Character Builder Lite

[EllisDee37]

Re-running my crawler to make sure things check out for when ranger changes go live today, I see a bunch of spell descriptions "changed." What's really going on is that the spell overviews for the different classes have different descriptions. For example, Flame Arrow shows the following descriptions:

Artificer Level 2
Creates 50 flaming ammo within the caster's inventory, each ammo deals an additional 1d6 fire damage. This spell requires and consumes 1 normal ammo of that type. Ammo drops when you log out.

Sorcerer / Wizard Level 3
Creates 50 flaming ammo within the caster's inventory, each ammo deals an additional 1d6 fire damage. This spell requires and consumes 1 normal ammo of that type. Ammo drop when leaving instance.

I'm currently trying to go through and correct these inconsistencies, choosing the best one to use for both. In this example, I'll change the Sorcerer / Wizard description to "when you log out." (I'll also change both from "50" to "500" while I'm in there.) The reason I want to clean up the inconsistencies is because the change log is currently clogged up with over 150 spell "changes", which is overwhelming the actual changes. (I count 24 changes to enhancements and destinies, but not all of those are actual changes. Some just have html tags I'm not handling properly.)

EDIT: Ran into a pretty significant stumbling block where my crawler couldn't read current changes, meaning I couldn't update until some unknown amount of time passed. I did finally figure it out but it took most of the day, so I won't have U28 data available for download until tomorrow.

[EllisDee37]

New data files are up. No program changes; version 1.2 is still current.

Data 09-25-15:

• Tempest tree changed
• Deepwood Stalker tree changed
• Descriptions updated by wiki crawler:
  • Spell: Flame Arrow
  • Assassin Tier 2: Damage Boost
  • Harper Agent Tier 4: Magic of Austerity
  • Sacred Defender Tier 2: Instinctive Defense
  • Soul Eater Tier 3: Burning Blood
  • Primal Avatar Tier 6: Avatar of Nature
  • Shiradi Champion Tier 4: Elemental Absorption

I gave up trying to polish the crawler results and went through it manually just to get these new data files released. If you see anything screwy in any of the data files, let me know.

[UurlockYgmeov]

New data files are up. No program changes; version 1.2 is still current.

Data 09-25-15:

• Tempest tree changed
• Deepwood Stalker tree changed
• Descriptions updated by wiki crawler:
  
  • Spell: Flame Arrow
  • Assassin Tier 2: Damage Boost
  • Harper Agent Tier 4: Magic of Austerity
  • Sacred Defender Tier 2: Instinctive Defense
  • Soul Eater Tier 3: Burning Blood
  • Primal Avatar Tier 6: Avatar of Nature
  • Shiradi Champion Tier 4: Elemental Absorption

I gave up trying to polish the crawler results and went through it manually just to get these new data files released. If you see anything screwy in any of the data files, let me know.

thank you.

[EllisDee37]

The gear planner is necessitating changes to the character builder, so while I'm in there I'm making some changes to the enhancements screen. Namely, removing the "trees" screen, possibly adding a leveling guide, and I'm thinking of removing lists from the output altogether. Proof of concept for how I'm thinking of changing the output:


Enhancements (80 AP)

Vanguard (41 AP)

• To the Fore!, Shield Combat I, Vicious Shield I, Shield Combat II, Vicious Shield II, Shield Champion
  
  1. Shield Specialization, Armor Training II
  2. Shield Specialization, Brutality III, Stunning Shield III
  3. Shield Specialization, Follow Up III, Fatal Bulwark, Strength
  4. Shield Specialization, Shield Charge III, Strength
  5. Shield to the Face, Shield Charge III, Armored Strength

Knight of the Chalice (25 AP)

• Slayer of Evil, Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil II, Improved Courage of Heaven
  
  1. Extra Turning II, Extra Smite II
  2. Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave III
  3. Exalted Smite III
  4. Empowered Smite

Sacred Defender (13 AP)

• Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense
  
  1. Extra Lay On Hands III, Durable Defense III
  2. Resilient Defense II
  3. Strong Defense III

Human (1 AP)

