Creating Magical Items in 4E

[Grain]

Hey all,

I'm trying to incorporate a magical weapon from a module, but I'm having problems figuring out how you do it. Typically you just use a standard weapon as the base and then apply the corresponding traits from the magical weapon book.

The problem I'm having is that when I do that with the item creation system in FG2 then try to incorporate it onto a character sheet it doesn't want to automatically load the weapon onto the combat sheet so the user can roll atk and dmg dice.

Can anyone here help me to properly incorporate magical items and magical armor into my campaign so it fluidly flows into the FG system?

[Saravyn]

If you created the item in the items list, you can drag it to both the inventory and the combat tab.

If you created it in a characters inventory, you might be able to drag it to the items list, but I'm not sure. If not, just drag the item to another characters inventory and drag it from there to the original characters combat tab.

[Grain]

Sorry...not sure if I explained myself properly with that last post. I'll try to be as simple as possible:

I want to use a magic item in the Adventurer's Vault. I have the mod for it. The item is a weapon, but as with most D&D 4th E stuff...I have to actually assign the magical properties to a specific weapon. That is where I am having trouble. I can't seem to find a way to do it and when I just drag the item from the Adventurer's Vault mod then its not specific to a weapon.

[Tenian]

Assume you want to make a Jagged Longsword:

Open the module with the Jagged Weapon magic item template in it.

Drag the Jagged Weapon to the item box on the right hand side of the screen

Open the resulting Jagged Weapon.

Open the module containing the Longsword weapon entry.

Drag the Longsword onto the Jagged Weapon.

It should become a Jagged Longsword and have all the data from the longsword and jagged templates merged.

Drag the result onto the player's character's sheet inventory. It should automatically populate the combat tab.

[Grain]

That worked! Thanks a bunch.

[adminwheel3]

Now lets say I have a magic item that I've created through those steps and it's sitting in the Items section.

I export the items from the module

I then open a new campaign and open the module holding those items.

How can I share the information about that item to all of my players at once?

I have tried to use the option to right click on the item and share it with the players, however they just get a blank item on their screen.

I worked around this by putting it on one of the player's inventory sheet. After that was done, it was able to be shared.

I would like to be able to do this without it first having to go into someone's inventory.

[Tenian]

No idea. I've never used the export function.

[mattcolville]

Assume you want to make a Jagged Longsword:

Open the module with the Jagged Weapon magic item template in it.

Drag the Jagged Weapon to the item box on the right hand side of the screen

Open the resulting Jagged Weapon.

Open the module containing the Longsword weapon entry.

Drag the Longsword onto the Jagged Weapon.

It should become a Jagged Longsword and have all the data from the longsword and jagged templates merged.

Drag the result onto the player's character's sheet inventory. It should automatically populate the combat tab.

I tried this and I couldn't get it to work. /sadface.

I am logged in to my own server as a player. I am creating a character. The character has a magic longsword, a Great Hunger Weapon.

I, as GM, open the character's sheet and drag Longsword from one module onto it.

It appears to work. I see the longsword GM-side and Player-side.

I, as GM, open the module containing Great Hunger Weapon and drag it onto the Longsword.

Nothing happens. Actually, that's not true. If I click the little box on the right, it now brings up the Great Hunger entry. But it doesn't merge the two entries to create a Great Hunger Longsword, the Longsword's stats don't change.

I, as GM, can drag the Great Hunger Weapon to the player's sheet, and just have two entries, one for Longsword, one for Great Hunger Weapon. That works. Both sides see both entries.

One thing I notice is that I can drag Great Hunger Weapon from the module to the Items tab on the right of my screen, but I cannot do the same thing with Longsword. I can't, in other words, put any item from that book, the PHB, in my Items tab.

Are these things related, I wonder?

[Griogre]

You are just doing them out of order. The Magic part is drag and dropped *first* then the normal item. IE First drag and drop the Hunger weapon into either the item list or the character's inventory. This makes a copy of the hunger weapon there. Then open up the item from inventory or the item list and drop the long sword on it.

The library items themselves are static and can't be changed. When you drag and drop the items into the item list or character inventory you actually make a copy or clone of the dropped item that can be changed. Once you have a non static copy you can then drag and drop the normal weapon or armor on top of them to get a copy of part of the normal item input in the magic item.

[mattcolville]

I tried that, I should have mentioned it.

Here's my expectation, it might be my expectation is misaligned.

I drag Great Hunger Weapon onto the player's sheet, it says "Great Hunger Weapon +1" and shows +1 to hit and no damage type.

I drag Longsword onto the Great Hunger Weapon, and it merges the two, ideally creating a Great Hunger Longsword +1, and showing +4 to hit (+1 from the Magic Item, +3 from the Weapon) with the damage die showing a d8 from the longsword.

Is this the expected behavior?

When I do that, the name of the weapon changes from Longsword, to Great Hunger Weapon +1, and nothing else changes.

