adding class features (Hunter's Quarry, etc.) to a module

[Nephilim667]

Hi everyone!

I used Tenian's 4e parser to scrape the rulebooks from DDI and convert them to a module.

Pittily this method doesn't seem to take care of class features like Hunter's Quarry, Sneak Attack or Warlocks Curse. (Or maybe i scraped the data at a time where DDI Compendium was messed up!?)

Anyhow ... I'm looking for a way to get those feats into the existing module of the PHB but I don't have the orginal scrape files anymore so I need to add them "manually". (And as DDI seems to be still messed up, rescraping isn't an option.)

My problem is: I'm missing a hook at the moment so I would love advice.
As what type of power do I have to add them to the client.xml in the module? As a Feat? Or rather as a Class Power without any level?

I'm not sure if this is allowed, but maybe someone can post the corresponding xml-elements?

Thanks a lot in advance.
Neph

[Tenian]

Add them to the power file as a class feature. See the parser document included with the parser install

[Zeus]

If you don't have access to the modules source files then rather than editing the XML directly, try my module decompiler (see my resource site for the link).

Open the tool and click the Load button, browse and select the module's client.xml file. Then click the decompile button. Once the tool has done its stuff it will prompt you for where to save the source files. Save and exit. You can then edit the source files and re-parse your module using the Parser again.

[Nephilim667]

@Tenian:
Thanks, but as I wrote I'm missing the orginal acrapes files.

@Zeuss:
How comes it's allways you comming around with most useful tools?

<off topic: Bughunting DrZeuss' Module Decompiler>
Decompiled my PHB and ran into a few bugs:

• I'm using Win7 (x64) and run into an exception when "decompiling" a module. as your tool tries to write in the application install directory <app_dir>\DrZeuss\FGII 4E Module Decompiler) which is prohibited. (Running the tool in admin mode is a workaround)
• It looks like there are some codepage issues then the xml-files is translated back to Tenians MetaLanguage:
  weapon’s projectiles is translated to weapon�s projectiles
• I got a bunch of "invalid weapon" messages when trying to reparse the "decompiled" files. If a weapon has no properties Tenian's parser excepts at least a blank at the end of the weapon entry.
  Otherwise the entry is skipped.
• There's one line in a power description which got's messed up somewhere between scraping, parsing, decompling and reparsing. I'm not sure where the root of this problem is.
  
  in the xml-file:
  

  		<powerKnavesGambit>
  			<name type="string">Knave’s Gambit</name>
  			<recharge type="string">Encounter</recharge>
  [...]
  			<artfuldodger type="string">Artful The attack you cause with a miss gains a bonus to the attack roll and the damage roll equal to your Charisma modifier.</artfuldodger>
  
  		</powerKnavesGambit>

  after decompiling:
  

  Rogue's Luck Rogue Attack 7 
  A gifted rogue can turn failure into fortune.
  [...]
  Artful Dodger: You gain a bonus to the attack roll for the secondary attack equal to your Charisma modifier.
  Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.

  When reparsing I end up with a long node which is something like ArtfulTheAttackYouCauseWithAMissGains[...]

</off topic>

Ok ... back to the actual Problem:
I decompiles the xml-file, fixed the problems above and added:

Hunters Quarry Ranger Feature 1
You can designate the nearest enemy ... blablabla ....
You can designate one enemy as your quarry at a time.
1st–10th     1d6
11th–20th    2d6
21st–30th    3d6

With this syntax I get an entry in the Ranger Power List in the Library, but I cannot drag'n'drop the damage/dice.
Also it doesn't look like a power or something. Just text on a white surface.
Is it OK like that?
(In Xorns video tutorial the Hunter's Quarry looked much nicer somehow and he was able to drag'n'drop the dmg-dice.)


Thanks a lot
Neph

[Zeus]

I haven't updated the tool in some time, with each new Parser release it needs to be re-validated as the output from the Parser can sometimes change.

As for the Windows 7 issue, I think Griorge reported this issue sometime back. I just haven't had time lately to fix it or bring the tool upto current Parser specs. I will get to it but for now the Run as Admin workaround will have to suffice.

As for the other codepage issue it also depends upon what the original source for the Parser was using. PDFs often contain non-ascii characters which if were not caught in the original parse would be present in the XML. Reverse engineering the XML can thus often reveal the troublesome characters. I'll see if I can tidy up the transformations though.

I'll double check the invalid weapons issue, it could be down to a change or just a bug.

The power issue seems odd. If you can see the power in the original module it should be decompiling as is. Can you compare the old XML with the new and highlight any differences?

For Hunter's Quarry try this:

Hunters Quarry Ranger Feature 1
You can designate the nearest enemy ... blablabla ....
You can designate one enemy as your quarry at a time.\r
1st–10th +1d6 damage.\r
11th–20th +2d6 damage.\r
21st–30th +3d6 damage.\r

Features are displayed on a white headed power sheet, thats normal. The color banding of the power sheets is based upon Power Recharge Type e.g. At-Will (Green), Encounter (Red) or Daily (Grey), ervything else defaults to white.

When dragged to a character sheet the power above should add three effects to the power which can be dragged onto the character when the power is used. The effect will deliver +nd6 damage depending upon which one is selected.

[Griogre]

Decompiled my PHB and ran into a few bugs:
[LIST][*]I'm using Win7 (x64) and run into an exception when "decompiling" a module. as your tool tries to write in the application install directory <app_dir>\DrZeuss\FGII 4E Module Decompiler) which is prohibited. (Running the tool in admin mode is a workaround)

I don't like running in admin with Vista or Win7 unless I really have to. So to avoid running as admin I just install the tool into my documents folder since no version of windows cares about writes there.

[Moon Wizard]

The reason that you can't drag the damage for the Hunter's Quarry, is because the description for that feature is different then almost every other power in the book. There are no textual cues to let the ruleset know that they are damage rolls, versus any other kind of roll.

(This is also true for Sneak Attack / Warlock's Curse.)

DrZ's suggestion to rewrite will work, since it adds the word "damage" after the dice, which the ruleset code cues from.

Cheers,
JPG

[Stitched]

Couldn't you also just create a status effect that can be re-used?

[Zeus]

Yes, you could add a custom Effect to the Campaign Effects window, however having the effects as part of the power description will ensure Players will have ready access to the damage effect from their charsheet if and when they drag the power to their charsheet.

Either way works though.

[Moon Wizard]

For my players, I created both an effect and a damage roll. The effect is for if they remember to apply in advance, and the damage roll is for when they forget to apply in advance. They like having both, because they get excited when they see all the damage dice all at once; but can still roll if they forget.

The effect is a self-targeted, one-shot DMG: 5d6 effect for my rogue player.

L21 Rogue with Vicious Dagger +5 and Devastating Critical applying Sneak Attack to Sly Flourish damage
2d4 (max) + 5d12 + 1d10 + 20

My rogue player gets very excited when that happens.

Cheers,
JPG