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From: <mar...@us...> - 2008-07-14 17:50:23
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Revision: 7136
http://pcgen.svn.sourceforge.net/pcgen/?rev=7136&view=rev
Author: maredudd800
Date: 2008-07-14 10:50:32 -0700 (Mon, 14 Jul 2008)
Log Message:
-----------
[LST File Class] HD and LEVEL conversion
Issue#: 1938391
Modified Paths:
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Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lstfileclass_heading.html
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Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lfc_lesson18_converting_feats_to_abilities_1.html
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Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lfc_lesson18_HD_LEVEL_conversion.html
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--- Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lfc_lesson18_HD_LEVEL_conversion.html 2008-07-14 17:45:58 UTC (rev 7135)
+++ Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lfc_lesson18_HD_LEVEL_conversion.html 2008-07-14 17:50:32 UTC (rev 7136)
@@ -1,230 +0,0 @@
-<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
-
-<html>
- <!--
- PCGen Documentation Project
-
- $Author: maredudd800 $
- $Date: 2007-10-22 15:06:52 -0400 (Mon, 22 Oct 2007) $
- $Revision: 4393 $
-
- Contributors:
- Eddy Anthony - eddybaATmindspringDOTcom
-
- Description:
- Provides information on List files.
- -->
- <head>
- <title>LST File Class</title>
- <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../pcgen.css" >
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
- </head>
-
- <body>
- <h1>Lesson #18: .lst - Converting HD and LEVEL template tags</h1>
-
- <p>By Professor Eddy Anthony (MoSaT).</p>
-
- <p class="indent0"><strong>File(s) Covered:</strong> *template.lst</p>
-
- <p class="indent0"><strong>Tags used:</strong></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code> <a href="../datafilestagpages/datafilestemplates.html#HD">HD</a>,
- <a href="../datafilestagpages/datafilestemplates.html#LEVEL">LEVEL</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREHD">PREHD</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PRELEVEL">PRELEVEL</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREPCLEVEL">PREPCLEVEL</a>,
- <a href="../datafilestagpages/datafilesraces.html#CR">CR</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#DR">DR</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#SA">SA</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#SAB">SAB</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#SR">SR</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#ABILITY">ABILITY</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesbonus.html#DR">BONUS:DR</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesbonus.html#MISCCR">BONUS:MISC|CR</a>,
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesbonus.html#MISCSR">BONUS:MISC|SR</a></code>
-
- <p class="indent1">The template tags HD and LEVEL are used in templates to grant
- characters feats and abilities at specific levels based on the characters total
- levels and is independent of any specific character classes. The HD tag is counted
- against levels of Monster Classes and the LEVEL tag is counted against the characters
- total levels from all classes. Both the HD and LEVEL tags provide the following
- functions: granting Damage Reduction, granting additions to Challenge Rating
- and Spell Resistance, granting Special Abilities and granting automatic feats.</p>
-
- <p class="indent1">Both of these tags have been around a long time and have been
- problematic at times in the past. Recently much work has been done to standardize
- the tags used in PCGen LST and these two tags stand out for not following the
- more recent preferred syntax. For these reasons these two tags will likely be
- deprecated in the future, as of version 5.14 they are still valid but may be
- deprecated in the 5.15 line.</p>
-
- <p class="indent1">Fortunately as of version 5.14 all the functions provided by
- these tags can be replicated with other tags using the latest syntax. This page
- will show you how to convert each existing use of HD and LEVEL using different
- tags with newer syntax.</p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>HD and LEVEL Syntax</h3>
-
- <p>At it's core the HD and LEVEL tags are an older form of PRExxx tags, the HD
- tag is a prerequisite for a specified number of monster levels and the LEVEL tag is a prerequisite
- for the number of total levels the character has. Both of these tags can be
- expressed with this syntax:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code><Prerequisite>:<levels specified>:<Object granting tag>:<Object to be granted></code></p>
-
- <p>The more modern syntax which replaces this can be expressed in this way:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code><Object granting tag>:<Object to be granted>|<Prerequisite>:<levels specified></code></p>
-
- <p>The function of the HD tag is replaced by the prerequisite tag
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREHD">PREHD</a>
- and the function of the LEVEL tag is replaced by the prerequisite tag
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PRELEVEL">PRELEVEL</a>.All
- of the ranges that can be specified by the HD and LEVEL tags can be replicated
- with the syntax that PREHD and PRELEVEL use as well as a good deal more because
- of the flexibility these tags have. For example:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:2+ </code> is now <code> PREHD:MIN=2</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:5-7 </code> is now <code> PREHD:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10 </code> is now <code> PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
-
- <p>The same syntax applies to LEVEL and PRELEVEL. In addition there is now a
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREPCLEVEL">PREPCLEVEL</a>
- tag which is a prerequisite for the number of non-monster level the character
- has. This is quite useful if you need a prerequisite based on the number of
- character classes the character has regardless of the number of racial hitdice.