• Damage Boost

Leveling Guide

1. Holy Bastion, Extra Lay On Hands III
2. Durable Defense III, Resilient Defense I
3. Sacred Defense, Slayer of Evil, Extra Smite II
4. Extra Turning II, Courage of Heaven, Exalted Cleave I
5. Exalted Cleave III, Divine Might I
6. Slayer of Evil, To the Fore!, Shield Specialization
7. Armor Training II, Shield Combat, Brutality I
8. Stunning Shield III, Vicious Shield
9. Follow Up III, Brutality II
10. Shield Specialization, Shield Specialization
11. Brutality III, Resilient Defense II, Strong Defense II
12. Shield Combat, Strong Defense III, Strength
13. Divine Might III
14. Exalted Smite II
15. Improved Courage of Heaven, Empowered Smite, Shield Charge I
16. Strength, Shield Charge III
17. Shield Specialization, Armored Strength
18. Vicious Shield, Exalted Smite III, Damage Boost
19. Shield to the Face, Fatal Bulwark
20. Shield Charge III, Shield Champion

Enhancements (80 AP)

Vanguard (41 AP)
Core 6: To the Fore!, Shield Combat I, Vicious Shield I, Shield Combat II, Vicious Shield II, Shield Champion
Tier 1: Shield Specialization, Armor Training II
Tier 2: Shield Specialization, Brutality III, Stunning Shield III
Tier 3: Shield Specialization, Follow Up III, Fatal Bulwark, Strength
Tier 4: Shield Specialization, Shield Charge III, Strength
Tier 5: Shield to the Face, Shield Charge III, Armored Strength

Knight of the Chalice (25 AP)
Core 4: Slayer of Evil, Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil II, Improved Courage of Heaven
Tier 1: Extra Turning II, Extra Smite II
Tier 2: Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave III
Tier 3: Exalted Smite III
Tier 4: Empowered Smite

Sacred Defender (13 AP)
Core 2: Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense
Tier 1: Extra Lay On Hands III, Durable Defense III
Tier 2: Resilient Defense II
Tier 3: Strong Defense III

Human (1 AP)
Core 1: Damage Boost

Leveling Guide

Level 1: Holy Bastion, Extra Lay On Hands III
Level 2: Durable Defense III, Resilient Defense I
Level 3: Sacred Defense, Slayer of Evil, Extra Smite II
Level 4: Extra Turning II, Courage of Heaven, Exalted Cleave I
Level 5: Exalted Cleave III, Divine Might I
Level 6: Slayer of Evil, To the Fore!, Shield Specialization
Level 7: Armor Training II, Shield Combat, Brutality I
Level 8: Stunning Shield III, Vicious Shield
Level 9: Follow Up III, Brutality II
Level 10: Shield Specialization, Shield Specialization
Level 11: Brutality III, Resilient Defense II, Strong Defense II
Level 12: Shield Combat, Strong Defense III, Strength
Level 13: Divine Might III
Level 14: Exalted Smite II
Level 15: Improved Courage of Heaven, Empowered Smite, Shield Charge I
Level 16: Strength, Shield Charge III
Level 17: Shield Specialization, Armored Strength
Level 18: Vicious Shield, Exalted Smite III, Damage Boost
Level 19: Shield to the Face, Fatal Bulwark
Level 20: Shield Charge III, Shield Champion[/list]



Better? Worse? Not worth the effort?

Part of the motivation is that not all forums support numbered lists, or even lists at all. Also, some browsers seem to stuff in extra blank lines between lists, which can only be fixed by not using lists. The extra blank lines are extra annoying when embedding lists inside of lists, as the current output does.

EDIT: I think I like numbered lists a lot better for the leveling guide, but I think I like the non-list display slightly better for the tree output.

[Stoner81]

I like the new output m8 I find it much easier to read but the colours I do find hard to tell the difference between (I'm partly colour blind). I assume the leveling guide is a recommendation of what enhancements to take at what level?

Stoner81.

[UurlockYgmeov]

I like.

[EllisDee37]

Apologies for the delay on releasing updated data files for 28.1. I ran into technical problems trying to support the new AA trees. You can't choose the same elemental arrows more than once, but you CAN choose Elemental Damage more than once. This is now a nightmare of selector-within-a-selector proportions, akin to half-elf core abilities.

Clearly I'll need to redo my data structures somehow, but I'm not up for that kind of effort at the moment. Instead, I've disconnected the elemental arrow selectors from each other and added an Exception. (Tools => Exceptions.) The builder will now let you take, for example, frost arrows on multiple tiers, but the game won't.

