Chummer Character Generator Options

[SpellBinder]

SpellBinder quickly mentioned a couple of messages above that he had this in one of his files and would be cleaning them out at some point (er, hope I'm not reading too much into that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ).

You weren't reading too much into it at all. I just updated my copy just now and started checking the vehicles lists and noticed your content was overriding my own in most cases.

I did notice, however, that some of what DK had in his spreadsheet differs from what you added. There's really only a few vehicles, and I changed their source to coincide with the Germain Arsenal code so they'll vanish with the rest. Their pages are my username here, so you can still tell them apart from the rest.

And for those of you who have seen the Paramount Group's Marauder in action in Top Gear (a friend showed me a clip), I've added it to my custom vehicles. Both a civilian and military variant are listed (coded for Unofficial Errata, so this book must be enabled). My content's updated and available for download too.

BTW, I noticed a spelling error for the "Messerschnitt-Kawasaki Sperber".

[Nebular]

BTW, I noticed a spelling error for the "Messerschnitt-Kawasaki Sperber".

Fixed.

[Crazy Ivan]

Fair enough. They were approved by CGL for official release and thought everyone would want 'em, but was wondering if I should make them their own sourcebooks or not. I chose wrong. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I've updated the data files to break things into Arsenal, Arsenal German Content, Augmentation, and Augmentation German Content. The German Content ones contain just the additional content found in the German printings of these books.

Thank you much. I really hope that I'm not the only one who would prefer that fix. If I am, then I'll feel like a prick for asking that request of ya Nebular.

[Nebular]

Thank you much. I really hope that I'm not the only one who would prefer that fix. If I am, then I'll feel like a prick for asking that request of ya Nebular.

Bah, don't feel bad about it. They were easy to pick out since they're the only items marked as page 0 and all I had to do was add a "G" to the end of the book name. I was on lunch at work and had nothing else to do in those two minutes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Crazy Ivan]

Glad I could pleasantly occupy your time.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Caerdyn]

What's off with Fading Resistance?

I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but when I raise either of the attributes (in my case, Resonance or Charisma) with karma in career mode, it doesn't update the dice pool for fade resistance. It remains the same regardless of how high I'd raise either attribute during career mode.

I've also noticed that the checkbox for including smartlink in active skills isn't doing so, unless there's something else that needs to be done to get it to do so that I haven't noticed. Nevermind. It doesn't include it on the printouts tho, I don't know if that was intentional or not.

Lastly, just thought I'd toss this out there as an idea for you, being able to 'equip' activesofts or something, up to a rating of skillwire/biowire that you have, to have them calculate into your dice pools in place of a lower skill rating to make the program more functional for players using them.

[PirateChef]

Everytime I update Chummer, then try to open an old character, the program crashes and won't open the character. This happens to everyone in my gaming groups and is making Chummer a pain to use. Any way to avoid this?

[Nebular]

Everytime I update Chummer, then try to open an old character, the program crashes and won't open the character. This happens to everyone in my gaming groups and is making Chummer a pain to use. Any way to avoid this?

My initial guess is that you're using characters that still have the old format for Qualities which was phased out back on June 19th. Could you send me the files you're having a problem with (nebular@shaw.ca) and I'll see where the problem is.

[Nebular]

I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but when I raise either of the attributes (in my case, Resonance or Charisma) with karma in career mode, it doesn't update the dice pool for fade resistance. It remains the same regardless of how high I'd raise either attribute during career mode.

I've also noticed that the checkbox for including smartlink in active skills isn't doing so, unless there's something else that needs to be done to get it to do so that I haven't noticed. Nevermind. It doesn't include it on the printouts tho, I don't know if that was intentional or not.

Ok. I'll take a look at this and try to have it fixed for the next update. My gut reaction is that I'm doing something stupid and looking at the Magician properties again since Fading/Drain, Submersion/Initiation, and all of that stuff is identical. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Lastly, just thought I'd toss this out there as an idea for you, being able to 'equip' activesofts or something, up to a rating of skillwire/biowire that you have, to have them calculate into your dice pools in place of a lower skill rating to make the program more functional for players using them.

That's a good idea. I wanted to do this when I first added them, but wasn't sure how to handle it and then completely forgot about it. This can be done in the exact same way as Armor - just turn on/off the Equipped checkbox as needed. Might be able to get that in for the next update. It'll require some changes to all of the Skillsoft Gear.

