Plothos' 3.5 & Pathfinder Spell Managers

These are tools and utilities that make it easier to run games. This includes Lib: macro tokens dropped into MapTool to manage the game, a conversion file for CharacterTool to allow use in MapTool, or just about anything else you can think of -- except graphics with macros and anything specific to a particular campaign framework. Those are already covered by the Tilesets subforum and the Links and External Resources forum.

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plothos
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Plothos' 3.5 & Pathfinder Spell Managers

Post by plothos »

EDIT:
The download .zips contain readme files that detail installation of the components. The spell manager itself contains a series of help files that are (mostly) up to date and certainly should help you learn the basics.

Pathfinder Version 2.0.4 uploaded 2/13/10
(Use second link below to download) - View Known Spells now provides database links for quick look-ups. Formatting fix for group abilities.
Fixed code conflict with the lmarkus framework. Fixed a little bug in the special abilities display for at-will powers.
Added Spell Database, Ability Groups, A Universal Output Macro, and Links to the Database when spells are cast.
Added a new special abilities page to allow tracking of daily-use Spell-Like abilities, class powers, and even charged items. Includes updated spell lists, spells per day, and wizard specialist, sorcerer bloodline, and cleric domain special powers.


D&D 3.5 Version 2.0.4 uploaded 2/13/10. (Use link below to download.)
View Known Spells now provides database links for quick look-ups. Formatting fix for group abilities.
Added Spell Database, Ability Groups, A Universal Output Macro, and Links to the Database when spells are cast.
Added a new special abilities page to allow tracking of daily-use Spell-Like abilities, class powers, and even charged items.


Introducing my new spell management interface for 3.5 D&D campaigns.
A single button on your player token will open the Spell Manager dialog, which uses macrolinks to manage all your spells for the core 3.5 D&D system. You can set casting ability, domains, specialty schools, etc., and much of the spell management is done for you. For instance, if you have an Int of 20 and set yourself to be a wizard of 10th level, you will be given access to up to 5th level spells (all spells from the PHB are listed with the option to add as many houserule spells as you like) and your spells per day will be set for you according to the charts in the PHB for wizards and for bonus spells by ability score. Spells belonging to your specialty school are marked to stand out, and prohibited spells are kept from you automatically (the GM can manage these by houseruling the campaign from within the manager). Rest to recover your SPD, then prepapre your spells and cast them, with reports going to the chatlog. GMs using the manager in their campaigns can call any code they have set up for individual spells as well, to have the manager initiate saving throw rolls, damage, or whatever. You can even save a template for your prepared spell casters to reset to when they rest and recover spells, so you don't have to prep the same things over and over.

Should be handy for anyone playing 3.5, and I'm real excited to be able to provide it to people.

My friends and I have tested it out a fair bit, so it should be relatively bug free already, but please give me feedback if any problems occur or if you have suggestions for expanding the functionality.

This is mostly contained on a single Lib token and two sets of properties, one of which will be added to your player tokens. Player tokens need only receive a single button to open the manger, which handles everything else.

Click here
to download the latest .zip file, which has a readme detailing installation of the manager into existing campaign files, plus a full campaign file ready for use with 1.3.63 to give the manager a quick test-drive.

LATEST PATHFINDER VERSION GO HERE

Here's a couple screenshots of the manager in action.
The attachment Demo 1.jpg is no longer available
The attachment Demo 2.jpg is no longer available
Here's the menu that button brings up. Notice, with no casting ability set most options aren't clickable... yet.
Here's the menu that button brings up. Notice, with no casting ability set most options aren't clickable... yet.
Demo 2.jpg (109.95 KiB) Viewed 18849 times
Choosing auto-pilot to automate 3.5 rules, we set 9th level cleric.
Choosing auto-pilot to automate 3.5 rules, we set 9th level cleric.
Demo 3.jpg (104.9 KiB) Viewed 18848 times
Here's a pic of the special abilities page in action - note that you can track wands.
Here's a pic of the special abilities page in action - note that you can track wands.
Demo SA.jpg (56.22 KiB) Viewed 17885 times
We're prompted to set two domains and indicate whether we channel positive or negative energy.
We're prompted to set two domains and indicate whether we channel positive or negative energy.
Demo 4.jpg (113.51 KiB) Viewed 18847 times
Casting spells is also a simple click. We've already cast one spell (see the chatlog) - and now we're looking to convert a spell into (since we picked positive energy at setup) a cure spell. The options are level 1 or 0, because it was a level 1 spell.
Casting spells is also a simple click. We've already cast one spell (see the chatlog) - and now we're looking to convert a spell into (since we picked positive energy at setup) a cure spell. The options are level 1 or 0, because it was a level 1 spell.
Demo 7.jpg (144.02 KiB) Viewed 17068 times
Spells per day are set, so after resting, we prepare spells in any order we want with a simple click interface. See also the new "Cast a Spell" button. This appears automatically when you set up a caster, and disappears if you remove casting ability.
Spells per day are set, so after resting, we prepare spells in any order we want with a simple click interface. See also the new "Cast a Spell" button. This appears automatically when you set up a caster, and disappears if you remove casting ability.
Demo 6.jpg (129.46 KiB) Viewed 18844 times
Last edited by plothos on Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:51 am, edited 32 times in total.