No program changes, which is good because the current source code on my machine is kind of a mess, having torn apart several screens and even the underlying data structure for config settings. It's a big mess right now, with no release date in sight for the next version. In the meantime, the new data files are available in the OP.

Data 10-26-15:

• Arcane Archer tree changed
• Elf-Arcane Archer tree changed
• 8 new feats added (Heavy Armor "xxx", Tactical "xxx")
• Kensei Warpriest demo build updated (swap out Great Ability: Strength for the +6 tactics feat)
• Descriptions updated by wiki crawler:
  • Deepwood Stalker Tier 2: Improved Weapon Finesse
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 0: Eldritch Aura
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 3: Eldritch Burst
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 5: Spirit Blast
  • Mechanic Tier 5: Mechanical Reloader
  • Ravager Tier 5: Blood Strength
  • Ravager Tier 5: Critical Rage
  • Soul Eater Tier 1: Consume
  • Soul Eater Tier 2: Stricken
  • Swashbuckler Tier 5: Coup de Grace
  • Tainted Scholar Tier 2: Eldritch Chain Shape
  • Legendary Dreadnought Tier 6: Pulverizer

[Apollos713]

Apologies for the delay on releasing updated data files for 28.1. I ran into technical problems trying to support the new AA trees. You can't choose the same elemental arrows more than once, but you CAN choose Elemental Damage more than once. This is now a nightmare of selector-within-a-selector proportions, akin to half-elf core abilities.

Clearly I'll need to redo my data structures somehow, but I'm not up for that kind of effort at the moment. Instead, I've disconnected the elemental arrow selectors from each other and added an Exception. (Tools => Exceptions.) The builder will now let you take, for example, frost arrows on multiple tiers, but the game won't.

No program changes, which is good because the current source code on my machine is kind of a mess, having torn apart several screens and even the underlying data structure for config settings. It's a big mess right now, with no release date in sight for the next version. In the meantime, the new data files are available in the OP.

Data 10-26-15:

• Arcane Archer tree changed
• Elf-Arcane Archer tree changed
• Kensei Warpriest demo build updated (swap out Great Ability: Strength for the +6 tactics feat)
• Descriptions updated by wiki crawler:
  • Deepwood Stalker Tier 2: Improved Weapon Finesse
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 0: Eldritch Aura
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 3: Eldritch Burst
  • Enlightened Spirit Tier 5: Spirit Blast
  • Mechanic Tier 5: Mechanical Reloader
  • Ravager Tier 5: Blood Strength
  • Ravager Tier 5: Critical Rage
  • Soul Eater Tier 1: Consume
  • Soul Eater Tier 2: Stricken
  • Swashbuckler Tier 5: Coup de Grace
  • Tainted Scholar Tier 2: Eldritch Chain Shape
  • Legendary Dreadnought Tier 6: Pulverizer

Thank you very much for the update. This is a great service to the DDO community.

[EllisDee37]

For the 8 new fighter feats, I forgot to make them selectable as either regular feats or fighter bonus feats. That's now corrected and included in the downloads in the OP. If you updated last night or this morning, you'll need to grab it again to correct it.

[EllisDee37]

Starting work on the builder again, working toward 1.3. First priority is changing how settings are stored so they can be shared between the builder and the gear planner. In doing this, I'd like to reset all settings to default the first time you run the new version. That way I won't have to implement backward compatibility, which would greatly reduce the development time.

This only really matters for customized colors, but my feeling is that virtually nobody uses customized colors anyway. If you do, this is your chance to speak up. Note: If you use an alternate color scheme, like Black.clr (as I do) or Tan.clr (as I know some do) that doesn't count as customized colors. By customized, I mean you go in and manually change the RGB color values. Nobody does that, right?

The new version won't be available until the level cap goes to 30, so you have plenty of time to speak up.

EDIT: Just talking about settings, as selected by going to Tools => Options. You will still be able to manually change RGB values in 1.3, it's just a question of will you have to manually redo your customizations or will the builder automatically preserve them. I'd rather not preserve them, as it's a PITA and if I ditch the old style I can get rid of a pretty significant amount of code sprawl.

Build files will remain backward compatible, of course.

