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Edit monsters so they fit into your planned encounter/campaign.

Is there an autoleveling tool that just applies the basic rules for +/- level rules from the DMG/DMG2?

Other than that, awesome sauce!

Malraux wrote:

Is this new tool web based or a client program similar to CB?

Is there an autoleveling tool that just applies the basic rules for +/- level rules from the DMG/DMG2?

Other than that, awesome sauce!

It's always more fun to get answers directly from the source so I've pinged Mike Donais on this topic. He's the lead designer for these tools and he should be popping in this thread from time to time to share more tidbits with us.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I hope to have more information for you next time. If we’re lucky, that next time will include screen shots and some more features about the Monster Tool. Thanks again for all the great feedback concerning D&D Insider and the Campaign tools, and I’ll talk with you soon!

You really need to put this kind of information in a neatly formatted article on the DDI front page, just like the non-digital publishings are previewed.

just look at how "they" do it with e.g. the Eberron or Divine power previews:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20090629b
"You" need to do this as well with the DDI tools in order to generate greater interest in these tools, as well as keep information going towards your players asides from those forum-goers.

it's not important how often you update these - but it should be regularly. once a month a screenshot and little article from one of the devs? Not a big deal, but it could go so far in customer-satisfaction....

sigil_beguiler wrote:

OOO, that is something I was hoping would be in the Campaign Tools. Quite cool. I especially like the dragging of abilities around. One big thing I am wondering is if it will be able to tell difficulty. Like you combine so many abilities together it will say it averages out around a Level 10 monster. I imagine that be next to impossible to do, but be cool.

Well a monster's level determines his stats and the attack bonus for his powers. His level isn't affected by him having a bunch of powers, so if you think he is harder than a normal monster of his level because he has more powers then you can just increase his experience point value.

Everything about a monster is easily editable so this shouldn't be a problem.

whitebaron wrote:

You really need to put this kind of information in a neatly formatted article on the DDI front page, just like the non-digital publishings are previewed.

That's the plan WB. In the near future we should have an article up with some screen shots and more information about the tool features.

Avin wrote:

is it done? what about now? and now?

Not quite yet Avin, keep hitting refresh though!

mdonais wrote:

Not quite yet Avin, keep hitting refresh though!

*Looks at mouse* Umm... I think it caught on fire from pressing refresh to much.

GMforPowergamers wrote:

((((Please see and answer this))))

1)Is this going to be able to take templates and apply them??
2) Will I be able to input my own new powers??
3) will it upgrade to elite and solo with out templates???
4) will it be able to make NPCs...?

1) Templates didn't make the first build.
2) Yes, powers are fully customizable, or you can use existing ones and tweak them.
3) Yes, you can swap solo/elite/minion/normal with a dropdown and it does the math instantly.
4) Yes, NPCs use the same rules as monsters, they just have different powers.

mdonais wrote:

The new tool is a client program very similar to D&D Character Builder. It is designed to contain the monster builder to start and be easily added to.
For example the graphics and UI elements can be used for any tool we include with this application. It also updates monthly in the same fashion as the D&D Character Builder.

This is all very encouraging news, keep up the communications!
I applaud the releasing one feature at a time and am glad that its not web based (sorry non-pc users), as it's much easier to use remotely.

Create, display, and print your own unique monsters in the official formatting style you see in our printed D&D material.

This sounds excellent!

Will we be able to print multiple monsters per sheet, thus being able to effectivly print a complete encounter?

Then you would simply need to add the encounter XP/math calculations and we could fire off encounters faster than characters with Improved Initiative...

*P.S. Glad I took advantage of the pricing extension...

mdonais wrote:

1) Templates didn't make the first build.

bummer...but your answer seams to indecate it may be something on the table...

2) Yes, powers are fully customizable, or you can use existing ones and tweak them.
3) Yes, you can swap solo/elite/minion/normal with a dropdown and it does the math instantly.

cool...that is perfect...infact I could not have hoped for better answers...

4) Yes, NPCs use the same rules as monsters, they just have different powers.

well those diffrent powers are sometimes PC powers...will that be supported?

Example: I want to make a kobold rogue, can I take sly flurish???

on a related note what about mixing and matching monster/NPC...like I want a werewolf to have a barbarian rage daily...is it drag and drop, or do I need to enter it as custom??

mdonais wrote:

1) Templates didn't make the first build.

Well, here's hoping for the second build. Though if I can move powers from a templated monster to a non-templated monster and have the program auto-adjust the math (plus let me convert from regular to elite), that'll be a workable bridge.

Will PC class powers be included? ie, if I want to give an orc the wizard power Lightning Bolt, will that be around as a drag and drop as well?

