morepurplemorebetter
patreon
The Mystic! But, how to add Psionic Disciplines?
🕑 Added 2017-03-14 11:24:28 +0000 UTC I'm just going to skip this week's poll to ask you what feature you would like to see added next, because I can guess your answer: The Mystic.However, the Mystic is a large UA article, with all the subclasses, psionic disciplines and psionic talents. So, please don't expect me to tackle this one fully in a short time scale. I can probably do a quick release today/tomorrow that includes the Mystic, as long as it doesn't need to include the psionic disciplines.
The psionic disciplines are something completely new that none of the other classes has. It basically is a class feature that grants you a certain number of choices, similar to the Warlock Invocations, but the amount of explanatory text and options per discipline is unprecedented.
I can do them the same way as other optional choices for classes and put them on the third page (e.g. Warlock Invocations), but there really isn't enough space to put 10 psionic disciplines -and- 4 psionic talents in that section.
Thus, the question I have for you is:
How would you like to see the psionic disciplines be handled by the sheet?
EDIT: By selecting either of the "Just get the mystic out ASAP!" options, I will have the sheet include the psionic disciplines as an option to be put on the third-page notes section, but without the disciplines having any descriptions.
EDIT2: Some people are suggesting to making a new page just for class features or for all of these type of 'extra' class features that are now going to the third page's notes section.
Although I really appreciate your suggestions and I don't want to take away from your input on this project, I do want to explain why that wouldn't work as an end-all future-proof remedy.
If, for example, I would make a page that is solely dedicated to class features, that page would need to have a single, big, multi-line text field where all the class features would go into, as Acrobat doesn't make it possible to detect if a field is full, so the automation will never be able to take anything that is overflowing in a field and move it to another field. Then, this field will only be a bit longer than the current class feature field. Meaning that there still will be a lot of multiclassing scenarios where this field will overflow, all the while having a character sheet that is less aesthetic and less practical.
If, in another example, I would have the sheet no longer use the notes section on the third page and instead make a dedicated page for these kind of overflow class features, it would have the exact some problems as mentioned in the above example. The page would be a single, big text field, which would only come in handy for those multiclassing scenarios where you suddenly need a lot of space for these kind of 'extra' features.
My suggested work-around for both these problems is to have you simply take a good look at your generated character and move the text to your desired location. This is the entire reason that the sheet is editable and WYSIWYG, so that the automation doesn't 'force' you to adhere to any kind of standard, while keeping everything working smoothly for any single-classed character.
Again, I don't want to diminish your desire to make suggestions, as I read all of them! I just feel that this discussion has gotten a bit off track and given some of you the idea that there is a simply fix for these kind of questions for the future by making a page with a single multi-line text field.
Comments
Karsten Jackson
I emailed MPMB with the following idea, along with a sample javascript code to demonstrate what I mean, and they are looking into it. Sharing here for everyone else: I have an idea for the Mystic discipline design issue: you could display only the text for the "Psychic Focus" section of the Discipline under the Class Features/Notes section, and then add a bonus spell (with class limitation of "Mystic" only) for each of the Discipline Abilities, with their Psi cost as the spellcasting component and/or spell level (and displayed as At Will in the left hand column). That way you can treat the discipline abilities as a form of psionic "spell", for the purpose of displaying in a readable way (4+ spells per added Discipline, representing each of the abilities). You could even add a spellcasting school of "Psionics" specifically for these "spells". In an ideal world you could potentially create a whole new section within the spellcasting page for Psionic spells (instead of Cantrips, Spell Level 1, Spell Level 2, etc), but looking at the javascript code I can see how this would become very complicated to generate, especially when multiclassing with an actual spellcasting class. The idea I had for this was to add an additional spellcasting level (0-10, instead of 0-9, with Level 10 being labelled “Psionics”), but I would imagine this may impact the core coding for existing spellcasting classes in some way, and would need extensive testing.
