Chummer Character Generator Options

[Nebular]

Anyone know if Lodges have a maximum rating? I can't seem to find it anywhere, and Chummer seems to think there is. I'd like to see if 1) there is an actual limit to the Force of a lodge and 2) make sure that it really is 12, and not 6. It's also relevant to the maximum rating of a Stacked Focus.

Street Magic hints at Rating 16 lodges (SM 68 under Luxury Resources: 1D6 + 10 rating magical lodges) and is the highest I've seen so far. Increasing it isn't a big deal, but I do need to have some sort of (reasonable) upper limit for the Rating field. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Cojuzei]

Street Magic hints at Rating 16 lodges (SM 68 under Luxury Resources: 1D6 + 10 rating magical lodges) and is the highest I've seen so far. Increasing it isn't a big deal, but I do need to have some sort of (reasonable) upper limit for the Rating field. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The main reason I ask in the first place is for a set limit on stacked foci. Based on the rules as written, the force of the focus is what determines the amount of dice added to your pool. That said, there doesn't appear to be an upper limit to individual foci, nor is there a set limit, then, on stacked foci. I'm trying to find information to contest this, but so far am unable to.

EDIT: And actually, going through the book I don't see any limit to individual ratings. So a single Power Focus could, theoretically, go all the way up to rating 30 (or higher based on Initiation).

EDIT again: Upon further investigation, page 176 or 177 SR4a states that the maximum Power of any given thing has a "natural" rating of 1 through 6 unless otherwise noted. So lodges, foci, and spells normally only go to power 6 (spells go further because of the difference between lethal and nonlethal). This means that the lodge normally can only be up to rating 6 as well, and the magical group is thus "unnatural". Still, though. I'm satisfied knowing any foci, including a stacked one can only have a maximum force of 6.

[Batrachian]

Thanks Nebular.

I tried to reproduce the bug with the scrolling in the current version, but was not able to do so. So this seems be be already fixed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Sorry for that "false alarm" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


As for the Lodge Materials, I also think the same issue is raised by the binding spirit materials.
Due overcasting you are able from the beginning to cast and (try to) bind spirits with a force greater than 6, for which the corresponding materials are required.
As for the upper Limit, I did not see any restricions in the books, other than the usual Rating of 6, but I think this should not be applied in these cases.
I personally think limiting the rating for Lodges and Binding Materials at 18 should be (by far) sufficcent.

*waves*

Ps.: I am a bit out of practice writing in english, it isn't my mother tongue, so sorry for some of the mistakes I might have made. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Askahain]

Hallo,

i maybe found some more errors.
1. The AK98 assault rifle has a build in underbarrel launcher but in chummer these are two Weapons. If i add the laucher as underbarrel weapon he takes 3 modpoints but as a standard addon to this weapon he should be added automatically and take no modpoints.

2. An error in the original packs cause an error in chummer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .. The pack "Classic Rigger Van" has a concealed armor rating of 20 but as described in the Arsenal the max rating of a concealed armor is 10.

3. Error messages if i set the char in carrermode. Its nice that the program tells me that i have to much capacity on an item or the a item has a to high availability but if the program tells me on which item the problem this would be great.

4. How can i help with the translation to german ? There are a lot of items still in english or french.


With kind regards

Askahain

[crazymykl]

The sensor rating for vehicles doesn't appear to change as new sensors are added.

[deurk]

Any possibility to sort the Improvements made in the improvements tab?
Up/down arrows to move them within the list would be great to organise those a bit.

[Batrachian]

hi, its me again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I just tried to make a new custom_gear.xml
First the chummer had an unhandled exception, because a german symbol was in the file (ä).
Debugging lead to the following error:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.Xml.XmlException' occurred in System.Xml.dll
Additional information: Ungültiges Zeichen in der angegebenen Codierung. Zeile 53, Position 18.

Translated: illegal sign for the given coding, Line 53, Postion 18
Thats where I found the ä, so maybe such an exception can be catched and shown (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I thougt utf-8 has this kind of symbols available

Next is, the new items do not show up in chummer, I added a shortend version of the file below.

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<chummer>
    <categories>
        <category>New York</category>
    </categories>
    <gears>
        <gear>
            <name>Visitor Pass: red</name>
            <category>New York</category>
            <rating>1</rating>
            <avail>3</avail>
            <cost>850</cost>
            <source>New York</source>
            <page>10</page>
        </gear>
</chummer>

*waves*

[SpellBinder]

The sensor rating for vehicles doesn't appear to change as new sensors are added.

As far as I can tell, the sensor rating doesn't change with the installed sensors itself. The sensor rating is like the Intuition attribute for the drone when it makes perception checks, modified by the Clearsight autosoft and other things. Even in Arsenal, there isn't a hard rule that improving sensors does increase the sensor rating, only that it "should also be improved accordingly."

