[Extension] Character Advances Tab

[Mike Serfass]

Hi fellow savages!

I wanted a way to track the advances my characters take. The players in my group also wanted something like this.

The main tab holds only the highest rank edges (e.g. Frenzy is replaced by Improved Frenzy). Edges are nicely sorted, as are skills, and it's great during game play to know what your character has. But it doesn't indicate what was taken when.

There is a large notes area, which I put to use, but it seems a bit messy to use for tracking advancement among backstory, contacts, quest notes, etc.

There is, as yet, no real auditing of character advancement. Understandable, since this gets tricky when you account for setting rules. This extension, I hope, makes up for that to some degree.

This extension for FGU adds a new tab to player character sheets entitled "Advances". The top section has expanding lines wherein you can type your starting abilities. A list under that is where you enter each advance.

Currently, you have to delete rows using the right click menu. You can also add new rows that way. The add button auto-increments the advance and fills in the appropriate rank. If you add with the right click menu, it doesn't do that.

I hope you find this as useful as I and my players do.

Note: I don't own FG Classic, so I don't know if it will work in FGC.

Version 1.44 Changes (2024-01-31)
Minor code changes to address yesterday's text button theme change.
Minor code changes to catch up on other recent CoreRPG UI changes.

Version 1.43 Changes (2023-12-28)
A minor bug fix for an error that happens on Attribute increases.

Forge
This extension is in the Forge an can be found here:
Character Advances Tab (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/106/view)
Added "Feature:" prefix to name.
Added buttons to taken advances to move lines up and down.
Changed move buttons from arrows to triangles.
Underlying code changes to keep pace with CoreRPG updates.

NOTE: There are two copies of this extension; one set up under Savage Worlds and the other set up under SWADE. They're the same, so you need only one of them.
The early versions of forge lacked some settings and I didn't know where the extension belonged, so I put it both places.
I'll keep both updated, so don't worry about that.

[Mike Serfass]

What Is It?
This extension adds a new tab to the Savage Worlds character sheet which allows you to track your character advancements in detail. No more cluttered notes! It works with SWADE, Savage Worlds Deluxe, and Pathfinder for Savage Worlds.
When characters gain something from an advance, the character's portrait is displayed with the advance message. The GM and party members are able to see how characters are progressing.

Sections

Buttons
The topmost section contains a few buttons. They toggle the display of the Starting and Planning sections. This lets you easily hide the sections you don't use, and show what you do use.
These settings are also under game settings near the bottom of the list.
The right-most button links you to this forum so you can learn to use the extension, request help, share ideas, and make suggestions.

XP Section
For GMs who use xp, there's an optional xp section on the advances tab. When enough xp is awarded, characters will automatically advance.
When the xp option is turned on, the Party Sheet gains an "Award XP" button and xp field for the GM. Type in how much xp was earned, click the award button, and all characters in the party sheet gain that much xp.
If used, this section shows how many xp the character has, how many xp for the next advance, and how many xp are required per advance. These values can be changed, so the GM can control progression rate.
This setting is under game Options near the bottom of the list.

Advances
This shows the list of what was taken each advance.
When advancing, it automatically sets the advance number and rank of the new advance.

Planned Advances
There's an optional planning section for those who like to plan their character's career. When the character advances, the top planned advance is moved to the taken advances section for you.

Starting
The optional starting section allows you to track what your character started life with. Separate places for Attributes, Skills, Edges, Hindrances, and Abilities make it clear exactly what the starting point was.
This is displayed by default.


How to Use It

Advances Section
Drag and drop Edges, Hindrances, Special Abilities, Racial Abilities, Powers, Skills, pretty much anything to the Advances section and it will add that item as an advance. It creates a link on the taken advances line so you can quickly open the linked item.
Dropped links will add the Edge, Hindrance, Special Ability, or Racial Ability to the Main tab in the appropriate section.
When you advance, if you don't use the Planned section, or you haven't planned that advance, a blank row is added to the Advances section. You can drag an Edge, Ability, etc. to the blank row and it will add the ability to your character.
You can change the advance numbers to re-order advances by typing or pressing control + mouse wheel.

Powers and Skills
Dropped Powers will add the Power to the Powers tab and assign it to the default Arcane Background.
Dropped Skills will add the skill if the character does not already have it, or will advance the Skill one die type.
Currently only one Power or Skill can be dropped per taken advancement.
Typing Skills or Abilities into the Advances list won't update the Skill or Ability like moving them from the Planned list does.


