My idea of a character generator would be for you the player to put in all the parameters, and the software would calculate every variable for you. Having to add up several bonuses every time you use a power gets old. Especially when you forget one that you should of applied last round.
Overall, I think the character generator is good, but it could be a lot better. My main gripe is the lack of support that your equipment/feats give to your calculated stats. For instance:
* No damage bonus from Bracers of Mighty Striking or Iron Armbands of Power
* No bonuses from Controlling Weapons (push), Tacticians armor, Battlestrider Greaves, or Rushing Cleats (push)
* Lacking options to list your attack/damage when you power attack, charge, get a critical hit, etc.
* Feats that modify existing class features or other feats are not calculated like Improved Resources or Spear Push.
If an item has a property that is active all the time, its bonuses should be included in the calculations if it is equipped. If not, you are still constantly calculating your to-hit/damage or have scribbles on your character sheet. Even if you wanted to edit the numbers in the character sheet to include these calculations, you can’t. They are read-only and generated solely from the software.
I will continue to use the character generator and hope that they improve it as time goes on. I fear now that it is ‘out’ only major bug fixes will be addressed, and the only real updates will be data sets added from DDI content. Any new features might be a long time coming.
Honclbrif
I guess my expectations were a little high for a thorough character generator. I have waited a long time for an 'official' character generator from a company that actually owns the game and not something that a fan whipped up.
My idea of a character generator would be for you the player to put in all the parameters, and the software would calculate every variable for you. Having to add up several bonuses every time you use a power gets old. Especially when you forget one that you should of applied last round.
Overall, I think the character generator is good, but it could be a lot better. My main gripe is the lack of support that your equipment/feats give to your calculated stats. For instance:
* No damage bonus from Bracers of Mighty Striking or Iron Armbands of Power
* No bonuses from Controlling Weapons (push), Tacticians armor, Battlestrider Greaves, or Rushing Cleats (push)
* Lacking options to list your attack/damage when you power attack, charge, get a critical hit, etc.
* Feats that modify existing class features or other feats are not calculated like Improved Resources or Spear Push.
If an item has a property that is active all the time, its bonuses should be included in the calculations if it is equipped. If not, you are still constantly calculating your to-hit/damage or have scribbles on your character sheet. Even if you wanted to edit the numbers in the character sheet to include these calculations, you can’t. They are read-only and generated solely from the software.
I will continue to use the character generator and hope that they improve it as time goes on. I fear now that it is ‘out’ only major bug fixes will be addressed, and the only real updates will be data sets added from DDI content. Any new features might be a long time coming.
Honclbrif
That's an absolutely valid concern, and I can assure you that as we continue to add new data from our published sources to the Character Builder (and eventually our other software), we will absolutely be including new enhancements and features along with bug fixes. Many of the issues you pointed out are already being considered. Thanks for the feedback and the input, we are doing what we can to bring you what you need! =)
Additional stuff is listed you have to add on your own when there are conditional modifiers (sneak attack/quarry/curse dice, battlerager bonus dmg, etc).
If there are some ALWAYS APPLIES modifiers that are dropped from the calculations, then these should be bug reported. E.g. Mighty Striking dmg is only on basic melee, so it might/should appear on that line of the character sheet but should not be included on any power card.