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Paradox »

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

All this hard work, and everything I could hope for.. But I am working with Pathfinder Beta now, and am converting to Pathfinder CORE as soon as I am able.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I'll load this up and play with it. See how much I'll be missing.

At a glance, will it factor in Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus Feats with the appropriate increase in DC? (Or I can load it up and find out for myself... :cry: )
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Paradox »

Oh.. There is a modify database function! There may be hope!
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by plothos »

Yeah, the nice thing is I made this somewhat flexible, so it can handle a bit of tweaking. I really don't know Pathfinder very well, so I don't know if the requisite changes would be easy to implement or not.

But players can modify their spell lists, spells per day, spell access, etc.

GMs can modify spell lists, school affiliations, domains, etc.

Even if you were to want to add, say, the Favored Soul, well, as a player you could just load yourself up as a sorcerer and set your SPD manually, then learn spells via the houserule option, after which you should be able to cast properly, I think.

The manager does not execute any specifics regarding the results of the spells, so it does not do anything with DC at all. Different campaigns will handle these things differently, and probably a lot of it is already in place; I wanted this to be useful to as many people as possible. But if you have stuff for handling spells in your campaign, you could very easily link it to the "Cast Spell Wrap" macro and have the requisite code get called by whatever spell winds up being cast.
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by lmarkus001 »

Sweet, this was on my todo list... I will give it a look and provide some feedback!

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Paradox »

plothos wrote:Yeah, the nice thing is I made this somewhat flexible, so it can handle a bit of tweaking. I really don't know Pathfinder very well, so I don't know if the requisite changes would be easy to implement or not.
I'll take a look at what your Manager actually does before jumping to a conclusion.

The differences between Pathfinder and 3.5 can be very small. So small that Azhrei sees no practical difference (for the time being).. but I can be nitpicky.

But I've already started to assume what yours does and does not do.. let me shaddup and look at it before making any more conclusions.
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Paradox »

Aw hell.. that's perfect. No problem using that at all.

You're basically keeing track of the spellbook, what has been memorized, and what has been cast.

Ajudication of the spell is still left up to the GM. No reason at all why I couldn't use this.

Pathfinder might offer different numbers of spells per level, but your system will let me modify.

Pathfinder might have different names for spells, but your system will let me modify.

**************
The only suggestion I might ask, after playing with it for only 5 or 10 minutes, is that there would be a "GM Only" macro that could be set in the Campaign Macros for resting. That way spell slots could refreshed and 'prepped' after the GM authorized a rest. Instead of the the player giving themselves a rest and taking their spells back.

Yeah, if you trust your players you wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing, and actually I do, but the functionality is handy.
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by plothos »

Right. I didn't want to force the GM authorization any more than the freewheeling thing, and went with it this way for now, just because.

For any macro you want to be runable only by the GM, all you have to do is figure out what macro the link is calling (or ask me - in this case it's "Rest Both" I believe), then add

Code: Select all

[h:abort(isGM())] 
to the head of it.

Problem solved.
And if you wanted, you could add "(GM only)" to the text of the relevant macrolinks.
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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Azhrei
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Azhrei »

Wow, this looks very nice! I'm tempted to dump my own beginning of a spells DB.

In your screen shots I didn't see that the actual text of the spell was available anywhere. I would probably want to add a macro link to the SPD, Known, and Learn pages so that any spell's text could be easily displayed.

I also can't tell from the screen shots, but does the database provide the ability to make the rolls needed by the text of the spell? For example, the attack rolls of a spiritual weapon or the damage of an ice storm? (I picked those because their unusual rolls: BAB+WisB and 3d6 B/2d6 cold.) I guess if the GM can define a macro to be called when a spell is cast, they could have a parallel database that defines these types of rolls...

Very nice, plothos!

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by plothos »

Thanks Azh.

You're right that right now there's no text (I take it you mean the spell descriptions and such?) in the database. So I haven't yet put a function that provides the spell details. That's definitely a good idea for something to do.

