Herolab exports

[knasser]

Hi,

First post here - have just bought a full standard licence for FG and think it's great so far! :) I could maybe post this on the Herolabs forums but this seems better for a couple of reasons. My question is that I know I can export a character from Herolab and import it to FG, but does anybody know if I can export entire encounters from Herolab to FG? In particular using their community packs. You can't tell this from the Demo versio of Herolab and I can't find an answer to this anywhere. Funds are limited and I'm basically trying to decide whether to go the route of buying Herolab or just getting core packs for FG (which will take longer due to funds). Also, are there any advantages to building a character or NPC in FG directly over building it in Herolab and importing it? Like things that don't work fully if imported.

Sorry that it's a bit of an open-ended question. I'm just looking for opinions from people who have used both. Essence of the question I guess is - I want to build encounters and characters and run them in FG. Will I be able to do that effectively with Herolab and exporting from it?

Peace and coolness,

K.

[Zacchaeus]

Hi knasser welcome to FG and to the community.

I think we'll need to know which ruleset you are using. Not everything that can be exported from HeroLabs can be imported into FG as far as I know.

[knasser]

Hi knasser welcome to FG and to the community.

I think we'll need to know which ruleset you are using. Not everything that can be exported from HeroLabs can be imported into FG as far as I know.

Good point. Originally I was posting it in the 5e forums which would have made it fairly clear and then at the last minute I guessed The Tavern might be more appropriate. So, D&D 5e and no interest in any other systems at this time. Thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

Ok, I am not actually sure if HeroLab files can be exported into FG for the 5e ruleset. If they can be then the only thing that you would be able to import would be a character and I doubt it would be complete. Apart from anything else the HeroLab's files will only include what is in the SRD and so you would not be able to even create a full PHB character in HeroLab.

Building your character with the PHB or SRD is very easy to do via drag/drop. Have a look here for various useful links (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27296-Guides-videos-and-other-helpful-information) to guidance on this and other subjects. Building encounters is also easy using drag/drop from the SRD or MM or any of the other third party products which are available. You can also type in monsters as well directly into FG and then use those in your encounters.

The only advantage that building a character in Herolab might give you is that it will give you warnings if you try to do something 'illegal' such as learn too many spells or make an ability score too high or something like that. The FG character sheet isn't fully automated (although it's getting there) and it is not a character generator like HeroLab is.

It comes down to personal preference to some extend; but I would suggest that if funds are limited a better investment would be the PHB and then the MM, over HeroLabs for the purposes that you need. Both of these regularly come up in sales and you can get a fair amount of discount if you time your purchases right.

[knasser]

Ok, I am not actually sure if HeroLab files can be exported into FG for the 5e ruleset. If they can be then the only thing that you would be able to import would be a character and I doubt it would be complete. Apart from anything else the HeroLab's files will only include what is in the SRD and so you would not be able to even create a full PHB character in HeroLab.

Building your character with the PHB or SRD is very easy to do via drag/drop. Have a look here for various useful links (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27296-Guides-videos-and-other-helpful-information) to guidance on this and other subjects. Building encounters is also easy using drag/drop from the SRD or MM or any of the other third party products which are available. You can also type in monsters as well directly into FG and then use those in your encounters.

The only advantage that building a character in Herolab might give you is that it will give you warnings if you try to do something 'illegal' such as learn too many spells or make an ability score too high or something like that. The FG character sheet isn't fully automated (although it's getting there) and it is not a character generator like HeroLab is.

It comes down to personal preference to some extend; but I would suggest that if funds are limited a better investment would be the PHB and then the MM, over HeroLabs for the purposes that you need. Both of these regularly come up in sales and you can get a fair amount of discount if you time your purchases right.

Thanks for the information - it's useful to hear about that I can only import PCs from Herolabs, not encounters. That pretty much seals it for me. As regards the SRD stuff though, I was told that with HeroLabs I can import the Community Package that lets me build everything rather than just the SRD stuff.

