About Conditions

(Go back to Conditions Editor ) This help topic is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Gaming License v1.0a .

Conditions are what make DM Genie great for helping run battles in-game. There are several general conditions, and numerous conditions that apply for spell effects or psionic powers. To set a condition for one or more creatures, use the Condition Setter .

You can also create new conditions or customize those that already exist, using the Conditions Editor . This document explains the various modifiers that a condition can have. If the condition has no effect, the default value is 0 – neither a bonus nor a penalty. Self-explanatory entries are not listed.

Keep in mind when creating conditions that they each condition can have only a single effect, which is the same for all creatures who have the condition. If a spell gives 1d4 points of Strength, you must create 4 different conditions, each giving from one to 4 points of Strength.

-          Def. Melee: The Melee Attack Bonus for an attacker if the creature is the defender. This affects the creature's ACM and ACR, the effective AC versus Melee attacks and the effective AC versus Ranged attacks. These are displayed in the Creature List . For example, according to the official rules, someone attacking a prone character gets +4 to his attack roll when in Melee. In DM Genie, the attack rolls are made without a need to specify the target. Hence, the effective AC versus Melee allows you to know whether an attacker has hit the prone creature, without having to specify the target on every attack. This makes it much easier to track attack bonuses, because they are always the same no matter who the target is.

-          Def. Ranged: Same as Def. Melee but for ranged attacks.

-          Att. Melee: The melee attack bonus for this creature with this condition.

-          Att. Ranged: The ranged attack bonus for this creature with this condition.

-          Save Bonuses: These stack.

-          Ability Bonus: Applies to ability checks only. Stacks.

-          Mod. Ability Score: Modifier to each ability score. Stacks.

-          New Ability Score: The score indicated here replaces the previous score. Modifiers to ability scores from other conditions are ignored. A value of –1 means keep the previous score. Never apply two conditions that give different values for “New [Abil]” because the one applied will be chosen basically at random.

-          Skill Bonus: Bonus to all skill checks

-          Spec. Skill Bonus: Bonus or penalty that applies to only specific skills (see below).

-          Spec. Skill Name: Skill list for Spec. Skill Bonus. There can be more than one, separated by commas. Use 'ARMORCHECK' to mean all skills with an armor check penalty. Use 'CHA' for example to mean all charisma-based skills.

-          Detailed Skill: A detailed list of skill bonuses or penalties, of the format: "Spot +1, Listen –2, Climb +4". Make sure the skills are spelled correctly.

-          AC Bonuses: There are several different types of AC bonuses that can be applied. Except for General and Dodge, bonuses within a same type do not stack – only the best one applies. Bonuses from each different type stack together.

-          AC Natural Armor: This bonus stacks with regular or magical armor bonuses. It does not stack, however, with the character's permanent natural armor bonus as recorded in the Armor, Shield box of the AC frame in the Combat Statistics Frame . Note that the Armor, Shield box shows the total of shield, armor and permanent natural armor.

-          AC Armor: Magical armor bonus to AC. Does not stack with the character's Armor and Shield – but it does stack with all natural armor bonuses. For example, Mage Armor and a breastplate do not stack, but Mage Armor and Barkskin do stack.

-          AC General: Use this for any peculiar or unnamed type of AC bonus that does not fit with the other categories. It thus stacks with all others due to its uniqueness.

-          Max Dex: Reduces a player's dex bonus to AC.

-          Check Penalty: Reduces certain skills' bonus.

-          Damage Bonus: Bonus or penalty to all attacks' damage rolls. Stacks.

-          Damage Melee: Applies only to melee attacks.

-          Damage Ranged: Applies only to ranged attacks.

-          DR and DR Amount: Amount of hp absorbed; and the type of weapon that overcomes the DR. For example, DR 5/magic is DR "magic" and DR Amount "5".

-          Resistance Amount: Resistance from an environmental or other kind of damage, in hp of damage absorbed per round.

-          Resistance Type: Type of damage the Resistance Amount applies to (like acid, cold, etc.).

-          Spell Fail.: Spell failure incurred. Spell failure from armor and shield is cumulative, so it is assumed that spell failure from conditions is cumulative as well (and thus could exceed 100%, but it is clipped to 100%).

-          Init Modifier: Modifier to initiative rolls.

-          Temp. hp: Temporary hit points. Can be a dice string like “1d8”. This is ignored for this version of DM Genie, but is included as a reminder and for future compatibility.

-          Level Loss: Number of negative levels gained (so the number is positive). This is ignored for this version of DM Genie, but is included as a reminder and for future compatibility.

-          Save vs. Fear: Bonus to all saves that apply only when avoiding a fear-type effect.

-          Notes: These are various notes that the DM should know when the condition is active. This can explain additional effects that are not calculated, or specific circumstances in which the condition does not apply. These are displayed in the Conditions Frame .

-          Lose Dex: The creature loses its Dex bonus to AC, as well as any dodge bonuses.

-          Can Act Partial: Can do partial actions.

-          Can Act Full: Can make full actions or double-move actions.

-          Only Move: The creature's only possible action is movement.

-          Spell, Power and Item Cond: The condition is used for a spell, a psionic power or and item. General conditions such as prone should not be in any of these categories, even if a spell can give the condition of prone. This is used by the “Show Spell/Power/Item Conditions” checkboxes in the Condition Setter and the Conditions Editor .

-          Locked: This condition is needed internally by DM Genie and cannot be deleted. These include all the common conditions described in the DMG. You may however change the effect of a condition, for example you may give a blinded creature a –4 penalty to AC instead of –2. You cannot change the name of any these conditions. You cannot change the Locked property of any condition.

-          Hidden: This condition will not be listed in the Notes column of the combat log, or in the condition list in the Combat Statistics Frame and the Conditions Frame . However, it will be displayed in the Condition Setter . This is useful for semi-permanent conditions, which you don't need to see in the conditions list all the time.

-          Replace Abil Only If Higher: If the New Str (dex, etc.) property is set, the old Str score will be replaced by the new one. However, if this box is checked, the old score will only be replaced if it results in an improvement (e.g. Divine Power gives 18 str, but if you already have 20 str you keep 20)

-          Spell Slot: Modifier to the number of spell slots for a particular spellcasting class and level. The Name of the modifier is "Spell Slot", and the Subname is to be set to the class abbreviation, followed by the spell level (for instance, "Wiz 3" or "Clr 0"). A Spell Slot modifier is generated automatically for high relevant ability scores.





Documentation for DM Genie and Player Genie, page Conditions_About. Copyright © Mad Scientist Studios, 2006.
Help Contents   |   DM Genie home page
Click here if you cannot see the table of contents on the left