[redwulf25]

I don't seem to be able to make my own mutant and toxic critters in Chummer, only select the ones covered in the book. At least when I select a critter and go to powers I'm only given choices of Emergent, Free Spirit, Mundane Paranormal, and Shapeshifter. Rules for making a mutant are on page 162 of Running Wild and Toxics are on page 165.

[Nebular]

I don't seem to be able to make my own mutant and toxic critters in Chummer, only select the ones covered in the book. At least when I select a critter and go to powers I'm only given choices of Emergent, Free Spirit, Mundane Paranormal, and Shapeshifter. Rules for making a mutant are on page 162 of Running Wild and Toxics are on page 165.

It's still on my to do list. It's the "Support for Mutant and Toxic Critters" item on the Outstanding Items list, though the last time I posted that was with the update notes for build 136 a couple of days ago. Really like to get into that one, but little character issues keep popping up every time I think of looking at it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[redwulf25]

It's still on my to do list. It's the "Support for Mutant and Toxic Critters" item on the Outstanding Items list, though the last time I posted that was with the update notes for build 136 a couple of days ago. Really like to get into that one, but little character issues keep popping up every time I think of looking at it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Must have missed that, thanks.

[Caerdyn]

My gaming group would like to see astral and matrix initiative included on the GM printout, if that's not too much trouble to manage. Another kinda low-priority thing but if it's easy I'm sure it'd be appreciated by a lot of people. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[whatevs]

Just did an update, and it looks as though the book selector in 'options' is no longer working. I'm stuch with AR and SR4 Items only.

EDIT: Nevermind. Closed and reopened chummer. Now it seems to be working.

[Nebular]

My gaming group would like to see astral and matrix initiative included on the GM printout, if that's not too much trouble to manage. Another kinda low-priority thing but if it's easy I'm sure it'd be appreciated by a lot of people. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Done and uploaded!

[Neko Asakami]

So, I discovered Chummer a few weeks ago and have been impressed by both the program and your quick update speed. Thank you for making such an awesome program!

Now that I've got the flattery out of the way, time for business! I have two feature requests, one hopefully will be quick to add and the other probably won't be added at all. ^_^

Request the First: Rather than having each player get bonus points for Contacts based on their CHA, I just give each player a flat amount of BP to use (usually 15). Can we get an option for that?

Second Request: This is the complex one. I misread the Karma cost for Initiating as 10 x (New Grade + 3). Needless to say, I thought that was an amazingly bad deal, so I included a Metamagic technique and an extra point of the Magic attribute, treated like an extra point of STR or BOD from cyberware. So, for example, a PC with Magic 6 initiating for the first time would have to spend 40 Karma (10 x [1+3]), but would end up at Magic 6 (7), Initiate Grade 1, with a Metamagic technique. Obviously, this is not something that should make it into the main program, so my request is how can I add Initiating as a custom quality (not counted toward the 35 BP limit) that will add a Metamagic technique AND bump up their effective Magic attribute?

[Burrito Al Pasto...]

The first doesn't really need a feature - just increase starting BP to 415, and keep an eye on the "Contacts" entry under the build point summary sidebar.

[Nebular]

The first doesn't really need a feature - just increase starting BP to 415, and keep an eye on the "Contacts" entry under the build point summary sidebar.

While that would work, that would also throw off the amount of BP you can spend on Physical and Mental Attributes which is equal to 1/2 of your total allowed BP. So 400 BP would equal 200 BP on Attributes, while putting it to 415 would raise it to 208 on Attributes which means someone would be allowed to select more than they would otherwise be allowed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Nebular]

I don't seem to be able to make my own mutant and toxic critters in Chummer, only select the ones covered in the book. At least when I select a critter and go to powers I'm only given choices of Emergent, Free Spirit, Mundane Paranormal, and Shapeshifter. Rules for making a mutant are on page 162 of Running Wild and Toxics are on page 165.

Good news! It's in the next update! I finally got around to working on them and nearly have it done! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[ShadowWalker]

While that would work, that would also throw off the amount of BP you can spend on Physical and Mental Attributes which is equal to 1/2 of your total allowed BP. So 400 BP would equal 200 BP on Attributes, while putting it to 415 would raise it to 208 on Attributes which means someone would be allowed to select more than they would otherwise be allowed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Although since attributes cost 10 BP for each point, the extra 8 points doesn't get anything.

