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| What do you think would be the two most common variations of both ability scores and skill points for each of the primary classes? |
| I have a pretty good idea of what would work well- let me tell you about them. |
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| I'm not entirely sure, but I'll take a shot at what I think might work. |
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| Sorry, but I honestly have no idea on this one. |
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| Total Votes : 1 |
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 Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 5:32 pm
A Quick Look:Character creation is one of the most tedious tasks for any player, regardless of game, yet is the single most important aspect in many ways; it helps to determine how people see you in-game, how well you can handle yourself and, most importantly, how you handle yourself. It is extremely unfortunately, however, that this task is so tedious and time-consuming.
This is where the Random Character Generator could come in handy. By design, this program rigidly adheres to the character creation process layed out for 3.5 Edition rules, yet is inherently flexible as to how you create your character. You can randomize as much or as little of the character as you want, and are free to change absolutely anything that the program itself comes up with.
At current, the program is still in its "infancy", as I'm still writing the basic coding for all of the primary functions. In its current state, the program can work it most anything outside of feats, spells, equipment, and gold, but will eventually be able to randomly assign almost everything about your character- should you chose to allow it.A quick note regarding this thread and the project:This thread is currently the only "official" thread regarding the RCG, though this will likely change once I get closer to completing the initial version. While I've made an incredible amount of progress on the project, I still have quite a ways to go before I believe that it will be ready for a public release. At this time, I cannot properly estimate when I'll be able to have the project ready, but I believe that I'm presently looking at another 2-3 weeks of coding before most of the key aspects are covered. I will post more info on this as I get closer to completing the initial release.Links to the Project:The CharGen Blog is the neweronly site and is currently run using a WordPress blog to operate. I may eventually get to work on my own coding for a blog site, but this URL should be static.
The D&D Resource site has officially been taken down; as a result, all links to that site will now be broken. If you see any links to the Wix page, please ignore them. I may later go through the thread and remove all of my links to the site, but for now, I am leaving them be.
I'm also hoping on gaining access to a good FTP site that I can link to from the new site; this will help me keep everything regarding this project much more tidy (in my mind, at least) once I have the first release ready.Project Resources:Programming Language: Qt SDK (Qt Creator) The Qt SDK is a free developer suite for Windows, Mac and Linux-based systems. It primarily utilizes the C++ programming language, but also contains a means of creating files using their own system (called Qt Quick). The SDK suite includes Qt Creator, which features a full set of "toolkits" (programming language plugins) that allow for easy multi-platform development- including for various smartphones. With this, I should be able to release the character generator for all three major platforms, though it will also require a bit of extra work on my part.Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express:
This is a free set of programming languages available directly through the Microsoft website. Obviously, these programs will be missing some of the features of the full versions, but even the freeware versions are extremely powerful tools. This particular package includes the most recent Express versions of Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer; of these, I have been using Visual Basic for the time being, but will likely recode it into another language in the future.D&D Resource(s): d20 SRD, D&D 3.5 Edition Core Rulebooks Approximately 90-95% of all information that I have been using to create this program is all information that can be found in the System Reference Document, a free, open-source version of many of the most important books for 3.0 and 3.5 Edition rules, as defined and protect by WotC's Open Gaming License. The SRD contains most of the information that can be found in the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Psionics Handbook, as well as selected information from Deities & Demigods, Unearthed Arcana and the Epic Level Handbook. The SRD can be found in its entirety on the d20 SRD site and the D&D Wiki SRD page. What little information I can't find there, I am taking from the appropriate rulebooks.Project History:A couple of months ago, finally managed to get my hands on a free set programming languages, including one that I am fairly familiar with due to having learned it in high school. Having always been a fan of D&D ( I played my first D&D-based computer game when I was 8 ), I got an idea about a year or so after my programming course ended to make a program that would simplify the often-tedious task of making a character.
Unfortunately, though, by the time I got the idea, I'd forgotten a fair amount of the coding language and, being fairly timid, quickly gave up on the idea of coding it on a computer and instead tried to code it using a graphing calculator. Much to my disappointment, the programming language with graphing calculators can't handle nearly as many complicated tasks as a computer can, though I didn't find it surprising at all. Now, six years after I had originally gotten the idea for this project- and about 3 years after I stopped working on the calculator version- I am finally making this long-time dream a reality.
Update (9/16/11): After restarting the project twice, I believe that I have finally found a means to finish this project- without any unnecessary headaches- with the Qt SDK. Since the switch and learning C++, coding this project has become much, much easier.Polls:On occasion, I will post a poll to get your opinions on the in-game mechanics regarding character creation. I take the answers to the poll very seriously, as I am often asking those questions so that I know how I will be coding those parts later on. I will be posting all polls within this section, along with their results (condensed, of course) for any new readers. The first two questions posted are rough estimates of what the original questions were, as I do not have the actual questions saved.
1st poll: Is there any particular limitation to the number of templates that can be applied to a single creature?
Three votes in all
--Two voted and offered full answers
--One voted, "What's a template?"
----Information on what a template is, along with a few examples, can be found on this page.
