Character Builder Lite

[EllisDee37]

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*

In terms of coding, it's trivial either way. The main reason is to minimize colors, only using them where needed.

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*)

My initial reaction leans toward a no, but I'll keep this in mind.




Work on 2.0 is progressing nicely. There is now full support for having multiple screens open at once. (Overview, Stats, Skills, etc...) Switching between them updates the output to match that screen, and making any changes updates any open screens. For comparison, version 1.2 has no support for multiple screens open. You can, but the program fights you at every turn when you try, and none of them update each other. Testing this new feature in 2.0 is pretty fun, especially lowering the max levels from overview and watching all the other screens "shrink."

[EllisDee37]

On the feats screen, the filter box lets you choose multiple filters if you hold down the Ctrl key while clicking. The current behavior (in version 1.2, which you already have) is a logical OR, but I'm wondering if a logical AND might make it more useful:

OR lets you do the following filters:
Show me all feats that are either melee or defense
Show me all feats that are either spellcasting or misc
etc...

AND would let you do the following filters:
Show me all epic feats that are good for spellcasters
Show me the destiny feats good for melee
etc...

"AND" would be better than "OR", right?

EDIT: It's worth pointing out that you can find the answer to "What destiny feats are good for <style>?" type questions either way by clicking a destiny feat slot and choosing that style from the filter box. This is mainly for epic feats. Clicking an epic feat slot doesn't filter out heroic feats.

[shawncthayer]

Seems as tho my Norton security doesn't like this or Ron's character generator. Is it safe to simply restore and then exclude from future scans? I have the older Character generator without Lock inn the list. i'd like to update as I use it more as a reference when rebuilding toons I TR.

[EllisDee37]

Seems as tho my Norton security doesn't like this or Ron's character generator. Is it safe to simply restore and then exclude from future scans? I have the older Character generator without Lock inn the list. i'd like to update as I use it more as a reference when rebuilding toons I TR.

Based on reports from earlier in the thread, Norton uses loose heuristics that catch a lot of false positives. Someone actually submitted the earlier version to Norton who then flagged it as not harmful, but I personally don't know how to do that. (I tried briefly, but got confused.)

Both Ron's and my planners are safe to allow, as far as I know. I also post complete source code for mine, so if someone with a knowledge of VB6 and an ocean of time wanted to they could go through all the code to verify there is nothing malicious in it. (It's roughly 20,000 lines of code at this point.)

[EllisDee37]

Just an FYI that I'm still working hard on 2.0, but it won't be ready in time for the release of U29 tomorrow morning. I'm aiming for late next week for the new version. Which, to be fair, is probably when U29 should be being released. Tomorrow should be a lammania update. *grumble* *grumble*

[LrdSlvrhnd]

Nah, late next week would've ruined devs' Christmases as they scramble to fix the broken stuff. Should've been pushed to the 28th, but they really wanted all that Christmas weekend playing.

[EllisDee37]

Nah, late next week would've ruined devs' Christmases as they scramble to fix the broken stuff. Should've been pushed to the 28th, but they really wanted all that Christmas weekend playing.

Oh, right, Christmas.

Let's aim for that. I'll try to get 2.0 up sometime Christmas day, probably late afternoon.

[UurlockYgmeov]

just started putting my historic builds on wiki....

any way to get an output format for ddowiki?

example:

http://ddowiki.com/page/User:Uurlock...lock_of_Khyber

[EllisDee37]

just started putting my historic builds on wiki....

any way to get an output format for ddowiki?

example:

http://ddowiki.com/page/User:Uurlock...lock_of_Khyber

Sure, I don't see why not.

Note: For your first core enhancements line for each tree, use an asterisk (*) instead of a number (#) sign to properly start the numbering at 1 for tier 1. You currently show Tier 6 enhancements from Enlightened Spirit, heh.

EDIT: Is there any way to make the first section with the name/class/alignment/race go on three lines (like standard output) instead of getting all jumbled onto a single line?

EDIT 2: How about this?

