I am proud to intorduce Goathead Games DM Minion, a DM Assistant tool.
Use this tool to help track all of the conditions and details of a D&D 4E encounter.
Download the software and documentation at this link goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
Software required .NET 3.5 SP1
Any comments or request are more than welcome!
I played around with this for a bit outside of an acutal session and I like what I see so far. A few suggestions I have are:
For the case of "Misdirected Mark" from a Bard, it would be nice if there was an easier way to have someone other than the current turn taker mark someone. Also, if the current turn taker is marked due to provoked opportunity actions this would help. Currently you have to advance to the other player/creature's turn, then mark who you want, then go back.
I like the simplicity of the current method for marking, as it is the most common case, but if you double clicked, or right clicked the mark button, it would be nice to change who it is from.
More buttons for things like Hunter's Quarry, and the Avenger's enmity (not sure what that last one is called), or, the ability to add buttons on the fly and call them whatever you want. I have one player who can add a quarry, a mark, a divine sanction, and a divine challenge all in different combinations.
I'd also like an option to keep monster groups on the same base initiative. For example, I usually roll a single initiative for each type of monster in the combat: one for the Orc leader, one for his 5 minions, one for the orc wizard, and one for his two bodyguards. While it is nice to keep them separate after the action starts, so one can delay and not the rest (not to mention hit point and condition tracking), it would be neat to keep them all in a group initially. This would mean sharing an initiative roll.
Also, an option to auto number them instead of letter like this:
Name: Orc Axebiter
Label: Orc Guard
Auto Number? [checkbox]
And they would be labeled
Orc Guard 1
Orc Guard 2
Orc Guard 3
Etc.
It may be quite some time before I can test this at the table, but I’ll keep toying around with it to see if there is anything else I can think of for suggestions.
brax, thanks for the suggestions. I'll see what i can do to accomodate.
Grab the latest from the origianl post.
Added Hunters Quarry button
Added Oath of Emnity button
Mark/Curse/Quarry/Oath now asks for whom did the marking, defaulting to the current actors turn.
Added Auto Number option to the add monsters dialog
I will work on adding the grouped initiative and period damage ticks.
Thanks for the feedback!
Added Hunters Quarry button
Added Oath of Emnity button
Mark/Curse/Quarry/Oath now asks for whom did the marking, defaulting to the current actors turn.
Added Auto Number option to the add monsters dialog
I will work on adding the grouped initiative and period damage ticks.
Hey thanks. I'll nab this and take it to the table today. I'm not DMing this time, but I'll shadow along to see if this would help our group. I'll collect some feedback from the group for you, too.
Added option to add a numberic value to conditions
Periodic and Regen now auto add/deduct HP based on condition value set (only occurs once per turn)
The Combat file menu now has a check box for 'Single Initiative Roll by Monster Name', if this is checked when starting combat monsters with the same name get a single initiative roll). Monsters added after combat with a same name get thier own initiative.
Grab it from the link above!
The second link you posted is dead.
Download site is back up.
The second link you posted is dead.Download site is back up.
Actually, both links are giving me 404's...
ok, they are pointing to the the right place now, sorry for the the screw up.
I'll be testing this on thursday evening (CST) let you know how it goes.
I look forward to your feedback!
I have a few suggestions after play testing with this at the table. Again, I was mirroring what we were doing with other processes, and I was not the DM at this session, so keep in mind I didn't have all the information the DM is normally privy to.
A way to manually enter the initiative number for a monster or character after combat starts (say, through the edit screen) might be useful. This was suggested by one of the other players who was bothered by the fact that, though all the PCs and Monsters were in the correct order on the (remote) screen, having a bad number next to that was distracting.
A way to save the PCs info, like saving an encounter, would be most helpful. Stopping play to ask what everyone’s max hit points, passive perception, and passive insight is was disrupting. Of course it was my fumbling with the program that caused me to need to do this, so it may be less of a problem in the future.
We ended the session in the middle of a combat, and so it might be nice to save things in mid combat, too.
Regarding the new feature of adding a numeric value to conditions: is this for damage totals on ongoing effects, or for indicating multiple sources of the same effect? I ask because we had 3 different sometimes overlapping sources that dazed and it was a tricky to disable and re-enable dazed with different end conditions each round for multiple PCs.
My overall impressions of the program are: It is simple and relatively intuitive to use, though at paragon tier play, there is so much going on condition wise, that it still takes some time to get up to speed with it. I like it and will use it when I DM.
A way to manually enter the initiative number for a monster or character after combat starts (say, through the edit screen) might be useful. This was suggested by one of the other players who was bothered by the fact that, though all the PCs and Monsters were in the correct order on the (remote) screen, having a bad number next to that was distracting.
Just to clarify that this is when using delaying or drag/drop to delay after combat is started? The initiative does not change?
A way to save the PCs info, like saving an encounter, would be most helpful. Stopping play to ask what everyone’s max hit points, passive perception, and passive insight is was disrupting. Of course it was my fumbling with the program that caused me to need to do this, so it may be less of a problem in the future.
I will add this to the todo list.