I think it's fine that chummer doesn't change the sensor attribute of vehicles & drones. As a GM I'd issue modifiers to the DP for drones making sensor checks based on what their sensors are.

[Dakka Dakka]

1. The AK98 assault rifle has a build in underbarrel launcher but in chummer these are two Weapons. If i add the laucher as underbarrel weapon he takes 3 modpoints but as a standard addon to this weapon he should be added automatically and take no modpoints.

That's the way it is supposed to be. Just "buy" both. The underbarrel grenade launcher is free. That way it gets its own line on the printable sheet.

Unrelated issue: After selecting the Ally Conjuration technique, I cannot find a place to actually conjure the ally spirit

[Nebular]

As for the Lodge Materials, I also think the same issue is raised by the binding spirit materials.
Due overcasting you are able from the beginning to cast and (try to) bind spirits with a force greater than 6, for which the corresponding materials are required.
As for the upper Limit, I did not see any restricions in the books, other than the usual Rating of 6, but I think this should not be applied in these cases.
I personally think limiting the rating for Lodges and Binding Materials at 18 should be (by far) sufficcent.

I've update the Gear file to increase the maximum Ratings of magical materials to 18.

Hallo,

i maybe found some more errors.
2. An error in the original packs cause an error in chummer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .. The pack "Classic Rigger Van" has a concealed armor rating of 20 but as described in the Arsenal the max rating of a concealed armor is 10.

3. Error messages if i set the char in carrermode. Its nice that the program tells me that i have to much capacity on an item or the a item has a to high availability but if the program tells me on which item the problem this would be great.

4. How can i help with the translation to german ? There are a lot of items still in english or french.

I've update the PACKS file to correct the amount of Armor the Kit gives to 10 to comply with the Arsenal rules. Listing the items that are breaking the Availability rule should be pretty easy. I think I left that out before because it happened while all of the changes for translation were going on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I don't know the usernames of the two guys who are doing the German translations, but I'll send you a PM with their email addresses so you can get in touch with them.

Any possibility to sort the Improvements made in the improvements tab?
Up/down arrows to move them within the list would be great to organise those a bit.

Oh, I knew that would come up sooner or later! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) I'll add it do the list.

[Nebular]

hi, its me again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I just tried to make a new custom_gear.xml
First the chummer had an unhandled exception, because a german symbol was in the file (ä).
Debugging lead to the following error:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.Xml.XmlException' occurred in System.Xml.dll
Additional information: Ungültiges Zeichen in der angegebenen Codierung. Zeile 53, Position 18.

Translated: illegal sign for the given coding, Line 53, Postion 18
Thats where I found the ä, so maybe such an exception can be catched and shown (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I thougt utf-8 has this kind of symbols available

Next is, the new items do not show up in chummer, I added a shortend version of the file below.

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<chummer>
    <categories>
        <category>New York</category>
    </categories>
    <gears>
        <gear>
            <name>Visitor Pass: red</name>
            <category>New York</category>
            <rating>1</rating>
            <avail>3</avail>
            <cost>850</cost>
            <source>New York</source>
            <page>10</page>
        </gear>
</chummer>

*waves*

"ä" is perfectly valid in the XML data files. It might have something to do with the encoding on the file you created. I made a custom data file using the example you provided and replaced the "a" in Visitor Pass with "ä" and it worked. I've uploaded the working example to http://www.chummergen.com/dev/chummer/exam...achian_gear.xml.

As for it not showing up... the source you list here is "New York", which means the item will only show up if you have created a sourcebook with the code "New York" and enabled it in your Options window. <source> must match one of the codes found in books.xml or a custom books file like custom_books.xml.

[Nebular]

Unrelated issue: After selecting the Ally Conjuration technique, I cannot find a place to actually conjure the ally spirit

You would need to create a new character for the Ally Spirit by using File > New Critter, select the Spirits category, then Ally Spirit from the list of Metatypes. When you've saved the file, you can then create a new Spirit entry on your character. Click the little chain icon on the Spirit, choose Attach Character, and select the save file for the Ally Spirit. You can also do this for any other Spirit you summon, and Technomancers can do the same for their Sprites.

[Cojuzei]

So two things to change. Page 177, under Force says Spells, Spirits, and Magic Items (foci and lodges) have an attribute known as Force. It goes on further to say that the Force of these things is measured on the same scale as metahuman attributes (natural 1 to 6), and as such would then be limited to 6. Can you update chummer to reflect this? Main 2 things are magical lodges (since you have it set to a max of 12, but naturally it can only get to 6...the magical group with 1d6+10 Force lodge is one such example of an "unnatural" limit. The other is stacked foci. Foci stacked together can still only have a maximum total force of 6 (so 3+3 or 3+2+1 would work, but 3+4 wouldn't).