[Eryhn]

first of all, thank you very much for this great little tool that's so much more clearcut and neat than the oldschool planer

slight bug I encountered in every version I tried so far -I have been lazy about lookin into changelog so you might already be aware but just in case anyways:

Morninglord Racial, Tier3 Light of the Sun God
always gets locked in costing 2AP, there is no toggle arrows for tier 1/2/3 @2/4/6 AP spent. Unsure if general thing, happens for me when drafting a 16/3/1 bard/fvs/morninglord and a 18/2 bard/morninglord with Tier5 in spellsinger ...

[EllisDee37]

That's a data error. If you want to correct it yourself right now instead of waiting for the next update, open Data\Enhancements.txt and search for "sun god". Replace that entry with this:


AbilityName: Light of the Sun God
Descrip: Grants +10/+20/+30 Light spell power.
Tier: 3
Cost: 2
Ranks: 3

[Olds-cool]

Starting work on the builder again, working toward 1.3. First priority is changing how settings are stored so they can be shared between the builder and the gear planner. In doing this, I'd like to reset all settings to default the first time you run the new version. That way I won't have to implement backward compatibility, which would greatly reduce the development time.

This only really matters for customized colors, but my feeling is that virtually nobody uses customized colors anyway. If you do, this is your chance to speak up. Note: If you use an alternate color scheme, like Black.clr (as I do) or Tan.clr (as I know some do) that doesn't count as customized colors. By customized, I mean you go in and manually change the RGB color values. Nobody does that, right?

The new version won't be available until the level cap goes to 30, so you have plenty of time to speak up.

EDIT: Just talking about settings, as selected by going to Tools => Options. You will still be able to manually change RGB values in 1.3, it's just a question of will you have to manually redo your customizations or will the builder automatically preserve them. I'd rather not preserve them, as it's a PITA and if I ditch the old style I can get rid of a pretty significant amount of code sprawl.

Build files will remain backward compatible, of course.

I'm good since you built the tan scheme for us... still working like a charm and thanks again!

[Failedlegend]

Seeing people talk about colors I figured I'd try messing around with it and switch it to the black version with JJ Flanigans Background but now I can't load any of my saved builds except the default kensai warpriest (any new saves work fine) I even checked and sure enough the files are still there.

[EllisDee37]

Seeing people talk about colors I figured I'd try messing around with it and switch it to the black version with JJ Flanigans Background but now I can't load any of my saved builds except the default kensai warpriest (any new saves work fine) I even checked and sure enough the files are still there.

That sounds odd; I'll send you a PM to see if we can't figure out the issue.

[EllisDee37]

Making some nice progress on version 2.0, which will be released when the level cap is raised in the next update. (That is the next update, right?)

Would anyone like to volunteer as a tester / proofreader? No coding involved. Just clicking around looking for bugs, offer feedback on usability, verify game rules are being enforced correctly, and proofreading the new help file for clarity, spelling and grammar. I don't envision a ton of time would be required. Mainly I'd just like a second set of eyes.

Send me a PM if interested.

[EllisDee37]

Finished changing over all settings to a share-able format so that the gear planner can share them. The gear planner will have augments, so I needed to add literal colors for more than just output. Drop slots, mainly. While I was in there I added more fine-tuning control, like interior and exterior borders. All told there are now 85 configurable colors. (!)

To celebrate finishing this, I've been playing around with the color schemes included in the download zip. Black and White are both very similar to version 1.2, but Blue and Purple are pretty different. Anyone spot any problems with any of these schemes? (Click thumbnails to open, then click again to view full size.) Any of the colors clash? I'm always worried about using similar colors next to each other; they can easily go bad if you mix them just a little wrong.

White:


Black:


Blue:


Purple:

[EllisDee37]

Sample human build specced for great xbow (Divine Artillery FTW!):

Pure Mechanic
Rogue 20
True Neutral Human


Stats
               36pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength         8       +4       4: INT
Dexterity       16       +4       8: INT
Constitution    16       +4      12: INT
Intelligence    18       +4      16: INT
Wisdom           8       +4      20: INT
Charisma         8       +4      24: DEX
                                 28: INT

