PCGen :: An RPG Character Generator

TL;DR Fantastically useful and powerful application with a confusing, outdated, counterintuitive, and inconsistent UI which absolutely requires the user to seek support to accomplish even the most basic tasks and has a ridiculously steep learning curve. **************************************** PCGen is possibly the most powerful RPG tool I've come across. I've only just begun to explore the world of possibilities but I have been fantastically impressed with its capabilities. From a player standpoint, it's even better than Pathbuilder for how quickly one can build a character and that app is outstanding. I've never built characters as quickly as I have with this app. User support is amazing, even more so if you are using Discord. New content is being added all the time from ALL of the major systems, both 1st and 3rd party. It supports homebrew content and the users themselves can create content, as all of the sources are in plain text, tab-delimited files. If you're a GM, there's even more: it's also a combat tracker, monster creator (and customizer), encounter planner, die roller, experience tracker, random name generator, and more things I haven't discovered yet. Oh, and you can use it to run games over a network, similar to Fantasy Grounds or Roll20. I haven't explored the GM options yet, so I don't know if there is also map and token support, but even if it doesn't, it is still a fantastically useful app. The Devs are constantly working it and eliminate bugs on the regular. If only major software companies were as conscientious with their own products. But.... The design, interface, UI/UX, and every thing about using it is painful. User experience is not even a concept. The UI and interface is straight out of the 90s, and takes little into consideration for inexperienced computer users. It is embarrassingly, painfully bad. Every possible form of object and input is used (checkboxes, right clicks, buttons, and dropdowns, etc, etc) and not in any form of consistency whatsoever. It breaks (or ignores) almost every rule of UI design I've ever known or heard of. The learning curve is one of the steepest I have ever encountered for a program for which I already *should* know how to use (because I'm intimately familiar with the game systems in question). It took me literally months to learn how to choose sources. Even knowing what I know about how the program works I still have to hunt for many things which should be in plain sight. The irony in this, for me, is that I used to be an instructor for basic to advanced computer usership, including a large variety of applications, based on the similarities of how applications work. I'm familiar with using and administrating Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, and I STILL have difficulty using this app (that says a lot, doesn't it?). Because of the ridiculous interface, there are video tutorials just on how to add sources to program, and the program itself comes bundled with a massive HTML user manual. Contrast this with Pathbuilder, where the skills needed to use it consist of knowing how to use a touch screen and swipe left or right. Basic things like adding magical properties to your weapons are hidden in right-clicks and require going to support to find them. It's a fantastic product that requires a massive UI redesign to reduce complexity and end-user confusion. It's basically a program made by computer nerds for other computer nerds. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to use an analogy: Nowadays, you don't need a degree in automotive design or be an auto mechanic to properly use a car, and the vast majority of car owners couldn't care less about the noodly intricacies of that discipline, because all they want is to have a car they can get into that provides them with all the creature comforts they need, and that starts every time they turn the key. When something goes wrong, they call the Auto Club for a tow to their mechanic who then fixes the problem. Building cars that required the owner to also be a mechanic is what killed the British auto industry. It's a great program, especially when you consider that it's totally free with no ads. But they absolutely need a UI designer on the team to clean up the UI. Then this would be the absolute perfect tool for everyone who plays an RPG.

Honestly, this program has helped a tabletop RPG noob like myself get off the ground with a running start. Whenever my DM says "Make a new character!" I'm there, I know what I have to do and when to do it thanks to the summary screen. However, now that I have been playing regularly for a while now (great way to get in some much needed face to face social interaction for the week) I really need Deity and Demigod information. When I create my character(s) there's a place to input deity but it's a drop-down menu that just says "None" even when I want Olidamara for my new rogue or Pelor for my new Paladin. Instead of seeing that deity's name on my character sheet, there's "None" there instead. This makes keeping my various character's religion straight, they're faithless instead. How does a Paladin go on living when they're faithless? How does a monk theologize? These questions are best answered by having a more accessible deities list at character creation. Thanks for reading! Oh, and as for the 'Support' category in my rating, it's simply a 3 because I don't know how awesome or devious your support rating actually is.

I adore this program! It's easy to use and makes character creation so much simpler. Unfortunately I've got a bit of a problem. I used this program on my boyfriend's computer, and my dad's but it won't seem to work quite right on mine. It will run on the admin user account, but not on the standard user account. Anyone know how to fix that?

I absolutely love this generator above all the others I've used. It makes for quick character creation for new-to-the-table players (I GM a lot of those) and SNPC's (The ones that are basically there to make my PC's lives hell). The only issue I have with this generator isn't really an issue so much as something I covet. I just want so many other games to be available on this generator. It would make playing a new game for the first time a breeze to set up. Other than that, I have nothing, but good things to say about PCGen.