{{TOCRight}}
'''Great Old One Halfling Warlock'''
:Warlock 20
:True Neutral Halfling

== Stats ==
<pre>
               28pt        36pt        Tome     Level Up
               ----        ----        ----     --------
Strength         6           6          +6       4: CHA
Dexterity       10          10          +6       8: CHA
Constitution    15          18          +6      12: CHA
Intelligence    12          12          +6      16: CHA
Wisdom           8           8          +6      20: CHA
Charisma        18          18          +6      24: CHA
                                                28: CHA
</pre>

== Skills ==
<pre>
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Spellcr   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Concent   3  1  1  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  1  1  1  3  1  3  21
UMD       0  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  19
Heal      ½  0  0  0  ½  0  1  ½  1  ½  1  ½  1  ½  1  1  1  0  1  0  11
Tumble    2  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   2
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         12  3  3  3  3  3  4  4  4  4  4  4  4  4  5  5  5  5  5  5
</pre>

== Feats ==
<pre>
 1        : Least Dragonmark: Healing
 1 Warlock: Pact: Great Old One
 3        : Extend Spell
 6        : Empower Spell
 9        : Maximize Spell
12        : Quicken Spell
15        : Past Life: Wizard
18        : Heighten Spell
21 Epic   : Epic Eldritch Blast
24 Epic   : Enlarge Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Arcane Eldritch Blast
27 Epic   : Ruin
28 Destiny: Hellball
</pre>

== Spells ==
# Shield, Master's Touch, Entangle
# Invisibility, Sleet Storm, Knock
# Dimension Door, Haste, Phantasmal Killer
# Evard's Black Tentacles, Dismissal, Dominate Person
# Finger of Death, Mind Fog, Mass Suggestion
# Wail of the Banshee, Mass Hold Monster, Power Word: Kill

== Enhancements ==

=== Halfling (12 AP) ===
* Halfling Luck, Dexterity
# Jorasco Dragonmark Focus III
# Lesser Dragonmark of Healing, Break out the Leeches
# Greater Dragonmark of Healing

=== Tainted Scholar (32 AP) ===
* Tainted Spellcasting, Tainted Lore, Stanch, Tainted Lore II, Blood Component
# Planar Power III, Feigned Health III, Strong Pact, Eldritch Focus III
# Utterdark Blast, Eldritch Chain Shape, Strong Pact
# Strong Pact, Charisma
# Enervating Shadow, Strong Pact, Charisma

=== Enlightened Spirit (36 AP) ===
* Eldritch Aura, Aura of Courage, Shape Vestments, Aura of Menace
# Resilience of Body III, Spiritual Defense III, Resilience of Soul III
# Power of Enlightenment III, Shield
# Eldritch Burst III, Power of Enlightenment III, Charisma
# Medium Armor Proficiency, Brilliance, Charisma
# Spirit Blast III, Displacement

== Destiny ==

=== Exalted Angel ===
# Avenging Light, Radiant Power III, Endless Faith III, Healing Power III, Charisma
# Soundburst III
# Purity of Essence III
# Blood and Radiance III
# <none>
# Sun Bolt

=== Twists of Fate (30 fate points) ===
# Double Rainbow (Tier 4 Shiradi)
# Empyrean Magic (Tier 3 Crusader)
# Prism (Tier 2 Shiradi)
# Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)

Any further improvements welcome; I won't be able to start working on this output format for a few days. Take the weekend to see if you can perfect it. For example, can skills and feats go into tables instead of getting the wiki equivalent to code tags? Is there a better, table-based way to handle trees? Any improvement to the title area possible? etc...

[UurlockYgmeov]

Sure, I don't see why not.

Note: For your first core enhancements line for each tree, use an asterisk (*) instead of a number (#) sign to properly start the numbering at 1 for tier 1. You currently show Tier 6 enhancements from Enlightened Spirit, heh.

EDIT: Is there any way to make the first section with the name/class/alignment/race go on three lines (like standard output) instead of getting all jumbled onto a single line?

EDIT 2: How about this?

{{TOCRight}}
'''Great Old One Halfling Warlock'''
:Warlock 20
:True Neutral Halfling

== Stats ==
<pre>
               28pt        36pt        Tome     Level Up
               ----        ----        ----     --------
Strength         6           6          +6       4: CHA
Dexterity       10          10          +6       8: CHA
Constitution    15          18          +6      12: CHA
Intelligence    12          12          +6      16: CHA
Wisdom           8           8          +6      20: CHA
Charisma        18          18          +6      24: CHA
                                                28: CHA
</pre>

== Skills ==
<pre>
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Spellcr   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Concent   3  1  1  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  1  1  1  3  1  3  21
UMD       0  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  19
Heal      ½  0  0  0  ½  0  1  ½  1  ½  1  ½  1  ½  1  1  1  0  1  0  11
Tumble    2  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   2
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         12  3  3  3  3  3  4  4  4  4  4  4  4  4  5  5  5  5  5  5
</pre>