- This is commonly used to regulate feats which can only be taken at first level
- with PREPCLEVEL:MAX=1, if PRELEVEL:MAX=1 were used then an Ogre with no character
- class level would not qualify because it has more than 1 levels total even though
- they are all monster class levels.</p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>CR (Challenge Rating)</h3>
-
- <p>All Characters have a CR value which is initially set by the CR tag is the
- race line. A CR tag by itself in a template will add to this value. HD:x:CR:y
- and LEVEL:x:CR:y will both add to the CR value at the levels specified. BONUS:MISC|CR|x
- can be used to replace this function in both HD and LEVEL</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:2+:CR:3</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|CR|3|PREHD:MIN=2</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10:CR:2</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|CR|2|PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>LEVEL:5-7:CR:5</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|CR|5|PRELEVEL:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <p>Keep in mind that CR is additive and there can be several way to express things, for example a template containing:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-3:CR:2 <tab> HD:4-6:CR:3 <tab> HD:7+:CR:4</code></p>
-
- <p>Can be converted most literally as:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>BONUS:MISC|CR|2|MAX=3 <tab> BONUS:MISC|CR|3|PREHD:MIN=4,MAX=6 <tab> BONUS:MISC|CR|4|PREHD:MIN=7</code></p>
-
- <p>But can also be converted more economically as:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>CR:2 <tab> BONUS:MISC|CR|1|PREHD:MIN=4 <tab> BONUS:MISC|CR|1|PREHD:MIN=7</code></p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>DR (Damage Reduction)</h3>
-
- <p>DR granted by the HD or LEVEL tags can also be handled directly by the
- <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#DR">DR</a>
- tag and the <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesbonus.html#DR">BONUS:DR</a>
- tag since these both take PRExxx tags. There are two aspect to these tags which
- need to be kept in mind, the first is that the DR tag does not stack with itself.
- The second is that the BONUS:DR tag requires that the character must already
- have a DR tag of the kind it will bonus or it will have no effect. This means
- that if you have DR:5/Magic and DR:10/Magic from 2 different templates they
- will not stack and you will only get the better of the two (in this case 10/Magic).
- It also means that for the tag BONUS:DR|Magic|2 to have any effect you must
- first have a DR:x/Magic tag.</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:2+:DR:10/+1</code> is now <code>DR:10/+1|PREHD:MIN=2</code></p>
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10:DR:5/Cold Iron</code> is now <code>DR:5/Cold Iron|PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
- <p class="indent1"><code>LEVEL:5-7:DR:20/Silver</code> is now <code>DR:20/Silver|PRELEVEL:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>FEAT</h3>
-
- <p>Feats granted by the HD and LEVEL tags are automatic and do not adjust the
- feat pool. Feats granted by the HD and LEVEL tags can be converted to the ABILITY
- tag.</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10:FEAT:Blind Fight</code> is now
- <code>ABILITY:FEAT|AUTOMATIC|Blind Fight|PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>LEVEL:5-7:FEAT:Alertness</code> is now
- <code>ABILITY:FEAT|AUTOMATIC|Alertness|PRELEVEL:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <p>The FEAT function of HD and LEVEL also supports TYPE.x which will trigger a
- pop up window with a list of feats of type x. This is the only HD and LEVEL
- function that will trigger a pop up window. The recommended method to replace
- this function is to set up an ability pool so the feats can be manually selected.
