I was wondering what sort of tools the Paizo devs use when developing or generating stat blocks for npcs? Also if they do use a tool is it "in house" or third party software?
From what I understand they used to do much of it by hand and just check it over several times (and still miss stuff once in a while) but now they use Hero Lab.
I found Hero Lab to be very useful overall. I try to keep up on the bugs list though. It's pretty good but there are a some things it doesn't do well. The company does work constantly to make it a better product and they work very hard to fix bugs. They also help people out on their forums with entering new information.
From what I understand they used to do much of it by hand and just check it over several times (and still miss stuff once in a while) but now they use Hero Lab.
I found Hero Lab to be very useful overall. I try to keep up on the bugs list though. It's pretty good but there are a some things it doesn't do well. The company does work constantly to make it a better product and they work very hard to fix bugs. They also help people out on their forums with entering new information.
Thanx for the info Bob, i've been looking at herolabs lately and was wondering if that was what they could be using. Wish i didn't have to pay for it but i understand why one does
Aleister Bastian
Creative Director
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We actually use a pretty complex Excel spreadsheet to build and check stat blocks; Sean K built the thing, and it's kinda a behemoth, but it saves a HECK of a lot of time in building and helping to proof stats.
That said, there's also hand-checking involved in the stat blocks.
We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.
(AND: Nope; we don't make our Excel spreadsheet available to the public, sorry!)
I'd love to see a stripped down version of the stats, somewhere between the full block in the Bestiary and just giving the HP and page ref.
Like something abreviated that could fit in a parenthetical like the old AD&D mods used to. Like maybe involving putting the info in a notation format where knowing the format lets you know what you're looking at, for example "AC:16/11/12" rather than "AC16 touch 11 flat footed 12" or "SV:+8/+2/+4" rather than "Fort +8 Ref +2 Will +4", And maybe just the names of any special attacks or defenses to indicate there are some, like "SA: grab, swollow, disease SD: cold, poison", with the page reference at the end.
Wordcount is like GPs, I know, but you generally don't need to know all the gritty details for mooks - pretty much just need movement, ACs, saves, HPs, attack and damage, the same info as in the old AD&D parentheticals, and having just the basics, in the text, would be much more useful than just listing the XP and HP (which are universally just the average HP in the statblock which you have to look up anyway, so begs the question why even print that if not printing anything else) and would make running bigger battles with a lot of mooks more do-able.
We actually use a pretty complex Excel spreadsheet to build and check stat blocks; Sean K built the thing, and it's kinda a behemoth, but it saves a HECK of a lot of time in building and helping to proof stats.
That said, there's also hand-checking involved in the stat blocks.
We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.
(AND: Nope; we don't make our Excel spreadsheet available to the public, sorry!)
Thank you for the information James. I'm a little bummed that the spreadsheet isn't public but I can understand why.
Out of curiosity is there a possibility that Paizo will ever develop tools for there players to use?
We actually use a pretty complex Excel spreadsheet to build and check stat blocks; Sean K built the thing, and it's kinda a behemoth, but it saves a HECK of a lot of time in building and helping to proof stats.
That said, there's also hand-checking involved in the stat blocks.
We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.
(AND: Nope; we don't make our Excel spreadsheet available to the public, sorry!)
I stand corrected. That being said, I still think Hero Labs is a good investment. I know it has saved me a lot of time in character creation. It has also helped me catch a few rules I hadn't noticed changed or I had forgotten.
(AND: Nope; we don't make our Excel spreadsheet available to the public, sorry!)
/me applies for Developer position...
Heck - exclusive excel spreadsheet and Liz cookies? Oh, yeah!
We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.
And yet another reason to trust Paizo :p
Also it would be awesome to have some official tools to make characters, but that'd probably take quite a bit of time investment on your part. I think I'm pretty happy with how you all spend your time right now though.
We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.
We're hoping to change that in the next few months. :-) Once the Mac version of Hero Lab is available, it will finally become a viable option for use within Paizo.
With the myriad combinations of options in Pathfinder, developing a bullet-proof character management tool is a highly complex task. It seems inefficient for Paizo to maintain a separate tool for in-house use that duplicates the work going into Hero Lab. Thus far, the lack of a native Mac version has necessitated the continued use of a separate tool, but that will shortly change. At that point, it may make sense for Paizo to consider using Hero Lab in-house - and they wouldn't be the first publisher to adopt Hero Lab this way.
In the one head-to-head test I'm aware of, Hero Lab compared favorably to Paizo's spreadsheet, as discrepancies uncovered a couple of issues in the spreadsheet. However, that was just a number of spot tests, so it's not a sound basis for drawing any conclusions.
We'll hopefully get the chance for a more thorough head-to-head test once the Mac version is ready. After that, Paizo will have concrete data upon which to make a suitable assessment. So the answer to the OP's questions could potentially change in the upcoming months. :-)
Can I use the same license on both Windows and Mac for HeroLab, when it does happen?
*cough* Ipad *cough*
*cough* Ipad *cough*
*cough* seconded *cough*
There is no need to wait for Mac version. Just run Parallels or any other virtualization solution.
Regards,
Ruemere
Running things in virtual machines often pales to running it natively. I'll wait. :)
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Creative Director
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Running things in virtual machines often pales to running it natively. I'll wait. :)There is no need to wait for Mac version. Just run Parallels or any other virtualization solution.