I can find the PH second hand on Amazon for around the same cost as Herolabs. But if it came down to that I would be more likely to buy the core pack for FG than the physical book. Well maybe. Having to pay for the same content twice is pretty galling. I would be much happier if there were some bundle where I could buy the print copy with a FG licence included.

[Zacchaeus]

Thanks for the information - it's useful to hear about that I can only import PCs from Herolabs, not encounters. That pretty much seals it for me. As regards the SRD stuff though, I was told that with HeroLabs I can import the Community Package that lets me build everything rather than just the SRD stuff.

I can find the PH second hand on Amazon for around the same cost as Herolabs. But if it came down to that I would be more likely to buy the core pack for FG than the physical book. Well maybe. Having to pay for the same content twice is pretty galling. I would be much happier if there were some bundle where I could buy the print copy with a FG licence included.

Well, I'm not an expert of HeroLab but if they have a license to do the whole thing then they may well be able to include stuff outside of the SRD, but you'd best be asking about that on the HeroLab forum.

Many would also like to see a bundle of hardback and FG module but it's not happened so far. I have to say if you are only making one purchase and you are going o be gaming using FG then by far and away the best purchase would be the FG module. It has just been updated considerably so it reads pretty much just like the book and becasue it is done electronically it can be indexed and linked in a way a paper volume cannot.

[Trenloe]

Look at PCGen, it's a free community developed character generator: https://pcgen.org/

[Nylanfs]

Both Herolab and PCGen ship with the base SRD. HL has a community group that has produced a Full 5e info pack, and if you google PCGen 5e datasets you can find a fan made and hosted dataset for PCGen that you can install.

[LordEntrails]

For reference, I only buy 5E in FG and I've been completely happy with it. Especially now with the new Reference Manual formatting, it makes it much easier to read the PHB or DMG like you would read a print copy.

[knasser]

Again, thanks for all replies. I think what I may do is get the PH pack for FG rather than the book. One of my players has the physical book and what you've described as recent improvements makes it sound like I can easily reference all the information in FG. (The only problem being that I can't buy it second hand as I can with the physical books).

A couple of quick questions if I may to save cluttering up the forums with related questions. :) Can I install and run FG on my laptop as well as my desktop? It seems from reading up that I can, but I just want to make absolutely sure of this because I am prepping the game on my desktop but sometimes I'll need to have it on my laptop. So long as when I buy the Core Classes pack (that's the digital version of the PH, right?) I can use it on both I can probably justify that. Second quick question - I like to make variants of creatures. E.g. goblin, goblin scout, goblin assassin, goblin war-king, etc. Is there a way of duplicating a monster in a library to make a new version I can edit? I'm trying to do that with SRD versions in FG at the moment and I've figured out how to make a new blank creature and I'm able to drag and drop AC, attributes, et al. from the original creature to the new. But I'm having to do it for every single attribute / ability / item / etc. Is there a Copy-Paste way of making new creatures?

Thanks for your patience, everybody!

EDIT: Ah, I figured out opening a monster and then dragging that monster's pin BACK into the list creates a copy which I can then unlock and modify. Interesting.

[Zacchaeus]

Yes, I believe you can have FG installed of two different devices but can't have both running at the same time. You'll need of course to be able to copy your data files from one to the other otherwise any work you don on one won't show up on the other. By data files I mean you campaign information.

To create a copy of a monster (or anything else) open the relevant window (in this case click on NPCs) and find the monster you want in the list. Drag the monster and drop it back down into the NPC window and it will create a copy which you can edit. Open the copy and click the 'lock' icon at the top left to be able to do the editing.

And yes, the Complete Core Class Pack is the PHB.

[LordEntrails]

knasser,
Take a look at the following three posts, they both have lots of information you will find useful as you dive in farther;
- 5E Resources (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27298-Extensions-Modules-Pregens-and-other-5E-resources)
- 5E Videos (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27296-Guides-videos-and-other-helpful-information)
- Adventure Module Best Practices (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33538-Adventure-Module-Creation-Best-Practices)

[dberkompas]

I've written a Hero Lab to FG converter. Very basic.

https://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=55757


Dave

[Nylanfs]

I was just looking at that earlier.