== Feats ==
<pre>
 1        : Least Dragonmark: Healing
 1 Warlock: Pact: Great Old One
 3        : Extend Spell
 6        : Empower Spell
 9        : Maximize Spell
12        : Quicken Spell
15        : Past Life: Wizard
18        : Heighten Spell
21 Epic   : Epic Eldritch Blast
24 Epic   : Enlarge Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Arcane Eldritch Blast
27 Epic   : Ruin
28 Destiny: Hellball
</pre>

== Spells ==
# Shield, Master's Touch, Entangle
# Invisibility, Sleet Storm, Knock
# Dimension Door, Haste, Phantasmal Killer
# Evard's Black Tentacles, Dismissal, Dominate Person
# Finger of Death, Mind Fog, Mass Suggestion
# Wail of the Banshee, Mass Hold Monster, Power Word: Kill

== Enhancements ==

=== Halfling (12 AP) ===
* Halfling Luck, Dexterity
# Jorasco Dragonmark Focus III
# Lesser Dragonmark of Healing, Break out the Leeches
# Greater Dragonmark of Healing

=== Tainted Scholar (32 AP) ===
* Tainted Spellcasting, Tainted Lore, Stanch, Tainted Lore II, Blood Component
# Planar Power III, Feigned Health III, Strong Pact, Eldritch Focus III
# Utterdark Blast, Eldritch Chain Shape, Strong Pact
# Strong Pact, Charisma
# Enervating Shadow, Strong Pact, Charisma

=== Enlightened Spirit (36 AP) ===
* Eldritch Aura, Aura of Courage, Shape Vestments, Aura of Menace
# Resilience of Body III, Spiritual Defense III, Resilience of Soul III
# Power of Enlightenment III, Shield
# Eldritch Burst III, Power of Enlightenment III, Charisma
# Medium Armor Proficiency, Brilliance, Charisma
# Spirit Blast III, Displacement

== Destiny ==

=== Exalted Angel ===
# Avenging Light, Radiant Power III, Endless Faith III, Healing Power III, Charisma
# Soundburst III
# Purity of Essence III
# Blood and Radiance III
# <none>
# Sun Bolt

=== Twists of Fate (30 fate points) ===
# Double Rainbow (Tier 4 Shiradi)
# Empyrean Magic (Tier 3 Crusader)
# Prism (Tier 2 Shiradi)
# Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)

Any further improvements welcome; I won't be able to start working on this output format for a few days. Take the weekend to see if you can perfect it. For example, can skills and feats go into tables instead of getting the wiki equivalent to code tags? Is there a better, table-based way to handle trees? Any improvement to the title area possible? etc...

1st - is fine the way it is, however can always add more! :P

I am not a wiki coding expert, Cordovan and Technical13 are (Shoemaker). I just copied and paste the output and was going back to work on formatting it when it was fixed by another wiki user. (thank you!).

As far as your queries: yes, I am sure that there is - I just don't know it.
Improvements? yes - since it is the wiki - can make everything a link to the related wiki page

[EllisDee37]

I am not a wiki coding expert, Cordovan and Technical13 are (Shoemaker). I just copied and paste the output and was going back to work on formatting it when it was fixed by another wiki user. (thank you!).

Neither am I. It doesn't make a ton of sense for me to work on a wiki output template without first having a template to work from.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Neither am I. It doesn't make a ton of sense for me to work on a wiki output template without first having a template to work from.

I agree - the basic is great! I have contacted Shoemaker / Technical13 to see if he could help.

[EllisDee37]

I'll try to get 2.0 up sometime Christmas day, probably late afternoon.

Still not quite ready. I'm now targeting Monday.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Still not quite ready. I'm now targeting Monday.

all good... majority of players have succumbed to food induced comas...

[UurlockYgmeov]

Neither am I. It doesn't make a ton of sense for me to work on a wiki output template without first having a template to work from.

All formatting is done now ... easy peazy.... kept two sections in original format (stats and skills) - but rest converted to links and lists.

Looking forward to doing this with your gear planner as well.