[Tashiro]

So two things to change. Page 177, under Force says Spells, Spirits, and Magic Items (foci and lodges) have an attribute known as Force. It goes on further to say that the Force of these things is measured on the same scale as metahuman attributes (natural 1 to 6), and as such would then be limited to 6. Can you update chummer to reflect this? Main 2 things are magical lodges (since you have it set to a max of 12, but naturally it can only get to 6...the magical group with 1d6+10 Force lodge is one such example of an "unnatural" limit. The other is stacked foci. Foci stacked together can still only have a maximum total force of 6 (so 3+3 or 3+2+1 would work, but 3+4 wouldn't).

I don't think this is actually correct. For example, a mage can summon a force 8 spirit, or cast a force 8 spell (even with a Magic of 5, it just means that the spell will do physical damage instead of stun damage to the mage casting it). Now, if this was the case, this would make things... interesting. I can believe that most foci are limited to force 6 (for the most part), but I don't think spirits and spells are limited, nor are lodges.

[Batrachian]

Thanks a lot for the help.

My error was, to create a new xml from a basic txt file, seems the encoding went missing or the file was only a arscii, anyhow, when ic Ised your file or copied an existing xml there were no issues with the special characters. THANKS (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Regarding the issue with the custom data. Adding a custom_books.xml solved it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Your support for the chummer is great. *bow* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

*waves*

[Minimax le Rouge]

I never found an official answer to this Force 6 maximum question.
Once again it's an houserule-only way.


I have some problem with the magic attribute :
i want to creat an infected with cyberware, and magic burnout (dropped to zero), can i do this with chummer ?

[ShadowWalker]

As far as I can tell, the sensor rating doesn't change with the installed sensors itself. The sensor rating is like the Intuition attribute for the drone when it makes perception checks, modified by the Clearsight autosoft and other things. Even in Arsenal, there isn't a hard rule that improving sensors does increase the sensor rating, only that it "should also be improved accordingly."

I think it's fine that chummer doesn't change the sensor attribute of vehicles & drones. As a GM I'd issue modifiers to the DP for drones making sensor checks based on what their sensors are.

If a character improves the ratings of all of the individual components in a sensor package, the overall Sensor rating of vehicle should also be improved accordingly.

[ShadowWalker]

I've update the Gear file to increase the maximum Ratings of magical materials to 18.


I've update the PACKS file to correct the amount of Armor the Kit gives to 10 to comply with the Arsenal rules. Listing the items that are breaking the Availability rule should be pretty easy. I think I left that out before because it happened while all of the changes for translation were going on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I don't know the usernames of the two guys who are doing the German translations, but I'll send you a PM with their email addresses so you can get in touch with them.


Oh, I knew that would come up sooner or later! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) I'll add it do the list.

Could put the improvements in a treeview and allow for something similar to locations in gear. That would be great for organizing them.

[ShadowWalker]

Only items in the Commlink and Commlink Upgrade categories are allowed to have Response and Signal (technically Gear does have a Signal property that is used by a few pieces), and only items in the Commlink Operating System and Commlink Operating System Upgrade categories are allowed to have Firewall and System. Both of these are classes that inherit from the Gear class. If you try to add those properties to an item that isn't in those categories, they're ignored since Gear doesn't know (or care about) them as they're Commlink-specific things.

I was thinking would it be possible to add a drag and drop with the Ctrl or Alt key to allow for dropping onto other items and turning the dropped item into a plugin or to move it from one item to another.
Being able to move software from one commlink to nexus or another commlink and back is something that would be really useful.

[Nebular]

Build 303

• placing a negative number in <flyspeed /> now gives a character a Fly speed equal to their Movement x [number x -1] which allows the Drake Quality to give a character a Fly speed of twice their Movement rate
• Update window now creates any directories it needs for downloaded files instead of relying on them being created by previous versions of the application
• corrected the maximum Rating for Sprites in Career Mode to RES x 2
• added an option to calculate Commlink Response based on the number of running programs (enabled by default)
• Programs attached to Commlinks can now be marked as Running which impacts the Commlink's Response value if the option is enabled (as per Processor Limit on SR4 222)
• added support for translating Spell DV
• Spells now show their translated DV on character sheets
• adding a Spell in Career Mode now asks you to confirm the Karma expense
• added support for creating Spells (as per SM 159), accessed through the dropdown menu on the Add Spell button
• names of items that are over the character's Avail limit are now shown when attempting to move a character to Career Mode to make identifying them easier
• Stacked Foci are now limited to a combined Force of 6
• added a house rule to allow the combined Force of Stacked Foci to exceed 6