- See Lesson #17: .lst - <a href="lfc_lesson17_converting_feats_to_abilities.html">Converting
- Feats to Abilities</a> for more detailed information on this subject.</p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>SA (Special Ability)</h3>
-
- <p>The <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#SA">SA</a> tag is
- deprecated, it's replacement is the <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesother.html#SAB">SAB</a>
- tag. SA tags granted with HD and LEVEL should be converted to SAB tags with
- the proper PRE tags.</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10:SA:Banana toss</code> is now
- <code>SAB:Banana toss|PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>LEVEL:5-7:SA:Fire in the Hole</code> is now <code>SAB:Fire in the Hole|PRELEVEL:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <h3>SR (Spell Resistance)</h3>
-
- <p>All Characters initially have an SR value of 0 which can then be raised by
- the Global SR tag and the BONUS:MISC|SR|x tag. It is not necessary to have an
- SR tag raise the value above 0 before you can use BONUS:MISC|SR|x to raise it
- further unlike DR and data defined variables. HD:x:SR:y and LEVEL:x:SR:y will
- both add to the SR value at the levels specified. BONUS:MISC|SR|x can be used
- to replace this function in both HD and LEVEL</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:2+:SR:3</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|SR|3|PREHD:MIN=2</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-10:SR:2</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|SR|2|PREHD:MAX=10</code></p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>LEVEL:5-7:SR:5</code> is now <code>BONUS:MISC|SR|5|PRELEVEL:MIN=5,MAX=7</code></p>
-
- <p>Keep in mind that SR is additive and there can be several way to express things, for example a template containing:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>HD:1-3:SR:2 <tab> HD:4-6:SR:3 <tab> HD:7+:SR:4</code></p>
-
- <p>Can be converted most literally as:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>BONUS:MISC|SR|2|MAX=3 <tab> BONUS:MISC|SR|3|PREHD:MIN=4,MAX=6 <tab> BONUS:MISC|SR|4|PREHD:MIN=7</code></p>
-
- <p>But can also be converted more economically as:</p>
-
- <p class="indent1"><code>SR:2 <tab> BONUS:MISC|SR|1|PREHD:MIN=4 <tab> BONUS:MISC|SR|1|PREHD:MIN=7</code></p>
-
- <hr>
-
- <p>Eddy<br>
- LST Chimp</p>
-
- <p>
- <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer">
- <img src="../../images/system/valid-html401.png" alt="Valid HTML 4.01 Strict" height="31" width="88">
- </a>
- </p>
-
-</body>
-
-</html>
\ No newline at end of file
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@@ -0,0 +1,381 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
+<html>
+
+ <head>
+ <title>LST File Class</title>
+ <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../pcgen.css">
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
+ </head>
+
+ <body>
+
+ <h1>Lesson #17: .lst - Converting Feats to Abilities, The Basic Conversion </h1>
+
+ <p class="indent0">By Andrew A. Maitland (LegacyKing) and Eric C Smith (Maredudd)</p>
+
+ <p class="indent0"><strong>File(s) Covered:</strong>
+ <span class="lstfile">*abilities.lst</span>, <span class="lstfile">*feat.lst</span>,
+ <span class="lstfile">*.pcc</span>, <span class="lstfile">*abilitycategory.lst</span>,
+ <span class="lstfile">miscinfo.lst</span></p>
+
+ <p class="indent0"><strong>Tags used:</strong></p>
+
+ <p class="indent1"> <code><a href="../datafilestagpages/datafilesability.html#CATEGORY2">CATEGORY(ability)</a>,
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html">PREABILITY</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#ABILITY">ABILITY(pcc)</a>,
+ <a href="../datafilestagpages/datafilespcc.html#ABILITYCATEGORY">ABILITYCATEGORY(pcc)</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#ABILITYCATEGORY">ABILITYCATEGORY(ability category)</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#CATEGORY">CATEGORY(ability category)</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#PLURAL">PLURAL</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#EDITABLE">EDITABLE</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#EDITPOOL">EDITPOOL</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#FRACTIONALPOOL">FRACTIONALPOOL</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#POOL">POOL</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/globalfilesability.html#VISIBLE">VISIBLE</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/globalfilesdefine.html">DEFINE</a>,
+ <a href="../systemfilestagpages/gamemodemiscinfolist.html#TYPE">TYPE</a>,
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html">PRESKILL</a>,
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html">PREVARLT</a>,
+ <a href="../globalfilesother.html#DESC">DESC</a>,
+ <a href="../globalfilesbonus.html#VAR">BONUS:VAR</a></code></p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h2>Introduction</h2>
+ <p class="indent0">Beginning with PCGen 5.12, and maturing in PCGen 5.14, the Ability
+ object has been available to the lst monkey as a more flexible tool than the existing
+ Feat object. Though it was originally conceived as a replacement for the Feat, it will
+ take quite some time before the Feat actually goes away, if it ever does.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">This lesson will assist users in converting their existing homebrew
+ feats to the new Ability object. To accomplish this, the lesson is broken into two
+ sections, the Basic Conversion and the Advanced Conversion. Within each of these
+ sections you will find discussion of each file that must be modified, and the tags
+ required to accomplish the conversion of your homebrew feats.</p>
+ <p class="sidebar1">NOTE: Standard practice in PCGen distributed datasets is to only use
+ the ability object for those abilities that had been implemented as hidden feats.
