Miscellanea

PCGen is a freeware D&D Third Edition character builder whose functionality has improved over the past couple years, yet it’s features have not.  It is a sun java based program, but that is a quick download (with broadband) and then PCGen is ready to be run.

The Beginning

Before lawyers or adherence to copyright laws were scrutinized PCGEN literally had almost everything by WOTC and other d20 publishers available.  Not all early releases were good, sometimes a user had to revert back to an old version because something in the new one did not work for a character (or not at all).  It has also had a good history of being updated and tracking bugs.  PCGen had lots of options from various d20 games and it was about a million times better than E-Tools.  E-Tools is the WOTC sponsored software that on the surface was functional but lacked any real depth of use or material.  It STILL is not as good a PCGEN was in its early days.

The Middle

As the early, pre 3.x versions of PCGEN went along the program was mired with speed issues as well.  This could be mitigated by limiting the source materials you were using, as each book data was garnered from could be loaded in or not.  For example if you wanted all of Monte Cooke’s stuff, load it in.  If you didn’t want information from Dragon Magazines, don’t load them from the frame on the main screen.  Simple.

Then shortly after this 3.0 release things changed.  All the non-OGL compliant material was stripped out of the program.  I am sure this is for legal reasons, but the program was still getting better performance wise and even with books like “Tome and Blood” not in the software it was still far superior to E-Tools.  It is also about 35 dollars cheaper (read free).

Currently

It looks like there is movement in the PCGen world for more updates out of the non-OGL material.  The developer Code Monkey will be doing this for both PCGen and E-Tools, so both products could have updates.  Even if this means a licensing scheme for PCGen it is a program I would pay money for if I had too (and it was not to spendy like E-Tools).  I personally use a downgraded version, but I do download the latest versions to see how it is progressing and also fiddle around with.

Using PCGen

            PCGen suffers like many free applications in that it is not the smoothest interface in the world.  However there is nothing bad about it either, it is just very functional.  There are a few irritating things that pop up from time to time. For example auto-loading all known spells, which can be irritating if you are not using that particular component of source material.

            There are skins to change the appearance of PCGen, I would not say any of them are special, but they do make the software look nicer.  Given this is a utility type of program this probably isn’t a big feature for many users.

            Being a long time user of PCGen there is always the issue of when the application is patched how that affects your character.  I have literally had to download a version in-between my old and new versions of the software then import my PC sequentially through so the newest version can recognize it.  Unfortunately now, like many PCGen users I am running a much lower version than what is available, as I would rather suffer through slower speeds for more d20 rules.  The data files are interchangeable from version 3.0.0 and lower so that is something to be aware of.  I am sure the data files could be tweaked for current versions of the software but I have not had any motivation to fiddle around with that.

Sometimes there are errors in the data files for specific classes (the Shujenja from Oriental Adventures is completely hosed).  The good news is the data files are text based and can be edited, and if you are lucky the bug will go away.  I managed to tweak the Shujenja so that it would work in PCGen, though it looked a little goofy in the program.  Specifically how that classes spells worked needed to be fixed and the only way to do that was to add spells to the generic spells known and not the school spells.  It looked goofy but it got around a bug that I knew would not be fixed (as it was version 2.6.x).  Also I was able, per the L5R d20 sourcebook change the domain attribute from charisma to wisdom for a water based Shujenja.

            Setting up PCGen is easy, sourcebooks can be selected as the user desires.  Selecting too many can (and will with older versions) slow the software down to a snail’s pace.  PCGen remembers your settings, so unless you need to add sourcebooks you will not have to do this again.  Also customized source files can be created if various sourcebooks are needed for different campaigns.

            Character creation is set up well and by the numbers.  Attributes can be bought or rolled, but modifying them once a character is set up can be tricky.  Sometimes feats are difficult to find because they are not cross indexed right.  For example a feat might be visible in the “pre-req” view but not in the “all” view.  There are also house rules settings that can be set, which are usually helpful when you need to retrofit a character you are working on,.  For example: adding a first level only feat, when you have just advanced through three levels for a new third level character. 

            PCGen is a great tool for GM’s too.  NPC’s can be churned out quickly and detailed from a game mechanics perspective.  Not only normal PC’s but monsters can be built in PCGen too, which I admit that I have not tinkered with that as much.

            Equipment is well done, though it can be burdensome to set up (all items can be carried, put into containers, etc).  Also magic items are well represented and equipped.  Better yet items can be customized in regards to materials, masterwork, magic, etc.  PCGen can also remember customized items, which is a nice tough when equipping lots of  NPC’s. This is one of my favorite things about PCGen. 

            After all the character creation is done another of my favorite features is the final output.  PCGen has a variety of outputs to choose from.  Some are simple, some are very detailed.  Your mileage may vary.  My personal favorite is dumping it into an html document.  Page breaks are formatted in for printing and it can be left on a webmail account for retrieval incase you forget it for a game session.

Synopsis

Even if PCGen has taken steps backwards in regards to source material, it has always improved itself in the programming department.  If the proposed deal with WotC goes through and even if PCGen should no longer be freeware, I would still pay a modest sum to use it.  Which I think is the highest praise that could be lavished on this product.