too. Nobody is getting rich off of Herolab.

Note: We will be featuring an interview with the lead developer of Herolab on our forthcoming Episode 013 of Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast.

[Skeld]

Berselius wrote:

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

Haven't we been over this before?

I don't think anything has changed.

-Skeld

[chopswil]

I've got most of the Paizo stat blocks in an excel file.
link
If you download the file, unhide all the fields, basically each bolded part of a stat block has its own field.
Search by CR, race, class, etc.

The cool thing is the fulltext field, this has all the data marked up with html.
Copy the text from the FullText column to a new text file on your computer, save it with a .html extension, and then also have this PF.css file (attached to bottom of the link page) in the same directory as that new file, you'll get spiffy stat blocks following the official Paizo format.
Questions or comments, my email is chopswli at comcast dot net

enjoy

[Snorter]

chopswil wrote:

I've got most of the Paizo stat blocks in an excel file.

Thanks, that's cool.

Just tried it out and it does work.

How often does this get updated? Is it the intent to add each PF chapter as it comes out?

[d20pfsrd.com]

Mike keeps everything pretty updated. It might not be immediately after a new book is released but its usually within a few days (so far).

[chopswil]

Snorter wrote:

chopswil wrote:

I've got most of the Paizo stat blocks in an excel file.

Thanks, that's cool.

Just tried it out and it does work.

How often does this get updated? Is it the intent to add each PF chapter as it comes out?

It takes about a week.

Not because it's a difficult process but dues to work, wife, kid, etc..
Not enough hours in the day.

If you find any errors or want special data fields please let me know!!!
chopswil at comcast dot net

[Marc Radle]

Andrew Betts wrote:

Berselius wrote:

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

Personally I don't see it happening when they already endorse HeroLab which I believe can do the same thing.

I've been meaning to check HeroLab out ...

Anyone know if it runs on a Mac?

[jreyst]

Marc Radle wrote:

've been meaning to check HeroLab out ...

Anyone know if it runs on a Mac?

Last I heard, no.

[chopswil]

Snorter wrote:

Is it the intent to add each PF chapter as it comes out?

yes and modules and any stat block that appears in chronicles or campaign setting

[MisterSlanky]

Marc Radle wrote:

Andrew Betts wrote:

Berselius wrote:

Are there any plans to make a stat block generator for the Paizo website that we DM's strained for time could click and use?

Personally I don't see it happening when they already endorse HeroLab which I believe can do the same thing.

I've been meaning to check HeroLab out ...

Anyone know if it runs on a Mac?

I believe Hero Lab's official response is "not yet".

[brock]

Marc Radle wrote:

I've been meaning to check HeroLab out ...

Anyone know if it runs on a Mac?

if you have an old Windows license available, run VirtualBox on the Mac and HeroLab in Windows under VirtualBox.

I recall seeing a statement that Windows users will be allowed to cross-grade to the native Mac version when WolfsLair release it.

[DeathQuaker]

Papa-DRB wrote:

PCGen has an output sheet (statblock5.htm) that very closely mimics the Pathfinder stat block.

CLICK HERE

Ignore that it is 'alpha' and 'unstable', as it is rock solid.

-- david
Papa.DRB

ps. Please don't turn this into a < x generator > is better than < y generator > nonsense. I am just presenting "a" (not "the") answer to the OP.

Slightly OT but: I like PCGen's output and use it constantly for my NPCs and custom monsters, except for one thing: it lists every skill and its permutation (survival in XYZ terrain, etc.), which muddies up the statblock tremendously.

Is there a way to clean this up (besides copy-pasting it into a word processor and manually deleting all the useless skills)?

Or does 5.17.5 fix this? (I'm still on the official latest version, I tend not to download alphas, even if they are guaranteed to be rock solid. :) )

[Shieldknight]

Does HeroLab have different print options? i.e.-Can I print a standard monster/bbeg stat block instead of the hero stat pages?

[Joana]

Shieldknight wrote:

Does HeroLab have different print options? i.e.-Can I print a standard monster/bbeg stat block instead of the hero stat pages?

This is the stat block output for a harpy. Don't know if it's what you're looking for.

UNNAMED HERO CR 4
Male Harpy
CE Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Init +2; Senses Darkvision (60 feet); Perception +7
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 11. . (+2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 38 (7d10)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +6
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd 20 ft., Flight (80 feet, Average)
Melee Talon x2 (Harpy) +8 x2 (1d6+1/20/x2) and
. . Unarmed Strike +8/+3 (1d3+1/20/x2)
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 17
Base Atk +7; CMB +8; CMD 21
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Skill Focus: Bluff
Skills Bluff +7, Fly +12, Intimidate +7, Perception +7, Perform: Sing +5
Languages Common
SQ Captivating Song (DC 16) (Su)

--------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
--------------------
Captivating Song (DC 16) (Su) A harpy's song has the power to infect the minds of those that hear it, calling them to the harpy's side. When a harpy sings, all creatures aside from other harpies within a 300-foot spread must succeed on a DC 16 Will saving throw or become captivat
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Flight (80 feet, Average) You can fly!
Flyby Attack You can take a standard action during your move action while flying.

Created With Hero Lab® - try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com!