We ended the session in the middle of a combat, and so it might be nice to save things in mid combat, too.
I will add this to the todo list.
Regarding the new feature of adding a numeric value to conditions: is this for damage totals on ongoing effects, or for indicating multiple sources of the same effect? I ask because we had 3 different sometimes overlapping sources that dazed and it was a tricky to disable and re-enable dazed with different end conditions each round for multiple PCs.
Currently, each player can only have a condtion from a single source active at a time, so yes it would be a total. I was under the impresstion that the latest effect, such a daze, get overridden when applied mutiple times. Although I just read the ongoing damage rules and there can be mutiples from different sources. I will do some thinking on the best way to add the ability to add mutiple conditions for a single actor.
My overall impressions of the program are: It is simple and relatively intuitive to use, though at paragon tier play, there is so much going on condition wise, that it still takes some time to get up to speed with it. I like it and will use it when I DM.
Im glad that you like it so far! your feedback has been great. I don't get to play much so I don't always get to use it in action much. I'll see what i can do to make the condition managment process easier.
Looks very promising, I especially like the single click icons to add effects.
Important things I'd like to see:
1) Damage and Healing each need function just like the other effects with an Icon in the same area as Mark, etc
2) Show Defenses (AC/Fort/Ref/Will) in the primary display (maybe a toggle to show on secondary)
3) Dead monsters need to be moved to the bottom of the dispplay
4) Ability to change a PC's (or group of monsters initiative roll) after rolling Init (reorder by dragging would be nice)
5) Buffer actions taken so that if you click 'Last Combatant' it will "Undo" what that combatant just did.
6) Ability to save PC's and load PC's separate from the encounter (would make the encounters re-usable)
7) Make Icons easier to see, especially when the pc/monster is selected
8) Select multiple targets with Ctrl-Click or Shift-Click
those are the biggies.
Others things I'd like to see
1) Ability to create a PC entry from the Character Builder Text summary
2) Ability to create a Monster entry from Monster Builder rich text export
3) Track surges max/used
4) I'd like to be able to toggle the name visible on the secondary display, in other words…
1:What you see at First Glance, 2:After a closer look, 3:After a successfull Lore Check
(for example):
1:Small humanoid, 2:Small natural humanoid (reptile), 3:Kobold Slinger(Lvl 1 Artillery)
1:Large magical beast, 2:Large natural magical beast (dragon), 3:Adult Blue Dragon(Lvl 13 Solo Artillery)You would need to be able to change this during combat
Icing on the Cake
1) include at-wills, encounter, and daily powers in the character entrys
2) ability to save party after fight is done. (Help tracking what powers/surges/etc have been used)
A way to manually enter the initiative number for a monster or character after combat starts (say, through the edit screen) might be useful. This was suggested by one of the other players who was bothered by the fact that, though all the PCs and Monsters were in the correct order on the (remote) screen, having a bad number next to that was distracting.
Just to clarify that this is when using delaying or drag/drop to delay after combat is started? The initiative does not change?
This is when using drag/drop after combat has started and new monsters have been added to the encounter, which were not there to start with. I'll play around with it more to give you some specifics.
1) Damage and Healing each need function just like the other effects with an Icon in the same area as Mark, etc
What makes the Damage and Healing windows less effective than doing this?
4) Ability to change a PC's (or group of monsters initiative roll) after rolling Init (reorder by dragging would be nice)
After combat is started you can reorder by drag/drop or use of the delay button. Although the initiative value does not change, the actors position in the combat order will, are you looking for more than that?
8) Select multiple targets with Ctrl-Click or Shift-Click
on which dialog? and why?
1) Ability to create a PC entry from the Character Builder Text summary
2) Ability to create a Monster entry from Monster Builder rich text export
Import from the ddi file or adventure tools is on feature roadmap.
4) I'd like to be able to toggle the name visible on the secondary display, in other words…
This is kinda possible now via the edit button in the combatant row, at anytime you can use the edit button to manually modify the label (what is on the remote view) OR the name of a monster. How would you envision this working?
1) include at-wills, encounter, and daily powers in the character entrys
You want to do this for monsers, pcs or both?
Show Defenses (AC/Fort/Ref/Will) in the primary display (maybe a toggle to show on secondary)
Dead monsters need to be moved to the bottom of the dispplay
Buffer actions taken so that if you click 'Last Combatant' it will "Undo" what that combatant just did.
Ability to save PC's and load PC's separate from the encounter (would make the encounters re-usable)
Make Icons easier to see, especially when the pc/monster is selected
Track surges max/used
ability to save party after fight is done. (Help tracking what powers/surges/etc have been used)
Added to the feature roadmap for future development
D&D sorely needs a robust combat tracker with all the tactical checkpoints throughout encounters. That's truly at the heart of the massive slowdown in combat and the overlong 60 minute average encounter.
Good work and thanks!
P.S. I second Malph's hot key request just above. Maybe page up and page down for moving through initiative?
looks ok but i prefer masterplan
Ragvar, thank you for the feedback.
1) Damage and Healing each need function just like the other effects with an Icon in the same area as Mark, etc
What makes the Damage and Healing windows less effective than doing this?
