New to Fantasy Grounds

[metfansc]

So I am new to Fantasy Grounds and purchased the Standard License on Steam plus the D&D 5e classes/bestiary which I am finding tremendously useful. However, there are a few things that I am sure I can do but I can just figure out how:

1. Create a new spell, Elemental Evil is out and I am making a new Druid for the Adventure League and want to use the new spells, but I can't seem to figure out a way to create a spell in the system. I don't mind typing it all in, but I can't seem to find an "Add" button to spells like you have on the NPCs.

2. Copy a trait. Is there a way to drag a trait from one mob to the next? I know I can edit it and copy the heading and text separately, but was wondering if I can drag the traits around on the screen

3. Turn on Pins by default. It seems odd when I am playing as the DM for my campaign I can't see the pins by default and have to go in a few menu clicks to get it taken care of? Maybe if when I am holding control to see pins I could click on something to turn them on easily?

4. Add an NPC to my party? I want to add my Ranger's pet to my PC sheet and link it to the Ranger's initiative roll, is there anyway to do that?

5. Is there anyway to create folders in the Story/NPCs or other menus. To me a campaign is quite a long thing, and not having a way to organize things into groups seems a little limiting. I setup my first quest as basically its own campaign, but there are lots of things I would like to carry over to my next quest, but so much I don't want to keep there. Am I just using this wrong?

6. How do I setup a surprise round where only some members get to go in the party, I just skipped the people manually but I bet there is a more elegant way to do that.

[dulux-oz]

Hi matfansc, and Welcome!

Not directly related to you questions, but have you watched any of the Tutorial Videos on FG in general and 5E in particular. There are quite a few good ones on the FG Wiki (including mine; also available from the links in my sig). Thay'll help you in learning FG in general, and as most Rulesets have a lot in common they should help you across the board.

Anyway, keep asking questions (we're a friendly bunch here) and have fun.

Cheers

[damned]

So I am new to Fantasy Grounds and purchased the Standard License on Steam plus the D&D 5e classes/bestiary which I am finding tremendously useful. However, there are a few things that I am sure I can do but I can just figure out how:

1. Create a new spell, Elemental Evil is out and I am making a new Druid for the Adventure League and want to use the new spells, but I can't seem to figure out a way to create a spell in the system. I don't mind typing it all in, but I can't seem to find an "Add" button to spells like you have on the NPCs.

In Char Sheet Edit a Spell you have already dragged onto the sheet and then you can readd the original again if needed.

2. Copy a trait. Is there a way to drag a trait from one mob to the next? I know I can edit it and copy the heading and text separately, but was wondering if I can drag the traits around on the screen

3. Turn on Pins by default. It seems odd when I am playing as the DM for my campaign I can't see the pins by default and have to go in a few menu clicks to get it taken care of? Maybe if when I am holding control to see pins I could click on something to turn them on easily?

You can press CTRL when on an image and it activates pins while the key is pressed.

4. Add an NPC to my party? I want to add my Ranger's pet to my PC sheet and link it to the Ranger's initiative roll, is there anyway to do that?

5. Is there anyway to create folders in the Story/NPCs or other menus. To me a campaign is quite a long thing, and not having a way to organize things into groups seems a little limiting. I setup my first quest as basically its own campaign, but there are lots of things I would like to carry over to my next quest, but so much I don't want to keep there. Am I just using this wrong?

Add a new TAB. Right click on the orangey symbol bottom left and Add New Group. You can type a name in chat window and instead of pressing enter drag it to the new Tab symbol.

6. How do I setup a surprise round where only some members get to go in the party, I just skipped the people manually but I bet there is a more elegant way to do that.

Some answers/suggestions...

[metfansc]

In Char Sheet Edit a Spell you have already dragged onto the sheet and then you can readd the original again if needed.



You can press CTRL when on an image and it activates pins while the key is pressed.



Add a new TAB. Right click on the orangey symbol bottom left and Add New Group. You can type a name in chat window and instead of pressing enter drag it to the new Tab symbol.



Some answers/suggestions...

Nice trick on the editing an existing spell, problem I keep having with it is that it doesn't "read" the damage/saving throw from the text so I have to find an identical damage/saving throw spell which is easier said than done. Any idea how to edit the summary of the spell?

[damned]

Nice trick on the editing an existing spell, problem I keep having with it is that it doesn't "read" the damage/saving throw from the text so I have to find an identical damage/saving throw spell which is easier said than done. Any idea how to edit the summary of the spell?

Click the magnifying glass.

[The Scriven One]

If you're willing to get your feet wet, you can use Par5e to parse a list of spells. In particular if Smiteworks doesn't offer Elemental Evil for sale, you can parse it. Search that thread, and the terms "Par5e" and "spells.txt" on the forums. There were also threads with people parsing Elemental Evil specifically. Read the manuals that come with Par5e, and ask questions. When you learn it, you will have a powerful tool for adding custom content to your game. My game's campaign setting has a growing manual in the Library, and I just added the second character class.