[Shieldknight]

Joana wrote:

Harpy Stat block

Is that how it prints out then? Cause, yeah, that is what I was looking for. How did you get it to print like that?

[Heine Stick]

File -> Output Active Hero Statblock

[Shieldknight]

Heine Stick wrote:

File -> Output Active Hero Statblock

Thanks, I'll try it over lunch.

[Steel_Wind]

Shieldknight wrote:

Does HeroLab have different print options? i.e.-Can I print a standard monster/bbeg stat block instead of the hero stat pages?

Yes. Many options. We have an interview with Colen McAlister, the Lead Dev of Herolab in the upcoming Episode 013 of Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast where he talks about the new features they have in development as well -- one of which addresses your specific question.

Episode 013 ETA is probably the evenig of Feb 27/2011.

[Marc Radle]

Steel_Wind wrote:

Shieldknight wrote:

Does HeroLab have different print options? i.e.-Can I print a standard monster/bbeg stat block instead of the hero stat pages?

Yes. Many options. We have an interview with Colen McAlister, the Lead Dev of Herolab in the upcoming Episode 013 of Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast where he talks about the new features they have in development as well -- one of which addresses your specific question.

Episode 013 ETA is probably the evenig of Feb 27/2011.

Cool!

Did you talk about the Mac version with him at all?

[Papa-DRB]

I believe that the following option has been available for a while, but I don't remember exactly when it was put in. It should be in 5.16.4 Production (I think!)....

Settings -> Preferences - > PCGen -> Output -> "Include Skills on Sheet"

You have 4 options:
Skills w/ranks only
Untrained
All
Use the option selected on the skill tab

On the skills tab, I do untrained, but on my personal output sheet I waver between "skills w/ ranks only" and "untrained"

-- david
Papa.DRB

DeathQuaker wrote:

Slightly OT but: I like PCGen's output and use it constantly for my NPCs and custom monsters, except for one thing: it lists every skill and its permutation (survival in XYZ terrain, etc.), which muddies up the statblock tremendously.

Is there a way to clean this up (besides copy-pasting it into a word processor and manually deleting all the useless skills)?

[Rob Bowes]

Marc Radle wrote:

I've been meaning to check HeroLab out ...

Anyone know if it runs on a Mac?

An update on the Hero Lab Mac port will be found over on this thread.

[DeathQuaker]

Papa-DRB wrote:

I believe that the following option has been available for a while, but I don't remember exactly when it was put in. It should be in 5.16.4 Production (I think!)....

Settings -> Preferences - > PCGen -> Output -> "Include Skills on Sheet"

You have 4 options:
Skills w/ranks only
Untrained
All
Use the option selected on the skill tab

On the skills tab, I do untrained, but on my personal output sheet I waver between "skills w/ ranks only" and "untrained"

-- david
Papa.DRB

Thanks Papa-DRB. What I was really looking for was a way to get rid of all of the skill variants -- e.g., just list the basic Survival bonus, not "Survival (in forest)", "Survival (full speed)" etc. When I actually need that information I can just add the bonus the character gets from a class or race ability without needing it precalculated in the skill block.

If I'm reading what you're saying correctly, even if I restrict it to, say, skills a character has ranks in, if the character has ranks in a skill that has a billion skill variants like Stealth and Survival, it will still output all those variants, dramatically increasing the length and decreasing the readability of the skill block.

Oh well. I always paste the statblock into Word to monkey with it anyway, so I will just keep hand-deleting all the stuff I don't need. Thanks again.

[Papa-DRB]

There is supposed to be a way, but I am not sure it is working. I will ask on the main list and get back to you:

Settings -> Preferences -> Character -> House Rules -> "Display Conditional Skill Uses on Output" (uncheck it)

-- david
Papa.DRB

DeathQuaker wrote:

Thanks Papa-DRB. What I was really looking for was a way to get rid of all of the skill variants -- e.g., just list the basic Survival bonus, not "Survival (in forest)", "Survival (full speed)" etc. When I actually need that information I can just add the bonus the character gets from a class or race ability without needing it precalculated in the skill block.

[chopswil]

chopswil wrote:

I've got most of the Paizo stat blocks in an excel file.

link
If you download the file, unhide all the fields, basically each bolded part of a stat block has its own field.
Search by CR, race, class, etc.

The cool thing is the fulltext field, this has all the data marked up with html.
Copy the text from the FullText column to a new text file on your computer, save it with a .html extension, and then also have this PF.css file (attached to bottom of the link page) in the same directory as that new file, you'll get spiffy stat blocks following the official Paizo format.
Questions or comments, my email is chopswli at comcast dot net

enjoy

do to poor typing skills I've just noticed my email address is incorrect.

it should be chopswil at comcast dot net

[LazarX]

Berselius wrote:

I'd much rather prefer Paizo.com come out with a free on site (or downloadable) official stat block generator. Hell, I'll even take a non-free generator from Paizo just as long as I don't have to purchase all the different books and buy a subscription every once and awhile.

Considering that Paizo probably collected a fair amount of green for giving Herolab the official endorsement, it'd be kind of seedy for them to stab Lone Wolf in the back by undercutting them this way.

If Herolab is too expensive for you, download PCGen from PCGEn.sourceforge.net. It's cross platform and free. It's not up with the current books but you can add whatever material you think you need.