Wednesday, December 17, 2014

They're Back: A Clutch Of Kobolds Are Under The Tree!

I've mentioned the old 'Kobold Rating Calculator' before. It was born out of a single question; just how many kobolds would it take to overrun a player's character? Virtually every player has ran into an angry clutch of kobolds. They've all experienced the same simple truth; while deceptively weak one on one, these critters can get dangerous in numbers fast.

With all this in mind I wrote a simple program to calculate through a very basic simulated combat how many kobolds it would take to overrun that character. The original version had one fundamental flaw however; it was designed under a very strict time-frame that required a certain degree of finality. In short; it was a final project for a college programming course. Much to my own regret in order to complete the project at the time and have it function I had to make certain alterations to its intended objective.

Instead of having it test the player's character against an ever growing horde of kobold combatants it just threw one after another lone kobolds against the character, resetting their hit points each time until the player was finally bested by the monster. This meant that the program did function and did so in a way that to those unfamiliar with the actual premise was concerned made for a completed objective.

However, it is something that has always bothered me ever since and one that quite recently I decided that I perhaps now had the better understanding(and time) to rectify. So with that in mind(and the fact that in two days time I am most undeniably about to be out of commission for the foreseeable future) I would like to share a completely revised take on the Kobold Rating Calculator.

This newer rendition is more to the intended design goal of what the original was planned to be. The user can input their character's name, their own and the combat stats for their fictional hero(attack modifier, damage modifier, hit points, armor class and damage die). Using that information the program then generates a basic no frills fight against a single kobold's combat stats. Nothing is considered regarding range, surprise attacks, special tactics or the like. This is just a simple your attack versus theirs face to face kind of fight.

You can imagine it all happening like this; you find your character trapped all alone down in some dark dungeon or mountain mine shaft with only a single trusty weapon at their side and a growing number of kobolds starting to become aware of their presence. How many can they handle all on their own before they are overwhelmed? Can your 1st level wizard actually challenge more than a single kobold on their own? Can a mighty half-orc fighter lay waste to half a dozen? Now you have a metric with which to measure that along with a means to do it.

This updated Kobold Rating Calculator also features some vast improvements over its predecessor. The most important and obvious of which is that it can increment the number of foes all the way up to a group of 10 kobolds strong(currently, plans are to increase this size limit further if this initial version proves itself to move past this alpha/beta release). Also included within is a hall of fame record similar to the original where the user can record their name and rating. But one new aspect is the inclusion of a combat log where a generated account is made available of a blow by blow as it were of the battle.

There are still, unfortunately, limits that I have had to maintain. Since this first build only is designed to deal with a very fundamental aspect of combat and only scales up to 10 kobolds attack and damage modifiers cap out at 10, armor class at 20, hit points at 100 and damage dice at 2d12. Forgive me if this seems pale or inflexible enough but I thought it best to design this first release with low level characters in mind to start. Over time I do hope to grow this to handle much more powerful characters and potentially even handle much more 'creative' combat as the like with which most players are known for.

The Kobold Rating generated will be a figure between 0(if you die fighting a single kobold) up to 10(for those who slaughter all 10 without meeting their own demise). Should your character die at the hands of, say, a group of 4 kobolds(whether due to bad rolls or simply because you couldn't put up enough of a fight against that many) then it will provide you with the number of those creatures you did manage to beat(that number being 3 in this hypothetical instance).

All in all, this should be considered a work of novelty and humorous entertainment. In no way does the Kobold Rating Calculator provide you with a definitive evaluation of your character's inherent successfulness or failure. The real strength of any character you build lies in the fun you have playing it and the stories you can enjoy telling about it. The number of monsters it can dispatch single-handedly is of little real value. Although, there is something to be said in being able to know exactly how many kobolds you can take down all on your own even if the rest of your party thinks you are a liability in combat encounters...

So, even though it is still early yet(like I said I may not get another chance before hand) let me share with one and all a little gift this Christmas;
The Kobold Rating Calculator(Revised) - Direct Download
*Requires the 4.5 .Net Framework available from Microsoft. Just unzip and runs from the Kobold Rating Calculator(Revised).exe inside the folder.
For this and other programming projects by myself you can check out my Glitched Grimore.

I hope you enjoy the work, and are entertained. And, as always; feel free to report any problems, complaints or opinions back to me.

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