If that's (understandably) overwhelming, I can help you out. This may not be the way everyone else does things, so hopefully others will correct me if I get something wrong. To create a new spell manually on the character sheet, step by step:

Adding an original spell* to a character sheet:

1. On the actions tab of a PC sheet, mouse over the page, and right click.
   
2. From the radial menu, choose the icon with the three squares to the direct south, called "Create Item"
   
3. Give it a Name.
   
4. For the second field, type "Spells". This will begin to categorize the action.
   
5. Click on the shield and add its level to the next page. The other data can be left blank for now, but you can fill it in if you like. When you close the page, you'll find that the spell is now grouped with others of its level. It has no magnifying glass.
   
6. Mouse over it, and right click to get the radial menu. Go to the downward facing arrow to the east, called "Add Action".
   
7. You have a choice now. I like add the rolls that are required to successfully cast the spell first. Assuming that, click the sword in the northeast called "Add Cast".
   
8. Now you have a new row on the spell and two magnifying glasses. The one on the top line is to open the lower options. Click the magnifying glass on the lower line that says "Cast", "Atk" and "Save". You can't edit them from this view. You can edit those things on the next page. Experiment with it.
   
9. You can go back to the radial menu to add other aspects like damage, healing, etc. With damage and healing, you can drag dice to the appropriate fields or type them in. If you need to add conditional damage types or anything, it's best to "Add Damage" another time and write that out. Note that Add Effect is very useful. Here's a basic guide to writing 5e effects, and a list of premade ones as examples.
   
   And there you have it. The mechanical aspects of the spell as Fantasy Grounds understands it. Hope it helps. Unfortunately, sharing this spell with the group is not really doable, but you can write up full PHB-styled spell descriptions in the notes or story sections (depending on whether you're a player or the GM), and share them with the group as a workaround until you learn Par5e.
   
   Good luck, and have fun.

*(or other Power)

[metfansc]

If you're willing to get your feet wet, you can use Par5e to parse a list of spells. In particular if Smiteworks doesn't offer Elemental Evil for sale, you can parse it. Search that thread, and the terms "Par5e" and "spells.txt" on the forums. There were also threads with people parsing Elemental Evil specifically. Read the manuals that come with Par5e, and ask questions. When you learn it, you will have a powerful tool for adding custom content to your game. My game's campaign setting has a growing manual in the Library, and I just added the second character class.

If that's (understandably) overwhelming, I can help you out. This may not be the way everyone else does things, so hopefully others will correct me if I get something wrong. To create a new spell manually on the character sheet, step by step:

Adding an original spell* to a character sheet:

1. On the actions tab of a PC sheet, mouse over the page, and right click.
   
2. From the radial menu, choose the icon with the three squares to the direct south, called "Create Item"
   
3. Give it a Name.
   
4. For the second field, type "Spells". This will begin to categorize the action.
   
5. Click on the shield and add its level to the next page. The other data can be left blank for now, but you can fill it in if you like. When you close the page, you'll find that the spell is now grouped with others of its level. It has no magnifying glass.
   
6. Mouse over it, and right click to get the radial menu. Go to the downward facing arrow to the east, called "Add Action".
   
7. You have a choice now. I like add the rolls that are required to successfully cast the spell first. Assuming that, click the sword in the northeast called "Add Cast".
   
8. Now you have a new row on the spell and two magnifying glasses. The one on the top line is to open the lower options. Click the magnifying glass on the lower line that says "Cast", "Atk" and "Save". You can't edit them from this view. You can edit those things on the next page. Experiment with it.
   
9. You can go back to the radial menu to add other aspects like damage, healing, etc. With damage and healing, you can drag dice to the appropriate fields or type them in. If you need to add conditional damage types or anything, it's best to "Add Damage" another time and write that out. Note that Add Effect is very useful. Here's a basic guide to writing 5e effects, and a list of premade ones as examples.
   
   And there you have it. The mechanical aspects of the spell as Fantasy Grounds understands it. Hope it helps. Unfortunately, sharing this spell with the group is not really doable, but you can write up full PHB-styled spell descriptions in the notes or story sections (depending on whether you're a player or the GM), and share them with the group as a workaround until you learn Par5e.
   
   Good luck, and have fun.

*(or other Power)

That was extremely useful thank you and I have decided to spend some time this afternoon playing with par5e to see where that takes me, but this fixed my original spell issue for Adventure League tonight

[metfansc]

Ok so I have an initial stupid question on Par5e, so I created my first mod using Xorn's video and the documentation so far (I have parsed the Aarakora), and it seems to have created the mod correctly (everything in Par5e says it is created/complete and I see the Aarakocra - OK in the log), however, I don't know where I am supposed to put the output files and which files I need to move into there. I am probably missing that in the instructions (I am still reading them as I go). Can someone point me in the right direction?

[damned]

Minor redirection - please try this first.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...les-PDF-Parser
You might find this a good starting point.