My thoughts on executing any actual code for the results of spells was to leave that up to the GMs, who might very well already have a system in place for that. I may very well add code for this in the future, but I thought I'd roll it out now as just a spell management system and leave the resolution of casting up to others. The output to the chat window that reports the casting of the spell can pretty easily be converted into a call to another macro. So if you wanted to throw together some quick spell macros for spells that need rolls, it would be relatively easy to do.
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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Azhrei
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Azhrei »

plothos wrote:Thanks Azh.
You're welcome. :)
You're right that right now there's no text (I take it you mean the spell descriptions and such?) in the database. So I haven't yet put a function that provides the spell details. That's definitely a good idea for something to do.
Okay, thanks for clarifying. I will probably continue to use my existing spell tokens as "references" and look at using your macros for the actual spell management. I can work with that. :)

And I can see adding a bunch of checkboxes to one of the spell manager pages which displays feats, probably read from a table. The idea being that the table would include all feats that can modify either a spell's level slot (ie. a metamagic feat) or the spell's casting (such as increase in DC). The selected checkboxes would be recorded on the token for use in macros outside of your spell management tool.

I won't have time to look into this for my Tuesday night game, I think, but I'll definitely have my eye on it for use soon.

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plothos
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by plothos »

Azhrei wrote:And I can see adding a bunch of checkboxes to one of the spell manager pages which displays feats, probably read from a table. The idea being that the table would include all feats that can modify either a spell's level slot (ie. a metamagic feat) or the spell's casting (such as increase in DC). The selected checkboxes would be recorded on the token for use in macros outside of your spell management tool.
More good calls on stuff to add. Thanks.

For the short term, since the manager doesn't yet execute code, you'd do whatever you do normally for increased DCs and such, though that may be nothing.

But for at least a quick fix for metamagic, you can use the "houserule spell" feature in the learn spell dialog to add a spell with a metamagic modifier in the name: say "empowered fireball" and just learn it for the right level. The manager will even ask if it's a specialty spell, if relevant, for specialist wizard bonus spells and such.

Oh, and if somebody has the text for 3.5 core spell descriptions macro-ed up already, I might be able to incorporate a description page pretty quick.
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Azhrei »

plothos wrote:But for at least a quick fix for metamagic, you can use the "houserule spell" feature in the learn spell dialog to add a spell with a metamagic modifier in the name: say "empowered fireball" and just learn it for the right level. The manager will even ask if it's a specialty spell, if relevant, for specialist wizard bonus spells and such.
Hmm, good idea.
Oh, and if somebody has the text for 3.5 core spell descriptions macro-ed up already, I might be able to incorporate a description page pretty quick.
Check out my thread that deals with this. There's a link to my web site where I have all of the spells stored on a Lib: token, then there are individual tokens for each spellcasting class that have macros that invoke the Lib: token. That organization will all change when I switch to using tables for storing the spell text. (The contents are created by transforming the pages from the SRD.)

In playing around with your tokens, I really like them! They have a nice feel to them. :)

When preparing spells, can you set up the left-hand side to be links that "un-prepare" the spell? That way I don't have to go to the "Reclaim" page and then come back again. Is it possible to add a count after a spell that's been prepared multiple times instead of listing the name multiple times (I think that would be easier to read). Otherwise, I like how the form works overall. It's very easy to use. :)

Edit: Added link to my other thread.

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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by Paradox »

Azhrei wrote:When preparing spells, can you set up the left-hand side to be links that "un-prepare" the spell? That way I don't have to go to the "Reclaim" page and then come back again. Is it possible to add a count after a spell that's been prepared multiple times instead of listing the name multiple times (I think that would be easier to read). Otherwise, I like how the form works overall. It's very easy to use. :)

Seconded on that suggestion. :D
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plothos
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Re: Plothos' 3.5 Spell Manager

Post by plothos »

Azhrei wrote:In playing around with your tokens, I really like them! They have a nice feel to them. :)
Why thankee.
Azhrei wrote:When preparing spells, can you set up the left-hand side to be links that "un-prepare" the spell? That way I don't have to go to the "Reclaim" page and then come back again. Is it possible to add a count after a spell that's been prepared multiple times instead of listing the name multiple times (I think that would be easier to read).
I had the same thought about numbering repeated spells, but as they're stored as string lists nothing jumped to mind as an easy way to deal with them. I'll mull it over some more though.

I can do the reclaim in the spell prep window easy enough, I think. The reason I didn't do it that way initially is the same reason I broke the menus down into a one-level-at-a-time format on the right: MT gets pretty sluggish when I have a lot of those macrolinks at one time. I figured a constant performance hit wasn't worth making the reclaim ready-to-hand when (theoretically) it won't be used all that much. In the initial trials of the manager, lag was the big complaint for a lot of the menus, so I've been trying to tone it down as much as I can by compartmentalizing. If you want some idea of how laggy things can get, try unlearning spells on a 20th level cleric.

I suppose if I only listed the level being viewed on the right on the left that might keep the number of additional links to a minimum, as you won't have all THAT many spells per day normally. But I rather like being able to see everything that's prepped, as well as the remaining slots and such. I could allow reclaims on just the level viewed and still display the other level, but it seems inelegant in my head. I'll ponder this too, though.

... unfortunately, I'm off to visit fam for a week or so, and I won't be able to get too much done until I get back. I was stoked to be able to get it out the door before I left. :)
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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