Planned Advances Section
You can change the planned advance order by typing a new number or by pressing control + mouse wheel over the number box.
Better yet, there are buttons on the left to move lines up and down with a click.
When a character advances, the top-most planned item (the line with # 1) is moved to Advances.
You can also manually move items from the Planned Advances section to the taken advances section using the arrow on the right side.

Powers
Powers are automatically added to the Powers tab from the Planned Advances list on Advances.
A Power can be dropped to the Planned list, It will create a link to that power.
Currently only on Power can be dropped per Planned line.
To add more than one Power for an advance, or to link Powers to Edges like Arcane Background or New Power, put each Power name inside curly braces {}. Separate multiple powers with commas.
Writing this on a blank Planned line

{Burst}, {Invisibility}
will add Burst and Invisibility to your Powers list, linked to the default Arcane Background.
You can add Powers with Edges. For example, drop New Power on the Planned list, then type the powers you want behind it.
Editing the text to:

New Power {Burst},{Invisibility}
will add the New Power Edge to the Main tab and the Burst and Invisibility Powers to the Powers tab, linked to the default Arcane Background.
If you drop an Arcane Background to Planned Advances and change the text to

Arcane Background (Magic) {Burst}, {Invisibility}, {Deflection}
it will add the Arcane Background (Magic) Edge to the Main tab, the Arcane Background (Magic) to the Powers tab, and the Burst, Deflection, and Invisibility Powers to the Powers list.

Traits
Dropped Skills work in Planned Advances as they do in taken Advances.
Currently only one Skill can be dropped per taken advancement.
If you drop a Skill on a planned line, when it's moved to the taken list, it will either add the Skill or increment it one die type. For linked Skills, don't add "+1d" or "=d4" to a linked Skill's name.
To add multiple Skills, you must add a blank line and type them in manually.
Separate Skills with commas.
Behind each Trait name, indicate the die increase using one of these methods:

=dx
where x is the die type (4, 6, 8). You can also type

=dx+y
where x is the die type and y is a bonus.
Examples:

Fighting =d6
sets Fighting to a d6 from whatever die it was before, so be careful not to downgrade!

Fighting =d12+3
sets Fighting to d12+3.
You can increment a die type, as in

+xd
where x is the number of dice to raise it by. Usually one, but it could be more for settings that allow it.

Shooting +1d
will increase Shooting 1 die type. If the character does not already have Shooting, it will be added to the Skills list and set to d4.
Normally two Skills are increased per advance. It would look like

Fighting =d6, Shooting +1d
Note how you can mix nomenclature.
You can also use this indicator to set a Trait to a specific die type

Strength d8


Additional
Arcane Background Edges are added to the character's Edges on the Main tab. They're also added to the Powers tab.
Edges with Powers (e.g. New Power {Blast},{Burst} will strip the powers off when added to the Edges list, but will keep them in the taken Advances list.
There's a small bug that I'm unable to fix. It's easy to avoid, and is a rare scenario, I think. Simply don't set a Skill to anything higher than a d4 starting out if it doesn't already exist on your character sheet.

[B]Upcoming Changes[B]
Multiple lines in planned and taken advances. This will allow you to add multiple Skills and Powers to a single advance, and to more easily link Powers to Edges like New Powers.
Linked Gear. This will add the gear to the appropriate gear sub tab. This will be most useful for cyberware.

[Montrovent]

Really nice and simple solution for tracking advances. Thanks!

[Valyar]

This is very very nice! The font looks weird on the stock SWADE skin though.

[Skellan]

This is awsome. We usually just use the notes section and it gets a bit messy.

I'd love to see this as part of the core ruleset :)

[IceBear]

Yeah, I was using the old Background and Advances extension, but found that the background section ended up with the lines going through the text instead of being underneath it so this is better as most players use the Notes for their background so I just wanted it for tracking advances. The only issue I have is that the font in the Advances Tab doesn't match the rest of them (I'm currently in Flash Gordon so I'm sure all the modules have different fonts so I suspect it's just something I need to live with...doubt it can be programmed to match the font for whatever module is loaded)

[mac40k]

I’ve been using the Background and Advances extension too, but I’m setting up a new campaign and will have to check this one out.

[Mike Serfass]

This is very very nice! The font looks weird on the stock SWADE skin though.

The tab text is actually an image, not text. I'd have to make a different image for every theme and match the theme's font as close as possible. Which means I'd have to own the theme or get a screenshot good enough to work from.
However, I think the theme itself must have an image for this tab. I don't know if there's a way to set the image from my extension based on theme. I'll research that. It would be nice if it could do that.

