Illydth's Monster Creator Drop-In for 5e

Framework(s) for D&D 5e.

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Illydth
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Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2020 4:21 pm

Illydth's Monster Creator Drop-In for 5e

Post by Illydth »

Illydth's Monster Creator Drop-in for 5e
Introduction
Illydth's Monster Creator (imcMonsterCreator or IMC) is a MapTool drop-in framework for creating monsters from JSON, whether pulled in from an external site (via REST call to a web based API) or via direct import of JSON data via input boxes. As of right now, this project is VERY limited on it's input capabilities...if you are using 5eAPI and Free SRD Monsters, it is required that the project be able to go out to either 5eAPI's website or another copy of 5eAPI's website to obtain that JSON. If you are using 5eTools, it is expected that the JSON from 5eTools is being cut/copy/pasted directly into the input boxes provided. NO other data input is accepted/expected and likely will not be processable since the code is VERY specific to a particular input format of data.

So why do you want to use this? Well, if you wish to generate your own monsters from a source like 5eAPI (SRD) or 5eTools this creator will allow you to generate monsters "In Real Time". While my recommendation is always for GMs to generate monsters in between sessions, on that off chance your party runs into a random encounter, it's very much possible to generate new monsters for combat as needed with just a few seconds worth of work.

What does this generate? A fully fledged MapTool Token with portrait Image and Token Image based around the monster you are generating with all abilities, attacks, and actions (such as legendary actions, spells or even lair actions if the JSON allows for it) as macro buttons on the token. This means that once generated, these tokens are exportable and usable for play by exporting them to your Token Library and just dropping them into your campaign. Does your Orc need to attack with his Greataxe? Generate an orc, Click the new Orc token, and click the "greataxe" macro button under attacks. It will output the attack information to you, the GM, in chat and give you links to roll the actual attacks and damage dice.

Finally, each token has an easy way to reset the token, modify the token (by modifying the underlying JSON) or to completely reprocess the token, assuming an update to the underlying data has occurred.

With imcMonsterCreator, YOU are in control of the monster. Need to turn one Orc Token into a Mega-Orc with double the HP and 5 less AC? You can DO that!

Creating a Homebrew monster based off of an existing monster is as easy as generating the base monster and modifying the things that need modified. Once the underlying data is modified you can export the token and forever have a copy of your new homebrew monster!

Features:
Generate a fully fledged Maptool Monster Token for any creature available to the system through one of two different methods.
Token associated with the Adult Red Dragon Generation
Token associated with the Adult Red Dragon Generation
imcMonsterToken.jpg (159.18 KiB) Viewed 4374 times
Stat Block when you Mouse Over the Token
Stat Block when you Mouse Over the Token
imcMonsterStatBlock.jpg (304.17 KiB) Viewed 4374 times
Part of the Generated Macros for the Adult Red Dragon
Part of the Generated Macros for the Adult Red Dragon
imcMacroBlock.jpg (205.75 KiB) Viewed 4374 times
Stat Sheet for the Generated Monster.
Stat Sheet for the Generated Monster.
imcMonsterStatSheet.jpg (637.76 KiB) Viewed 4374 times
Downloading IMC
The system is maintained at my GitHub specific to imcMonsterCreator: The README.md file at the bottom of the GitHub page should give any information needed to both get this drop in running and get it useful. Along with that, the User Manual (just click the User_Manual.txt file in the code area at the top) should be fully featured documentation with everything you could want to know for installation, use and even extending it to your system. Finally the "imcMonsterCreator_by_Example.txt" file will walk you through using imcMonsterCreator, taking you through all of the functionality step-by-step using the default campaign I have setup with this drop in. If you have ANY questions on how to use the system, take the time to walk through the "by example" document and it will likely answer your questions!

Installation
Again, installation instructions can be found on the GitHub page, but I"ll copy them here...

Installing imcMonsterCreator requires a few steps on your part. These steps are the same regardless of wehther you're installing this into your own campaign file or into a file specific to generating mosnters.
  • First, drop the imcMonsterCreator library onto your Library Map.
  • Then drop the "BasicMonster" token on the Library Map as well.
  • Create 2 additional maps, one called "Tokens" and one called "Portraits".
  • Populate your Tokens map with token images that match the names of the monsters you'll be creating.
  • Populate your Portraits map with tokens with images that represent the monster portraits (the pictures that show up on hover over).
  • Update your campaign properties to include a new "MonsterBlock" property set.
  • Add the properties in the Campaign_Properties.txt file included with this archive to this new "MonsterBlock" properties set.
  • Update your campaign properties to include a new "LibMonsterCreator" property set.
  • Add the properties in the LibMonsterCreatorProperties.txt file to this new "LibMonsterCreator" property set.
  • Next, Highlight the imcMonsterCreator library token, scroll down to "ZZZ-Utilities" and click the "setLibProperties" macro.
  • Open the Lib:MonsterCreator library and drag the three Olive buttons at the top to your GM pannel.
You should now be ready to use imcMonsterCreator!

Using imcMonsterCreator
The absolute best way of learning to use this system is to read and follow the imcMonsterCreator_by_Example.txt file. By following the examples in this documentation, you will be creating monsters with the system and seeing all of the functionality.

Reporting Bugs / Making Feature Requests
GENERALLY SPEAKING i'm paying more attention to my GitHub issues list than responses to this forum post. If you do find a bug or would like to make a suggestion for update/addition please hit me up there and file an issue. I'm also generally pretty active on the MapTool discord, feel free to hit me there is you have questions.

All this said, this drop-in is is mostly being made for my use in my campaign, large scale changes or requests for significant functionality updates are not really on my plate at this point. Don't hesitate to make the request, good ideas are still good ideas, but i'm not looking to massively extend the functionality of this drop-in beyond what it's doing now.

Don't let that discourage you from filing an issue, however, i'm happy to see your good ideas and bug fix requests!

Thanks and Acknowledgements
In this case, I'd like to thank one MAJOR Contributor to this project, OokOok, who acted in all sorts of aspects during
the time developing this: In many ways Business Analyst, Quality Assurance, Project Management, and Software Developer,
OokOok is responsible for a sincere amount of bug fixing and development ideas and architecture of the project. For every
monster you generate that you DO NOT find a problem with, you can probably thank Ookook.

Also, if you like the "look and feel" of the output from the software (all of the "roll" output in chat text) you can DIRECTLY
thank Ookook since all of that work is ENTIRELY (well mostly) his. Ookook has been a true colaborator on this project and
I cannot be more thankful for the ongoing advice, consultation and pairing up on design and bug fixing.

That said, there's pretty much no way to develop something these days without throwing giant Kudos and thanks at the Maptool
community at large and the MapTool Discord community more specifically for all the help and support they've given during
the writing of this software. Specific shout outs to those most helpful would both take WAY too much space and tragically
leave out major contributors, so if you've answered ANY of my questions ANY TIME in the last couple months, you're probably
in line for the thanks above. THANK YOU for being awesome.

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