Pathfinder Creature Parser V2

[Trenloe]

Trenloe, I've noticed an issue with multi-weapon attacks. The Paizo stat block lists these with the penalties included, which makes them correct for importing into FG's Full Attack field, but not the Attack field.

That's a problem with how attacks are presented in the stat blocks in general and I can't think of a reliable way to adjust them in the parser without incredibly complex logic that wouldn't be 100% accurate anyway - it would need to cater for natural attacks, feats, etc.. So, rather than running the risk of completely messing up the attack stats, I've just split any multiple attacks straight out without making any adjustments to the attack bonus.

I'll add this to the list of something to look at in the future. At the moment GMs will have to be aware of having to adjust any single attacks themselves - just like they would if they were running a face-to-face game and looking at the printed statblocks.

[Callum]

Yes, a bit of thought after I wrote my post made me realise that it would be very difficult to correctly calculate what the single attacks would be. How about leaving the Attack field blank and only filling the Full Attack field?

[Trenloe]

How about leaving the Attack field blank and only filling the Full Attack field?

Then that would leave a bunch of statblocks with multiple attacks not having their single attacks populated and the GM would have to mess around to roll attacks for 1 claw, for example.

I think it is better populating it as it is now and leaving it up to the GM to work out if there needs to be modifiers applied because of a reduced attack bonus in the original statblock due to multi-attacks or whatever. This is basically what most PF GMs have to do now anyway when running NPCs from a statblock - having the single attack entries at least allows the GM to make the appropriate roll and can either add the bonus, if needed, to the modifier box or quickly edit the entry that is already there in the single attack section in the CT.

[Callum]

Yes, I'm sure you're right. I just know I'm going to forget to do this sometimes!

Another (probably redundant) suggestion - fast healing should be added to the SQ field rather than the HD field, so that FG parses it when the NPC is dropped onto the Combat Tracker.

[Trenloe]

Another (probably redundant) suggestion - fast healing should be added to the SQ field rather than the HD field, so that FG parses it when the NPC is dropped onto the Combat Tracker.

Hhhmmm, I thought I'd done this but you're right, it is not in the code. Added to the list in post #3.

[uMike]

This tool is wonderful. I've used it with the Carrion Crown AP with no issues so far, but when I try it with Racing to Ruin from the Serpent Skull AP, I keep getting this error message:

ReadWriteFormattedCreature: Error Message: System.ArgumentException: '', hexadecimal value 0x1C, is an invalid character.

The best I can make out of the logs is which stat block is causing the problem. I remove it, and then another NPC or monster has the same problem. Some work fine, but a lot seem to be kicking up that error which pretty much ends the parsing.

Any suggestions?

[Trenloe]

This tool is wonderful. I've used it with the Carrion Crown AP with no issues so far, but when I try it with Racing to Ruin from the Serpent Skull AP, I keep getting this error message:

ReadWriteFormattedCreature: Error Message: System.ArgumentException: '', hexadecimal value 0x1C, is an invalid character.

The best I can make out of the logs is which stat block is causing the problem. I remove it, and then another NPC or monster has the same problem. Some work fine, but a lot seem to be kicking up that error which pretty much ends the parsing.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like you may have some "weird" characters in the text - probably from copy/pasting from out of the PDF (this does happen sometime).

If you are using a text editor like Notepad++, make sure the text is encoded in ANSI (click the Encoding menu -> Encode in ANSI). This might show up some strange characters and so you might be able to spot them more easily.

[uMike]

Sounds like you may have some "weird" characters in the text - probably from copy/pasting from out of the PDF (this does happen sometime).

If you are using a text editor like Notepad++, make sure the text is encoded in ANSI (click the Encoding menu -> Encode in ANSI). This might show up some strange characters and so you might be able to spot them more easily.

Thanks! I knew thre was an invisible character somewhere, but didn't know how to find it. Downloaded Notepad++ and it did the trick. In fact, I know exactly what in the .pdf caused the problem. Every creature that had a weapon with a x3 crit (i.e damage 1d8/x3) ended up loosing the x and replacing it with the bad character. I just had to swap out the bad character for the x again and everything is working great!

[GMTroll]

Hi Trenloe, first time I have used this and I'm very impressed. I'm using it to create an AP module and all the NPCs are parsed into the library section of the module. Is is possible for the parser to put them in the NPC section so they show up in the NPC window when the module is opened rather than only in the library?

About the Hero Lab gotchas:
Hero Lab output now includes the XP line right after the name / cr line
Hero Lab output truncates special ability descriptions which can mess up the special ability formatting in Other tab.
Hero Lab includes a lot of extra stuff in the special abilities section such as feats and immunities.

[Trenloe]

Hi Trenloe, first time I have used this and I'm very impressed. I'm using it to create an AP module and all the NPCs are parsed into the library section of the module. Is is possible for the parser to put them in the NPC section so they show up in the NPC window when the module is opened rather than only in the library?

You can drag the NPC entries from the library to the NPC list, this will create copies in the campaign that can be edited, have tokens added, etc..

Thanks for the HeroLab update.