The 1.1-year update

2025-11-07

I started developing HMK Toolkit exactly 1.1 years ago today, with the initial goal of creating a tool to facilitate step 12 of the character creation process: the skills development points phase. I kept changing my mind, and I couldn’t remember whether I had already spent one or two DPs, nor in which stage I had spent them. I also wanted to see all the Skill Bases so that I could get a sense of my character’s strengths, which would help guide my choices. So, I decided to build myself a tool to help me with this development step. But to build that tool, and make it useful, I needed the character's attributes, and to get the attributes I needed at least part of a character sheet...

And, 1.1 years later, this is the new version 1.1 of HMK Toolkit.

The first page of a character named Hildegard who is an Odívshè Shèk-Pvâr.

And the development tool that started it all is now looking like this.

The DEV tool.

What's New

For the last five months, I have worked on a new feature for HMK Toolkit called the Price Cyclopedia. It's a bit of a grandiose title, but I believe that it accurately reflects the comprehensive nature of this searchable price list, which boasts over 1,000 entries. Users can search by the name of the item or service, its category, or the specific shop where it is sold. The complexity of pricing has proven to be a significant challenge, as I have encountered numerous special cases that required careful consideration and implementation. I also tried to update the PDF version simultaneously, but I have now decided to do so only once this release is complete.

For more information you can read the Price Cyclopedia documentation.

The Price Cyclopedia window showing a first aid service. — First Aid has a both a price range and a '+'. This is handled with a price slider.

The — When buying a gem you can set the number of carats (instead of the number of gems).

The Price Cyclopedia window showing adding an AS8 Darkvision elixir. — When adding an elixir you can set the Alchemical Strength (AS8 in the example). The 'Don't manage coins' is checked because this is the alchemist character who made the elixir, so he's only adding the item to his bandolier belt, he is not buying it. The 'Add note' is checked which means that the date he made the elixir will be added to the character's sheet, so he'll know when to do the first AS reduction roll in 30 days.

While I was working on the main new feature, I also happened to fix many other things and add several smaller features and quality-of-life improvements to other areas of the app. Here are a few key points.

I was inspired by the Shield Traits Summary explained in the excellent Advice & Options document from Kelestia, and I have implemented it in the app. I also automatically display a Thrown Weapons section if the character carries one of the listed weapons on page 110 of the rulebook (javelin, shorkana, etc.) or an elixir or a mixture. It might be useful to mention that all that information is displayed automatically when you simply drag and drop weapons and shields into the character’s equipment.

The Combat Gear section showing the new shield data displayed.

I invested a great deal of time improving the Initiative Rating Tracker. This tool allows you to create detailed notes for encounters, which you can easily load during play. A new side panel provides access to frequently used rules, making it easier to manage the melee routine.

the Initiative Rating Tracker.

I added an easy way to modify Weapon Quality when a weapon is damaged or repaired.

Modification of the WQ.

The notes section is now a text editor with markdown formatting.

The notes section showing rich text formatting.

Talent Bonus for spells are now supported and Shèk-Pvâr characters can have a Focus which automatically affects MLs.

A Shèk-Pvâr Focus.

Alchemists can easily handle Alchemical Strength reduction for their elixirs.

An elixir having its Alchemy Strength reduced.

The new Trekking panel has travel movement rates and required Bearing Modes for the topography and terrain, and a guide suggestion with assistance from party members for the orienteering roll.

the Trekking panel.

The dark mode colours were tweaked throughout.

Dark mode.

I updated (and improved) all the documentation and revamped the landing page for the app.

What's next

Version 1.1 is, I think, complete for the most part. I want to add Masterwork armour articles, and possibly PDF Export, although that is not easy to implement so I am not sure if I can make it work. Aside from that I will of course fix bugs and tweak small things.

I can now turn to starting my own HMK campaign!