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Jundle
September 20th, 2010, 01:48
I've used the newest parser and it isn't parsing in the class feature "combat challenge" for the fighter class.

How do I get combat challenge into my game? I've been trying to put it in manually but I can't seem to figure it out.

How do I do it?

EugeneZ
September 20th, 2010, 03:33
Since it's not a power, it doesn't parse (mechanically, anyway).

The most important aspect of Combat Challenge is the mark. Being marked is a condition, so you can add "marked" to your campaign's condition list (one of the buttons on the top right). Or the fighter can add it to his hotbar or on his power sheet wherever he feels like (as an effect).

Whenever someone drops the Marked condition, it is auto-targetted to the person who dropped it. So, for example, if the fighter drops Marked on a goblin, and that goblin attacks a target that is not the fighter, the ruleset will automatically apply a -2 penalty to attack.

However, making the immediate interrupt attack that goes with this (or when the marked target shifts) is up to your player to remember and remind you, there's no way to automate that. The fighter can see who's marked in the combat tracker, though, so it shouldn't be too tough.

SniperDM
September 20th, 2010, 06:10
EugeneZ, I think it's a bit misleading to say that combat challenge doesn't parse. You right about the mechanics of course -- the opportunity attack is something the player keeps track of himself, and the mark condition can be handled with the list of campaign effects. However, for documentation and organization's sake, it's perfectly possible to add Combat Challenge as a class feature and have it show up (complete with link for reference) on a Character's sheet, either in the powers list or on the special abilities page.

The real problem is that features like Combat Challenge don't have an individual entry in the compendium database, so they don't get added to a scrape file automatically. You can however modify the powers.txt scrape file to add the feature yourself.

I don't think I can show you how the entry for Combat Challenge looks in my scrape file due to IP issues and so forth, but I can show you a mock-up feature that should parse correctly and hopefully that will be enough for you to figure out the rest on your own.


Kick Butt Fighter Feature
Fighters specialize in kicking butt.
At-Will ? Martial, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt Melee
Effect: When an enemy moves adjacent to you, if you are all out of bubblegum,
you can kick the enemy's butt. A butt-kicked enemy is marked.

The text above will parse and create a power-like feature entry in the fighter's list of powers. The two important parts to make sure it parses correctly so that it looks formatted like a power in-game are:

Make sure to include some flavor text between the line at the top that includes the power name, class, and source, and the line that starts with how often the power can be used (At-Will, etc). It doesn't have to be anything complex, but if there isn't anything there, the entire entry will be simple italicized text with no other formatting.
Make sure to seperate the power usage (At-Will, etc) and the keywords (Martial, Weapon, Healing, etc.) with a question mark. This takes the place of the little black starburst when the power is formatted.


Below is a screenshot of the example feature in-game.

EugeneZ
September 21st, 2010, 20:52
I did say it can't parse mechanically. I'm quite well aware of everything you just said but was too lazy to post about it. Bravo for taking the time.

SniperDM
September 23rd, 2010, 09:18
Just trying to help. I was quite sure you knew what you were talking about, I just thought I'd clarify for the benefit of the original poster.

And besides, the idea of the mock-up power made me laugh, so I guess I'll do anything for a cheap gag. ;)