General usage

The package you downloaded includes three sample party/encounter files. These files define the combatants that are taking part of the battle. These are simple XML files, you can copy and modify them to setup your encounters.

To load one of these files simply select menu: File > Load Party; choose one of the files and click open. As an example load party.xml and enc-c1.xml. All combatants will be in Reserve, until you roll initiative.

The Party Files contain multiple entries. Each entry may have an ID attribute. This is used to identify that combatant. The monster do not need them, these IDs will be generated automatically (they will be numbers). If the ID matches one that is already loaded, the new definitions will over-write the previous one. For Characters the IDs should be unique, and will ensure, that they can’t be overwritten (I use letter, or initials, as character IDs).

Mid battle screenshot

Once the parties have been loaded you can select menu: Combat > Start Combat. This will bring up a window that allows you to change the Initiative Bonus (Init column) and the Roll. If you leave the Roll as zero, the program will roll for you. Click on Ok, and the list will be re-ordered to match the initiative rolls and bonuses.

Clicking on a combatant on the table will change the panel on the right, to indicate the current status. The panel on the right allows you to:

Change Health: Allows you to apply damage, heal, and set temporary hit points to the currently selected combatant.
Initiative Actions: This is where you control the initiative order, only the actions available in each condition are allowed. “End Round” will put that combatant at the end of the list (just ahead of anyone in reserve)
Comments and Notes: Write down conditions and other information; the information is saves area will be saved as you click on something else

If dead combatant are cluttering the sequence table, you can hide them using the View > Hide Dead menu. Dead will be skipped, so if you want your troll to rise again, give its hit points back on somebody else’s turn.