Spells

1. Shield, Master's Touch, Entangle
2. Invisibility, Web, Knock
3. Dimension Door, Haste, Phantasmal Killer
4. Evard's Black Tentacles, Dismissal, Dominate Person
5. Finger of Death, Mind Fog, Mass Suggestion
6. Wail of the Banshee, Mass Hold Monster, Power Word: Kill

[EllisDee37]

Version 2.0 complete release notes:

General

• Level cap raised to 30!
• Filename is displayed in main form title if it isn't same as build name
• Added Help system and greatly expanded help content for all screens
  • New Help Menu items: What's New? and FAQ
• Added multiple window support
  • Making changes to any window now updates all open windows, including Export
  • Accessing top menus no longer "hides" the active (or any) window
  • Output on main form now changes to match the active window
  • Added "Window" menu
• Added context menus to drop slots; right click to see the new options
• Details windows on all screens now describe errors if there are any
• Mouse is now more responsive when incrementing/decrementing numeric values
  • Applies to spinners, skills grid, and enhancement/destiny ranks
  • Holding mouse down still rapidly changes values

Exceptions have been resolved; all relevant game rules and mechanics implemented

• Deity feats can now be taken as regular feats for cleric and paladins
• Skill Focus feats now properly enforce class reqs (DD & OL: Rogue/Artie, Perform: Bard)
• Half-Elf core abilities now properly enforce "path" (elf or human)
• Dwarven Axe proficiency is now granted to dwarves with their first barbarian/fighter/paladin/ranger level
• AA and Elf-AA Elemental Arrows now prevent duplicate elements while allowing Elemental Damage to repeat
• Prereqs can now point to a specific rank. This applies to:
  • Arcane Archer Tier 3: Soul Magic
  • Swashbuckler Tier 3: Swashbuckling Style: Arcane Marauder
  • This also allows abilities with 3 ranks to require abilities with 1 rank:
    • Divine Disciple Tier 1 and 3 Spell Power Light & Negative
    • Unyielding Sentinel Tier 2: Intolerant Blows now correctly considers Tier 1: Fanaticism a valid prereq
• Ranks can now have their own prereqs:
  • Unyielding Sentinel Tier 1: Legendary Shield Mastery
  • Half-Orc Tier 4: Power Rage
  • Arcane Archer Tier 1: Energy of the Wild III
  • Spellsinger: Studies: Magical Studies III
• "Proficiency" feat has been broken into constituent feats:
  • Simple Weapons: grants all in one shot, same as game
  • Martial Weapon: each selection grants one weapon
  • Armor Proficiency: has 3 selectors: Light, Medium, Heavy
  • Shield Proficiency
  • Tower Shield Proficiency

Data Screens

• Overview
  • Upgraded class levels interface to a more powerful grid design
  • Added (optional) graphical class icons interface
  • Fixed bug when a 3-class build changes primary class to same as second class
  • Changing race or build classes now blanks out invalid class/race bonus feats
  • Removed Author and Link fields, replaced with Notes field
  • Class colors in output now based on BuildClass order instead of levels spent
• Stats
  • Removed "Apply Tomes Early?" checkbox; all tomes are now applied early
  • Show cost for the next stat increase (+1, +2, +3, or - for max)
• Skills
  • Added skill tomes
  • Added "Reset Skills" link for easily clearing entire grid (asks for confirmation)
  • Repeatedly left clicking a row header (skill name) now cycles through multiple "Max Ranks" styles
• Feats
  • Alternate feats (right-click a slot)
  • Exchange feats (right-click a slot)
  • Changed multiple filter logic from logical OR to AND (eg: Epic AND Melee)
  • Improved header for feat list when a slot filter is active
  • Improved mouse behavior
    • Slotting feats with double-click no longer leaves phantom slot filter
    • Slotting feats by any means now preserves your scroll position in feat list
    • When slot filter is active, cancelling a drag operation no longer loses your place in feat/selector lists
    • When a slot filter is active, successfully dragging from feat/selector lists now clears slot filter and redraws lists
• Spells
  • Replaced level dropdown with spinner
  • Removed <Any> as a selectable option; just leave slots blank if no good choice
  • Bugfix: Level 8 cleric spell slots no longer use the Level 7 slot matrix
  • Bugfix: Adding a free spell with double-click now makes it free
  • Bugfix: Fixed several issues with Warlock Pact spells
• Enhancements
  • Removed Tier 5 dropdown; Tier 5 logic now handled automatically
  • Enhancements with variable costs now say so (eg: Human Tier 2: Fighting Style)
  • Fixed broken wiki links (virtually all were broken; all should work now)
  • Leveling Guide
    • Plan out all your enhancements for leveling, including tree resets and banking AP
    • Export to a csv or txt file for printing your plan with Excel or notepad
• Destiny
  • Added 5th twist slot, but only if build.MaxLevel = 30
  • Increased maximum fate points based on build.MaxLevel: 20-28:32, 29:34, 30:37
  • Twists now enforce feat reqs (but not rank reqs; twists aren't considered to have ranks)

