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Hero designer


Patriot

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I think it has its hits and misses. It lacks some abilities and output options, in my opinion, of HC and in its favor... um. It works with 5th ed without a new template? The extra things it does offer are not things I have found a need for (in fact, I couldn't even name them... I'm taking the word of other people that it does have more).

 

The dynamic lists of modifiers are a roadblock to more creative ideas if you're not a "rules in stone" type forcing you to use generic items which just sprawl text all over the character sheet. You can fix it if you go in and edit a HTML output, but it appears it can't be done on the output templates, themselves (also with lack of abbreviation and lots of extra data crammed in there. I feel it crams the templates with way too much info - some people may prefer that, though).

 

For example (and this isn't evena rules in stone example), I tried to create a list with a linked option... but lists don't offer it. So I either have to add linked to each power (invalidating the use of the list, in this instance) or toss on the generic lim (which generates a line and a half or more text for the more attractive templates).

 

Lastly, some of the nicer templates just print horribly if you are heavy in a category like skills. Rather than a new page, restarting the columns and etc, it's more like you have a reeeal long sheet of paper that is simply cut in the middle (which is what it is, really). I have a couple characters that I'd never print out on HD because they would look terrible. Better to use a HC 5th template or just handwrite the thing.

 

Also, because of the dynamic nature of everything, I find it works pretty slow in comparison (just how the code works) the inability to see multiple tabs (skills and powers, etc), and the requirement to open up many features (like martial arts) just to see costs makes the overall experience a much slower one, in my opinion.

 

Perhaps minor nitpicks for some but you do lose some functionality in the end, in my opinion. Perhaps as more templates become available (so you can cutomize all skills on one sheet or all powers or whatnot) some of these issues will go away... but that seems to be in the realm of fan made stuff.

 

Anyway, those are some of the faults I find with it. If they don't sound like they'd be an issue for you, then by all means, it'll work just fine for you. I wish I had some improvements to applaud so this doesn't sound like pure bashing but, unfortunately, I can't think of any (although you can use a jpg image instead of a bmp image in the image field). Your beta participation probably made you aware of many of these issues so, ultimately, you probably have a pretty good opinion on it all.

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I like the program very much, but it does have flaws. The fact that it does not print character sheets like CW does is annoying. Granted you have plenty of export choices, but if you want a character sheet printed in that style the only way to get it is to have it export to a webpage format, and then print that out. If it is a long character, or one with an origin attached, then the pages do not print properly. But if you are willing to use some of the other templates, and do not really care if you get a "character sheet" style printout, then that gripe is unimportant. Hopefully that will be changed for version 2.0 though.

 

The only other problem with the program is memory usage. If you only have 128 MB of RAM, the program will creep if you have a large character. Even at 256 MB the program is slow. On my 1.8 Gig 256 MB computer I have actually had the Dr. Destroyer character sheet freeze up on me when I was making it. I do not have this problem at all on my 512 MB computer though.

 

Having said all that, I could not live without my copy of Hero Designer. It saves me a great deal of time when flipping through FREd trying to find the cost of something. If I were going to grade it I would give it a B. A good attempt, and very functional, but still needed some tweaking to make me completely happy. :)

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I really like the program itself,but tend to agree with the output issue's. I have an older 450 computer with 256ram so it tends to run slow,but then alot of things do on my computer!

I'd have to say it was a well spent $40 bucks for me.

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