Difference between revisions of "Pathfinder RPG Best Practices"

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= General Issues =
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== What content from an Adventure Path issue should be added? ==
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Add any content which could be used by a player during the course of the AP. This usually means all magic items in the Treasures section, or any feats/traits listed in the first issue of the AP. In most cases, the bestiary section does not need to be entered, unless one of the monsters within can be used as a familiar or animal companion to a PC. Some APs have sections which contain a deity entry, with special spells and items related to that faith which need entering.
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== What should be shown on the Specials Tab? ==
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= Creating Magic Items =
 
= Creating Magic Items =
  
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:Deskari's Tooth
 
:Deskari's Tooth
  
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== Specific Magic Armor/Weapons ==
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Most specific magic arms have item powers or materials, which should be added through the editor by clicking on the Materials and Weapon or Armor Powers buttons. You can also click on the "Gizmo" button on the upper right, and bootstrapping that material or power to the listed entity. In many cases, the bootstrapped picks will take care of most of the coding needed.
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== Testing Created Magic Items ==
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Once you have hit the test now button or reloaded the system, follow these steps to make sure the item is correct. For simplicity, testing should usually be carried out on a blank character, so that any changes will be immediately obvious.
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*Step 1 Go to the appropriate tab and table to add the item and visually inspect it in the selection window. Compare the heading information (like item caster level, aura, price, and so on) to the source and make note of discrepancies to correct.
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*Step 2 Scan the description for errors like incorrect structure (linebreaks where there should be none, paragraphs smashed together), typos (often there is a space between f and l, caused by copy paste from pdfs), missing italics of spell/magic item names, missing alternate ability info (as granted by SpInfo and DescInfo tags) and so on.
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*Step 3 Verify the item is correctly sourced.
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*Step 4 Add the item to the hero and confirm that any eval scripts on the item behave as expected. If it is something which requires being equipped, make sure that its effects are not yet seen. Toggle the equip state on and off and make sure it works in both cases. If the item has effects which are "always on" and so it isn't equipped, you can do the same by adding and deleting the item. If the item must select something else, verify the list of selections behaves as expected as well.
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*Step 5 Check alternate tabs. If the item has charges or bootstraps item spells, go to the In-Play or Spells tab to verify that they are set up correctly. Be especially careful of spells, which may have limitations that should be spelled out in the livename.
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*Step 6 If the item should be shown on the specials tab, go there and take a look at it's summary. If the summary is too long and gets cut off, try to condense it further so all pertinent info is shown.
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(number of charges, livename
  
  
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make sure to look at the
  
 
~placeholder for Aaron~
 
~placeholder for Aaron~

Revision as of 15:07, 30 January 2014

General Issues

What content from an Adventure Path issue should be added?

Add any content which could be used by a player during the course of the AP. This usually means all magic items in the Treasures section, or any feats/traits listed in the first issue of the AP. In most cases, the bestiary section does not need to be entered, unless one of the monsters within can be used as a familiar or animal companion to a PC. Some APs have sections which contain a deity entry, with special spells and items related to that faith which need entering.

What should be shown on the Specials Tab?

Creating Magic Items

General Name Issues

Magic items are named in sentence case, with the first letter capitalized and all others (save proper nouns) not. Artifacts tend to be an exception, and you should look at the description text of an artifact to see how it is capitalized there.

Examples
Bastard's sting
Baba Yaga's besom
Thundering blade of the house of Sugimatu
Deskari's Tooth

Specific Magic Armor/Weapons

Most specific magic arms have item powers or materials, which should be added through the editor by clicking on the Materials and Weapon or Armor Powers buttons. You can also click on the "Gizmo" button on the upper right, and bootstrapping that material or power to the listed entity. In many cases, the bootstrapped picks will take care of most of the coding needed.





Testing Created Magic Items

Once you have hit the test now button or reloaded the system, follow these steps to make sure the item is correct. For simplicity, testing should usually be carried out on a blank character, so that any changes will be immediately obvious.

  • Step 1 Go to the appropriate tab and table to add the item and visually inspect it in the selection window. Compare the heading information (like item caster level, aura, price, and so on) to the source and make note of discrepancies to correct.
  • Step 2 Scan the description for errors like incorrect structure (linebreaks where there should be none, paragraphs smashed together), typos (often there is a space between f and l, caused by copy paste from pdfs), missing italics of spell/magic item names, missing alternate ability info (as granted by SpInfo and DescInfo tags) and so on.
  • Step 3 Verify the item is correctly sourced.
  • Step 4 Add the item to the hero and confirm that any eval scripts on the item behave as expected. If it is something which requires being equipped, make sure that its effects are not yet seen. Toggle the equip state on and off and make sure it works in both cases. If the item has effects which are "always on" and so it isn't equipped, you can do the same by adding and deleting the item. If the item must select something else, verify the list of selections behaves as expected as well.
  • Step 5 Check alternate tabs. If the item has charges or bootstraps item spells, go to the In-Play or Spells tab to verify that they are set up correctly. Be especially careful of spells, which may have limitations that should be spelled out in the livename.
  • Step 6 If the item should be shown on the specials tab, go there and take a look at it's summary. If the summary is too long and gets cut off, try to condense it further so all pertinent info is shown.


(number of charges, livename


make sure to look at the

~placeholder for Aaron~