Dralenan wrote:

Something I would really want for this...because it's a pain for me at the table (especially with the addition of Monster Manual II), is to be able to print out a list of some basic monster stats for a single game. So instead of having to flip back and forth between my books, I would have a quick reference. There really is no easy way to do that right now, and it slows the game down heavily. Even if it's simply a limited stat block...

This is getting off-topic, but what I do is use the existing Encounter Builder, make my fights, then when you click on the little eye symbol, you can get their stat blocks. Then some Print Screen / GIMP fu to put them all one one page. Print that out and I've got the whole fight or two on one sheet.

Dane_McArdy wrote:

No date at this time. They learned from their mistakes about doing that with the VTT.

well, they could do it the other way round, at least: they could say that it won't be ready over summer.

Dazmiuth wrote:

Seems pretty "meh" to me. I can scrounge through the books and do all this work by hand without much trouble. What I can't do is go online and play D&D with my friends "anywhere, anytime" like it was advertised when I started purchasing 4th edition products. Great idea to stop working on that other stuff to basically make a glorified excel doc...

There are quite a few 3PP VTTs out there that will let you play D&D online.

Personally, I'm glad the did the survey and the Campaign Tools are getting done before the VTT, since I have no use for online play. A monster builder/modifier will indeed save me time.

Different strokes for different folks. WotC can't please everyone when people want diametrically opposed options with their limited time and resources.

FalconGK81 wrote:

I'm sorry, I hate to be that guy, but am I the only one who finds the name "Monster TOOL" incredibly hilarious? Someone walking by my cube at work just now said I'm having "entirely too much fun" cause I was snickering so hard. Just sayin'.

Yeah, Monster Tool is just what we're calling this part of the Adventure Tools, because "badass tool that looks up, edits, and creates monsters" is a mouthful :D

In the end we're talking about a specific aspect of the Adventure Tools - an aspect that will be rolled out and released before we work on the next aspect.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

Campaign Tools was our place holder name when we first started talking about the idea in the community and in the office. Adventure Tools is the one that stuck however. So to directly answer your questions, Campaign Tools is now Adventure Tools.

When done, will you combine the Character Builder and the Adventure Tools together so we can get the Entire Tools (E-Tools for short)?

FalconGK81 wrote:

I don't know if I'll be able to contain my laughter if they start calling the CB "Character Tools".

That's a very good point. Probably not something you want to bring up at work either.

"What are you looking at there?"

"Nothing - just Character Tools."

Sounds like a quick trip to HR.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

This Monster Tool is the first tool being released for the Adventure Tools. The basic plan is to release each when it's ready and have them all work together whithin the same framework as much as possible.

That is crazy awesome!

So let me push my luck here and ask if there will be linkage between the Character Builder and the Adventure Tools. PC-tracking of HP, conditions, powers used, etc.

No problem if it can't be answered. Just asking because it can't hurt to ask.

FalconGK81 wrote:

I'm sorry, I hate to be that guy, but am I the only one who finds the name "Monster TOOL" incredibly hilarious? Someone walking by my cube at work just now said I'm having "entirely too much fun" cause I was snickering so hard. Just sayin'.

I didn't until now. And my inner 12 year old usually catches these things.

Now I am not sure I can use them without cracking up.

AlioTheFool wrote:

Yeah well, I can just see it now. I'm sitting at my computer, going absolutely bezerk getting ready for this week's game, it's like 2am and I refuse to go to bed. My wife walks up and asks "What the heck are you doing?!"

"I'm playing with my Monster Tool."

(silence coupled with a glare)

"Don't bother coming to bed. Sleep on the couch."

See, I was figuring that my wife would be glad when I tell that I would like to show her my new Monster Tool. My players, though, will be a bit less enthusiastic.

subsistcyber wrote:

So we have:

• Adventuring Tools
  
• Monster Builder
  
• Character Builder
  
• Encounter Builder
  
• Ability Generator
  
• Web-Based Monster Builder (Original)
  

You guys must really have trouble coming up with names for your characters when you play.

Well, if we called something the Rhasgar tool or the Deimos tool, people might have a hard time figuring out what it does :D

WotC_Trevor wrote:

Well, if we called something the Rhasgar tool or the Deimos tool, people might have a hard time figuring out what it does :D

Well take one program for example. His campaign builder is called "Masterplan." Great name and great program... just saying...

Sabin_Stargem wrote:

Would it be possible to have the Monster Tool "scan"* the party you are planning your next encounters against, and then recommend monsters according to Sources, Roles, Terrain, Theme, and Alignment that is desired?

*The character builder summery information or the D&D4e character files.

Oooh, I like that. It would also be nice for the builder to create a "random" encounter based on party level and desired filters.

mdonais wrote:

The new tool is a client program very similar to D&D Character Builder. It is designed to contain the monster builder to start and be easily added to.
For example the graphics and UI elements can be used for any tool we include with this application. It also updates monthly in the same fashion as the D&D Character Builder.

