Skill Enhancers Template Change

[Dr. Anomaly]

Dan,

For an upcoming game that's heavily science-skill oriented, I'm offering a new type of Skill Enhancer called "Polymath" -- basically, for a cost of 9 points, it deducts 2 points off the cost of every Science Skill.

I read the documentation on how to edit the XML template to change things. Considering the number of Skill Enhancers is fixed, I decided to use the "Standard Superhero" template for those that don't take 'Polymath' and use a 'Polymath Superhero' for those that do.

I created the 'Polymath.hdt' file and changed "Scientist" to the following (brackets have been changed so they'll show up on this posting):


SCIENCE


When chosing it from the drop-down list of Skill Enhancers, it displays "Polymath" -- check.

When added to the character, it costs 9 points -- check.

When Science Skills are added, they appear in a numbered list under 'Polymath' -- check.

BUT -- the cost of the skills is STILL only reduced by 1 (they still cost 2 each for INT-based versions)! What am I doing wrong?

Sorry if the mistake is an obvious and/or boneheaded one, but this is the first time I've tried to alter one of the templates. Any help/insight would be appreciated.

Oh, for the record, I'm using v1.46

[Edit]: Forgot to say that I've also tried opening/closing HD several times; I know from past experience sometimes updates, etc. don't take effect until you open/close/open again. Still no dice.

[Simon]

Looks like you've done everything right....there's just a bug in the code.

I've got it fixed now and will post an update early this week.

[Dr. Anomaly]

As always Dan, THANKS...your speed & service are UNMATCHED.

Any chance of v2 allowing us to add our own Skill Enhancers? That way, I could have "Scientist" and "Polymath" in the same template. Or would that make the code an impossible tangle?

[Simon]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
As always Dan, THANKS...your speed & service are UNMATCHED.

Any chance of v2 allowing us to add our own Skill Enhancers? That way, I could have "Scientist" and "Polymath" in the same template. Or would that make the code an impossible tangle?
Honestly, I'm not sure....I'll put it onto the list and see what I can do.

One of the things that I'll be doing once I'm done with all the basic architectural changes is to create "generic" entries in the templates for each of the ability types (Skills, Perks, Talents, Powers, etc)....alllowing you to create as many of your own types that you want. I will try to do the following for the Enhancers....offhand, I don't see any reason that it won't work....but I'll need to look into it in depth before I can say anything for sure.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Okay, Dan...thanks for considering it! Believe me, I'll understand if it doesn't work out. I am myself a programmer, though I'm only mildly acquainted with Java, so I don't really know what kind of pitfalls might lurk for such an endeavor.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Along the same lines, I've been wondering...in the Hero System, it's possible to buy Skill Levels like "+1 to all INT-Based Skills" with a cost of 5 points. Is there any (easy or do-able) way to make that sort of skill level add in automatically to the Skill roll displayed for INT-based skills? I often buy this sort of thing for characters, and am forever forgetting to add in their +1 or +2 bonus to what's shown for the Skill on the character sheet.

I realize I could just edit the HTML by hand before printing it out to make the skill roll reflect the Skill Level bonus (and am trying to make a habit of doing that due to my forgetfullness) but it would be nice to do it automatically. If possible. :)

[rjcurrie]

The problem with adding the pluses from skill levels into skill rolls is that they don't always apply. For example, if you have +1 with all INT-based skills and need to use two or more INT-based skills in a phase, you can only assign that +1 to one of the skills.

[Simon]

Originally posted by rjcurrie
The problem with adding the pluses from skill levels into skill rolls is that they don't always apply. For example, if you have +1 with all INT-based skills and need to use two or more INT-based skills in a phase, you can only assign that +1 to one of the skills.
Which is precisely the reason that the app doesn't add them in.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Y'know, I'd forgotten that little problem, since I don't ever recall having to have a character MAKE two different INT-based rolls in the same phase.

The point is taken, though. Consider the request withdrawn! :)

[Victor]

Just a thought, and I'm not sure if it's a good one or a bad one...

What about having a secondary value for skill rolls? i.e., one for the base roll, and one with all potentially applicable levels (and anything else) added.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Victor
Just a thought, and I'm not sure if it's a good one or a bad one...

What about having a secondary value for skill rolls? i.e., one for the base roll, and one with all potentially applicable levels (and anything else) added.
Because, with primary and secondary totals for your stats, there's already the potential to have two rolls for a Skill....any more just looks confusing.