+ Feats listed in the sourcebooks as feats are implmented with the standard feat object.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">What this lesson will not tell you is how to create either Feats or
+ Abilities. Both are very similar in construction, using the same set of general tags
+ to provide the functionality required to implement varied game rules used. The primary
+ difference is that each "ABILITY" is assigned to a specific "CATEGORY".
+ This means that you can have several abilities with the same name, but each will be of a
+ separate category. The tags required to do this are covered below.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+ <h3>Sample Feat</h3>
+ <p class="indent0">The <span clss="lstobj">Expert Defense</span> hidden feat, included below,
+ will be used as our example in this LST file class.</p>
+ <p></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>Expert Defense</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>TYPE:Special</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>VISIBLE:NO</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>SAB:Expert Defense ~ Add % bonus to AC|INT</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>BONUS:COMBAT|AC|INT</code></p>
+ <p class="indent0">Note: This hidden feat has been created specifically for this LST File class.</p>
+
+ <h3>Before We Begin</h3>
+ <h4>File Names</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">You will see several LST files referenced within this lesson. The
+ files names used are generic file names and do not represent what your files will need to
+ be called. The general convention used for official datasets within PCGen can be found in
+ the <a href="../../listfilepages/listfileLSTstandards.html">Official Release Standards</a>.
+ You are free to call your homebrew datasets by what name you will, though I find it helps
+ to include the object type contained within the file in the name of the file. For the
+ purposes of this LST File class, we will use the following file names:
+ <p class="indent1"><span class="lstfile">my_abilities.lst</span> file for the converted abilities.</p>
+ <p class="indent1"><span class="lstfile">my_abilitycategpries.lst</span> file for the new abilities categories.</p>
+ <p class="indent1"><span class="lstfile">my_campaign.pcc</span> file for the campaign pcc file.</p>
+ <p class="sidebar1">Note: You can name your homebrew files anything you wish as long as you
+ include them in the your homebrew PCC file.</p>
+
+ <h4>LST File Class Style Guide</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">Because HTML formatting cannot exactly replicate what you would see in a LST
+ file we are going to use certain conventions to convey these ideas:</p>
+ <p class="indent1">1) Coding examples and PCGen tags are identified by <code>code</code>
+ style.</p>
+ <p class="indent1">2) When referencing a specific PCGen object, i.e. domain, feat, weapon, etc.,
+ I have included the name as a <span class="lstobj">LST Object</span> text, except for when
+ the object is part of a <code>code</code> example.</p>
+ <p class="indent1">3) Each new line should be considered a <code><TAB></code> in the actual file.</p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p class="indent1">Examples in this lesson will appear as:</p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>ABILITYCATEGORY:My Special Ability Category</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>CATEGORY:Special Ability</code></p>
+ <p class="indent1">Will in the LST file appear as:</p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>ABILITYCATEGORY:My Special Ability Category</code> <tab> <code>CATEGORY:Special Ability</code></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h4>Special Note for the LST Student</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">Finally, for those of you that have gone through the previous LST Classes, some of
+ the global tags will be repetitive. feel free to skip those portions if you like. These
+ classes are being written for the new LST-Monkey, so there will be some overlap, but a
+ student of the classes does not need to take them in order.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr style="height:3px">
+
+ <h2>The Conversion</h2>
+
+ <p class="indent0">The basic process of converting "Feats" to "Abilities"
+ is to create a new file called <span class="lstfile">my_abilities.lst</span> and then copy
+ the homebrew feats that you wish to convert to the new file and removing them from the
+ <span class="lstfile">my_feat.lst</span> file. You will then need to add the appropriate
+ <code>CATEGORY</code> tag to the copied feats, making sure that any new ability categories
+ are properly defined in the <span class="lstfile">my_abilitycategories.lst</span> file.