2nd Poll: Should psionic races be allowed to take up standard classes and standard races, psionic classes?
Three votes in all
--Three votes for "Any race should be able to take any class unless their race has specific restrictions on class."
3rd Poll: When it comes to racial deities, should any character of that race be allowed to worship said deity, regardless of the potential of being a polar opposite on the alignment scale? (i.e., a Lawful Evil elf worshiping Corellon Larethian)
Two votes in all
--Two votes for "It depends entirely on how big of an alignment change there is between the deity and the character."
4th Poll: What do you think would be the two most common variations of both ability scores and skill points for each of the primary classes?
Two weeks are given to vote; poll was added July 6, 2011 and will end on July 20, 2011. Please post your opinions on this question if you answer either of the first two options.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:31 pm
The Program Log on my profile has been updated to reflect the changes made during today's programming. I've also added a to-do list of the things I would like to accomplish.
Again, any feature ideas or criticism based upon what I can tell you would be greatly appreciated.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 10:34 pm
I'll be sure to have a look at it, later on.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:51 pm
The program log has, once again, been updated. Not many changes were made, but there was at least some progress with the project.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 3:36 am
I'll be keeping an eye on this ^-^
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 3:53 am
Lady-Sanctuary I'll be keeping an eye on this ^-^ Do people play D & D in Ireland? Are you a fan, yourself?
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 7:41 am
Matasoga Lady-Sanctuary I'll be keeping an eye on this ^-^ Do people play D & D in Ireland? Are you a fan, yourself? People in Ireland do play D&D razz I've gotten all my brother's old stuff handed down to me and yes I am a fan smile People normally find it weirder that as a girl I like it rather than that I'm from Ireland but I know an awful lot of people here who are into it smile This project sounds really interesting and I can see it's uses but for myself part of the joy of D&D is choosing your character and making them who you want to play, but at the same time I also think it would be fun to role play a character someone else has chosen for you than one you chose.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 1:15 pm
Lady-Sanctuary This project sounds really interesting and I can see it's uses but for myself part of the joy of D&D is choosing your character and making them who you want to play, but at the same time I also think it would be fun to role play a character someone else has chosen for you than one you chose. Well, that's going to be part of the beauty of this program; I'm designing it to let you choose what you would like to randomize or what you would like to set yourself. For instance, with where I'm at in the program right now- which isn't terribly far, unfortunately- you can decide which race you want or which class, both if you know for sure, neither if you don't. I plan for this to be an extremely flexible program, allowing you to make as many or as few decisions as you'd personally like to make when creating your character(s).
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 3:09 am
Eliae Darr Lady-Sanctuary This project sounds really interesting and I can see it's uses but for myself part of the joy of D&D is choosing your character and making them who you want to play, but at the same time I also think it would be fun to role play a character someone else has chosen for you than one you chose. Well, that's going to be part of the beauty of this program; I'm designing it to let you choose what you would like to randomize or what you would like to set yourself. For instance, with where I'm at in the program right now- which isn't terribly far, unfortunately- you can decide which race you want or which class, both if you know for sure, neither if you don't. I plan for this to be an extremely flexible program, allowing you to make as many or as few decisions as you'd personally like to make when creating your character(s). That sounds wonderful heart I think this is such a cool project!
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 10:06 pm
Another small update on the program. As usual, the changelog can be read on my profile.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:04 pm
Though I've taken a break from coding for the past couple of days, I'm back to working on it, and probably will be doing a fair amount with it today before I move on to other things.
However, I have some questions regarding templates, and I could really use some answers and/or advice regarding them, especially from people who are very familiar with them.
1- Is there any particular limitation to the number of templates that can be applied to a single character?