New Strings

• Message_StackedFocusForce
• String_SpellOverflowDamage
• String_SpellDamageValue
• String_SpellToxinDV
• String_SpellDiseaseDV
• String_SpellRadiationPower
• Checkbox_SoftwareRunning
• Checkbox_Option_CalculateCommlinkResponse
• String_SpellDurationPermanentLong
• Menu_CreateSpell
• Title_CreateSpell
• Label_SpellOptions
• Checkbox_RestrictedTarget
• Checkbox_VeryRestrictedTarget
• Checkbox_CombatSpell1
• Checkbox_CombatSpell2
• Checkbox_CombatSpell3
• Checkbox_CombatSpell4
• Checkbox_CombatSpell5
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell1
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell2
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell3
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell4
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell5
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell6
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell7
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell8
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell9
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell10
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell11
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell12
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell13
• Checkbox_DetectionSpell14
• Checkbox_HealthSpell1
• Checkbox_HealthSpell2
• Checkbox_HealthSpell3
• Checkbox_HealthSpell4
• Checkbox_HealthSpell5
• Checkbox_IllusionSpell1
• Checkbox_IllusionSpell2
• Checkbox_IllusionSpell3
• Checkbox_IllusionSpell4
• Checkbox_IllusionSpell5
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell1
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell2
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell3
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell4
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell5
• Checkbox_ManipulationSpell6
• Message_SpellName
• Message_SpellRestricted
• Message_CombatSpellRequirement1
• Message_CombatSpellRequirement2
• Message_DetectionSpellRequirement1
• Message_DetectionSpellRequirement2
• Message_IllusionSpellRequirement1
• Message_IllusionSpellRequirement2
• Message_ManipulationSpellRequirement1
• Message_ManipulationSpellRequirement2

[Nebular]

I never found an official answer to this Force 6 maximum question.
Once again it's an houserule-only way.


I have some problem with the magic attribute :
i want to creat an infected with cyberware, and magic burnout (dropped to zero), can i do this with chummer ?

Yeah, I'm going to leave the Lodge and Materials at their current max of 18. This leaves it nice and open for those who want it to go higher, and with Street Magic saying that things like a Force 16 Lodge are possible, it makes sense to me to leave it there.

Yes, you can create an infected and burn their MAG down to 0. This was fixed a couple of weeks ago. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cojuzei]

I don't think this is actually correct. For example, a mage can summon a force 8 spirit, or cast a force 8 spell (even with a Magic of 5, it just means that the spell will do physical damage instead of stun damage to the mage casting it). Now, if this was the case, this would make things... interesting. I can believe that most foci are limited to force 6 (for the most part), but I don't think spirits and spells are limited, nor are lodges.

Spirits and Spells still fall within the 1-6 natural measurement. 1-6 for nonlethal, and then 1-6 for lethal. The basic rule still applies.

[Tashiro]

Spirits and Spells still fall within the 1-6 natural measurement. 1-6 for nonlethal, and then 1-6 for lethal. The basic rule still applies.

Okay, if your Magic Attribute is 12, then what happens? Does this mean you're limited to Force 12 spells, but they'll never to lethal damage, or does this mean you can cast up to Force 18, which in theory could do lethal damage? I'd really like some solid 'here is this written out in plain English' from the books.

Time to hit the books, and move this to a different thread.

[SpellBinder]

I like the in-program custom spell maker, though I have a few fixes to suggest:

If you select a Combat Mana spell, Elemental should be disabled, and checking the Elemental option should either also auto-check the Physical Damage box as well or disable Physical & Stun instead (and in the case of the later, have checking Physical or Stun also disable Elemental if either are checked). SM page 163, the Drain Modifiers chart states quite clearly that Elemental spells must be Physical and of Physical Damage (honestly I feel it should be your choice of one of the three instead: Elemental, Physical, Stun).

Also, Combat spells are always Instant. They can never be Permanent or Sustained (SM, page 162 under Combat Spells).

The same also goes for Manipulation spells. Choosing Mana should disable Elemental, and vice versa. Also, Environmental spells are also always Area spells (SM page 164).

[ShadowWalker]

Okay, if your Magic Attribute is 12, then what happens? Does this mean you're limited to Force 12 spells, but they'll never to lethal damage, or does this mean you can cast up to Force 18, which in theory could do lethal damage? I'd really like some solid 'here is this written out in plain English' from the books.

Time to hit the books, and move this to a different thread.

Step 2: Choose the Force
Next, the character must choose the Force of the spell. The maximum Force a spell can be cast at equals the spellcaster’s Magic rating x 2. Casting a spell with a Force that exceeds the magician’s Magic rating is considered dangerous Overcasting (p. 182), however, causing Physical Drain rather than Stun.

Sounds to me like a magic attribute 12 would allow for a spell at level 24, which would be suicide, but for this conversation that's besides the point. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)