EDIT: It also doesn't appear to work if I just edit the Great Hunger Weapon's item info directly. I'm the GM, looking at the player's character sheet, looking at his Combat tab, I click on the little box to the right of the Great Hunger Weapon entry, it brings up the Great Hunger Weapon Item Info Sheet with tabs on the right for Main Abilities and Powers.

Changes I make there do not appear to propagate to the actual entry. I change the name to Great Hunger Longsword +1, the entry on the character sheet does not change. I add the longsword's +3 proficiency in the Proficiency box, the attack bonus does not change. Ditto everything else.

[Griogre]

You expectation is correct.

Dropping the Longsword on the Hunger Weapon should:
1) Change the Name in the title replacing weapon with Longword +1
2) Change the Weight from 0 to 4 pounds.
3) Change the Prof. from 0 to +3.
4) Change the Group from blank to Heavy Blade
5) Change the Properties from blank to Versatile

When you drop this created weapon in a character's inventory or on the combat tab in Weapons/Implements it should create a weapon that has a Base +4 vs. AC attack, Dam of a d8 with a bonus of Base +1 and Crit die of a d8. Properties should say Versatile and you should get a link back to the dropped weapon. If you drop the weapon in inventory you should automatically get an entry on the combat and if you drop the weapon in the combat tab you should also get an entry in inventory.

[mattcolville]

Well that doesn't appear to happen and I'm not sure why. It also seems weird that I can't just drag a longsword from the Library Module to the Item List. I can drag a Longsword to a character sheet, but not my GM Item Tab.

It seems like Longsword and Great Hunger Weapon are two different data formats?

For instance, when I click on Great Hunger Weapon, I get something like a character sheet for weapons. It's got tabs on the right and boxes for entering proficiency and magic bonus and weight and all sorts of groovy stuff.

When I click on that same box for Longsword, I get like an Compendium entry. White space and black text and one or two boxes than can be filled out.

[Griogre]

The item list really should be labeled Magic Item List. There not any real reason to put a normal item in there when: a) the players can just drag a longsword on their own sheet. b) They can't drag a longsword from the item list since they don't have access to that book.

[mattcolville]

Wonder what I'm doing wrong. Somewhat frustrating that it's not behaving as expected, returning no error, giving no indication that the program even understands what I'm trying to do.

I don't seem able to affect meaningful change by editing the Magic Item in the character sheet either. I can add +3 from proficiency in the proficiency box...no change in how the weapons behaves on attack and it still lists the old +1 from magic as the only bonus to the roll other than the stat mod. I can tell it the damage the weapon does is 1d8, or d8, or +1d8, but it is not reflected in the weapon's description on the sheet, and when I roll damage it rolls a d6.

[Griogre]

Did you get the normal items when you parsed the PH? There have been problems with the DDI data where some of the data hasn't been linked to the PH the same way as in the past and normal weapons did have these problems recently.

You aren't going to be able to change something linked back to the library entry. You should be able to change items once they have been dropped into inventory or into the items list.

[mattcolville]

Did you get the normal items when you parsed the PH? There have been problems with the DDI data where some of the data hasn't been linked to the PH the same way as in the past and normal weapons did have these problems recently.

You aren't going to be able to change something linked back to the library entry. You should be able to change items once they have been dropped into inventory or into the items list.

From the parsed DDI I get a big table of normal items from the PHB. They all appear to work.

Most of my attempts have been in creating items in the Combat section of the PC's character sheet.

[Griogre]

I've never tried there. If it's in game treasure, I usually build it ahead of time in the items list. If its something the players make I have the players drop it into inventory so I can identify them and if they are weapons or armor I just drop the weapon on them to finish making it and identify it.

[mattcolville]

I tried everything I could think of, including doing it in the GM Item tab, the character's combat tab, his inventory tab. Dropping longsword on Great Hunger Weapon, dropping Great Hunger Weapon on Longsword.

I was able to *edit* Great Hunger Weapon in the item tab and add the Longsword data and that finally worked. Thank god. :D Couldn't do that in the character sheet for some reason.

It may have something to do with identifying stuff? But I'm in the GM version I should be able to see it fine I think.

Is there any other support for this product besides these forums? I mean, there's no "SUPPORT" tab at the top of the web page. I presume they don't have customer service people, but is there an email I can fire off to someone who works on the product? I've gotten great help here on the forums, but I am pretty alarmed that it's been a week of me monkeying with this and it still doesn't work smoothly.

[someoneinatree]

Is there any other support for this product besides these forums? I mean, there's no "SUPPORT" tab at the top of the web page. I presume they don't have customer service people, but is there an email I can fire off to someone who works on the product? I've gotten great help here on the forums, but I am pretty alarmed that it's been a week of me monkeying with this and it still doesn't work smoothly.

Official support is the House of Healing forum:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41

But you'll probably find that developers and staff post elsewhere on the forum as they are also members of the community more broadly.

