General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Framework(s) for D&D 5e.

Moderators: dorpond, trevor, Azhrei, giliath, Gamerdude, jay, Mr.Ice

zgrose
Cave Troll
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by zgrose »

I was just ready through the playtest packet and the MDD counter doesn't seem that useful now. Since you get all your dice for your action, and all your dice for your reaction having a counter doesn't seem to add much. I could be wrong though.

Having a spot for monster traits and reactions would be handy on the character sheet.

Look forward to whatever you come up with. My party looks to have one of each class except the Barbarian.

zgrose
Cave Troll
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by zgrose »

Had our first game last week. Not sure if Java 7 related or something with the framework but frequently would get "stuck" where I couldn't select or move anything. Switching in and out of the app seemed to clear it up.

Feedback items:

- The character sheet window appears beneath the OSX menu bar so you can't move it unless your Restore Layout. Not sure if this is a framework issue. Don't remember this being a problem with the DeviantNull (IIRC) 4e framework.

- Using the attacks seemed easy enough.
- Roll Skills UI says "Select the Attack"
- Rather than a set bonus, the skills dialog should probably just reference your skill dice.
- Something is off with the Initiative macro. I think a permission problem. Could be I don't have the ownership as expected but my players would get an error when rolling for initiative. I manually set their values in the tracker based on the chat log values.
- MDD definitively need a spot as well as Reaction tracking.


Otherwise went pretty well and we'll be playing again this Sunday so if more comes up I'll let ya know.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

I'll see if I can get to it this week.
- Rather than a set bonus, the skills dialog should probably just reference your skill dice.
You can put the dice in with the "set bonus" (so instead of putting a 4 as the set modifier you can put in a 1d4 or 4+1d4). That is a hold over until there is a rewrite since they have been playing with the skill mechanic (I also haven't read the mechanic so I don't even know if this is helpful).
- Something is off with the Initiative macro. I think a permission problem. Could be I don't have the ownership as expected but my players would get an error when rolling for initiative. I manually set their values in the tracker based on the chat log values.
You are probably right about this. Most likely one of the Macro's isn't marked as cannot edit. It is an annoying feature of MapTools.
- The character sheet window appears beneath the OSX menu bar so you can't move it unless your Restore Layout. Not sure if this is a framework issue. Don't remember this being a problem with the DeviantNull (IIRC) 4e framework.
I have an OSX virtual machine. I can try this on the virtual machine, but I am not 100% sure it is fixable. I don't think I can choose where on the screen a new window will appear.
- Roll Skills UI says "Select the Attack"
Minor tweak, should be easy to fix.
- MDD definitively need a spot as well as Reaction tracking.
I'll try and work something out and get input on it. Not positive right now how to handle it.

User avatar
Vhex
Giant
Posts: 162
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:41 am
Location: Honolulu, HI

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Vhex »

I believe aliasmask recently posted a quick fix macro for the offscreen issue for macs.

zgrose
Cave Troll
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by zgrose »

Protesilaus wrote:I'll see if I can get to it this week.
- Rather than a set bonus, the skills dialog should probably just reference your skill dice.
You can put the dice in with the "set bonus" (so instead of putting a 4 as the set modifier you can put in a 1d4 or 4+1d4). That is a hold over until there is a rewrite since they have been playing with the skill mechanic (I also haven't read the mechanic so I don't even know if this is helpful).
That is what I'll be telling my players to do. Everyone is first level so I think they are all 1d4 skill dice. In the long term I think it'll be like MDD where you'll spend X on this and Y on that.


Oh, and I don't think there is a spot for tracking your current number of Hit Dice remaining.

User avatar
JML
Dragon
Posts: 515
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 7:03 am
Location: Blagnac, France

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by JML »

Vhex wrote:I believe aliasmask recently posted a quick fix macro for the offscreen issue for macs.
If you're still on Snow Leopard you just need call Spaces with F8 and move the annoying window, else, either you Restore Layout as you did or use aliasmask trick there: HOWTO: Move a frame hiding in corner (Mac Users)

yorick
Cave Troll
Posts: 93
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:05 am

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by yorick »

When you look at the changes I made to the framework, you'll see it tracks the skill die, and also understands skill focus. Feel free to use parts of those modifications for your original framework.

MDD and such: That will likely change once again. I'd hold off for the next packet, which should be out within a couple weeks. I'm not sure they'll make the change there already, but I know they've talked about keying maneuvers off something other than MDD. So, still in flux.

As it stands now, an "Add MDD" macro would be useful, since you can decide to use your MDD for damage after you made your attack, taken from the MDD you didn't use for maneuvers. Tracking MDD is no longer needed with the current packet, but we'll need to see how it changes.

They're adding more and more daily resources. Monks now have Ki, Barbarians have Charge, Druids will have ??

So, maybe instead of tracking Ki, and Charge, and Druidic-Foo, and and and for every single class, maybe "daily resource #1 name", "daily resource #1 count" is the way to go. That way, as they release classes, you don't have to change your framework.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

Proposed Update for Skills / Skill Dice:

There will be a new field called "SkillDice" which will contain the skill dice the character has. When asked to make a Skill Roll a player can either press a [*] next to the Skills which will open the custom dialog. The dialog will allow the player to select which stat the skill is being rolled against, and allow the player to select an applicable skill. So if the DM asks for a Dexterity check, you can select it in the dialog and select "Thievery" to gain use of your Skill Dice. I'll still have options for Advantage / Disadvantage for re-rolling.