In the interim, or in case it's not possible, I can change it to a thinner font and/or abbreviate it.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Valyar]

I know it is image, I thought the extension is providing one with fonts matching the core theme. But it is easy to replace the text, I just need to find the right font for it.

[Mike Serfass]

I know it is image, I thought the extension is providing one with fonts matching the core theme. But it is easy to replace the text, I just need to find the right font for it.

If you know which font that is, and where I can find it, I'll change it to match the core theme. It's probably better if it matches the core theme's font. I tried various fonts, and that was the closest I had and still looked good at that size. Hopefully someone recognizes the font and it's one I can download.
I'll look through my (limited) font list again. I can check google fonts too, maybe it's there.

[Mike Serfass]

It seems the font used to create the character tab text is unknown and lost.

I have hope that the character tabs will be changed from images to text which uses the theme's font, like the right side button bar now does. Until then, I made the closest match I can to the core RPG rules font.
https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Fondamento?preview.size=33&sort=popularity&category=Serif,Sans+Serif,Display,Handwriting&preview.text_type=custom&preview.text=Main&sidebar.open=true&selection.family=Lato&query=Fondamento

If someone can find a closer match, please share a link and I'll change it.

I updated the extension in the first post.

[Skellan]

I love this extension. Would it be possible to make the windows drag-drop so you could drop edges in?

[Mike Serfass]

Thank you!
That's possible. I'll learn how to do that and implement it.

[Skellan]

I have added this as a feature request to the idea informer, so people can vote if they would like a feature like this as standard.
https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/fgapp?ia=136215

[Mike Serfass]

@Skellen: Here you go! The feature you requested.

You can now drag Edges and Skills to the advances list. You can also drag a quest, item, NPC, even story entry.
I thought it would be cool to be able to drag a defeated enemy to an advancement line, or an important item gained at that advance.

In my game, sometimes a character gains a special item in lieu of a normal advance. I hope you find this change useful if your games are like that.

There's also a new xp section. We play SWADE, but we recently started using XP like we did in SWEX. We found the advancement pace of SWEX better suited to our play style.
Counting xp worked out easier than keeping notes on which sessions advances fell on. Once we got mixed level characters in the group I thought it would work better to have players track it on their individual characters, so I added this to the character sheet.
If too many people think the xp section is in the way, I'll figure out how to use settings to toggle it on. Or, if it's useful, let me know how I can enhance it.

[Skellan]

Oh wow, just looking at this now. Fantastic! Being able to add quests, items and npcs is as well as skills and edges is really cool. It will make it easier to use and maintain with everything being drag and drop.

I like the xp boxes. Counting the number of sessions does get fiddly so this is a good addition. I like that you have a box for xp per session so you can show the advancement pace. I have been experimenting with increasing how many sessions you need to advance based on character rank so it keeps people at mid point for longer, so I like that the extension has a place to record xp per advance.

Thanks very much for sharing this with the community, I am sure it took ages to do. Cheers for that, I will use it in my games.

[mac40k]

I've switched to this extension from the older one that was basically just a notes/text box to type advancements into, but I was already doing milestone advancement before SWADE did away with XP. I haven't downloaded this version to even look at it, but while drag/drop Edges would be nice, I'd be concerned that having XP appear, when I don't use it might confuse things for some players. If there is a way to toggle this on/off, I'd highly recommend implementing it.

[Jiminimonka]

@Skellen: Here you go! The feature you requested.

You can now drag Edges and Skills to the advances list. You can also drag a quest, item, NPC, even story entry.
I thought it would be cool to be able to drag a defeated enemy to an advancement line, or an important item gained at that advance.

In my game, sometimes a character gains a special item in lieu of a normal advance. I hope you find this change useful if your games are like that.

There's also a new xp section. We play SWADE, but we recently started using XP like we did in SWEX. We found the advancement pace of SWEX better suited to our play style.
Counting xp worked out easier than keeping notes on which sessions advances fell on. Once we got mixed level characters in the group I thought it would work better to have players track it on their individual characters, so I added this to the character sheet.
If too many people think the xp section is in the way, I'll figure out how to use settings to toggle it on. Or, if it's useful, let me know how I can enhance it.

Awesome! Thanks.

[amerigoV]

I am going to unleash my players on this :)

[Jiminimonka]

A way to toggle of the XP section would be nice, I will never use it.