You can level up and down monsters with the touch of a button and it does the math for you as per the DMG/DMG 2. Some things don't work out perfectly, like a monster's damage doesn't always fall into the chart in the DMG but things like attack bonus, hit points, defenses, etc it is all automatic.

Wow, now I'm excited for something that hasn't even been 'announced' yet. I think its really cool that you guys really do share and post on the forums. Can't wait to hear more info about this tool, sounds great!

Sabin_Stargem wrote:

Would it be possible to have the Monster Tool "scan"* the party you are planning your next encounters against, and then recommend monsters according to Sources, Roles, Terrain, Theme, and Alignment that is desired?

*The character builder summery information or the D&D4e character files.

The Monster Builder won't have this kind of funcationality, at least not out of the gate. It's more likely that one of the other "Builders" to come out for the Adventure Tools will integrate with the Monster Builder and interact with character data to do something along the lines of what you're asking for.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

The Monster Builder won't have this kind of funcationality, at least not out of the gate. It's more likely that one of the other "Builders" to come out for the Adventure Tools will integrate with the Monster Builder and interact with character data to do something along the lines of what you're asking for.

Why are you making this thing sound so freaking awesome? It's killing me to wait.

In all seriousness though, this sounds like a great plan. Not necessarily that that particular feature will be included, but that the forward thinking is there to create tool X today, and hopefully be able to introduce tool Y later to work with it.

GregT_314 wrote:

The general problem I have with this - and with the Character Builder - is the fear that software tools will be used as a crutch to support needlessly complex design principles.

By which I mean, it's great that we have a tool that easily builds monsters, but what would be better is monsters that were easier to build.

It's just a concern, not a criticism, as I can't immediately think of a way to significantly improve the existing monster creation formulae, but still, an ideal system would be so fast and intuitive there would be no need for this kind of computer-assisted design.

While I agree with you in principle, I don't necessarily believe the existence of these tools implies a need. I certainly can make a character of any level without the builder. (In fact, at higher levels, it's easier on paper, because you don't have to go through every level of power choice and retraining.)

KM wrote:

So after WOTC says they are working on a FULL SET of campaign tools and that FULL SET will be the next thing to come out, the best they can do is change some things around in the encounter builder and call it a brand new tool?

I'm sick of the misleading statments from WOTC. The rest of you can drink the Kool Aid but I know when a company does not care about its customers.

Again - they've said they're working on the full set (and at the risk of tip-toeing precariously on an NDA, I can confirm the Monster Tool isn't the only thing "out there"), so you're right there.

I don't recall them saying that the Campaign/Adventure Tools would be released en masse, however.

Given their tendency to work on and release software one at a time, this decision is no surprise to me.

What they HAVE said, again - to the best of my personal recollection, is that they will be releasing these tools before they return to the others.

You claim they are being misleading, but I hoestly don't see it. I suspect that you may have inferred more from what's been said than is actually there.

As I said elsewhere, however, if you have a quote that CLEARLY states (not "I interpret this to mean") the tools were all coming out at once, I'm willing to be proven wrong.

KM wrote:

So after WOTC says they are working on a FULL SET of campaign tools and that FULL SET will be the next thing to come out, the best they can do is change some things around in the encounter builder and call it a brand new tool?

I'm sick of the misleading statments from WOTC. The rest of you can drink the Kool Aid but I know when a company does not care about its customers.

I agree with the Wolf, WotC never said anything about releasing all the Campaign Tools at once...in fact, I think this is the first thing they've said about it at all.

I have no problem with incremental releases, and the Monster Builder is the first logical step.

We all know you have a problem with the DDI tools KM, we get it. Now, I'm going to go back and enjoy some more Kool Aid.

Dazmiuth wrote:

WotC is fail

WolfStar76 wrote:

You claim they are being misleading

From WOTC before 4th ed came out: "We will have the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT ready to go on launch day. There won't be any problems there."

What really happened: WOTC could have done a much better job getting the word out before 4th ed came out that NOTHING was going to be ready.

Nothing misleading there.

Then WOTC says "well we need to work on one tool at a time. We will put out the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT one at a time."

What really happened: WOTC put out the character maker then decided to drop the other 3 tools because a survey that they admit was bugged told them to. They promised us the other tools first, they mislead and lied to the customers.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

Alright guys. Lets not turn this into another thread about the lack of release for the VTT or Visualiser - there are plenty of threads for that. If you want to talk about that, please keep it to one of those threads, or at the very least, start a new one. This is a thread about the Monster Builder and the Adventure Tools.

As we hadn't said much about the Adventure Tools (previously Campaign Tools) until this point, I'm relatively certain that we didn't promise that they would all be coming out at once - only that we would be focusing our efforts on these Adventure Tools, and no other tools, until we were done.

