Improvements​

• The Pincered LFAN feat now has an option to pick between normal Natural Weapons or Natural Weapons with the Operative property, as described in the feat. Note: If you've selected this feat on an existing character, you will need to choose one of these options in the Creator > Feat section to get the described benefit.
• Weapons in the Creator > Equipment section can now be filtered by category.
• NPC adjustment Brute now adds a tag that can be added to NPC attacks to automatically apply the described adjustments.
• Added an equipment tag for the Technomancer alterate class feature Cache Augmentation which can be applied to augmentations.
• Miniturization upgrade for Computers now automatically reduces bulk as described.
• Bonuses to ability scores from race/species and theme are now greyed-out in the sidebar to indicate they are ignored when using Ability Score Quick Picks.

Bug Fixes​

• Fixed issue where Intimidate bonus for Starship crew members was not showing in the stat block.
• Fixed Operative Exploit Death Strike reducing damage from the feat Deadly Aim, instead of just reducing damage from Weapon Specialization for Natural Weapons.
• Fixed typo in the name of the weapon Boomknuckles.
• Fixed typo in the name of the armor upgrade Medical Analysis Kit.
• Fixed shields with no max dex showing up as -1 in the Creator > Equipment > Shield sidebar.

Dice Roll Events​

This release introduces an event-based API for dice rolls. When a player click on a modifier to roll dice, an event is fired off in the web browser which can be intercepted (e.g. by a browser extension) to perform actions as part of an integration. Technical details for this API can be found in the Hephaistos documentation.

Campaign Manager​

This release adds two features to the Campaign Manager: showing Creations in the read-only view, and a shared inventory.

Fistly, GMs can now mark Creations so that they are shown on the Dashboard in read-only view. This can be done from the sidebar for each creation in the Prepare > Player Creations section within a campaign.

Next is the ability to have a shared inventory for all Creations in a Campaign. A new Shared tab will appear alongside the Current and Stash tabs on the Sheet > Inventory page (or Creator > Gear & Attacks > Inventory for NPCs) when a Creation is part of a Campaign. Additionally, a Treasure section has been added to Campaigns, which functions as an inventory for campaigns where GMs can prepare treasure or loot. GMs and Players can transfer items between their respective inventories and the shared inventory, and changes to the shared inventory will be automatically propagated to others.

With these updates, I think the core of the Campaign Manager is done. As always, improvements and bug fixes will continue to happen for the Campaign Manager, as with the rest of the website.

Next Up: Infosphere​

https://hephaistos.online/features

Since the core Campaign Manager is now completed, it's time to move on to the next major feature, which based on the rankings will be the Infosphere. As a brief reminder, during PaizoCon a few months ago I put up an early version of the Infosphere here: https://info.hephaistos.online/. While it's very much an "alpha" version, it should give you a good idea of what I'm aiming for, and also provide oppportunity for early feedback.

Data​

• Added data from Angels of the Drift #1.

Improvements​

• The item Library Chip now has options to select the skill to which it pertains, and can be equipped.
• Grenades that do damage now have the "damage" entry filled out.
• Operative Exploit Death Strike now provides a Selection to indicate whether or not it's active.
• Homebrew list now shows a tag to indicate if an item is "public" for quick reference.
• Homebrew items can now be multi-selected from the Homebrew list. Doing so will show a sidebar with the IDs of all selected homebrew items in a comma-separated list.
• Multiple homebrew items can be added to a Creation's Allowed Homebrew list using a comma-separated list of IDs.
• Added buttons to the Starship, Mech, Vehicle and NPC Stat Block pages to copy text and download the stat block as an image.
• Foundry Hephaistos Importer module has been updated to 0.15.0 (Release Notes).

Bug Fixes​

• Nanocyte knack Heavy Weapon Edge now correctly takes the Constitution modifier into account for wielding Heavy Weapons tagged as Major Forms.
• Fixed issue where spell-like abilities added from Class Features via Dragonscript wouldn't show on the Character sheet unless the Class was marked as a "spellcaster".
• Dropdowns for selecting Mystic Epiphanies are now marked as optional, and unselected epiphanies do not count towards marking the Class section as incomplete.

Improvements​

• Added description for the Tumble task as part of the Acrobatics skill sidebar.
• Added missing "Size and Type" traits for the Astriapi and Gathol species.
• Plus/minus buttons around the XP input can now be used to add/subtract 0.25 to track fractional XP.
• Updated documentation to be more specific about permissions required for FoundryVTT.
• Effects for items (eg. personal upgrades) are now exported as part of the JSON.
• JSON export now includes class feature option effects.
• Amount of remaining ammunition can now be changed in the ammunition's sidebar.
• Weapons loaded with ammunition will now be automatically unloaded when removed or sold.
• Cybernetic and biotech augmentations can now be added as necrografts.
• Soldier gear boost Forceful Throw now automatically uses Strength instead of Dexterity to calculate grenade DCs if it's higher.
• The Grenade Mastery feat will now automatically add bonuses to grenade DCs as described.
• Alternate class features can now be added directly to homebrew Classes.
• Added a "New" button next to the search bar on the Creation, Homebrew and Campaign managers to quickly create a new instance without having to scroll to the bottom.
• Characters in a campaign will now automatically load changes to the campaign.
• Improved stability of item ordering in the inventory.
• Foundry Hephaistos Importer module has been updated to 0.14.0 (Release Notes).
• Roll20 API import script has been updated to 0.15.0 (Release Notes).