[Mike Serfass]

In version 1.8:

There's now a setting to toggle on the XP section. It's hidden by default. My guess is that will be the most common selection.
If you've been using this extension (thanks!) and use the xp option, you'll have to turn it on after updating. Don't worry, your xp will be there.

The advances list now has the add and edit buttons like all the other lists. (That took awhile to figure out.)

When adding an advance using the "Create Item" radial menu option, the advance number and rank are now auto-filled.

[Mike Serfass]

I learned during our game tonight that the xp toggle is a per-player option. I meant that to be a per-game option. I'll correct that and post an update soon.

In the mean time, you'll have to ask all the players to toggle it on if you use xp.

[Mike Serfass]

Version 1.9

I changed the XP section setting from a user setting to a GM setting. The GM may have to change it back to 'Show'.

I also reworked the UI a bit. I put light boxes around the sections so they stand out more, and changed the order of the sections from most frequently used on top to least referenced on bottom. This should mean less scrolling and more easily finding what you want.

[Skellan]

Fantastic job with this Mike. Thanks for sharing this with the community. It will certainly be an extension I always use for my SW games

[Mike Serfass]

Version 1.10 with exciting new features!

Sorry I threw these updates out so fast, but I made much better progress than I anticipated. I think the tweaks in this version are worth the hassle of updating the extension again so soon.

When the GM gives the characters an advance from the party sheet, a new advance will be added to all characters in the party.

The party sheet now has a new "Award XP" button with an xp number field. This will award xp to every character in the party. These are visible only when the "show the XP section" option is set to "show".

If the GM changes the "show xp option", the Advances section on the character sheet now changes immediately.

The xp section of the advancements tab has a new "next advance" field. This is used to calculate when an advance happens after awarding or changing xp.

When the GM awards xp, if it was enough to advance, the characters will automatically receive an advance. The "next advance at" number will also be incremented.

Set the next advance xp to 0 to turn off automatically advancing the character.

Awarded XP are announced in chat, just like advances are.

Changing a character's current xp will add an advance and increment the "next advance at" number.

I converted all the static text to string resources so it can be translated. The string resources are in extensions.xml.

[Skellan]

That is really sweet - it basically has all functionality of the xp awards from the deluxe ruleset but you can manually adjust the number of xp needed between advances. This is great for me as I like to have higher xp thresholds for later ranks. :) Very cool

[amerigoV]

I have not played with this yet, but one thing I like to do with characters is plan out advancements. It does not always mean I take them as sometimes play dictates otherwise, but I like to know the direction (if I make a new PC, I tend to run them up to Legendary).

Given the direction, any chance of having a planning section for the advances?

[Mike Serfass]

I have not played with this yet, but one thing I like to do with characters is plan out advancements. It does not always mean I take them as sometimes play dictates otherwise, but I like to know the direction (if I make a new PC, I tend to run them up to Legendary).

Given the direction, any chance of having a planning section for the advances?

I have a couple of players that do planning. They would probably like this too. Currently they add lines to the advances ahead of time. Now that it auto-advances, they'll need a separate section or will have to delete the auto-added lines.

What are your ideas? Put a planning section at the bottom? Would this make the section too long? Change it to tabs like inventory? If planning is just below the advances list, I might be able to add drag and drop from planning to advances. If they're not near each other I can add a move button. Or just do a move button for simplicity. I could add a setting that indicates instead of an advance adding a new line, it takes the top item from the planning list.

I'm thinking out loud, and I'm open to suggestions. This could be a nice feature if done well. Thanks for the idea!

[Mike Serfass]

Can someone please check for me if this extension works for the previous version of SW? I don't have FGC or SWEX, so I don't know if the previous version character sheets are compatible.

You'll have to change extension.xml, the <ruleset> element must be changed to SWD like so


<ruleset>
<name>SWD</name>
</ruleset>

Thanks!

[Skellan]

The extension seems to work on swade classic but does not appear on the extensions list for deluxe

[amerigoV]

I have a couple of players that do planning. They would probably like this too. Currently they add lines to the advances ahead of time. Now that it auto-advances, they'll need a separate section or will have to delete the auto-added lines.

What are your ideas? Put a planning section at the bottom? Would this make the section too long? Change it to tabs like inventory? If planning is just below the advances list, I might be able to add drag and drop from planning to advances. If they're not near each other I can add a move button. Or just do a move button for simplicity. I could add a setting that indicates instead of an advance adding a new line, it takes the top item from the planning list.

I'm thinking out loud, and I'm open to suggestions. This could be a nice feature if done well. Thanks for the idea!

