Items - IV

A Guide to this essential accessory for Bigby's Helping Hand - IV.

Like the other accessories for Bigby's Helping Hand - IV Items will open on the Workbench screen if Bigby's Helping Hand - IV is not running. Unlike the other accessory programmes Items is an essential and as such will be covered in more detail.

Items is the utility used to create weapons, armour and the mundane lamps and sacks. While lamps and the like are not needed for Bigby's Helping Hand - IV, in most cases weapons will be a nessecity.

Menus. Well, as you will have noticed I am not big on explaining the obvious, lets leave it there ok?

Right, now the gadgets, at the top we have the Name string and the item type cycle gadget. In my experience the type gadget is the cause of most of the problems associated with weapons not working, mostly missile weapons when the arrows for the Bow are typed as a weapon rather than the correct ammo.

Less obvious are the remaining gadgets:

Duration

Here are entered spell and magic weapon durations. Either in Minutes or as a dice string (ie: 2d4+4)

Multiple

Curently '0' if only one attack is permited, and any thing else if area attacks or multiple victims are possible. I intend to have the monsters and NPC's auto-check the possible number of victims in the future so for upwards compatibility I enter a dice string when aplicable.

AC Mod

Modifiers to Armour Class. Positive mods reduce AC, negative mods increase AC. So for example +2 Leather Armour would have a 2 in this gadget.

AT Mod

Works in the same way as the AC Mod field. Positive values increase the chance of hiting. Please note that this is required even if the Dice string below has a +mod.

HP Mod String and Cycle gadgets

It is posible for an item to modifiy Hit Points, either in a positive or negative manner. The cycle gadget determines how often Bigby's Helping Hand - IV checks the Hit Points (in game time).

Speed and Damage type gadgets.

The speed string is obvious. The damage type is used in conjunction with the armour types. This is an optional rule in the 2nd edition of AD&D so if your campaign does not use them then you can ignore this gadget and the Slash, Pierce and bash strings for armour (lower right).

Dice and Number of Attacks gadgets

The dice string accepts normal dice strings. Any bonus is aplied to damage only, with the attack bonus entered previously. This is a hang over from previous versions which did not have the Weapon Poficient gadgets and miy or may not be removed later. It is usefull in alowing a character or monster to have an item that gives a bonus to hit that is not a weapon.

The number of attacks gadget was originaly placed in the character and monster editing windows of Bigby's Helping Hand - IV, but it was soon realised that this was limiting. Some players have more than one weapon, and I had to continualy change the setting. Others used two weapons at once and were gaining extra attacks. By placing this gadget in the Items editor the DM needs only select the weapon the player is useing and the number of attacks is changed automaticaly. Like wise a character with two swords can have 2 attacks per round with one, and one attack with the other.

Ammo

Does the weapon require Ammo or not. I have Bigby's Helping Hand - IV track the number of arrows players and monsters use, by having a bow require ammo. The player must be 'useing' both the bow weapon and the arrow item for this to work (the bow itself is set to do no damage). If you do not require this feature just set the Dice string for your bows and the Ammo gadget to 'NO'

Proficient Gadgets

Just what they seem. Bigby's Helping Hand - IV adds the corect pluses and minuses (the penalty is set in the Player Editor).

Save and Modifier gadgets.

Well, what do you think they do?

Hand

Is the item hand held? Reqires two hands or is it worn like armour or a belt?

Quantity

The number of arrows for an arrow item, or the number of charges in a wand. Every time an item is used Bigby's Helping Hand - IV reduces this field by one.

Armour Gadgets

The Bace AC is the AC of the base armour not including magic bonus. Taking the +2 leather example used before, the Base AC field is 8 with the AC Mod string holding a value of 2. The Pierce, Slash and Bash modifiers are taken straight from the optional weapon modifiers in the 2nd Edition rules. If you do not use this rule just leave them empty or set them to '0'

Bigby's Helping Hand - IV is ©1993-1997 by Primitive Software.
This Document, and all related documentation is ©1997 R.Brown-Bayliss
Bigby's Helping Hand - IV is still under construcion.