Bug Fixes​

• Fixed incorrect page numbers for feats from Ports of Call.
• Fixed issue where non-biomechanical starships were getting a speed bonus when they took any critical damage.
• Fixed spelling error in the name for the item "Fearmonger".
• Fixed homebrew spells not being selectable for NPCs.
• Deprecated one of the duplicate entries for the Kiirinta species.
• Fixed issue preventing the ability used to calculate the DC for grenades from being overridden.
• Fixed Khizars not providing Limited Telepathy.

Three Years of Hephaistos​

This release marks the third anniversary of Hephaistos' initial public release. The last twelve months have been a giant leap forward for Hephaistos. The ability to create homebrew items now lets you customize every single choice you can make, while the Campaign Manager brings together all creations in your game on a single page. The past year has also seen a significant jump in Hephaistos' user base. The number of registered users has grown from just over 18,000 in June 2022, to over 44,000 as I write, with almost 600 new sign-ups every week.

Looking ahead, there's a lot to be excited about. The second phase of the Campaign Manager will bring the ability to share items, and after that we have coming up the Infosphere, Improved PDF exports and Infinite Worlds, which adds tools for GMs to manage star systems. You can see and vote for the big-ticket items on Hephaistos' roadmap on the Features page.

Thanks to everyone who uses the website, provides feedback and reports bugs. And, thanks to everyone who contributes via Patreon or Ko-fi to help offset the infrastructure costs. The website would be nowhere near what it is today without the community that supports it.

Improvements​

• Items in the inventory can now be put in collections. See the documentation for details.
• Starships can now be marked as biomechanical from the Creator > Details page.
• Added a link to the infosphere preview on the main website.
• Campaign dashboard now shows conditions, perception and sense motive bonuses, starship critical damage, and vehicle attack modifiers.
• Added missing Starship combat actions from the Starship Operations Manual.
• The Ascetic Warrior Soldier class feature now adds special properties to unarmed strike as described.
• The Bone Blade augmentation now adds a separate weapon to the inventory when equipped to represent the actual blade.
• Added ability to mark the Squirming Entrails augmentation as extruded or retracted from the Quick > Selections section.
• Counters on the Character sheet can now be marked to automatically reset on a short or long rest.

Bug Fixes​

• Class features that let you treat your class level as base attack bonus for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites (eg. Warmonger Mystic connection and the Spell Sergeant archetype) are now correctly accounted for when calculating feat qualification.
• Fixed broken links in the docs.
• Fixed minor typo in description for spell Junk Armor.

VTT Support​

Firstly, I'm aware that v11 for the FoundryVTT has been officially released, and that the Hephaistos Importer module currently only supports v10. I'm hoping to tackle the upgrade between now and the next Hephaistos release in two weeks' time.

Hephaistos currently supports integration with three VTTs: FoundryVTT, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds Unity. While I do my best to keep up with the developments on these VTTs, and test the integrations as new features are added, I don't use any of them personally, so it's relatively easy for me to miss things. I know there are a lot of Hephaistos users that rely on these integrations functioning properly, so if you encounter any issues, or have any feedback, please let me know. You can report issues and provide feedback using the usual methods (Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Patreon), or create tickets directly in the repository for the Foundry Module or Roll20 API Script.

I'm also happy to accept contributions in the Foundry Module or Roll20 API Script repositories, so feel free to create merge/pull requests in there.

Data​

• Added data from Ports of Call.

Improvements​

• The ability score used for each skill can now be overriden.
• Selected spells in the Creator > Class > Spells section are now first ordered by level, then alphabetically.
• Starship AC, TL, DT, CT, Max HP and Piloting Modifier can now be overriden.
• The Multifaceted Nature feat now has options to select a racial/species trait.
• Homebrew Starship Power Cores can now have descriptions.

Bug Fixes​

• Shell Knuckles can now have ammunition loaded into them.
• Fixed issue preventing selection of additional spells when using the prepared spellcasting variant.
• Fixed issue on the Feature ranking page where preferences would appear to not load correctly.
• Nanocyte feature Nanomedicine now automatically changes the Medicine skill to use Constitution if it's higher than Intelligence.
• Fixed weapon Battletune being incorrectly listed as an Advanced Melee weapon instead of a Basic Melee weapon.
• Fixed typo in description of Serum of Hibernation (Potent and Diluted).
• Fixed typo in description of the Spell Sergeant archetype.
• The bonus to fortitude saves gained by Stelliferas is now only shown when their hydrobody is active.
• The Pearly White Spindle Aeon Stone now actually provides a bonus to caster level.
• External Expansion Bays now actually increase the number of available expansion bays and increase the distance between turns as described.
• Starship expansion bay Drone Tube no longer takes up an additional bay.
• The Vesk and Goblinoid NPC subtype graft now list "armor savant" as a defensive ability.
• The Void Zombie NPC template graft now lists "susceptible to salt water" as a weakness.
• Added missing Dimorphic trait to the Lashunta and Gnome species. If you already have a character with either species, you will need to activate this trait manually from the Creator > Race section.
• Added a brief description to the sidebar for the Cloud Array Nanocyte class feature option.

Spell Statistics​

The next post of stats is now available at https://www.patreon.com/posts/83663654, this one looking at the popularity of spells at each level.

PaizoCon​

Thanks to everyone who dropped by the Hephaistos channel during PaizoCon. I am honored to be part of such a supportive community for this wonderful game.

In case you missed it, you can find a preview of the upcoming Infosphere feature at https://info.hephaistos.online/.