+ The next step is to modify your hombrew <span class="lstfile">my_campaign.pcc</span> file
+ by adding the <code>ABILITY</code> and <code>ABILITYCATEGORY</code> tags. The relevant files
+ and tags to acomplish this are explained below.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h3>The Ability File</h3>
+ <p class="indent0">The <span class="lstfile">my_abilities.lst</span> file is where your converted
+ feats will be placed. Fortunately, the tags you use in this file are very similar to those
+ used in the <span class="lstfile">feat.lst</span> file. The major difference between these
+ two files is that you will need to add the <code>CATEGORY</code> tag to your converted feat
+ to make it an ability. To get an idea of how to build feats, you can look up
+ <a href="lfc_lesson12_feat1.html">LST File Class #12</a> and
+ <a href="lfc_lesson13_feat2.html">LST File Class #13</a>, Feat LST Classes Parts 1 and 2.
+ There will eventually be a LST FIle Class for Abilities so you can check back periodically
+ to see if its been released yet.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><Ability Name></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">Every ability line must begin with the name of the ability. You can use
+ any name you prefer as long as it conforms to the standard requirements for feat names.
+ For our purposes in this class, we will be using the same name we used for our sample
+ feat. This means our new ability will be called <code>Expert Defense</code>.</p>
+ <p class="sidebar1">Note: You can have two abilities with the same name as long as they
+ are of different categories, i.e. the <code>CATEGORY</code> tag specifies a different
+ category for each ability.</p>
+ <p class="indent0"><strong>Example:</strong></p>
+ <p class="indent1"><code>Expert Defense</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2">Amazingly enough, our new ability has the same name as our old feat.</p>
+ <p></p
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>CATEGORY:My Super Ability</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This tag identifies the 'category' in which your new ability
+ will be placed. In the case of our example ability, we are placing it in the
+ <span class="lstobj">My Super Ability</span> category. Any category, besides
+ 'FEAT', must have been defined in the <span class="lstfile">miscinfo.lst</span>
+ or <span class="lstfile">abilitycategory.lst</span> file to be valid. See
+ "The Ability Category File" file below.</p>
+ <p class="sidebar1">Note: While abilitiy categories can be named whatever you decide upon,
+ when using the hardcoded <span class="lstobj">FEAT</span> category, you must use
+ all caps as that is the way it is hardcoded within PCGen.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4>Our New Ability</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">All other tags in our example feat are used as is in our new ability. The final
+ Ability object is shown below:</p>
+ <p></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>Expert Defense</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>CATEGORY:My Super Ability</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>TYPE:Special</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>VISIBLE:NO</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>SAB:Expert Defense ~ Add % bonus to AC|INT</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>BONUS:COMBAT|AC|INT</code></p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr style="height:3px">
+
+ <h3>The Ability Category File</h3>
+
+ <p class="indent0">The <span class="lstfile">my_abilitycategories.lst</span> file defines
+ the various ability categories that an ability can be assigned to. These categories
+ will determine where, within the PCGen user interface, the related abilities will appear.
+ In general, they will appear in a sub-tab on the "Feats & Abilities" tag.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">There are a number of ability categories built into PCGen's various datasets,
+ all defined in either the loaded gamemode's <span class="lstfile">miscinfo.lst</span> file
+ or the loaded dataset's <span class="lstfile">abilitycategory.lst</span> file. For Homebrews,
+ you'll need to either use one of these existing ability categories or set up your own "Ability
+ Category", which in turn will create a separate "pool" with which to manage
+ your converted abilities. To demonstrate how this is done, we'll use the
+ <span class="lstobj">My Super Ability</span> category.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>ABILITYCATEGORY:My Super Ability</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">The first entry in the ABILITYCATEGORY line is the name of the new
+ ability category which identifies the "ABILITYPOOL". This ability pool
+ governs how many abilities can be taken, if they cost anything at all. The
+ "ABILITYCATEGORY" tag is not strictly required as PCGen will take the
+ first data entry as the name of the ability category, and thus the ability pool,
+ but current PCGen standard practice is to include the tag.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">If this ability category is defines as "visible" (See the
+ "VISIBLE" tag below), any ability given this category will appear in the
+ "Feats & Abilities" tab under a sub-tab of the same name as this ability
+ category. In this case, <span class="lstobj">My Super Ability</span>.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>CATEGORY:Special Ability</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This is a 'super-category', or parent, to which our new ability category
+ belongs. This tag is optional but if included must list an existing ability category that
+ has been defined in either the <span class="lstfile">miscinfo.lst</span> or