I am thinking just a window below the actual advances. It creates a visual brake without being hidden on another tab. If its smart enough to pull from the other list, great. If not, that is a minor thing to drag and drop it.

[Mike Serfass]

The extension seems to work on swade classic but does not appear on the extensions list for deluxe

Thanks Skellan. The next release (soon) should make it appear for deluxe. I hope it doesn't break anything! Please let me know if it does.

[Mike Serfass]

Version 1.11, now with planning!

I added an advancement planning section. You can drag and drop on it just like the advances list.
You can drag items from the planned list to the advances list. You can also use the list item button to move it.
You can change the priority by typing in the number box or Ctrl + Mouse Wheel over it. (The advances # works the same way.)
There's a per player setting to show or hide this section. It's hidden by default.

If there's a blank item in the advances list, when you drag something onto the list, the blank advance will be filled in with the dropped link.
The planned advances list behaves the same way.

If you use the planned advances section, when your character advances, the top-most planned advance will be moved to the advances list for you.

The string resources have been moved to a separate file (strings.xml) so translations can be easily dropped in. If anyone does translations, please share on this thread!

The extension should now appear in SW Deluxe and the upcoming Path Finder for Savage Worlds.

[amerigoV]

Just wanted to say great job on the this. I finally got to play around with the updated version - very smooth and I love the planning!

[Mike Serfass]

Thank you! I'm glad you find it useful. I hope others do as well.

[Valyar]

I just finished the Blood Drive campaign and this extension was extremely helpful in keeping an eye on the characters :)
They are also glad to have it. Keep up the good work!

As a suggestion - allow to drag & drop Edge/Powers from the libraries to already existing advances and not create new line in the list.

[Mike Serfass]

Thanks for the feedback, Valyar! I'm glad it's useful.

I tried the drop on an existing item, but I couldn't figure out how to determine which item was dropped on. If that's possible, and I figure it out, I will add it.

[Doswelk]

Hello, just a request to make a minor change (again)...

We have renamed PFSW (Pathfinder Savage Worlds) ruleset to SWPF to keep inline with what Pinnacle seem to be calling it, so could you tweak the extension :)

sorry and thank you.

[Mike Serfass]

Hello, just a request to make a minor change (again)...

We have renamed PFSW (Pathfinder Savage Worlds) ruleset to SWPF to keep inline with what Pinnacle seem to be calling it, so could you tweak the extension :)

sorry and thank you.

It was painstaking, detailed development work, but I did it, because I like you.
:p
I'm glad the extension works with PF for SW.

The new extension uploaded has just that change. So anyone not playing PF, you needn't bother downloading this latest change.

[Mike Serfass]

This extension is now in the Forge! Future updates will be available there.
I put it under both the Savage Worlds and Savage Worlds Adventure Edition categories.

Character Advances Tab (SWADE) (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/106/view)
Character Advances Tab (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/111/view)

[Ikael]

This extension is now in the Forge! Future updates will be available there.
I put it under both the Savage Worlds and Savage Worlds Adventure Edition categories.

Character Advances Tab (SWADE) (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/106/view)
Character Advances Tab (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/111/view)

Did you upload it twice as separate forge items just to cover both category options? -- If that is the case then there will be big annoyance because the same extension will be downloaded twice and might cause conflicts in FG Updater. I have asked Smiteworks if they could change category logic so that "Savage Worlds" would cover "Savage Worlds Adventure Edition" option as well.

[Mike Serfass]

Did you upload it twice as separate forge items just to cover both category options? -- If that is the case then there will be big annoyance because the same extension will be downloaded twice and might cause conflicts in FG Updater. I have asked Smiteworks if they could change category logic so that "Savage Worlds" would cover "Savage Worlds Adventure Edition" option as well.

I did, for that reason. I expected people to pick it only once from one of those categories. I could have made that clear in my description. (Note to self...)

The files are the same name, so there should be only one on the local device. Will that still cause a problem?

What about the cases where an extension would work with SWADE and not SWD?

It would be nice if the combo box were instead a checklist. There are extensions which cover 5e and PF, but not SW. Those are under Core RPG, but they don't with with SWADE, Traveller, etc.

Any suggestions on how to handle this? Any suggestions on what I can break next?

[Mike Serfass]

I tested this extension in the Test channel against the changes to CoreRPG and the Savage Worlds rule set. I didn't find any errors, and it seems to be working just like it does on Live.

Please let me know if you have any problems with it in Test and I'll get it fixed before all those changes go live.