I'll be making this change in the next 2 days and updating this with the change, if you like it or have any further inputs let me know.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

Okay the Skill update is more or less done. The game only remembers skill names now and not modifiers. When you need to make a Skill Roll you have the option to select which Attribute it is based on. You can still add an modifier to the actual roll on the window.

Next piece I am going to drop in is the ability to select targets for attacks and probably to remove HP automatically. I have this working in a 4e campaign file, I just need to import it.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

I have half re-written the attack macros. The old macros are still there and available (through the "Attack" button on the selected token) but if you click on the attack name in the character sheet it will now bring up a new dialog. While this dialog is open, you can select other token that you wish to attack. The framework will figure out if the attack hit, missed, or criticalled and deduct health accordingly. If you don't want to use the "automatic" health deduction, you can set the "RemoveHealth" property on the Lib:CharacterSheet token to "off". To turn it on again simply set the property to "on".

I'll likely be updating the Character Sheet a bit to make use of this new method (probably making another "fast roll" option available where you pre-select the targets and press on button), as well as starting the "Spell Book" framework I have been planning.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

yorick wrote:So, maybe instead of tracking Ki, and Charge, and Druidic-Foo, and and and for every single class, maybe "daily resource #1 name", "daily resource #1 count" is the way to go. That way, as they release classes, you don't have to change your framework.
I'm trying to outline the Spell Resource so I can track it in the character sheet, and depending on what I do I might be able to lump some of the other resources together with it. I can't track it as a single variable, since I believe you can cross-class and gain access to multiple (plus I want keep it more generic so DMs can do whatever). I'll probably be adding 2 properties, one is the Daily Refresh which is your maximum slots and such, the other is the current. It will likely be a JSon object so I can store things. Right now I am thinking for a Wizard it will have Spell-Level information, and that will tie back with the master "Spell Book" that I will create.

I think the Framework will "remember" spells internally so that they can be easily imported in the future. I will not be included the spells in the packet, since I am fairly sure that will be against the NDA everyone had to sign up on in the Beta. I'll have to try and come up with a generic enough framework for spells, probably using the target system and allowing the framework to roll the applicable dice when dealing with targets. There will need to be a "Add Spell" form which when adding a new spell it will take into consideration who the spell targets as well as saves and other features.

The Spells will fall into categories, I will probably give DMs access to add new categories (so they could theoretically add a new caster) and when you add a spell you select the category (they will be for instance "Wizard Spell Level 1"). The Wizard class will then have a resource "Wizard Spell Level 1" and be able to allocate that resource to learn the spell. Now this will unfortunately get tricky as you can place a "Wizard Spell Level 1" spell into a "Wizard Spell Level 2" spell slot, although I could probably make the category a bit more generic (so the category can be "Wizard Spell Level #" instead and it will now that there can be multiple levels to that power).

Building upon this system, I could allow the character to use a Manuever for "Monk Ki", or "Melee Damage Dice" or whatever the new system will be, and the internal "Spell List" will remember the new "Manuever" as a spell.

I also want to include a known spells information on a Wizard character (as they maintain a spell book). Also when the spontaneous spell casting classes come into effect, I'll have to have a way to go between a caster who needs to prepare a list of spells and a caster who can cast spontaneously.

With this I will be adding a "Modifier" (or at least using it), which will allow the character to have temporary bonuses to attributes, damage or defenses. I want to allow the user to create "States" of modifiers that they commonly use (such as a "Rage State" which will add modifiers for all things the rage does). The entire framework will then use the modified value (original values + modifiers) when calculating.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

JML wrote:
Vhex wrote:I believe aliasmask recently posted a quick fix macro for the offscreen issue for macs.
If you're still on Snow Leopard you just need call Spaces with F8 and move the annoying window, else, either you Restore Layout as you did or use aliasmask trick there: HOWTO: Move a frame hiding in corner (Mac Users)
I'll incorporate this in the next update (or two depending on how busy I am). I develop on Windows so I can't easily test this.

Protesilaus
Kobold
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by Protesilaus »

Hopefully people are still using this, because I am on a roll with updates.

I have finished the Modifier information (depending on how much of the Spell Book stuff that gets in there will depend on when I make the next upload). Basically you can set modifiers to augment your attributes, attack bonus, damage, AC, saving throw, speed, or HP. The main problem with this is that a Strength or Dexterity will not update Damage or Attack Bonus, and a Constitution modifier will not update your hit points (but you can add 2 modifiers to emulate this). This is simply because the Framework takes attack, damage and hp bonuses are flat numbers in the framework and aren't calculated. I think this will be "good enough" for now at least. I should also state, an HP modifier updates your Maximum HP, not your current HP total (this is separate also from "Temporary HP" which is a separate pool).

My plan for this currently is when you add a new "Spell" you can assign modifiers to that spell which will be added to the target so if your spell grants an ally a +1 to attack rolls, then you could do it through this interface.

User avatar
JML
Dragon
Posts: 515
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 7:03 am
Location: Blagnac, France

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by JML »

Protesilaus wrote:I'll incorporate this in the next update (or two depending on how busy I am). I develop on Windows so I can't easily test this.
If I'm not mistaking it should be corrected in the next release (making the window appear centre of screen as default), which release Azhrei seems to be willing to get out soon™. So if you planned to do it in two weeks or a bit later you might not need to do anything (if zgrose is willing to take the chance).

zgrose
Cave Troll
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Re: General D&D Next (5e) Framework

Post by zgrose »

ah, updates. I'm subscribed to the thread now. Lets see what you've got.... :)

(edit) The Hero token seems to be working, but not the monster. I get various versions of:

java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "AC" error executing expression Mod = json.get(Modifier, Attr).

Post Reply

Return to “D&D 5e Frameworks”