+ <span class="lstfile">miscinfo.lst</span> file.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>TYPE:Special</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This is a TYPE, or list of types, assigned to abilities of this catgory. While some
+ types do not have an effect other than allowing additional filtering in the GUI, as is the case
+ with the type <span class="lstobj">Special</span>, there are a number of standard ability types
+ used within PCGen that effect PCGen in different ways. <span class="lstobj">SpecialQuality</span>
+ and <span class="lstobj">SpecialAttack</span> are used to determine where on the Output Sheet the
+ associated abilities will be placed. <span class="lstobj">FavoredEnemy</span>,
+ <span class="lstobj">RogueAbilities</span>, and <span class="lstobj">General</span> effect which
+ sub-tab the associated abilities will appear on in the PCGen GUI.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">A complete list of standard feat and ability types can be found on the
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilestype.html#Feat">Global TYPE</a> page.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>PLURAL:My Super Abilities</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This has to do with the internationalization. An example is: in_feats which sets the
+ Category key to 'in_feats'. It also shows up with the 'Plural' of the name. Ex. Feat would be Feats
+ (Feats would display in the drop down bar).</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>EDITABLE:NO</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This defines whether a user can modify the abilities in the category. NO would be
+ appropriate for class abilities which aren't chosen by the user.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>EDITPOOL:NO</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This defines whether a user can modify the pool number or not. Each ability has a
+ 'cost' (Default is 1) if this option is set to 'NO' the user cannot add or subtract from the pool.
+ For feats, the default is 'YES'.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>FRACTIONALPOOL:NO</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This defines whether the pool must be a whole number or can be fractions. Some
+ abilities may have a cost less than '1' like .5 or .25. <YES / NO></p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>POOL:0</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">This tag establishes the base ability pool for the defined ability category.
+ It will take a number, formula, or variable. If a variable is used, the variable <strong>MUST</strong>
+ be defined by a <code>DEFINE</code> tag. For our new ability category, we will start with an
+ ability pool of zero (0).</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4><code>VISIBLE:NO</code></h4>
+ <p class="indent0">Defines whether this category is visible on the UI or hidden. Usefull for hidden
+ abilities and class abilities that require no interaction from the user. <Options are - YES,
+ NO, QUALIFY></p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4>DISPLAYLOCATION</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">The <code>DISPLAYLOCATION</code> is optioonal but will identify the sub-tab
+ upon which the associated abilities will be displayed. Examples of some standard locations
+ defined in the RSRD data set are "Class Abilities" and "Special Qualities and
+ Attacks". If it is not included the <code>PLURAL</code> taxt will be used instead.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">We will not be including this tag in our example ability category so you can
+ look for our converted abilities under the "My Special Abilities" sub-tab.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">Well, you could if we had not included the <code>VISIBLE:NO</code> tag in our
+ ability category entry.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <h4>Our New Ability Category</h4>
+ <p class="indent0">The new entry in <span class="lstfile">my_abilitycategories.lst</span> is shown below:</p>
+ <p></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>ABILITYCATEGORY:My Super Ability</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>CATEGORY:Special Ability</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>PLURAL:My Super Abilities</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>EDITABLE:NO</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>EDITPOOL:NO</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>FRACTIONALPOOL:NO</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>POOL:0</code></p>
+ <p class="indent2"><code>VISIBLE:NO</code></p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr style="height:3px">
+
+ <h3>The PCC File</h3>
+ <p class="indent0">PCGen will use our <span class="lstfile">my_campaign.pcc</span> file to identify
+ which source files to load as well as other information about the 'campaign'. Without these files
+ and the related information, PCGen would not be able to load any datafiles. For the purposes of
+ this lesson, there are only two tags we need to cover: The <code>ABILITY:my_abilities.lst</code>
+ tag and the <code>ABILITYCATEGORY:my_abilitycategories.lst</code> tag.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">PCGen will look in the <span class="lstfile">my_abilities.lst</span> file for our
+ newly converted abilities and in <span class="lstfile">my_abilitycategories.lst</span> file for
+ any new ability categories required to define the new abilities. These file references are relative
+ to the PCC file itself so if you provide no specific path beyond the file names, PCGen will look
+ in the same directory in which the pcc file is contained.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">There are three ways to call a file from an absolute location within the PCGen
+ installation. These are:</p>
+ <ol class="indent1">
+ <li>The "at" symbol (@) will load the file from a path relative to the data folder.