[Jiminimonka]

So far the only thing throwing errors in Test for me has been Fast Tests which I reported in chillhelms thread.

[Mike Serfass]

Abilities dropped on the advance list are now added to the character for you. This includes Edges, Hindrances, Special Abilities, Racial Abilities, and Monstrous Abilities.
If you use the planning section, these Abilities are added to the character on an advance or if you click the "move to advance" button.
Note that the Ability must be a link, not just the name.

If you use the planning section, Traits are also added if you use the following formulas. (These are similar to effects.)

Trait Name +xd
where x is the number of die types to increase the Trait by. Usually, it will be +1d. So, for example

Strength +1d
will increase Strength on die type. For instance, from a d6 to a d8.

Shooting +1d, Fighting +1d
will increase both Shooting and Fighting a die type. So Shooting d6 and Fighting d8 become Shooting d8 and Fighting d10.

Note that multiple Trait adjustments are separated by a comma. That's important.
Increasing above d12 will add +1, as per the rules. So if Shooting was already a d12 and Fighting was a d12+1, they would become Shooting d12+1 and Fighting d12+2.

An alternative formula is

Trait Name =dx
where x is the die type. So

Shooting =d6, Fighting =d8
will set Shooting to d6 and Fighting to d8, no matter what they were set to before.

Strength =d12+2
will set Strength to d12+2, even if it was a d8 previously.

A Skill that is missing will be added. So,

Taunt =d4, Driving +1d
will add Taunt at d4 and add Driving at d4, assuming the character did not already have Taunt or Driving. If the character already had these skills, Taunt would be (re)set to d4 and Driving would be increased a die type.

Currently gear, cybernetics, vehicles, companions, anything else not an Ability are not automatically added. I may do this in a future update, if there's a call for it. Let me know if you'd use that.

This extension has also been updated to be compatible with the upcoming big changes.

NOTE: There are two copies of this extension; one set up under Savage Worlds and the other set up under SWADE. They're the same, so you need only one of them. The early versions of forge lacked some settings and I didn't know where the extension belonged, so I put it both places. I'll try to get these copies merged, but I don't know if that's possible. I'll keep both updated, so don't worry about that.

Known Bug
There's a small bug that I'm unable to fix. It's easy to avoid, and is a rare scenario, I think. Simply don't set a Skill to anything higher than a d4 starting out if it doesn't already exist on your character sheet. It won't set properly on either your side or the GM's side, and will be reset to d4.
So, if you don't have Shooting on your character, and a planned advance says

Shooting =d6
or

Shooting +2d
it will hit the bug in some situations.

Here's exactly how to recreate it:
Have a player logged in.
The character has a planned advance that starts a Skill higher than d4 (like below), and does not have the Skill on the character sheet. (It does this with any Skill.)

Fighting =d6, Shooting =d6
or

Fighting +2d, Shooting +2d
The GM advances the character or awards enough XP to advance.
The character sheet on the client updates as expected, but on the GM side the skills are added at d4.
The character sheet is saved to the GM's database with d4. The GM sees d4 for those Skills.
If the player uses the "move to advance" button, it sets the Skills as expected, but they're at d4 for the player.
Either way, the Skills are not saved at the higher die type and revert to d4 when the game is loaded next time.

[amerigoV]

This has really come along! I had put in all the pathfinder icons/archetypes. Its was real easy to go back to adjust for the skills.

You get this to do powers and items...well, then it will be awesome+ vs just awesome. :)

[Mike Serfass]

@amerigoV: I'm one step closer to ticking off one of your wish list items. Adding powers is next on the list. I wanted to learn about adding arcane backgrounds before doing powers.
Version 1.30 is pending approval and should be available soon.

[Mike Serfass]

New in Version 1.30


Trait increases and ad-hoc entries are announced when advancing, like Edges are.
The character's portrait is displayed with the advance message instead of the level-up icon.
Trait die increases now recognize a more natural syntax. i.e. you don't need =dx or +xd; Strength d10 and Notice d6 now work.
The extension now understands both upper and lower case D for Trait dice. e.g. Strength d10 and Strength D10 both work.
Arcane Background Edges are now added to the character's Edges. (They weren't adding when dropping them in the advances list or when moving from the planned section to advances taken.)
When adding an Arcane Background Edge, the associated Arcane Background will also be added to the Powers tab for you.
Edges with effects and trait mods now set properly.


This extension is compatible with the upcoming changes due to be released at the end of February 2022.

