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4wallz
November 9th, 2011, 02:20
Hello everyone,

I am new here and trying to decide if I'd like to invest my money into this website. But I had a question first (and don't seem to be finding my answer just browsing). I want to find a virtual table top so I can use my Pathfinder books in real life to create a game for me and my friends to play.
We used to play in real life, but now live in different states. Is Fantasy Grounds what I am looking for? Will this be able to run my game?

I know Pathfinder usues D&D 3.5 rules. Is that going to be a problem? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

Trenloe
November 9th, 2011, 02:31
I want to find a virtual table top so I can use my Pathfinder books in real life to create a game for me and my friends to play.
We used to play in real life, but now live in different states. Is Fantasy Grounds what I am looking for? Will this be able to run my game?

I know Pathfinder usues D&D 3.5 rules. Is that going to be a problem? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

Absolutely - this is exactly what Fantasy Grounds is designed to do. Fantasy Grounds comes with a DnD 3.5E and 4E ruleset. The 3.5E has a Pathfinder option and includes reference (library) modules for the core rulebook, spells and Bestiary. A reference for Bestiary 2 is available for download elsewhere on these forums.

In a nutshell, the 3.5E (PFRPG option) ruleset has a lot of the PF rules built in - modifiers, auto rolls, hit/miss calculations, and lots, lots more... Check the 3.5E User's Guide (from the Library link) at the top of this page.

You will need at least a full licence to GM - and your friends will need at least a lite licence.

I am using Fantasy Grounds at the moment to run the Carrion Crown adventure path with friends scattered around the globe - it works amazingly well, much better than my original expectations.

To answer the question in your title - "Can I Use Any RPG System I want": this all depends on how much rules automation you want built into the Fantasy Grounds interface. If you want to use Fantasy Grounds just as a basic table top: text chat, image sharing, maps and tokens, story options for the GM, dice rolling, etc. and you and your players work out the rules then you can use any system you want (within reason).

However, where Fantasy Grounds really shines is the ruleset automation - system specific character sheets, effects, NPCs, enemy targetting, auto calculation of modifiers and results, etc, etc. These make the game run much faster and reduce the load on the GM.

4wallz
November 9th, 2011, 02:48
Awesome! Thank you very much! I plan on using Pathfinder.
One other quick question though, would you recomend the Full license or is it worth it to buy the Ultimate? I don't plan on running to many games or joining other games (I would love to, but not enough time in the day!). So would the full work fine for me? Thanks again for your help.

Nestor
November 9th, 2011, 03:05
I was identified as a tight wad as long time ago.

Pick up the full version (if you are going to dm) and get your buddies to by the light version.

The light version costs about $18.00 or so, and the full is like $36.00 I think.

4wallz
November 9th, 2011, 03:07
Thanks! I am excited. Glad I found this place! :D

Trenloe
November 9th, 2011, 04:24
Awesome! Thank you very much! I plan on using Pathfinder.
One other quick question though, would you recomend the Full license or is it worth it to buy the Ultimate? I don't plan on running to many games or joining other games (I would love to, but not enough time in the day!). So would the full work fine for me? Thanks again for your help.

The full will work fine for you, but will require your friends to buy at least the lite licence (as mentioned by Nestor). If you and your friends do the purchases of all full and lite licences you need in one order, you will receive a cumulative discount upto 60% on the cost of purchase - so well worth getting everyone involved together for a bulk purchase.

Dershem
November 9th, 2011, 04:37
I would also recommend if you are going to do pathfinder join a couple of the pathfinder society games, if possible, to get a feeling for the system before gming.

Dracones
November 9th, 2011, 17:56
I'd 2nd Talysian's suggestion. Here's a good site to pick up PFS FG groups: Fantasy Grounds Pathfinder Society
(https://groups.yahoo.com/group/fg2pfs/)

They've made some videos that covers Pathfinder and Fantasy Grounds as a player: Tutorial Part 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiuqNB452Oo)

Also, Herolab is an awesome addition for FG and Pathfinder. I went from never creating a PF character before(or using FG) to creating a new bard in Herolabs and importing him into the game in about 20 minutes.

The downside though is herolab can get pricey with all the addons. But if you're GM'ing you'd probably get a lot of use out of it for NPCs.

I'm not sure if beastiery monsters from Herolabs will import into FG though. I'll have to whip up a goblin sorcerer when I get home and see how FG handles it.

Dershem
November 9th, 2011, 17:58
You can output them as stat blocks, and use the creature parser to put them in.

That is how I do custom Npc's. Though to be honest if your running modules, the creatures parse really well straight out of them.

Trenloe
November 9th, 2011, 20:16
You can output them as stat blocks, and use the creature parser to put them in.

That is how I do custom Npc's. Though to be honest if your running modules, the creatures parse really well straight out of them.

Talaysian's right on the money. The creature parser is available here. (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15475) Post #9 gives details of the minor modification needed to the Hero Lab statblock output to get it to parse.

Dershem
November 9th, 2011, 22:03
Yea I apologize about not giving links, but using a cell phone to surf the forums is not always optimal!