AD&D 2E Officially Licensed Ruleset and Content

[NPettinato14]

For the most part you can make a character on paper and then enter the data into the character sheet in the appropriate locations. You can use the effects system pretty well to customize many of the extras. Where you might find the biggest difficulty is with the newer ability score setup. That would require an extension to modify the character sheet to handle 18 abilities instead of 6.

While it would be interesting to see all of those rules implemented, it might be better done as an extension or separate ruleset so as to keep the versions separate. Either method would require a whole bunch of coding and lots of time.

Note it has been years since I last read the options book so I might be missing some specifics that might need additional character sheet mods. I do remember thinking that the Combat & Tactics book seemed like it would work nicely with computerized assistance, so maybe FG is the way to go for that.

That's exactly what I was looking to do (re.: character sheet). I've not used the subability scores after first employing them, so their inclusion wouldn't be an issue. But something like a wizard with armor or thief skills would be. Sounds like that can be manually entered, though.

[esmdev]

That's exactly what I was looking to do (re.: character sheet). I've not used the subability scores after first employing them, so their inclusion wouldn't be an issue. But something like a wizard with armor or thief skills would be. Sounds like that can be manually entered, though.

I found that the sub-abilities were an unnecessary move towards complexity, I had the same reaction after my first use.

As for the rest, there isn't anything in the ruleset that precludes a wizard wearing armor. I believe that is something that is simply expected people will know and avoid. That being the case, you could put a wizard in plate mail and it wouldn't be a problem for the system. Since the thief skills can be added like a non-weapon proficiency, this would also be something easy to add to a wizard.

Most of what you're looking for would be pretty easy to do if you don't mind doing it manually. The automation is predominately aimed at drag and drop races, classes and later kits. So if you and your players are willing, it shouldn't be too much trouble. It's probably about the same as just filling out a character sheet with pencil. The advantage of course is that you can code in effects to do some of the automation during play.

[celestian]

For the most part you can make a character on paper and then enter the data into the character sheet in the appropriate locations. You can use the effects system pretty well to customize many of the extras. Where you might find the biggest difficulty is with the newer ability score setup. That would require an extension to modify the character sheet to handle 18 abilities instead of 6.

That's exactly what I was looking to do (re.: character sheet). I've not used the subability scores after first employing them, so their inclusion wouldn't be an issue. But something like a wizard with armor or thief skills would be. Sounds like that can be manually entered, though.

esmdev is correct. You can manually enter in the data with the one caveat he pointed out for variant ability scores.

Since you're making a entirely new class you would probably want to create the class record in FG so that you could drag/drop it upon leveling. The class records have a lot of options that can deal with most of the PO class features.

It's possible, if you're willing to do a little bit of manual entry I believe.

[esmdev]

So, I just finished adding the basic Gladiator class to my long list of things I want to add. I'd like to say well done on the experience advancement setup for the classes. That was awesome. When I first looked at it, my initial reaction was this is crazy and seems complicated, however once I actually used it it was fabulous. Great job on that.

One thing that I was thinking would be useful would be the ability to clone and experience chart. For instance, the Gladiator uses the same experience, hit die, THAC0, saving throw tables as Ranger/Paladin. So if it would be possible to clone the existing table and then edit what needs to be edited, it would make adding character classes go a lot faster. It took me about an hour to do the data entry, but admittedly some of that was figuring out how it all worked.

[celestian]

So, I just finished adding the basic Gladiator class to my long list of things I want to add. I'd like to say well done on the experience advancement setup for the classes. That was awesome. When I first looked at it, my initial reaction was this is crazy and seems complicated, however once I actually used it it was fabulous. Great job on that.

One thing that I was thinking would be useful would be the ability to clone and experience chart. For instance, the Gladiator uses the same experience, hit die, THAC0, saving throw tables as Ranger/Paladin. So if it would be possible to clone the existing table and then edit what needs to be edited, it would make adding character classes go a lot faster. It took me about an hour to do the data entry, but admittedly some of that was figuring out how it all worked.

I agree, the advancement is a bit complex but most of that comes from the way AD&D handles classes. Someday I'll revisit the system and see if I can make it a bit more organized.

What you do is just copy the class it matches. As you said just grab the Paladin class, copy that, rename, then you have it's advancement entries. You'd need to remove the spells but otherwise it should do as you liked. I've had to do this myself a lot, priest handbook has TONS of cleric variant classes.

[esmdev]

I agree, the advancement is a bit complex but most of that comes from the way AD&D handles classes. Someday I'll revisit the system and see if I can make it a bit more organized.

What you do is just copy the class it matches. As you said just grab the Paladin class, copy that, rename, then you have it's advancement entries. You'd need to remove the spells but otherwise it should do as you liked. I've had to do this myself a lot, priest handbook has TONS of cleric variant classes.

Oh, Duh.. For some reason I hadn't even thought of doing that. Thanks.

[Kanaric]

One of the things i've had a hard time with is sorting the spell library by spheres.

It's good that you can do it individually but can we change it to a checkbox? So like I can show all the druid sphere or cleric spheres etc. Obviously by picking what sphere, not by class, so we can sort the list for specialty priests. I don't care if you don't take major or minor into account because sorting by level can be used to take care of that.

Would be cool if we can sort it by component as well but that is minor for me. This spheres thing would save a lot of time.

[mozmonar]

Is the Complete Bards book and/or the Tome of Magic in the works?

[celestian]

Is the Complete Bards book and/or the Tome of Magic in the works?

Both products are on the list for devs to work on. I've got the bulk of the ref-manual text work done for the Bards handbook but it's not on the immediate horizon. Once the Ranger's handbook is submitted (in a few weeks) I'm going to work on adventures for a while.

[mozmonar]

Good enough. Thanks.