+ (Example: <code>ABILITY:@/d20ogl/srd35/basics/rsrd_abilities_class.lst</code>)</li>
+ <li>The ampersand (&) will load the file from a path relative to the vendor data folder.
+ (Example: <code>ABILITY:&/complete_monkey/complete_monkey_abilities.lst</code>)</li>
+ <li>The asterisk (*) will load the file from a path relative to the vendor data folder and if that
+ does not exist, uses a path relative to the data folder. (Example:
+ <code>ABILITYCATEGORY:*/d20ogl/srd35/basics/rsrd_ability_categories_core.lst</code>)</li>
+ </ol>
+ <p class="indent0">More information about PCC files can be found in the
+ <a href="lfc_lesson01_pcc.html">PCC LST File Class</a>.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+<hr style="height:3px">
+
+ <h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
+
+ <p class="indent0">Unless you've made a new Ability Category, all feats converted to abilities will
+ show up on the 'Feats' tab as normal. Great examples of new ability categories can be seen in
+ the RSRD/SRD for the <span class="lstobj">Fighter</span>, <span class="lstobj">Wizard</span>
+ and <span class="lstobj">Rogue</span> class.</p>
+ <p class="indent0">Remember, miscinfo.lst is a gamemode file, to define new ability categories
+ or subcategories you MUST create it there. There are entries about them in the docs if you
+ want to read up on them. To call the ability file it's (as you guessed), ABILITY:ability.lst,
+ in the .pcc file. Basically pretend that an ability.lst is a feat file as far as what tags
+ you can use in it and you'll be ok (fair warning though, there may be exceptions to that
+ rule of thumb).</p>
+ <p class="indent0">You may continue to use
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREFEAT">PREFEAT</a> when
+ testing for the converted abilities as a prerequisite, as long as you use the
+ <code>CATEGORY:FEAT</code> tag, but it is recommended that you use
+ <a href="../globalfilestagpages/globalfilesprexxx.html#PREABILITY">PREABILITY</a> instead.
+ If you use any other category, e.g. <code>CATEGORY:MySpecialAbility</code> you MUST use the
+ <code>PREABILITY</code> tag to check for your new abilities as prerequisites.</p>
+ <p></p>
+
+ <p class="indent0">Andrew<br>
+ LST Chimp</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+ <p>
+ <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"><img
+ src="../../images/system/valid-html401.png"
+ alt="Valid HTML 4.01 Strict" height="31" width="88"></a>
+ </p>
+ </body>
+</html>
Modified: Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lstfileclass_heading.html
===================================================================
--- Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lstfileclass_heading.html 2008-07-14 17:45:58 UTC (rev 7135)
+++ Trunk/pcgen/docs/listfilepages/lstfileclass/lstfileclass_heading.html 2008-07-14 17:50:32 UTC (rev 7136)
@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@
<dd>Discusses the tags used to creating a basic "Domain".</dd>
<dt><a href="lfc_lesson16_domains2.html">Lesson #16: The LST File - Advanced Domain Topics</a></dt>
<dd>Discussing the tags used to add "Special Powers" to your domains.</dd>
+ <dt><a href="lfc_lesson17_HD_LEVEL_conversion.html">Lesson #17: Converting HD and LEVEL Template Tags</a></dt>
+ <dd>Discussing the tags used to implement the functionality of the deprecated HD and LEVEL template tags.</dd>
<!--
- <dt><a href="lfc_lesson17_converting_feats_to_abilities.html">Lesson #17: Converting Feats to Abilities</a></dt>
- <dd>Discussing the files and tags required to convert FEAT objects to ABILITY objects.</dd>
- <dt><a href="lfc_lesson18_HD_LEVEL_conversion.html">Lesson #18: Converting HD and LEVEL Template Tags</a></dt>
- <dd>Discussing the tags used to implement the functionality of the deprecated HD and LEVEL template tags.</dd>
+ <dt><a href="lfc_lesson18_converting_feats_to_abilities_1.html">Lesson #18: Feats to Abilities, The Basic Conversion</a></dt>
+ <dd>Discussing the files and tags required to convert the simpler FEAT objects to ABILITY objects.</dd>
-->
</dl>
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