Your current way creates a second redundant list of targets in the pop-up window. Both lists of targets are cluttered with dead mobs. To me, it makes more sense to select the targets in the primary window. See more on this later in post.4) Ability to change a PC's (or group of monsters initiative roll) after rolling Init (reorder by dragging would be nice)
After combat is started you can reorder by drag/drop or use of the delay button. Although the initiative value does not change, the actors position in the combat order will, are you looking for more than that?
Actually the way you are doing it looks fine, I was getting hung up on the initiative number8) Select multiple targets with Ctrl-Click or Shift-Click
on which dialog? and why?
I believe that it makes more sense to select targets in the primary window. (See healing/damage above) If I select three targets then click on any icon(mark, slow, damage, etc) that effect should be applied to all the targets
1) Ability to create a PC entry from the Character Builder Text summary
2) Ability to create a Monster entry from Monster Builder rich text export
Import from the ddi file or adventure tools is on feature roadmap.
4) I'd like to be able to toggle the name visible on the secondary display, in other words..
This is kinda possible now via the edit button in the combatant row, at anytime you can use the edit button to manually modify the label (what is on the remote view) OR the name of a monster. How would you envision this working?
It looked to me like I had to edit each instance of the monster separately, and the results seemed buggy (not unexpected in a betaBeing able to select multiple combatants would help. I had envisioned parsing the name and description strings passed by the Monster Builder to Create these automatically, but thats low on the list of "Icing on the Cake"
1) include at-wills, encounter, and daily powers in the character entrys
You want to do this for monsers, pcs or both?
PC's mostly, but both would be nice.
I think i see the bug in the name update, where it would remove itself from the remote view, because the option state was not loading propery on an edit, I fixed that it will be available in the next build. As far as the name edit, yes currently it has to be done for each monster.
Hot keys for functions like adding/subtracting HP and moving through the Initiative list would be...well...hot. It might increase speed a bit.
Added to the roadmap
goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
New Features:
Save
Encounters can now be saved in any state to preserve combat state, just PCs, or
just Monsters.
Dice bag has been added for dice based random
numbers.
PC & Monsters can
now have AC, Fort, Reflex, and Will defenses added, these are diplayed on the
Main Window.
Conditon icon opacity has been modified to make
icons easier to see.
PCs now have a max
surge value that can be set.
Healing and Damage window now has a
check box that determines if surge is used when healing is
done.
Combat menu now has a command to reset all used surges to
0.
Max surges / Used Surges are now displayed in the Main
Window.
As far as powers go, I'm looking for just a name (Color coded for at-will, encounter, etc.) for PC and Monsters. Selectable to indicate it's been used.
Thanks again for the hard work.
New 1.5 Beta build has been uploaded.
Add these features:
Condition, Healing, Damage, and Temp HP application has been redone to work off
the main view. Keypresses added to make application easier. See documentation
for details.
Next and Last Button are now linked to PageDown and Page Up.
For a full 1.5 Beta feature list and download go here: goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
it is available here goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
Changes
Updated how the selected stuff works to be a bit easier. Documentation is updated to expain this,
basically now you click a condition on a selected combatant to update for each selected, clicking on an unselected combatants condition updates him as the selected combatant and will only effect him. I made this change because in my testing i hated have to select and then click the condition. Now you get single clicks and flexibilty.
Also added an about dialog with version/build number so you can be sure you have the latest!
Also did some refactoring with the condition toggling to make it easier to maintain.
few more documentation updates/
New Feature
power tracking for PC's and Monsters
Can wait to test your new features.
I have reorded the defenses to match the source materials. Grab the latest build.
Nice looking program.
I haven't seen anybody mention this so far. I'd like to see the log files fleshed out a bit. Can you add the source to the log file? And maybe a marker for the Start of the combatant's turn?
It might look something like:
======Start of Round 1======
---Start of Bob's turn---
Bob hits Kobold 1 for 10 points
Bob Marks Kobold 1
---Start of Kobold 1's turn---
Kobold 1 Hits Bob for 5 points
=====Start of Round 2======
...
With markers like those in the log I can do some parsing and generate things like total damage taken, highest damage round, etc.
Thanks Placharec, i will try and get the logging touched up a bit.
New Features
Players can now be imported using DND4E files from the Official Character builder.
Logging has been enhanced and there is now an option to show log on the remote view.
goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
Monster Import comming next!
Also added a few more things to the PC for DM visibility: level, class, race, gender, Height, Weight, Align ment, Diety, and Ability Scores.
We will also keep that page up to date with new features!
Would like to see the Damage/Heal slider as a floating-always-on-top box that I could positioon elsewhere. I don't care for it being at the bottom.
goatheadsoftware.com/dm-minion.html
This will be the last 1.5 release pending any bug fixes from the community. I am starting 2.0 which will include a UI overhaul and other great features.
New Features
You can now import .Monster XML from the offline Adventure tools
There is now an option to make the damage/Healing slider and a floatable window
Added some screen shots of 2.0 UI overhaul to the facebook page! swing by and check them out!
goatheadsoftware.com