They're Back: A Clutch Of Kobolds Are Under The Tree!

I've mentioned the old 'Kobold Rating Calculator' before. It was born out of a single question; just how many kobolds would it take to overrun a player's character? Virtually every player has ran into an angry clutch of kobolds. They've all experienced the same simple truth; while deceptively weak one on one, these critters can get dangerous in numbers fast.

With all this in mind I wrote a simple program to calculate through a very basic simulated combat how many kobolds it would take to overrun that character. The original version had one fundamental flaw however; it was designed under a very strict time-frame that required a certain degree of finality. In short; it was a final project for a college programming course. Much to my own regret in order to complete the project at the time and have it function I had to make certain alterations to its intended objective.

Instead of having it test the player's character against an ever growing horde of kobold combatants it just threw one after another lone kobolds against the character, resetting their hit points each time until the player was finally bested by the monster. This meant that the program did function and did so in a way that to those unfamiliar with the actual premise was concerned made for a completed objective.

However, it is something that has always bothered me ever since and one that quite recently I decided that I perhaps now had the better understanding(and time) to rectify. So with that in mind(and the fact that in two days time I am most undeniably about to be out of commission for the foreseeable future) I would like to share a completely revised take on the Kobold Rating Calculator.

This newer rendition is more to the intended design goal of what the original was planned to be. The user can input their character's name, their own and the combat stats for their fictional hero(attack modifier, damage modifier, hit points, armor class and damage die). Using that information the program then generates a basic no frills fight against a single kobold's combat stats. Nothing is considered regarding range, surprise attacks, special tactics or the like. This is just a simple your attack versus theirs face to face kind of fight.

You can imagine it all happening like this; you find your character trapped all alone down in some dark dungeon or mountain mine shaft with only a single trusty weapon at their side and a growing number of kobolds starting to become aware of their presence. How many can they handle all on their own before they are overwhelmed? Can your 1st level wizard actually challenge more than a single kobold on their own? Can a mighty half-orc fighter lay waste to half a dozen? Now you have a metric with which to measure that along with a means to do it.

This updated Kobold Rating Calculator also features some vast improvements over its predecessor. The most important and obvious of which is that it can increment the number of foes all the way up to a group of 10 kobolds strong(currently, plans are to increase this size limit further if this initial version proves itself to move past this alpha/beta release). Also included within is a hall of fame record similar to the original where the user can record their name and rating. But one new aspect is the inclusion of a combat log where a generated account is made available of a blow by blow as it were of the battle.

There are still, unfortunately, limits that I have had to maintain. Since this first build only is designed to deal with a very fundamental aspect of combat and only scales up to 10 kobolds attack and damage modifiers cap out at 10, armor class at 20, hit points at 100 and damage dice at 2d12. Forgive me if this seems pale or inflexible enough but I thought it best to design this first release with low level characters in mind to start. Over time I do hope to grow this to handle much more powerful characters and potentially even handle much more 'creative' combat as the like with which most players are known for.

The Kobold Rating generated will be a figure between 0(if you die fighting a single kobold) up to 10(for those who slaughter all 10 without meeting their own demise). Should your character die at the hands of, say, a group of 4 kobolds(whether due to bad rolls or simply because you couldn't put up enough of a fight against that many) then it will provide you with the number of those creatures you did manage to beat(that number being 3 in this hypothetical instance).

All in all, this should be considered a work of novelty and humorous entertainment. In no way does the Kobold Rating Calculator provide you with a definitive evaluation of your character's inherent successfulness or failure. The real strength of any character you build lies in the fun you have playing it and the stories you can enjoy telling about it. The number of monsters it can dispatch single-handedly is of little real value. Although, there is something to be said in being able to know exactly how many kobolds you can take down all on your own even if the rest of your party thinks you are a liability in combat encounters...