[Galadur]

Dear Mike, nice job with this extension.
But I have now the following error reported when adding an Edge to a character sheet :
52132

Maybe it's due to the last updates...

[Mike Serfass]

I'll look at this tonight. The screenshot gives me a good start, so thanks, but I need more information.

Can you please send me an error log?
Can you send me a zip of the campaign? That will allow me to recreate the error. I promise not to give the players any spoilers.
If you can't send me the campaign, you could take a screenshot of the character's advances tab.

Do you have the latest version of the extension? (1.30)

Which edge is giving the problem?
Is this the only character causing an error?
Is this the only edge causing a problem?
Does this problem edge work on another character?
Did you spend a benny to retry advancing?

[Mike Serfass]

@Galadur: I figured it out and have a fix. You hit a scenario I didn't test.
Good job! You earned 1 xp!

I posted an update to Forge, so you should be all set for your next game.

Thanks for reporting it!

Here's the now deceased bug:
If the "show planning section" option has never been toggled on, when dropping an edge (or anything) onto a character's advances list, you get an "attempt to index a nil value" error.

[Galadur]

Here's the log : https://drive.google.com/file/d/125n2S5HVLlWzRhtYBpvevNy2cQvcM0TI/view?usp=sharing
Is it this you name the campain ? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r1H2iBdcu0lIzHW0W1r_A--g1IDB8a0g/view?usp=sharing
I have the latest version of the extension.
All the tested characters give the same error.
All tested edges cause the same issue.
No benny spent to retry advancing.

[Mike Serfass]

Thanks Galadur. I looked through those files, and it verifies my fix.

Run a manual update of FGU to pull down the extension update. You have to run a manual update to get extension updates. It's version 1.31. Give that a try.

[Galadur]

It works ! Great !
Many thanks !

[xTheCanadian]

Hi, is it possible to have the advances planning show up for my players? Currently it only shows up for me, the GM, when I enable it in the options.

[Redemption77]

Hi, is it possible to have the advances planning show up for my players? Currently it only shows up for me, the GM, when I enable it in the options.

The players need to go into their own options and turn it on for themselves.

[xTheCanadian]

Oooohhhh! Thanks bud!

[Mike Serfass]

I just posted version 1.40 to the Forge.

New in Version 1.40
Powers are added to the Powers tab from the planned list. Put the power name inside curly braces, and separate multiple powers with commas.

{Burst},{Invisibility}
will add Burst and Invisibility to your powers list, linked to your Arcane Background.

Combine power lists with Edges. Drop New Power on planned, then type the powers you want behind it.

For example:

New Power {Burst},{Invisibility}
will add the New Power Edge and the Burst and Invisibility powers.

If you drop an Arcane Background to planned advances and change the text to

Arcane Background (Magic) {Burst}, {Invisibility}, {Deflection}
will add the Arcane Background (Magic) Edge to the Main tab, the Arcane Background (Magic) to the Powers tab, and the Burst, Deflection, and Invisibility Powers to the Powers list.

Powers can be dropped on the planned advance. This creates a link to the power, and does not require the user of {} curly braces. Only one Power can be added on a line when doing this. (A future update will allow multiple powers per advance.)

A power can dropped on a blank line in the taken Advancements section. The Power will be added to the Powers tab. Currently only one Power can be dropped on an advancement. (Multiple Powers per line is a planned feature.)

Added buttons to toggle the display of Planned Advances and Starting sections.

Added a button to open the character advances forum page. The second post has basic help on using this extension.

Added buttons to planned advances to move lines up and down.

If you drop a Skill on a planned line, it will either add the Skill or increment it one die type. Don't add "+1d" or "=d4" to a linked Skill's name.

Upcoming Changes
Multiple lines in planned and taken advances. This will allow you to add multiple Skills and Powers to a single advance, and to more easily link Powers to Edges like New Powers.
Linked Gear. This will add the gear to the appropriate gear sub tab. This will be most useful for cyberware.

Also
I made post 2 of this thread a basic "help" reference. That may be easier to find and use than the forge store page.
I updated the store page with pretty much what's on post 2.
Post 2 (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?66181-Extension-Character-Advances-Tab&p=579533&viewfull=1#post579533)

[tymanthius]

So . . . this is the first item from the forge I've tried to add. It shows up in my Forge inventory. FG said I had an update, so I ran updates. But . . . I don't have the options under the settings. I'm sure this is a me problem, but I don't understand what I'm missing.

