CMP is adding data sets all the time, and they are working If I recall correctly on a NEW version of E-tools, written from the ground up, but that is a long-term project.
In BOTH programs, you can customize the data - you COULD enter those splatbooks yourself - but you are paying CMP for the service of buying these things already typed in and done, and they are licensed IP, too, so you get the complete stuff without having bare-bones SRD stripped rules. 5 splatbooks they sell in a bundle for $10.00.
For instance, the old Sword& FIst/Tome & blood/ Defenders of the faith/ etc. Each data set is reasonably cheap, about $1.50 to $5.00 per book, depending on the book's size, and they do sell bundles for related books. You can buy data sets for E-tools, you can buy data sets for PCGen, OR you can buy bundles of both. These data sets are made by CMP, licensed from WotC, and contain the ACTUAL rules stuff (you'll get bigby's hand spells, you'll get yuan-ti, etc.). If you want anything BUT the core rules, you need to buy data sets from Codemonkey publishing. PCGen has the 3.5 SRD (not yet on the new psionics 3.5 rules, they are working on it) built-in, but these are NOT the 3.5 core rules, they are what is in the SRD (which is to say, that's the 99% of the rules stuff that's not considered intellectual property).
#PCGEN UPDATE UPDATE#
Both are excellent D&D/d20 actively supported Char-gens as well as DM tools, but have the disadvantages of not having a D&D license for IP a la Codemonkey.Į-Tools originally supported 3E, not 3.5 I THINK, but am unsure, that the 3.5 core rules are IN E-tools if you update them now. I would also be remiss if I left out Luke Jones' Roleplaying Master software, and Chris (can't remember last names worth a darn) Twin Rose Campaign Suite. are good guys, and they support the package. Its interface was even designed by Fluid, before the project was almost scrapped and sold. If you want something on the line of the old 3E Fluid Entertainment generator, go with E-tools. Plus, I have both an investment in quite a few datasets nowadays, and I have much more familiarity customizing the data files with PCGen than I do with E-tools. It's not perfect, but it's good and cheap, which satisfies my requirements. Porkrind has it very well described I prefer PCGen myself, but that's mainly because it supports other d20 games besides D&D. You might as well as which sports team is better you'll get vehement support from both sides.
#PCGEN UPDATE SOFTWARE#
Software for P&P RPG gaming is a niche market, so unless you want to try out one of the many equally bad 3rd party programs available out there, E-Tools (Windows-only, fairly easy to use) and PCGen (more robust game support, cross-platorm, butt-ugly UI) are what you've got. I can crank out characters much faster in E-Tools than in PCGen. If you don't need the more esoteric gaming modes, E-Tools will probably have a less severe learning curve. Neither programs are particularly spectacular, often buggy, and the datasets you'll purchase are frequently incomplete.
If you want support for D20 Modern or Monte's Arcana Unearthed stuff, and can stomach PCGen's craptacular java UI, you'll probably want it. If you're just creating standard characters and monsters from the main WotC sources, either will probably do. Actually, I don't think its even legal to distribute datasets you create for stuff you've make up yourself, so don't expect to find much on the web anymore.
#PCGEN UPDATE CODE#
Oh, and with regards to the dataset thing, if you don't have a ton of extra time and/or don't want to learn Access programming or a proprietary text file format, you're going to be buying datasets from the same company - Code Monkey Publishing. I think E-Tools is slightly less buggy than PCGen, but PCGen has come a long way in the last couple of years. There are some things you just can't do in E-Tools because it would involve not only database modifications but also code changes. Because of this, I think PCGen can handle the variety of different D20 games out there a bit better than E-Tools. E-Tools uses an Access database for game data, while PCGen uses a proprietary text file format for datasets.
E-Tools only runs on Windows, so if you're a Linux/OSX geek, you might like PCGen better. I currently use E-Tools because I prefer its UI to that of PCGen.
0 kommentar(er)