So, even though it is still early yet(like I said I may not get another chance before hand) let me share with one and all a little gift this Christmas;
The Kobold Rating Calculator(Revised) - Direct Download
*Requires the 4.5 .Net Framework available from Microsoft. Just unzip and runs from the Kobold Rating Calculator(Revised).exe inside the folder.
For this and other programming projects by myself you can check out my Glitched Grimore.

I hope you enjoy the work, and are entertained. And, as always; feel free to report any problems, complaints or opinions back to me.

Digital Dossier; D.D. For Your D&D 5th Edition.

[Edit] Released an updated version of Digital Dossier on 1/20/2015. This newest build should resolve an issue where shield ac bonuses aren't being included into the total armor class when it is calculated. Also, bundled with this version is a folder containing a collection of pre-made characters. These characters are from a wide ranging variety of classes and races, suitable for use as npc's, examples or even as pre-made pc's to jump into a game with. I had included an installer for the 4.5 .Net Framework in the zip file but due to size limitations had to remove it. This shouldn't be a problem, however if you do have any trouble or an issue develops; let me know. Currently this version has both run and been installed on a Windows 7 and a Windows 8.1 machine. Enjoy, have fun and make some memorable stories to share.

[Edit] As of 7 A.M. CST on 12/6/2014 The 5th release of Digital Dossier is now live and in available in the form of a zipped folder. All that you have to do is ensure that you have the 4.5 .net framework(available for free from Microsoft and already included on most pc's already running windows), extract the files and run the setup. This newest release should fix all the previous issues including an installation problem as well as address a variety of user-interface ones as well. It provides a much more friendly interface lay out that allows more detail space from the user all while (hopefully) also helping to keep everything visible for reference and printing. Happy tales to you, and as always - if you find any flaw, issue or idea for improvement just send it my way and I'll try to tackle it right away.

So for about a week and a half I have been working on a little project of my own. It isn't perfect, nor do I profess it as a thing of any overwhelming aesthetic - however it so far appears to be a functional tool. I am releasing it now as a preliminary build so that it may be put to use, tested and evaluated. May it be of use to you, may you tell great tales and enjoy in their telling.

Direct Download *Requires 4.5 .Net Framework
Digital Dossier along with my Digital Pathfinder Sheet(D.P.S) can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/site/glitchedgrimore/

As an example/sample here is an already made character file you can load in Digital Dossier to see it filled out: Silverbells the Elven Sorceress by Eslyn Gill

Stay tuned, in the coming days you'll find a release of an entire collection of pre-built pc's to use as well. Should you find any issues with the software, ideas for improvement or anything at all feel free to notify me immediately. This is only an initial release - one that I hope will see newer iterations in the near future.

Enjoy,
Matthew C. Gill

Calling All Opinions; Input Needed.

To quote the venerable Johnny-Five; "Need input."

So, allow me to bring you up to speed. I recently(okay, yesterday) mentioned that I was considering a new programming project. Specifically my desired aim was to create another digital character sheet, this one for use with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Now the overall goal mind you isn't anything glamorous or personal gain for my own benefit - I strictly want to try and make something useful.

With that in mind I'd like to share some of what I am considering incorporating into the design thus far. You can let me know what you think about it either way but more than anything else I am starving for input. Anyone is free to submit any idea or feature they would like to propose or recommend. If you know anyone who is never quite satisfied with other character sheets, then share this post with them so that they might contribute their opinions.

