Pathfinder Creature Parser - Alpha release

[Trenloe]

I'm having a problem with the same adventure as Talen but with the higher tier BBEG

this is my critter

HOLY AHENDILE CR 5
xp 2
Female human sorcerer (Razmiran priest) 6
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex) hp 35
(6d6+12)
...

The HP entry is not on it's own line. Change it to:

AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 35 (6d6+12)

A good indicator for this is that when you get your first error, don't click the OK button but look in the .fpf file as well as the .log file at that point - this will give a better idea of where the error was occurring.

The .fpf file is a first-pass parsing of the statblock - putting the information in labelled lines. So, it can be easier to see where errors are occurring. For this specific creature the .fpf file showed the following when the first error occurred (again, don't press the OK button when the first error appears):

DESCRIPTION:
NAME:HOLY AHENDILE CR 5
XP:xp 2
TYPE:Female human sorcerer (Razmiran priest) 6 LE Medium humanoid (human)
INIT:Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +0

Nothing more was in the .fpf file, so this started me looking at the lines following the initiative line in the statblock, which led me to seeing that HP was not on it's own line.

[hawkwind]

thanks a lot

[hawkwind]

Another problem stat block
any help would be appreciated

[Trenloe]

Another problem stat block
any help would be appreciated

2 issues:

1. VETERAN BUCCANEER CR 2 didn't have a space between Ranged and mwk - put the space in and the errors will be fixed. The parser looks for "Ranged " (with a space on the end) and so wouldn't find this entry.
2. ALMANT ENDERIOShl CR 5 has "statistics" in the tactics list at the beginning of a line, 2 lines above the main "STATISTICS" header (which is used as an important placeholder in the parser). Move the "statistics" in tactics onto the end of the previous line and this should parse fully - this would not raise an error, but all statblock info after this point would not be parsed.

[hawkwind]

Thanks for that, I will be able to run a PFS session this week

[Wenin]

I'm encountering an oddity.

I'm attempting to get all the Feats listed under the Special Abilities section.

If I use the below text, I don't get an error, but the format appears to ignore that the Feats are listed on their own lines, and combines them to the previously listed Special Ability.

Special Abilities
+4 bonus on initiative checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Allied Spellcaster +2 vs. SR if adj ally with same feat. More if has same spell.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Focused Spell You can cast a spell that gains +2 DC against one of its multiple targets.
Force Missile (8/day) (Sp) Magic Missile hits for 1d4+3
Greater Spell Focus (Evocation) +1 to the Save DC of spells from one school.
Hero Points (1) Hero Points can be spent at any time to grant a variety of bonuses.
Intense Spells +3 (Su) Evocation spells deal listed extra damage.
Magical Lineage (Burning Hands) A chosen spell counts as 1 level lower when metamagic feats are applied to it.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak With Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Spell Focus (Evocation) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Varisian Tattoo (Evocation) Spells from chosen school gain +1 caster level.
Wrath (Evocation) Evokers revel in the raw power of magic, and can use it to create and destroy with shocking ease.

If I use the following text:

Special Abilities
Allied Spellcaster +2 vs. SR if adj ally with same feat. More if has same spell.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Magical Lineage (Burning Hands) A chosen spell counts as 1 level lower when metamagic feats are applied to it.
Hero Points (1) Hero Points can be spent at any time to grant a variety of bonuses.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Focused Spell You can cast a spell that gains +2 DC against one of its multiple targets.
Spell Focus (Evocation) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Greater Spell Focus (Evocation) +1 to the Save DC of spells from one school.
Varisian Tattoo (Evocation) Spells from chosen school gain +1 caster level.
Wrath (Evocation) Evokers revel in the raw power of magic, and can use it to create and destroy with shocking ease.
+4 bonus on initiative checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Force Missile (8/day) (Sp) Magic Missile hits for 1d4+3
Intense Spells +3 (Su) Evocation spells deal listed extra damage.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak With Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.

I get the following error:
Database Error: A XML parse error occurred processing file AsGoodAsItGetsNPCs:db.xml - Error on line 46: Error reading end tag.

The following also throws the same error, but won't throw an error if I remove the Focused Spell line.

Special Abilities
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Force Missile (8/day) (Sp) Magic Missile hits for 1d4+3
Intense Spells +3 (Su) Evocation spells deal listed extra damage.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak With Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Focused Spell You can cast a spell that gains +2 DC against one of its multiple targets.

[Wenin]

Perhaps it has to do with the order of items listed in this line?


SQ +4 bonus on initiative checks, arcane bonds (sukooth, scorpion, greensting), deliver touch spells through familiar, empathic link with familiar, force missile (8/day), hero points, intense spells +3, share spells with familiar, speak with animals, speak with familiar, specialized schools (wrath [evocation])


The parser doesn't throw any errors. The error I'm getting appears in FG when I activate the module.

[Trenloe]

The parser lumps all of the special abilities section into one big lump of text and then attempts to format them based off finding an ability type of (Sp), (Su) or (Ex) - it was designed this way as all Paizo statblocks list the ability type and they are frequently on multiple lines, especially when copied from a PDF.

In order to get it to parse other special abilities, add a (Sp) for spell like abilities, (Su) for Supernatural abilities and (Ex) for Extraordinary Abilities. More info on these here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/...cial-abilities

Also, the parser will identify where the special ability title begins by looking back for a period (.) and then will put the title on a new line and with a bold font. The parser then uses the FG formatted text XML tags of <p></p> to split lines as new paragraphs and <b></b> to highlight the ability titles in bold.

So, in order to get it to work properly (only for special abilities):

1. Add a (Sp), (Su) or (Ex) after each ability title.
2. Make sure the end of the previous line has a period. Some Hero Lab abilities do not do this so keep an eye out for them.

If you get a XML error when you open the NPC in Fantasy Grounds it is more than likely that this line splitting and ability title highlighting has not worked and the formatted text control XML tags are out of synch. If you know XML you can look in the db.xml file created in a folder in the directory containing the text parse (folder name is the same as the text file) - look for the <text type="formattedtext"> section and try to work out where the <p></p> and <b></b> tags are causing the error - if you're not familiar with XML don't worry about it.

I think you are getting the error due to the following lines:

Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Force Missile (8/day) (Sp) Magic Missile hits for 1d4+3
Intense Spells +3 (Su) Evocation spells deal listed extra damage.

When the parser reaches the "Intense Spells +3 (Su)" section it will parse back for a period - which is before the "Force Missile" entry. Force missile has already been formatted correctly (because the previous line ends in a period) but the parser thinks this is the beginning of the "Intense Spells" section and so throws some <p> and <b> tags in there which more than likely break the XML and give the error you are seeing.

Simple fix - put a period on the end of the Force Missile line:

Force Missile (8/day) (Sp) Magic Missile hits for 1d4+3.

Hope the above makes sense and that the period fix works.

[Wenin]

Darn it! You beat me by 19 minutes!

I figured out the issue as well. =)

[Blackfoot]

Trenloe, did you ever address the issue that the 'xp' element of the parser is creating a string for a number definition? I'm not sure this information gets used anyway.. but it seems like it would create an error if it was.
Example of output from version 1.0.0.15:

<xp type="number">XP 200</xp>