Gawain Ouronos
I, personally, like the idea of all of that information being on a separate sheet. I also second the motion that instead of using the Third Sheet for character class overflow, to create a new sheet for all character class information. This way we don't run into similar issues with multi-classes, custom information, or future potential addon/changes. Just my two cents.
Dagnir78 (Mark)
That's what I voted for
MorePurpleMoreBetter
If you want that, please select the option "Add a special page just for the psionic disciplines", because that is exactly what will happen then, a custom 'spell list' sheet made for psionic disciplines.
Dagnir78 (Mark)
Just make it a custom spell list sheet.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Having descriptions in a mouse-over text is really only applicable if each discipline has its own field, for otherwise you will get a mouse-over dialogue that is bigger than your screen (i.e. unreadable).
MorePurpleMoreBetter
The problem with this is that the sheet doesn't 'know' when a field is full or not. There is no way to check for that using JavaScript. So I can only add all things of a certain kind to another field, or none. And I can't have those things divide themselves over multiple fields either, if those fields are just multiline text fields just like those on the Notes pages. So all I can do is have everything go into a single field on a notes page. This is why I added it as one of the options in the poll: "Put the psionic disciplines on a notes pages."
Mark Wilkins
Jeffrey Muller and Bobby Byrne are onto good ideas. Make a page that it only set up (kind of like spell sheets) when the class features are so extensive that they call for it. The Mystic would be one such class, but so too would be /u/Zarieth's Witch class with its Bound Spirits. Most of the time they would be hidden, but would be used when needed.
Luna
You could have the disciplines listed by name only and their text in hover if it's not too obnoxious to read that way. Otherwise any of the suggestions to add them to another page or a notes page sound great.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Do you perhaps mean the third page instead of the full notes page? As the Warlock Invocations go to the third page, where the magic items and extra equipment and rules/feats reside. Making a page that fits class features from multiple classes will be very tricky, because they all have variable length of descriptions. Thus, I can't make a page that has nice separate boxes for every class feature, as that will only fit one or two classes, not all. Variable heights of graphic elements is not an option in Acrobat, unfortunately. So, ruling out that option, I would be stuck with a big multi-line 'notes' section to put these class features on, or exactly what I have now ;)
Jeffrey Muller
My use of this project is rather limited. I use it to create my players' sheets, then print it out for them to use. Therefore, the full notes page is always removed/hidden when creating a character. How hard would it be to change that page to a Disciplines/Invocations/Multiple class feature page? A page that is created upon choosing the Mystic Class, the Warlock Class, or even a Second Class (Multi-Class).
MorePurpleMoreBetter
This is a very good suggestion! Unfortunately I can't edit the poll, but I will do what you suggest if the outcome is to "Just get the mystic out ASAP!"
Jeremy Horn
What about doing it like the warlock ,but instead of adding the explanatory text just add the name.
Bobby Byrne
This would make it more useful for all classes and multiclassing, and not just Mystics.
Bobby Byrne
I know this suggestion is likely the longest to develop, but since we're already overflowing into the third page for many classes and definitely for multiclassing, maybe have an alternative layout to the second page, which is completely dedicated to class features. Then push the rest of the second page to a new third, with something to replace the class feature section.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
6 archetypes ;) I thought about putting the disciplines on the spell sheet, but this just won't work because the size of the description field on the spell pages. Those simply can't hold the amount of text you need to describe a discipline.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
2MB is quite a lot for the Printer Friendly version, which is currently 5.7 MB, but not so much for the 26 MB colourful versions. The page will be custom-made for the disciplines, so probably not so applicable to future additions of similar things, unless those things also cost Psi Points, belong to a discipline, have a special Psychic Focus ability.
Alex
There are what... 8 archetypes in there... As to the disciplines, I figure they're like spells and can be handled in a similar way. But I wouldn't bust my chops on this if I'm completely honest. I'd get the main class in for now, it's all play-test material.
Seika
2MB ain't that much these days. Yeah, it'll run a bit slower because Reader's fussy, but I reckon it's worth it to make everything work cleanly. And it means there's something in place in case they pull a similar sort of thing again.
