I've updated the Character Builder. I added a changelog that tracks the changes I've made. It's accessible from the About box (click the top right button in the app).
I made a fix for the healing surges not showing up, and I fixed a bug that was keeping humans from getting their bonus skill, feat, and power.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
bugs in Generator
There seems to be a bug in the healing surges calculations on the character sheet. I'll take a look sometime this weekend. I'll also look at the character sheet and see if I can get, for example, the damage and attack workspaces to show blank instead of Zero so they can be filled in with a pencil.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
D&D Character Generator
UPDATE 2009.08.14 - I've posted a new build with PHB 2 races and classes, and a handful of new features. See the details here.
UPDATE 2009.04.01 - You will need Flash 10 to run this now. I've updated the "view as PDF" functionality so it uses the new Flash 10 feature to create files on the fly. It doesn't have to ask my server to create the file anymore. Hooray! I've also changed the size a bit. See the change log in the about box for more info.
Ok. I've FINALLY finished a project I've been working on for the last couple months. I've been giving it about two 4 hour sessions a week, and [AT LAST!] I'm satisfied enough with it to post it.
It's a character generator for Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. I got the books in July when they released the set, and I thought it would be fun to put together a character generator that made it a bit easier to parse the whole thing.
This bad boy is written in Flex, so you can run it from any web browser with Flash 9. The general idea is that you build your character through the flex interface, and when you're done, click the "View as PDF" button and out pops a nice PDF for you to print out. It DOES NOT replace the Player's Handbook in any way. It's more of an easing function on the whole ordeal.
Use the app here. You'll need Flash 9. Don't forget that you can drag and drop your stat numbers in the Standard Array and Roll entry types. I haven't yet figured out a good way to indicate that they're draggable, as the Flex "useHandCursor" flag doesn't see to work.
Here's a list of caveats / known flaws / things that aren't implemented:
- THIS DOES NOT REPLACE THE PLAYERS HANDBOOK.
- choosing of equipment is not implemented. You'll need to use the PHB after you print your PDF.
- Half-Elf: after creating the PDF, be sure to choose an at-will power from another class for the dilettante race feature.
- Ranger: After creating the PDF, choose Dungeoneering or Nature as a skill. This will affect your modifier for the skill by 5 points, so don't forget!
- There appears to be an error in the class listings in the Player's Handbook. When a skill is automatically given (listed as "free" in my UI), it is also listed as a choice. In my code, I automatically remove the free skills from the choice list.
- I have not implemented languages. choose them on the PDF.
- Human: you get +2 to an ability of your choice. Do this on the PDF.
- The PDF has some fields that automatically fill as Zero. If there are certain ones you think should not be filled at all, let me know and I'll fix them.
- certain class and race features require you to choose between two things. In cases where this is not implemented, it is listed on the character sheet as a "choose x or y" listing under the class/race features sections.
UI bugs:
- there's a minor glitch in the positioning of the strength stat when you drag a number on top of it (only seen in the Roll entry type).
- Powers have no descriptions. They're intended to not have power descriptions, but they're supposed to say "See Player's Handbook".
Note that I got the character sheet pdf I'm currently using from here.
This was a very fun little project. I enjoy writing apps in Flex. In working on this, I learned about XML schemas, XFDF (a pdf format), and some Perl tricks I'm currently using on my server. I'll make some posts soon about all that stuff. I wrote some helper Flex apps that I'll post as well.
UPDATE 2009.04.01 - You will need Flash 10 to run this now. I've updated the "view as PDF" functionality so it uses the new Flash 10 feature to create files on the fly. It doesn't have to ask my server to create the file anymore. Hooray! I've also changed the size a bit. See the change log in the about box for more info.
Ok. I've FINALLY finished a project I've been working on for the last couple months. I've been giving it about two 4 hour sessions a week, and [AT LAST!] I'm satisfied enough with it to post it.
It's a character generator for Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. I got the books in July when they released the set, and I thought it would be fun to put together a character generator that made it a bit easier to parse the whole thing.
This bad boy is written in Flex, so you can run it from any web browser with Flash 9. The general idea is that you build your character through the flex interface, and when you're done, click the "View as PDF" button and out pops a nice PDF for you to print out. It DOES NOT replace the Player's Handbook in any way. It's more of an easing function on the whole ordeal.
Use the app here. You'll need Flash 9. Don't forget that you can drag and drop your stat numbers in the Standard Array and Roll entry types. I haven't yet figured out a good way to indicate that they're draggable, as the Flex "useHandCursor" flag doesn't see to work.
Here's a list of caveats / known flaws / things that aren't implemented:
- THIS DOES NOT REPLACE THE PLAYERS HANDBOOK.
- choosing of equipment is not implemented. You'll need to use the PHB after you print your PDF.
- Half-Elf: after creating the PDF, be sure to choose an at-will power from another class for the dilettante race feature.
- Ranger: After creating the PDF, choose Dungeoneering or Nature as a skill. This will affect your modifier for the skill by 5 points, so don't forget!
- There appears to be an error in the class listings in the Player's Handbook. When a skill is automatically given (listed as "free" in my UI), it is also listed as a choice. In my code, I automatically remove the free skills from the choice list.
- I have not implemented languages. choose them on the PDF.
- Human: you get +2 to an ability of your choice. Do this on the PDF.
- The PDF has some fields that automatically fill as Zero. If there are certain ones you think should not be filled at all, let me know and I'll fix them.
- certain class and race features require you to choose between two things. In cases where this is not implemented, it is listed on the character sheet as a "choose x or y" listing under the class/race features sections.
UI bugs:
- there's a minor glitch in the positioning of the strength stat when you drag a number on top of it (only seen in the Roll entry type).
- Powers have no descriptions. They're intended to not have power descriptions, but they're supposed to say "See Player's Handbook".
Note that I got the character sheet pdf I'm currently using from here.
This was a very fun little project. I enjoy writing apps in Flex. In working on this, I learned about XML schemas, XFDF (a pdf format), and some Perl tricks I'm currently using on my server. I'll make some posts soon about all that stuff. I wrote some helper Flex apps that I'll post as well.
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