Playwrite, the fine wine of game design » 4e power creator http://www.theplaywrite.com Fine wine of game design Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:39:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 New 4e custom classes: Dark Swordmage, Elementalist, Berserker and Conductor http://www.theplaywrite.com/4edd/new-4e-custom-classes-dark-swordmage-elementalist-berserker-and-conductor/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-4e-custom-classes-dark-swordmage-elementalist-berserker-and-conductor http://www.theplaywrite.com/4edd/new-4e-custom-classes-dark-swordmage-elementalist-berserker-and-conductor/#comments Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:56:45 +0000 Logan http://www.theplaywrite.com/?p=1091 Some new custom classes have made their way from the 4e Power Toolkit. Whether you’re looking for alternatives to the stock classes or inspiration to help you roll your own, be sure to check them out.

Beserker
Conductor
Dark Swordmage
Elementalist

More custom 4e classes can be found here.

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/4edd/new-4e-custom-classes-dark-swordmage-elementalist-berserker-and-conductor/feed/ 0 4e Custom Classes: The Gunslinger http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-gunslinger/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-custom-classes-the-gunslinger http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-gunslinger/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:33 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=671 A fellow by the name of Mr. Bagelman has uploaded the “Gunslinger”, an interesting ranged martial striker created using the 4e Power Toolkit. Here’s the official description, as well as one of the class’ powers:

Gunslingers are ranged fighters who wield alchemical implements called “guns” and “pistols” and “rifles” to hurl projectiles at their foes (although there are some who use one or two crossbows). Their weapons do great damage at long range as well as close-quarters, but come to a disadvantage when it comes time to reload, given their early and experimental nature. Some Gunslingers take the time to make alchemical bullets, with special abilities, such as fire or acid. Gunslingers prefer to slide around the battlefield, keeping their enemies at a distance.

Bullseye
Gunslinger Feature
Your target is as easy to hit as the broad side of a barn.
At-Will * Martial, Weapon
Minor Action                 Ranged sight
Prerequisite: Gunslinger class
Target: One Enemy
Effect: You designate one enemy you can see as your target.   Once per round, when you hit your target with an attack, the attack does extra damage based on your level (1d6 Heroic, 2d6 Paragon, 3d6 Epic). If you can make multiple attacks in a round, you can decide which attack to apply the extra damage to after all attacks are rolled.   If you have dealt Bullseye damage since the start of your turn, you cannot deal it again until the start of your next turn.
The Bullseye stays on your enemy until the end of the encounter, until the Target is defeated, or until you designate a different enemy as your Target.

I quite like the idea of a pistol-wielding alchemist type. If you do too, I recommend checking the class out in full.

The Gunslinger [4e Custom Classes]

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-gunslinger/feed/ 0 4e Custom Classes: The Transmuter http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-transmuter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-custom-classes-the-transmuter http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-transmuter/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:30:05 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=600 A new custom 4e class made with the 4e Power Toolkit was submitted today, and it’s packed full of tasty, much like a chocolate croissant or dinosaur kebab. Called the “Transmuter“, this class combines the versatility of the wizard’s utility powers with nifty polymorphing abilities. Here’s the class description:

There are many different styles of shapeshifting to be seen. One is the literal bodily alteration where the body physically changes, this is the path of which you chose. Your spells hamper your enemies and strengthen your allies. When pressed you shift form and stirke at your enemies with newly gained claws, and breath of fire. Ever changing and adapting, this is your magic, this is your life.

And a sample power, copy-and-pasted directly from the Power Toolkit:

Ettercap Webspinner Form
Transmuter Attack 5
You take the form a an ettercap webspinner, and in doing so gain its mastery over webs.
Daily * Arcane, Poison, Polymorph, Zone, Implement
Minor Action                 Personal
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you take the form of a medium ettercap webspinner. You retain your statistics, hit points, and defenses, but you have a speed and climb of 5, and resist poison 10. You can use your arcane powers while in this form, and you gain the following melee basic bite attack, webbed terrain attack, and web walker ability.

Melee Basic Bite Attack: Standard action; reach 1; your
level + 7 vs. AC; 1d6 + Intelligence modifier damage, and you make a secondary attack against the same target; Secondary attack: Intelligence vs. Fortitude; ongoing 5 poison damage. Secondary attack is an implement attack.

Webbed Terrain: Standard action; area burst 2 within 10;
once per encounter; Intelligence vs. Reflex; the target is immobilized (save ends). The zone is filled with spider webs and is considered difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.

Web Walker: You ignore the movement effects of webs and difficult terrain related to spider swarms.

You can check out all the powers and details of the Transmuter at the 4e Custom Classes website.