I'm sorry if that was misleading - I know it wasn't our intention to imply that everything would be done in one swoop.

OK then, on the topic of the Monster Builder: It is not needed, please use your resources on something that we can't actually do on our own in our living rooms with a handful of books. Seriously, we don't need glorified excel databases/spreadsheets.

whitebaron wrote:

Actually, I completely disagree. A Tool should be named for what it does. I want to buy a hammer, scissor and knife...

... which by that logic should be called a "nail pounder", "two-blade cutter", and "slicer".

Wizards are missing an opportunity. Any old fool can build a "monster builder" (in fact, there are already a few around on the internets). But if Wizards had created the "Deimos application", that's something they can declare as protected IP and make part of their brand identity. They could market around the idea that "Deimos" was superior to the 3rd party competitors. They could give it a memorable logo and font.

Picking a generic name just feels like an acknowledgement in advance of mediocrity. It's saying, "really, we don't think this is going to have any inherent market value".

Even allowing for the concept of functional names, is it really so difficult to call it the "Fiend Workshop", the "Villain Factory", or suchlike? If you're short on imagination (which is, after all, Wizards' core business), you could run a competition to name the tool, thereby generating free IP at the same time as promoting the expansion of DDI.

KM wrote:

From WOTC before 4th ed came out: "We will have the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT ready to go on launch day. There won't be any problems there."

What really happened: WOTC could have done a much better job getting the word out before 4th ed came out that NOTHING was going to be ready.

Nothing misleading there.

Then WOTC says "well we need to work on one tool at a time. We will put out the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT one at a time."

What really happened: WOTC put out the character maker then decided to drop the other 3 tools because a survey that they admit was bugged told them to. They promised us the other tools first, they mislead and lied to the customers.

Dude, you make me laugh.

VerysArkon wrote:

Trevor and gang, don't let the few vocal detractors get you down, or stop you from posting tasty tidbits of information. Many of us (and 80+ % of those surveyed, including me) wanted a better way to modify or design monsters and you are doing just that. The 20-odd percent minority is just upset their view isn't more popular. It is the first logical tool to be released in AT - how do you build encounters if you can't work with the monsters first?

20%? I thought the survey said 67%, and I would prefer to be referred to as an unhappy custumer rather than a detractor. BTW, from my recent discussions with the owner and several customers of my local game store (which is the only game store within 50 miles or so and is located in a large college town), there are MANY people who currently consider themsevles "unhappy customers." From what I understand, that number has been growing. Of course, that is anecdotal and only represents the gamers in my area.

KM wrote:

From WOTC before 4th ed came out: "We will have the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT ready to go on launch day. There won't be any problems there."

What really happened: WOTC could have done a much better job getting the word out before 4th ed came out that NOTHING was going to be ready.

Nothing misleading there.

Then WOTC says "well we need to work on one tool at a time. We will put out the character maker, viewer, dungeon maker and VTT one at a time."

What really happened: WOTC put out the character maker then decided to drop the other 3 tools because a survey that they admit was bugged told them to. They promised us the other tools first, they mislead and lied to the customers.

We've all heard your gripes on the way things were handled previously.

I'm specifically asking you to prove your claims that this announced release is somehow misleading - and that it wasn't, instead, your own interpretation of what was said that is causing the issue.

Example: You keep stating that the poll was flawed - as if the flaw was a core error in the way the math was done or that WotC came out and said "Gee, we shouldn't have done a poll at all!"

Instead, the flaw in the poll was simply one of limiting out people prematurely - resulting in a smaller sample size than was proably ideal. The sample size they ended up with, however, is still mathematically accurate within a few percentage points.

In light of that isn't it misleading of you to keep holding up the "flawed poll" as if it were a gross misrepresentation?

Or is it merely you standing by the issue as you see it?

Just like WotC is standing by their plans and their issues as they see them?

Ranadiel wrote:

I should point that they have been late a few more times that that(well depending on your definition of late). They have had articles that were not out when all the other stuff for that day's website update were out, frequently appearing 12+ hours later(most frequently happens on fridays). Then there have been instances(although few in number) where the article was rescheduled for a later date. Heck the barbarian playtest was pushed back a month. Then there were a few instances, as I recall of articles being flat out late in the pre-pay time period. Of course the number of these incidents is still fairly low(and whether they even qualify as being "late" is debatable), but it is larger than one.

well, link up and show it. Because people's memory, are not to be trusted.

KM wrote:

ISo how do we know WOTC is going to follow through this time? Given the history of them misleading the public, I won't belive it until I see it. Even then I will have my doubts.

I grant you the not believe it till you see it bit. Reasonable advice when dealing with with companies, especially large ones focused on shareholder value. But what part of not believing it till you see it involves threadcrapping? That's not about healthy skepticism, that's about being a nuisance.