Here is the basic essential elements I've pieced together thus far;

• Included menu functions must at least cover saving the character as a file, loading any saved file, clearing the sheet if a reset is warranted/desired and printing the sheet.
• Any and all derived attributes or values such as ability score modifiers, proficiency bonus, skill modifiers, armor class, weight carried etc. should be auto-calculated and filled based on inputted entries made by the user.
• An area for players to list any notes or otherwise record anything desired must be included.
• Customizable or overridable fields should be available for any player using house rules or non-standard characters. Potentially even the auto-calc feature could be disabled by user preference.
• Some standard details like racial traits and the like, even if not automatically filled in or listed should be incorporated in some capacity. That form can be taken as a mouse-over tool-tip that pops up or as a note/memo the user can reference under a help menu.
• While a step by step walk-through approach to the character creation process could be helpful to some players it would be restrictive to a larger majority of players and require massive amounts of complex built-in information. This would also potentially reduce the programs flexibility. For an example; a user selects a gender or race etc. at some point in the process and then changes their mind. Can they go back and change it or are they stuck in the process? Will they have to finish it, start over or can they alter it? For those already familiar with the rules anything other than their own preferred method can be seen as irritating or a nuisance.
• Some fields such as those devoted to spellcasting could be made optional by a user selectable feature so that non-casting classes can hide such sections. However, should a player be playing a race granting access to a cantrip or some other ability then a smaller appropriate 'Racial Spellcasting' field for example could be added instead.

Well, it is a start in any case. Thoughts, opinions, suggestions? Let's have 'em!

Input, Input, Input!

Full Disclosure; A previously proposed auto-fill example I offered as an idea was this -

[The inclusion of so much auto-loading details has been pointed out to be a potential problem, citing things like not every single race might be included or the use of altered and/or third party ones for instance. I only include this previous approach out of fairness to demonstrate one potential way considered for the design.]

A Dwarf Fighter from a Noble Background - 

On selecting Dwarf as a race the constitution score will increase by 2, Size will set at medium, speed will become 25ft and cannot be reduced by heavy armor, Racial traits such as Dark Vision(60ft), Dwarven Resiliance(Advantage on Saves vs. Posion and Resistance vs Posion Damage), Dwarven Combat Training(Battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, Warhammer Proficient), Tool Proficient(Smith, Brewer, or Mason), Stonecunning(Inteligence(History) Checks regarding stonework with double proficiency bonus), Languages of Common and Dwarvish, and if a subrace is selected +1 Wisdom and +1 Hp/level is added for Hill Dwarves, while +2 Strength and light and medium armor proficiencies are added for Mountain Dwarves.

For Selecting Fighter we set the hit dice to d10 and if the level is set at 1 then we auto-fill 10 + Constitution modifier. Set armror and weapon proficencies to all, saving throws to strength and constitution, fill in the proficiency bonus based on level, highlight class skills to select from, check to see if using starting funds to purchase gear or the granted gear by class and background to offer any optional selections, select fighting style and list benefit, list second wind feature. For higher levels, list features appropriate to level such as action surge, martial archetype selected along with listed benefits by level, ability score increase prompts, extra attacks, and indomnitible.

For the Noble Background add the skill proficencies History and Persuasion, one type of gaming set tool proficency, prompt to add another language, gear if using granted gear, feature (position of privledge) unless using the alternate Knight variant then feature (retainers), and suggested characteristics(personality, ideal, bond and flaw) - possibly by even offering popup lists to select from.

Some additional auto-fills; AC(Based on armor, class features etc.), Skill modifiers, highlight any to be filled in fields, xp by level, Spellcasting vlaues by class/race.

Gear Fill In:

Armor - AC calc method, Strength Required, Stealth Disadvantage, Weight, Doff/Don, Speed Penalty

Weapon - Proficency Bonus, Stat Mod, Damage Mod, If Versitile add 2 handed damage field, finesse shifts strength modifier to dexterity, if thrown add a range field, an off-hand designation.

Adventuring Gear - Weight, Equipment Packs select to fill in with it's contents on your gear inventory list, Gaming Set(Select One), Artisan's Tools(Select One), Musical Instrument(Select One).

Optional - A Trinket Field complete with a potentially hard-coded 1-100 array of trinkets.

Optional - Feat Tab.

Now, can I pull all these things off? That I cannot make any gurantees on but I will certainly try to make as much of it as I can work. Thoughts?