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-custom-classes-the-transmuter/feed/ 1 4e Power Toolkit: Four flavoursome updates http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-four-flavoursome-updates/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-power-toolkit-four-flavoursome-updates http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-four-flavoursome-updates/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:22:16 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=546 If you’re not a regular user of the 4e Power Toolkit, you might be unaware that there’s been four – yes, four – updates to the app since v0.5. I like to address minor bugs and even small features that can be implemented quickly, hence the rapid pace of releases.

Here’s a complete list of changes.

=v0.5.4 beta=
* The “Racial” option in the power type dropdown of the Power Creator now displays the correct output
* Default filenames will now be stripped of HTML tags

=v0.5.3 beta=
* At-Will, Encounter and Daily powers at levels 2, 6, 10, 16 and 22 are now grouped together as Utility powers when exported as HTML in the Class Creator
* The Power Creator will no longer obscure controls when resized
* Powers can once again have ranges without attack subtypes
* Added Beast as an attack subtype
* Racial powers now read as “Racial Power” instead of just “Racial”
* Added No Action as an action type

=v0.5.2 beta=
* Added Daggers, Tomes and Totems to possible implements
* Fixed a crash with PDF exporting

=v0.5.1 beta=
* Changed the width of powers to 3.25in (~298px) to match the size of the PHB format
* Class Creator export dialog now provides a default filename

Not groundbreaking stuff, but there might be a change or two in there that prompts you to take another look at the Toolkit.

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-four-flavoursome-updates/feed/ 0 4e Power Toolkit v0.5 Beta brings custom class uploading, commenting and voting http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-0-5-beta-brings-custom-class-uploading-commenting-and-voting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-power-toolkit-0-5-beta-brings-custom-class-uploading-commenting-and-voting http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-0-5-beta-brings-custom-class-uploading-commenting-and-voting/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:32:58 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=511 A searchable database of custom 4e classes made by people around the world? That’s what dnd.playwrite-blog.net aims to be – with your help!

Version v0.5 of the 4e Power Toolkit is the first step towards this objective. Along with a boatload of general improvements, including proper class feature support and feat powers, you can now upload your classes and allow people to comment and vote on your work.

A lot has been crammed into v0.5, so I’m expecting it to be a little rough around the edges. But I have spent the last week bug-testing, and I’m feeling confident.

Here’s a complete list of changes:

* Added class upload. Visit dnd.playwrite-blog.net for more details or try out the feature in the Class Creator

* Added class feature support

* 4EC and 4EP files can now be opened directly by double-clicking on them

* Increased the size of the class modifier dialog

* A few miscellaneous tweaks to various dialogs

* Cancelling a Save dialog for the Class and Power Creator will no longer save a file to the application directory

* “Feat” is now available as a power type

* Switched order of “Keywords” and “Action” modules in Power Creator

* Fixed issues with newlines not being correctly converted and displayed in HTML and XML

* Class Creator and Power Creator windows now resize their controls in a more useful fashion

* Added new version update window with changelog

* Corrected version typo in changelog

* Merged EXE and DLLs into single file with ILMerge

* Added DotNetZip v1.8 (dotnetzip.codeplex.com)

Check out the 4e Custom Classes website (it’s a little empty right now, but I’m sure that’ll change soon), and be sure to download v0.5!

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-0-5-beta-brings-custom-class-uploading-commenting-and-voting/feed/ 4 4e Power Toolkit v0.4.1 Beta released http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-v0-4-1-beta-released/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-power-toolkit-v0-4-1-beta-released http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-v0-4-1-beta-released/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:49:31 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=503 Don’t be put off by the point-one – there’s a couple of nice features in this incremental update of the 4e Power Toolkit:

* Added Expand/Hide, Edit, Delete and Save options to powers in the Class Creator
– You can now edit powers directly in the Class Creator, and save powers from a class to a separate file

* Version check module will now timeout, which should speed up program loading when the download server cannot be contacted

* Improved attack range and type options, now includes spirit. Note that selecting ‘None’ for attack range on certain powers will default to ’1′

* Powers can now have names up to 128 characters long, and the power HTML template will correctly display names of this length

* Added effect keywords from Player’s Handbook 2

Of course, v0.4.1 is available from apps page.

Right now I’m working on improving the resolution of the power card PDF output. Unfortunately, it looks like that while this can be achieved, you won’t be able to use custom templates for it – unless someone knows of a good and free HTML-to-PDF library (iTextSharp doesn’t cut it). Custom templates for power card HTML output won’t be affected.

If you’re willing to install PDFCreator, you can always just print the HTML output to PDF!