Other Changes

• Output
  • Added color to stat levelups if they aren't all the same
  • Enhancement trees now output in order of points spent
• Export screen
  • Moved BBCode format codes to their own screen
  • Choosing a section that has no data no longer crashes program
• Import screen
  • Fixed issue importing code tags (no dots) versions
  • Added additional checks to handle various browser quirks
  • Added error handling; importing partial grids (eg: skills) no longer crashes the program
• Options
  • Added "Use Icons" toggles for both overview and skills screens
  • Changed binary config (CharacterBuilderLite.cfg) into human-readable text settings (Settings.txt)
  • New setting: Child Windows, defaults to True. Screens no longer disappear behind main form, and also minimize/restore with main form. Uncheck this setting for same functionality as previous versions.
  • Added "Confirmation Prompts" checkbox
  • Moved colors to their own form. (Tools => Colors)
• Colors
  • Color files split into two separate styles: Screen and Output
  • Added Google's Material Design color palettes, along with simple interface to use them
  • Redesigned color data structures (any customized color info will need to be re-entered)
  • Replaced Cyan with Orange for literal color list (to support augments)
  • Changed class colors for output, generally matching the color of their in-game icons

Data

• Morninglord Tier 3: Light of the Sun God has 3 ranks, not 1
• Fatesinger Tier 3: Reign does not require Tier 1: Allure
• Wiki Crawler updated descriptions:
  • Archmage Tier 3: Arcane Bolt
  • Archmage Tier 5: Arcane Blast
  • Deepwood Stalker Tier 2: Survivalist
  • Deepwood Stalker Tier 3: Survivalist
  • Deepwood Stalker Tier 4: Survivalist
  • Frenzied Berserker Tier 0: Frenzied Toughness
  • Harper Agent Tier 1: Harper Enchantment
  • Harper Agent Tier 2: Know the Angles
  • Harper Agent Tier 5: Harper Enchantment
  • Human Tier 2: Fighting Style
  • Soul Eater Tier 1: Consume
  • Tempest Tier 0: Dervish
  • Tempest Tier 5: Dance of Death
  • Thief-Acrobat Tier 3: Sweeping Strikes
  • Divine Crusader Tier 5: Celestial Champion
  • Draconic Incarnation Tier 1: Draconic Presence

[EllisDee37]

Version 2.0 is up.

Working on this for the past 8 weeks, the builder now has all the features I ever wanted it to have plus more goodies I didn't even realize I wanted.

Special thanks to VCB for being my tester for the past 5 weeks. His input and feedback have been invaluable, suggesting features I never would have thought of but are now some of my favorites. (For example, being able to export the Leveling Guide for easy printing.) Also a shout out to hit_fido for the new class split interface on the Overview screen. My vision was how it worked in 1.2, which was poor. His vision is how it works now in 2.0, and it's awesome.

The release notes for this update are massive; too big to include in the OP. So here's a quick summary:

Version 2.0 Overview

• Level cap raised to 30!
• Screens
  • Overview: New graphical interface
  • Skills: Added Skill Tomes, graphical class headers, improved "max ranks" controls
  • Feats: Added Alternate Feats and Feat Exchanges
  • Enhancements: Added Leveling Guide
  • Destinies: Twists now check for feat prereqs
• General
  • Working with multiple screens open at once is now fully supported
  • Help system revamped and greatly expanded
  • Details windows on all screens now describe errors if there are any
  • Added context menus to drop slots; right-click to see the new choices
  • Resolved exceptions; all relevant game rules and mechanics are now implemented
  • Revamped colors
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed several issues with Warlock Pact spells
  • Fixed the level matrix for level 8 Cleric spells
  • Fixed multiple issues with Import

Complete release notes are in the previous post.


EDIT: I updated some of my build threads as a way to test the new features. The Necro Cleric showcases most of them: Alternate feats, feat swaps, and even a tree reset in the middle of the Leveling Guide.

The Pale Trapper thread also shows banking AP in the Leveling Guide.

[Augon]

Awesome Planner!
Its been fun watching it develop and creating so many builds in the process.
Thanks for all your work on this Ellisdee.

[Raeaddil]

Thanks for putting the work into this. I tried it this morning and absolutely love the changes. I found the enhancements for leveling especially useful. Love it.

[Stoner81]

One hell of an update m8, congrats! Thanks for all your hard work and of course thanks to those who have helped along the way thus far!

Stoner81.