2- Is it possible to stack certain templates with an undead template? (ie, Half-Dragon Death Knight or Half-Fiend Lich)
3- If it is possible to apply multiple templates, would the resulting character get all of the bonuses from each template? (this is excluding any non-scores created from the templates, of course)
I'm not going to be getting to them anytime in the near future, but I would greatly appreciate any answers that can be offered so that I have a better idea on how to execute templates in my RCG.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 7:20 pm
Eliae Darr 1- Is there any particular limitation to the number of templates that can be applied to a single character? In all the dozens of books, magazines, and online supplements I've looked through, I've yet to find any rule that limits the number of templates a creature can have. As long as it makes sense, doesn't contradict the base creature or any previously applied templates, and the base creature (complete with any other templates) meets any prerequisites the template might have, the limit seems to be wherever the DM/GM decides is enough. Zac and I actually once set out to see how many templates we could add to a single creature. We didn't look through every source to add every single allowable template to the monster, simply adding those we though of off the top of our heads at the time. We ended up with a three-headed fiendish pyro lycanthropic shade half-red dragon blood fiend of legend, which we dubbed "The Abomination." (We chose a blood fiend as the base in lieu of the half-fiend and vampire templates.) Two of those don't exactly fit, but the result suitably amused us, so we decided to leave them be. I also made an advanced legendary monstrous lycanthropic anarchic dire rabbit (CR 25). For s***s and giggles. It tore the hell out of one of Zac's characters. mrgreen lol It starts out as a seemingly harmless/ordinary rabbit, then as a swift action assumes a monstrous form, similar to the difference between a rat and a dire rat, and flings itself at unsuspecting -usually larger- creatures. Inspired more than a little from the vorpal rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Eliae Darr 2- Is it possible to stack certain templates with an undead template? (ie, Half-Dragon Death Knight or Half-Fiend Lich) As long as the base creature meets any prerequisites the template may have, yes. Although, outsiders usually aren't able to become undead. There are rare exceptions to that though, such as Orcus, and blood fiends (in Fiend Folio). You would need to pay attention to the order in which templates are added to the base creature as well, to make sure one doesn't negate the creature's candidacy for another. For instance, if you wanted a half-dragon half-human lich, you wouldn't start with a half-dragon/human as the base creature, because the lich template can only be applied to creatures of the humanoid type, and half-dragon would make the creature a dragon. You would either be stuck with the dracolich template, or you could use a human lich as the base, and magically apply the half-dragon template via certain prestige classes, spells, or magic items. Though, I suppose the how isn't really relevant to a random generator... Eliae Darr 3- If it is possible to apply multiple templates, would the resulting character get all of the bonuses from each template? (this is excluding any non-scores created from the templates, of course) As long as they stack, rather than overlap. Yes. Just make certain to pay attention to the types of bonuses they are. All bonuses stack with those of different types, but the same types overlap. The only times a bonus stacks with one of the same kind is with circumstance, dodge, and racial bonuses. I.e. Multiple racial bonuses stack, multiple dodge bonuses stack. But multiple armor bonuses, or enhancement bonuses, overlap. And so on. Each bonus type is on page 21 of the DMG, and looking up each in the Player's Handbook's glossary confirms which stack and which don't.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 9:46 pm
Eliae Darr 1- Is there any particular limitation to the number of templates that can be applied to a single character? 2- Is it possible to stack certain templates with an undead template? (ie, Half-Dragon Death Knight or Half-Fiend Lich) 3- If it is possible to apply multiple templates, would the resulting character get all of the bonuses from each template? (this is excluding any non-scores created from the templates, of course) The only thing that limits templates is types of templates and race. Keep in mind, lots of templates say "This can only be applied to a [insert list of creature types]." If they are not of the given type, then it doesn't work. I don't know anything about coding, but that would be an important thing to account for. For your examples, I don't know that Death Knight is a template applicable to dragons, and fiends (as well as all outsiders) cannot be undead. You can artifice up exceptions, but given that fiends bodies and souls both dissipate back to their homeplane upon death, undeath is not really a viable option.... And it's written into the rules. I suggest an "Ignore the conventional rules" button, if you want to allow for such things, but it generally shouldn't happen. Also, all template bonuses stack so long as they all make sense, together... But there are some things that you may want to consider. Like Half-Vampire. This is a template applied to a living creature that is, in all senses of the word alive. Technically, by the letter of the rules, this would mean that if such a character was slain by a vampire they'd become a half vampire vampire. You could debate which things would stack or not, but the way that I'd rule it, were such a thing to happen is that the half-vampire vampire template would be revoked and the resulting level adjustment would be put towards being a full vampire. Also, don't forget that all undead races (except things that were amalgams of other creatures or have no form that was ever alive) are essentially templates, if you want to use them that way. That is to say sometimes you may need to reverse-engineer them to find exactly what that template is, but they are templates, in that they can apply to nearly anything... But you can only become undead once. You cannot be a lich vampire, or a ghoul mummy, or a wight morgh, etc. I hope that was helpful.
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 1:14 am
Both of your responses are incredibly helpful and will most certainly be taken into consideration when I get to the planning stage of implementing templates.
Thankfully, coding is extremely flexible and allows me to modify various parts of the coding from the "defaults" that are given elsewhere based on any number of circumstances, including adding and removing templates. I'll be using a similar system with templates as what I'm planning with feats.
What I've been considering- even before posting those questions- was limiting the character sheets to two or three templates per character. As is mentioned in my profile, I will be implementing an ECL system, so any level adjustments applied by templates will also be accounted for; in fact, the ECL calculations will probably be added around the same time as the templates, which will probably be one of the last things I do with this project, coupled with adding in sub- and non-standard races. This should give me plenty of time to figure out exactly how I'm going to work the templates into the RCG.
Also, I will either see about hosting the files on a fileshare site or see if I can set up downloads on a free site so that people can have access to it. Depending on when I decide to get around to that, I may get the program "published" so that you can examine what I have so far and offer some feedback.
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 5:21 pm
I have just updated the first post to include information about a website I have started work on relating specifically to this project. Please refer to the site from now on, as my profile no longer contains any information about the project aside from offering a link to the new site. I will be updating and checking the site with some regularity, especially since it has its own comments section.
I also just set up the site to turn up on search engines, but I plan on refining that as I go to hopefully make it more easily found.
EDIT: I have also made a couple of minor changes to the program today, which are reflected on the new site. More may be made later on in the day; if so, I will not update this post again. Instead, simply check again later if you're curious.
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