My magic weapons/armour process is as follows (I find following other permutations is less reliable):

1) Drop the magic item into the Items list
2) Close the library version of the item, open the Items list version of the item
3) Open the base weapon/armour from the PHB
4) Drag and drop the base into the open magic item's details
5) Close the magic item and the base.
5) Reopen the magic item from the Items list to check that the base has been applied.

[Moon Wizard]

Make sure that you are dropping the "normal" item link onto the magic item "details" window. If you are trying to drop on the inventory page entry or onto a link box, it will not work.

Cheers,
JPG

[mattcolville]

Holy crap it worked. Thank god! I take back all the bad things I said about this program! :D

[bigbsonnier]

Does the Magic item tool allow the application of multiple properties, i'm thinking about house ruling the magic item rule to allow stacking of item properties (i.e. vorpal, jagged long sword)

[Moon Wizard]

The vorpal and jagged properties should trigger separately. Just make sure they are both on the properties line for the weapon in the character combat tab.

Cheers,
JPG

[bigbsonnier]

cool thank you

[raynbowbrite]

I'm sorry for the thread necromancy, but does anybody know if this still works? I'm trying to do exactly this and having no luck.

[luizaugusto]

Not quite sure what this thread is about..
But, if it is what i think it is, just open a magic item from a module and drop it to your campaign item list
Then open a base item from the same or another module, and open your magic item you just copied
Drag drop the link of the base item into the damage field of the copied magic item version.
It then update the damage, properties and group

[raynbowbrite]

I'm doing armor, not a weapon, maybe that's why it's not working? I can drag fields one at a time from the vanilla armor to the magic armor, but I can't seem to just pick up the whole vanilla armor and drag it onto the magic armor and have it convert it from Death's Brink Armor to Death's Brink Scale.

[luizaugusto]

I just tried doing it with an armor and it worked. It copied its weight, armor bonus to AC (armor bonus field), check penalty and speed penalty
Have you checked if the magic item copy is in edit mode?

[raynbowbrite]

I had it unlocked, does it need to be more than just unlocked?

[luizaugusto]

I had it unlocked, does it need to be more than just unlocked?

No. Later I can make a short video if you want, but it is quite simple.

[raynbowbrite]

yeah that would be super helpful, or if you have discord maybe we could screen share somehow?

[luizaugusto]

yeah that would be super helpful, or if you have discord maybe we could screen share somehow?
Sorry, im kind of busy today. Maybe some 3 hours from now i can show you
My Discord: TheeWhite#0958

[raynbowbrite]

Sorry, im kind of busy today. Maybe some 3 hours from now i can show you
My Discord: TheeWhite#0958

Thank you so so so much for all your help!

[luizaugusto]

Thank you so so so much for all your help!

You're welcome! :D

[fangxianfu]

I've been on a bit of a journey on this myself the past couple of days so here is what I've discovered:

Be in a campaign, not manage characters mode.
Drop the magic item enchantment ("vanguard weapon +1") into a character inventory.
Open your item list from the Library window. One of the options will open a list of mundane weapons/armours formatted like the table in the PHB.
Open the description of the enchantment from the inventory.
Drop the mundane item ("Longsword") from the list into the description and it will update ("Vanguard Longsword +1").
Then you need to go into the Combat tab and update the weapon there, because it doesn't automatically update.

[Luvgod]

Open the module with the Jagged Weapon magic item template in it.

is a magic item template different than an item template? I created a magic weapon +1 and long sword but it wont' let me drag one onto the other.

[raynbowbrite]

Yeah this is probably the exact same problem we all had. The problem isn't your magic weapon, but your longsword. Make sure you're getting your longsword from the list of normal weapons in the PHB. If you try and pull it from another source, it seems not to work. There seems to be some difference in those "normal" items in the PHB and the same normal items stored in some other modules.

[Thacko Zero]

I've been on a bit of a journey on this myself the past couple of days so here is what I've discovered:

Be in a campaign, not manage characters mode.
Drop the magic item enchantment ("vanguard weapon +1") into a character inventory.
Open your item list from the Library window. One of the options will open a list of mundane weapons/armours formatted like the table in the PHB.
Open the description of the enchantment from the inventory.
Drop the mundane item ("Longsword") from the list into the description and it will update ("Vanguard Longsword +1").
Then you need to go into the Combat tab and update the weapon there, because it doesn't automatically update.

This series of steps didn't quite work for me. If I try dragging an enchantment into the character sheet, the proficiency bonus does not calculate. Instead of dragging an enchantment into the character sheet, I dragged the enchantment link from the Item select window into the item select window. This creates (for example) Firewind Blade +1(Copy). I then Open that enchantment and drag the Falchion from the Items Module (the one that looks like the PHB weapon table) into the enchantment details. I know this (sort of) works because I can see the proficiency bonus, weight and damage entry added to the item. The Name does not change, but I can rename that manually. Then I give the item to the character.

The only thing I need to set manually with this process is the damage dice on the combat tab of the character sheet, and the weapon name. Everything else seems to be correctly calculated.