56208

[Mike Serfass]

Let's start at the very beginning.
Did you enable the extension on the "Load Campaign" screen?
56212

[tymanthius]

Let's start at the very beginning.
Did you enable the extension on the "Load Campaign" screen?
56212

See! I knew I was blind! Thanks so much shining the spotlight on what I couldn't see. :)

[bbbrock]

First, if I'm just overlooking it, I apologize. I believe one of the options available for an advancement is to remove a minor hinderance, or downgrade a major to a minor. How would you go about putting in to remove a minor in your planned advancements? I'm a player in a game using this, and it was mentioned just manually doing it, which is fine, but figured I would ask here just in case.

[Mike Serfass]

Thanks for using the extension. I hope it's serving your game well.

I don't have a way of removing a hindrance. If you drop a hindrance onto the list it will add it, but I don't have functions to remove anything. I wanted to add the ability to remove edges, skills, hindrances, etc, but the logic was rough, error prone, and not worth the hassle.
To track removing a hindrance, you could type the hindrance name with text indicating it was downgraded / removed, or drop a link to the hindrance then add a note to the hindrance name. Either way you'll have to manually remove it from the character sheet or change "major" to "minor".

[Jiminimonka]

Do Powers when added via New Powers work via the name string? Because the Savage Rifts Mega Powers all have (Rifts) in brackets after the main power name e.g. Bolt (Rifts) etc. If that is the case then no need for me to concern myself but if not can you make it so Mike? Thanks

[Mike Serfass]

It looks for powers inside curly braces separated by commas.
Dragging the New Power edge onto the advances list then setting the text to

New Power {Bolt}, {Darksight (Rifts)}
adds the New Power edge to the character then adds Bolt and Darksight (Rifts) to the powers tab.
I figured parenthesis are used in names regularly, and curly braces would be less used than square brackets.

[Jiminimonka]

It looks for powers inside curly braces separated by commas.
Dragging the New Power edge onto the advances list then setting the text to

New Power {Bolt}, {Darksight (Rifts)}
adds the New Power edge to the character then adds Bolt and Darksight (Rifts) to the powers tab.
I figured parenthesis are used in names regularly, and curly braces would be less used than square brackets.

I have to test this out, was away from the computer when I posted this question. Thanks.

EDIT: Works perfectly! :)

[Mike Serfass]

I posted an update to this extension tonight, so it should be live tomorrow.

I added the "Feature:" prefix to the name.
I added buttons to the taken advances section to move lines up and down. (you're welcome, Jiminimonka)
I changed the move buttons from the red and green arrows to triangles like the ref manual uses. These work better with themes.
I also made some underlying code changes to keep up with the numerous changes being made to CoreRPG.

Here's what the full advances tab looks like now.
59460

[Jiminimonka]

I posted an update to this extension tonight, so it should be live tomorrow.

I added the "Feature:" prefix to the name.
I added buttons to the taken advances section to move lines up and down. (you're welcome, Jiminimonka)
I changed the move buttons from the red and green arrows to triangles like the ref manual uses. These work better with themes.
I also made some underlying code changes to keep up with the numerous changes being made to CoreRPG.

Here's what the full advances tab looks like now.
59460

Thanks!!

[Mike Serfass]

The award xp and advance buttons on the party sheet are broken and throwing errors.
This worked in test, so I was surprised to see it broken in release.
I'm working on fixing that now. I'll have it fixed soon.

[Mike Serfass]

The fix is live. Version 1.42 displays the new button and xp field correctly.

[Mike Serfass]

Version 1.43 is live.
This is a minor bug fix for an error that happens on Attribute increases.
If only Jiminimonka would stop breaking my extensions.

[Jiminimonka]

Version 1.43 is live.
This is a minor bug fix for an error that happens on Attribute increases.
If only Jiminimonka would stop breaking my extensions.

It's my pleasure. ;)

[rigerco]

Please check the button coding for changes made to core in the last few months.

[Moon Wizard]

If you have onInit overrides for those buttons using the button_text templates, then you will need to call the super.onInit for the template's onInit function to be called in order for the correct theming color to be applied. (This will also fix for any other SmiteWorks theme loaded as well.)



function onInit()
if super and super.onInit then
super.onInit();
end
...
end


Regards,
JPG

[Mike Serfass]

Thanks Moon Wizard and rigerco. I'll have that update out this evening.

[Jiminimonka]

Thanks Moon Wizard and rigerco. I'll have that update out this evening.

Nice one Mike, all the buttons are the same colour now.

[Mike Serfass]

The update is out. Thanks for letting me know it works, Jiminimonka!

[rigerco]

Thanks!