3.5 (d20) Ruleset newbie questions

[Sycom]

So I bought the full version last night and have been playing with it, but have some questions. I loaded the 3.5 ruleset from the wiki as suggested in my other post and started a quick session. I then added a character using localhost just to test this out, practice, etc. I am going to train my players on this next week, if it turns out. Here are some things I did and can't figure out.

For my testing I:
1) Added a map I got off the forums.
2)created a fighter.
3) added a couple custom tokens I created.
4) Started an "encounter"
5) linked Human, Skeleton Fighter to token.
6) Link Player to another token.

All this went easy, then I tried combat.

I couldn't seem to get selecting of the tokens to work either from the DM screen or the player screen. Is this something I need to turn on in the ruleset?

I couldn't seem to get the Skeletons info/portrait to show in the players combat tracker, just the player was showing there.

I had to drag the hit and damage rolls to the NPC on the DM sessions as the player could select, see NPC, etc. Can this be automated so the player can choose?

I am sure I will have many more questions...

Thank you for you time.

[Zeus]

I couldn't seem to get selecting of the tokens to work either from the DM screen or the player screen. Is this something I need to turn on in the ruleset?


I am not sure if I have understood this correctly, could you explain what it is you want to do. Do you mean selecting Characters for their turn?

If so, Character selection is managed by the CT and the Next Actor/End Turn (Down Icon arrow). Clicking this moves the turn to the next entry in the CT (based on Initiative).



I couldn't seem to get the Skeletons info/portrait to show in the players combat tracker, just the player was showing there.


Make sure you check the tick box next to the Reach entry on each NPC entry in the CT you want to make visible to the players. By default NPCs are hidden from Players to allow for surprise, monsters out of sight etc. etc.



I had to drag the hit and damage rolls to the NPC on the DM sessions as the player could select, see NPC, etc. Can this be automated so the player can choose?


See above for making NPCs visible on the Players CT and also make sure the Player drop options in the Combat tab of the options window are set to On.

[Phystus]

Are you using the D20 ruleset, the 3.5E ruleset, or the D20_JPG ruleset?

In D20_JPG the way to get everything linked up is as follows:
1) Open your options, select the Combat tab, and make sure that Player Attack Drops, Player damage drops, and Player effect drops are set to 'On".
2) open the combat tracker
3) drag the NPC onto the tracker
4) Put a token on the NPC entry in the tracker (the little circle on the left side of the entry is for the token)
5) Open the map
6) Drag the token from the combat tracker to the map.
7) Make sure the NPC is set to 'visble' in the combat tracker (check the little circle next to the Friend-or-Foe indicator).

The players should then be able to drop attacks and damage onto the combat tracker entry for the monster. I don't think the players can drop it on the token, though.

~P

[Sycom]

Great thank you, I had them added to the Map incorrectly... I was dragging them to the map from the "Personalities" window and then dragging them to the combat tracker when I needed them for combat... Didn't know I had to do it the other way around...

Since this is the case, how do you prestage maps? If I set up a whole module by dragging the creatures form personality to the map, it won't work correctly when I drag those same tokens to combat.

Thank again

[Phystus]

Great thank you, I had them added to the Map incorrectly... I was dragging them to the map from the "Personalities" window and then dragging them to the combat tracker when I needed them for combat... Didn't know I had to do it the other way around...

Since this is the case, how do you prestage maps? If I set up a whole module by dragging the creatures form personality to the map, it won't work correctly when I drag those same tokens to combat.

Thank again

I just preload the maps empty, then add the tokens and share the map. Seems to load pretty quickly for my players. I think it's because the tokens are on a different layer than the map itself, so as long as the map is preloaded all FG has to retransmit is the tokens, which are pretty small files.

It does take a bit of game time to add the tokens, but it's really no worse than putting the minatures down on a battlemat in a face-to-face game.

~P

[Sycom]

I just preload the maps empty, then add the tokens and share the map. Seems to load pretty quickly for my players. I think it's because the tokens are on a different layer than the map itself, so as long as the map is preloaded all FG has to retransmit is the tokens, which are pretty small files.

It does take a bit of game time to add the tokens, but it's really no worse than putting the minatures down on a battlemat in a face-to-face game.

~P

Okay, Thanks a lot... I was hoping there was a way to pre-stage a lot of it, but I see what you are saying...

[StuartW]

You can pre-stage the NPCs by creating an encounter and then just adding the whole encounter to the combat tracker when you need it. You can't pre-arrange the tokens on the maps though.