Feats

 1        : Rapid Reload
 1 Human  : Point Blank Shot
 3        : Rapid Shot
 6        : Precision
 9        : Precise Shot
10 Rogue  : Improved Evasion
12        : Improved Critical: Ranged
13 Rogue  : Opportunist
15        : Improved Precise Shot
16 Rogue  : Defensive Roll
18        : Insightful Reflexes
19 Rogue  : Crippling Strike
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Combat Archery
26 Destiny: Holy Strike
27 Epic   : Improved Sneak Attack
28 Destiny: Doubleshot


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (1 AP)

Damage Boost

Mechanic (41 AP)

Arbalester, Tanglefoot, Targeting Sights, Improved Detection, Expert Builder, Hip Flask
Sharpshooter, Lacerating Shots III, Thunderstone III
Sharpshooter, Improved Traps III, Wand and Scroll Mastery III
Sharpshooter, Ooze Flask III
Sharpshooter, Fletching III
Sharpshooter, Rapid Fire III, Sniper, Mechanical Reloader

Assassin (23 AP)

Knife in the Darkness, Dagger in the Back, Assassin's Trick
Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy II
Venomed Blades III, Sneak Attack Training, Damage Boost III
Critical Mastery III, Sneak Attack Training
Killer III

Thief-Acrobat (3 AP)

Staff Control
Fast Movement

Harper Agent (12 AP)

Agent of Good I
Harper Enchantment, Strategic Combat
Versatile Adept III, Know the Angles III
Versatile Adept I

For repeaters, the only tweak is you would drop Lacerating Shots and maybe Sniper, which only adds +1d6 SA to repeaters; that would let you pick up Time Bomb instead.

EDIT: if you happen to pick up a +4->+5 DEX upgrade tome by lvl 24, you can put your lvl 24 stat pt into INT instead of DEX.

This post pointed out to me that the stat levelups section of the builder output isn't clear enough. If I were following the build, it's unlikely I would have noticed that the levelup at 24 was dex instead of int. So for 2.0 I've added colors to the levelup output if (and only if) they aren't all the same. Preview:

Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .8. . . .+4. . . .4: INT
Dexterity . . . 16. . . .+4. . . .8: INT
Constitution. . 16. . . .+4. . . 12: INT
Intelligence. . 18. . . .+4. . . 16: INT
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 20: INT
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: INT

Each stat gets its own (augment) color:

Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt . . 34pt . . 36pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . ---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 16. . . .18. . . .18. . . .18. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .16. . . 12: CON
Intelligence. . 12. . . .12. . . .12. . . .12. . . 16: INT
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . . 8. . . .10. . . . 8. . . 20: WIS
Charisma. . . . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .14. . . 24: CHA

[UurlockYgmeov]

nice! I am always for improved efficiency due to color coding et al.

[LrdSlvrhnd]

This post pointed out to me that the stat levelups section of the builder output isn't clear enough. If I were following the build, it's unlikely I would have noticed that the levelup at 24 was dex instead of int. So for 2.0 I've added colors to the levelup output if (and only if) they aren't all the same. Preview:

Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .8. . . .+4. . . .4: INT
Dexterity . . . 16. . . .+4. . . .8: INT
Constitution. . 16. . . .+4. . . 12: INT
Intelligence. . 18. . . .+4. . . 16: INT
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 20: INT
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: INT

Each stat gets its own (augment) color:

Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt . . 34pt . . 36pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . ---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 16. . . .18. . . .18. . . .18. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .16. . . 12: CON
Intelligence. . 12. . . .12. . . .12. . . .12. . . 16: INT
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . . 8. . . .10. . . . 8. . . 20: WIS
Charisma. . . . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .14. . . 24: CHA

I like this! Any real downside to going ahead and showing the colors even if they are all the same? Seems like extra coding for no real reason to me, but I'm not a programmer and if it's already done then nevermind *g*

On a similar vein, I'd like to be able to highlight certain levels on the Edit Skills page to help point out that I want to switch to giving points to a different skill (especially when starting an iconic or ETRing and I'm doing 15-20 levels at once). For instance, my bard I just ETR'd - I put points in Balance for the first 4 levels, switched to Jump for several levels, and then switched to Spellcraft (so I had 7 points in Balance for GSWF, 12 in Jump which meshed well with my ending STR/Cannith boots, and then maxed Spellcraft for when I eventually get Ruin). I very nearly missed the switch and kept rolling along in Jump, so being able to highlight the L12 skills would be helpful (though not as useful as something in-game to slap me for attention, but I digress... *g*)