Regards,
Ruemere
Agree, 100%
Also, and I'm not trying to be snarky, but I've tried running emulators before, all the way up to boot camp, and invariably my experience with the Windows OS of whatever version frustrates me so much that I give up.
I, too, can wait.
There is no need to wait for Mac version. Just run Parallels or any other virtualization solution.
Regards,
Ruemere
I am doing this but as soon as a OS X version of HeroLab comes out I'm ditching Paralells and Windows 7 and reclaiming some of that HD space that was used for both.
The only reasons that I had Parallels and Windows 7 was so that I could run 3 pieces of Windows only software.
DVDProfiler was Windows only but the made an iPad version so I downloaded my DVD library onto my iPad from the web site and now I can scan DVD's directly into the DB on my iPad using the built in camera.
SCRATCH APP ONE.
HeroLab is eventually going to be OSX native. Until then I'll use it through Paralells. When that version arrives?
SCRATCH APP TWO.
ComicBase is the only holdout and according to them they have intention of making an OS X native version. As a result it'll probably be banished to my wifes old work laptop never to be used or seen again. If I can find a OS X native comic book DB that's as robust and powerful as comicbase I'll use that. But right now ComicBase is an application that I can no longer support actively.
SCRATCH APP THREE.
Can I use the same license on both Windows and Mac for HeroLab, when it does happen?
That's the one technical hurdle that remains. We're working towards this very objective, but we haven't been able to accomplish it yet. The way Hero Lab's licensing technology works is very insidious, which I'm guessing is why it hasn't been broken yet (false ads for cracks notwithstanding). Mapping it over to the Mac is not an easy task. :-)
If we aren't able to have the licenses move transparently between the platforms, we'll work out a way to convert licenses for a small one-time cost. But we're hoping to avoid that.
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Running things in virtual machines often pales to running it natively. I'll wait. :)There is no need to wait for Mac version. Just run Parallels or any other virtualization solution.
Regards,
Ruemere
Lilith, is there any chance you'd be willing to teach courses on politeness? I can think of a few thousand people I've seen posting online over the years that could really use the lessons. And you always seem to do it with such ease and grace. :-)
Seriously, if you DO decide teach the courses, I'll be happy to sign up! Heck, there might even be cookies. :-)
*cough* Ipad *cough*
The Mac port is being done such that we're a big chunk of the way towards have an iPad version. Then the tablet follows.
Believe me, we're working as fast as we can on this end. We're also hiring more developers - see other posts here on the Paizo forums and the actual postings on our website for details.
*cough* Ipad *cough*The Mac port is being done such that we're a big chunk of the way towards have an iPad version. Then the tablet follows.
Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm excited all over again...
*cough* Ipad *cough*The Mac port is being done such that we're a big chunk of the way towards have an iPad version. Then the tablet follows.
Believe me, we're working as fast as we can on this end. We're also hiring more developers - see other posts here on the Paizo forums and the actual postings on our website for details.
At present I'm fiddling some remote desktop apps to try and get HL up and running on my Adam tablet during a game, but I'll love it when you guys have a native Android app!
For those folks still looking for free tools, do be sure to check the myriad options available. You can check my profile for my sheet, but I do want to note it's not under active development now as I'm trying to shift to a new community-based effort to create a "ultimate sheet." There is also Ogre's sheet, sCoreGen, PCGen, and several web-based tools I can't recall right now. The Pathfinder Database is a good central source for character sheet help.
Plus should you use PCGen, the output sheet is xml & html so you can write your own statblock how you exactly want it.
The Mac port is being done such that we're a big chunk of the way towards have an iPad version.
Awesome!
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We actually don't use Hero Lab, really, because we're all on Macs at Paizo.We're hoping to change that in the next few months. :-) Once the Mac version of Hero Lab is available, it will finally become a viable option for use within Paizo.
With the myriad combinations of options in Pathfinder, developing a bullet-proof character management tool is a highly complex task. It seems inefficient for Paizo to maintain a separate tool for in-house use that duplicates the work going into Hero Lab. Thus far, the lack of a native Mac version has necessitated the continued use of a separate tool, but that will shortly change. At that point, it may make sense for Paizo to consider using Hero Lab in-house - and they wouldn't be the first publisher to adopt Hero Lab this way.
In the one head-to-head test I'm aware of, Hero Lab compared favorably to Paizo's spreadsheet, as discrepancies uncovered a couple of issues in the spreadsheet. However, that was just a number of spot tests, so it's not a sound basis for drawing any conclusions.
We'll hopefully get the chance for a more thorough head-to-head test once the Mac version is ready. After that, Paizo will have concrete data upon which to make a suitable assessment. So the answer to the OP's questions could potentially change in the upcoming months. :-)
Have you given any thought to a Linux version at all?
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I fear the answer may be 'no' on that.. Linux gets very little love =/Have you given any thought to a Linux version at all?
I know. I always figure it can't hurt to ask, as it lets people know that there are interested Linux users out there. And there is always PCGen, which I have used for quite some time.
Have you given any thought to a Linux version at all?
Unfortunately, doing a native port to Linux makes no business sense when the costs are weighed against the return.
That being said, there are a number of Hero Lab users that are successfully running the product under WINE on Linux (based on comments on our support forums). So that's a viable option for Linux users.
If you want to give Hero Lab a try to assess how well it operates under WINE, simply install the product and run it in demo mode. The only things you won't be able to do in demo mode are save and print, although you can use print preview to see what the output will look like.