Template talk:Infobox-ability/sandbox

Unified ability theory
I'm still making changes at too great a rate to consider this stable, but I want to get out a heads-up.

This grew out of the T:Infobox-spell effort. As I moved on to T:Infobox-feat, I realized that spells and SLAs, feats and enhancements, have more in common than not. For instance, they all have mechanics such as target and range, and they all have effects such as damage or movement buff. Furthermore, many abilities qualify as more than one type. For instance, Ruin is a spell feat, and Arcane Blast is an SLA enhancement. The same could be said for Bard songs, Ki abilities, and Channel Divinity effects. Rather than maintain a suite of overlapping templates, it made sense to build one template to encompass them all.

However, over a thousand abilities are already represented using one of a handful of disparate templates. No one wants to sit down with each page and figure out how it maps to a new interface. I therefore created a set of conversion templates to automate as much of the process as possible.

The resulting pages are considerably richer in information than the originals (and prettier, IMHO). In addition to highlighting missing fields such as range or cooldown, they also describe, in general terms, each ability's effects, and assign categories appropriately. Thus, Improved Trip is assigned to C:Tactical feats, while Inspire Heroics is assigned to C:Saving throw songs. While many of the assignments are automated during conversion, manual clean-up is often warranted. (Yes, Cru121, it smells like work.) I also expect people will want to add their own effect categories, or modify existing ones. Depending how many people get involved, the transition could take months or years. But I think folks will be pleased with the results. Feel free to browse testcases or, even better, create your own. At some point I'll have to write a guide for those who want to edit the templates.

As always, any feedback and/or improvements are welcome. &rArr; Hoopy Froodle (Contribs • Message • Email ) 13:01, August 24, 2019 (EDT)