My suggestion from before still stands. Put all of the constants used on the options form and let people change them as they see fit.
I would even suggest allowing for saving the options to files and letting people load different settings. Sort of like campaign settings.

[Nebular]

Although since attributes cost 10 BP for each point, the extra 8 points doesn't get anything.

Right, but say someone allows 40 points instead of 15 ('cause big imaginary numbers are fun!). Then you'd be allowed to sink 20 BP more into Attributes than you otherwise should be able to. It's easy enough to add an option for it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Nebular]

Second Request: This is the complex one. I misread the Karma cost for Initiating as 10 x (New Grade + 3). Needless to say, I thought that was an amazingly bad deal, so I included a Metamagic technique and an extra point of the Magic attribute, treated like an extra point of STR or BOD from cyberware. So, for example, a PC with Magic 6 initiating for the first time would have to spend 40 Karma (10 x [1+3]), but would end up at Magic 6 (7), Initiate Grade 1, with a Metamagic technique. Obviously, this is not something that should make it into the main program, so my request is how can I add Initiating as a custom quality (not counted toward the 35 BP limit) that will add a Metamagic technique AND bump up their effective Magic attribute?

I need to add in the support for improving Initiation and Submersion Grades to the Improvement Manager which I'll have in the next update (which will be tomorrow evening), but apart from that, it's relatively simple. Here's how you would increase Initiation and MAG by 1. (Adding an Initiate Grade automatically gives you 1 free Metamagic). Quality costs are expressed as BP, so to get a Karma cost of 40, the BP amount is entered as 20.

Create a custom data file (custom_qualities.xml, unless you want to use some special name. As long as it starts with "custom" and ends with "_qualities.xml", Chummer will find it) and use this as a template. (The detailed explanation of the qualities.xml file can be found in the Chummer Wiki):

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<chummer>
    <qualities>
        <quality>
            <name>My Quality Name</name>
            <contributetolimit>no</contributetolimit>
            <bp>20</bp>
            <category>Positive</category>
            <bonus>
                <initiation>1</initiation>
                <specificattribute>
                    <name>MAG</name>
                    <aug>1</aug>
                    <val>1</val>
                </specificattribute>
            </bonus>
            <source>SR4</source>
            <page>123</page>
        </quality>
    </qualities>
</chummer>

[Neko Asakami]

Thanks for adding that and whipping up that custom template for me. I'll take a look into how to add it as a multi-level attribute (since they'll obviously want to go above grade 1) on the wiki.

And @ShadowWalker: I could do it that way, but the contacts bought with the free points need to tracked separately for my bookkeeping as a GM. The 15 points can only be spent on people from your backstory (past employers, the cousins you spent that one summer with, the Vory Czar who's life you saved when you were acting as his bodyguard and took the bullet for), and they are in addition to any that you might want to spend out of your starting BP. My group's face, for example, has nearly 45 pts worth of contacts on his sheet: 15 free, 20-odd from his starting 400, plus another 10 pts worth he's developed in game. Being able to keep track of what came from where matters quite a bit.

[Nebular]

Thanks for adding that and whipping up that custom template for me. I'll take a look into how to add it as a multi-level attribute (since they'll obviously want to go above grade 1) on the wiki.

To have multiple copies, such as Initiation Rating 1, Initiation Rating 2, etc., you would just create a new Quality for each one (the template I gave you would be what you need for Rating 1). Set the BP to its proper amount, and increase the MAG and Initiation values to 2 for Rating 2, 3 for Rating 3, etc., and you should be good!

[Neko Asakami]

Ah, well, that's easy. Thank you. I do have a pair of problems, however. When I use the ability in the BP build option, it doesn't actually open the Initiation tab or add to the level of Initiation. I'm guessing that second half will fixed in the update, but not being able to add any metamagics via the Initiation tab in BP mode is seriously hindering creating a prime runner. I've tried it using the "Ignore Character Creation Rules" option as well, still no tab.

Well, that and I'm totally lost on how Changeling (Class X SURGE) actually works. I see it granting free points in my build point summary (though only half of what it's supposed to), but it's not subtracted from my total BP remaining in the lower left corner. When I add a SURGE ability, it subtracts from both totals, even though it's supposed to grant its own pool. Is this intentional?