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/4e-power-toolkit-v0-4-1-beta-released/feed/ 0 Putting powers into your CrawlNotes printouts http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/putting-powers-into-your-crawlnotes-printouts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=putting-powers-into-your-crawlnotes-printouts http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/putting-powers-into-your-crawlnotes-printouts/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:09:13 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=483 Update: No need to go to all this trouble! The process has been streamlined from version 0.4 Beta of the Power Toolkit.

A handy feature I’d like to build into the Power Toolkit and CrawlNotes. Until I find the time, here’s how you can do it manually:

1) Load your power into the Power Toolkit, and export it to HTML.

2) Open the HTML file in Notepad and look for a line starting with <style type="text/css">. Copy this line, and all the lines below it until you hit </style>. Alternatively, copy the below text:

 <style type="text/css">
    .InternalPowerContainer {
    text-align: center;
    width: 375px;
    margin-left: -10px;
    margin-right: -10px;
    margin-top: -16px;
    }

    .PowerContainer {
    text-align: center;
    width: 375px;
    }

    .PowerHeader {
    height: 18px;
    text-align: left;
    padding-right: 4px;
    padding-left: 6px;
    color: #FFFFFF;
    }

    .At-Will {
    background-color: #669966;
    }

    .Encounter {
    background-color: #993333;
    }

    .Daily {
    background-color: #404040;
    }

    .PowerHeaderLeft {
    padding-top: 1px;
    font: bold 10pt Verdana;
    float: left;
    }

    .PowerHeaderRight {
    padding-top: 4px;
    font: 7pt Verdana;
    float: right;
    }

    .PowerText {
    color: #000000;
    text-align: left;
    padding-top: 2px;
    padding-left: 6px;
    padding-right: 4px;
    padding-bottom: 2px;
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
    font: bold 7pt Verdana;
    }

    .Flavour {
    background-color: #E6E3C9;
    font: italic 8pt Times New Roman;
    }

    .Alternate {
    background-color: #E6E3C9;
    }

    .AlternateNonPrimary {
    background-color: #E6E3C9;
    padding-left: 14px;
    }

    .NonPrimary {
    padding-left: 14px;
    }

3) Open “main.html” (found in the CrawlNotes directory) in Notepad. Paste the text you just copied just below the line that starts with <title>. Make sure the entire pasted region ends just before the line that starts with </head>.

4) Go back to the HTML of your power. Copy everything below </head> (but not the tag itself).

5) Remove the whitespace from the text you copied using this website. Copy the cleaned text.

6) Paste the text into any of the room description boxes in CrawlNotes. When you export as HTML, your power will appear correctly formatted on the page.

There’s no reason why CrawlNotes and the Power Toolkit shouldn’t have better synergy. Something else on the giant list of things to code. :P

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/putting-powers-into-your-crawlnotes-printouts/feed/ 1 4e Power Toolkit v0.3 Beta released http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-v03-beta-released/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4e-power-toolkit-v03-beta-released http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-v03-beta-released/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 17:27:05 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=472 This is one of a few incremental updates to the 4e Power Toolkit – rather than release a massive update after a long delay, I’ll just get the juicy bits in and push out new versions quickly. Mind you, this is the grand plan. It might be a little less grand in practice.

Anyway, here’s a list of changes:

* Added class modifiers to Hit, Effect, Miss and Sustain boxes. A class modifier can be used to include modifiers to powers based on classes, feats and other factors

* Fixed a bug with the Class Creator window that would cause the scroll position of the left hand window to constantly reset while a power was being dragged

* Added Melee 2, Melee 3 and Melee 4 to possible ranges

* Added scroll bars to a number of text boxes

I know it’s not huge… I’m working on it as I can.

If you’d like to grab the latest version, just head over to the apps page. Again, thanks to everyone who has made suggestions and reported bugs!

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]]> http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/4e-power-toolkit-v03-beta-released/feed/ 2 Getting the 4e Power Toolkit PHB2 compatible http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/getting-the-4e-power-toolkit-phb2-compatible/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=getting-the-4e-power-toolkit-phb2-compatible http://www.theplaywrite.com/dungeons-and-dragons/getting-the-4e-power-toolkit-phb2-compatible/#comments Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:58:02 +0000 Logan http://www.playwrite-blog.net/?p=462 I’m going to get back in touch with the 4e Power Toolkit very soon, and my priority will be getting it compatible with the changes to powers in the Player’s Handbook 2 (aftereffects, melee 1, 2, etc). To a lesser degree, I’ll address as many bugs as I can, and then review what features still need to be implemented.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with the delay, as well as those who have provided feedback thus far.

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