New to Fantasy Grounds

[Veidt]

Hi,

Some friends and I are looking at using FG2 to facilitate some 3.5E DnD, and I was wondering if anyone could clear some things up for me.

Some of us are looking at using content from some of the extra source books, like Complete Divine, and the Player's Handbook II. I've looked on the store, and have found what I *think* is a pack that will include them, but i'm not 100% sure.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=DGA044

So my questions are, can I see what source books are included in this pack (or if not, can someone let me know if the spells/prestige classes/feats that are in the PH2 and Complete Divine etc are present in this module pack), and also, will everyone who I intend to play with (my GM and the other players) have to download this pack as well in order for me to use the spells and classes that aren't included in the core ruleset, or can I share the information directly from my client?

Thanks in advance!

[Blahness98]

First off, Welcome to the community. Hopefully you decide to stay a while.

The item you are looking at is only the complete SRD placed into modules. This information is the same that comes from all the SRD documents and can be found www.d20srd.org (https://d20srd.org). There are no source books/splat book included in this, only the stuff released by Wizards as part of the open gaming license. What you are looking for cannot be officially released because they are "closed content" and Wizards would probably sue if they were sold without the proper license.

If you wanted to include the stuff from extra source books, you could create specific library modules yourself and only use it for your own personal use (i.e. not distribute them). Say your GM purchased the Complete SRD or had/made the library modules for the other books, they would be viewable by the players as long as he allows access to them via the library. So the other player would be able to look at them, but only while connected to the the GM.

Take a look at d20srd.org, as it is just a web based version of what the pack in the store is. Or if you want to see what it includes, drop me a PM. I can boot up FG to show you what you get.

[Veidt]

Cheers for the info, since this post i've created a module with all of the spells from PH2 and have my sights set on the Complete Arcane book next (eeep!).

Our group has begun playing and I understand how the modules fit into the scheme of things a bit better now, but have a couple of new questions to help me in moving forward.

One is still regarding spell modules. When a spell is in a character's spell book, I noticed that it will have a dice button to automatically roll for a spell's damage. Is FGII pulling this from the spell descriptions automatically? or is it something I will have to add in manually somewhere? And will it add bonuses for caster level automatically as well, or is that a manual job also?

My other question is regarding classes.
I realise that in the 3.5E ruleset, the players are more or less responsible for keeping their character sheets up to date and accurate. Entries in the libraries seem to just be text descriptions copied from the handbooks, and players need to crunch the numbers and refer to tables to work out their skill points/saving throws/BAB increases etc.

Is there any way of programming this process and automating some of it? ie: if I were to increase my cleric level from 1 to 2, could I have FG automatically calculate my skill points for the level, automatically increase my will and fort saving throws by 1, maybe automatically roll the correct hitdice and update HP total, and increase my BAB from 0 to 1? I notice that on the skill page there is a field for unspent points/ranks, but was unsure whether there's some way the client utilises it, or just for keeping track of skill points you don't want to spend until a higher level (in a different class's class skill for example).

Not asking if anyone has already done this kind of work btw, just asking if it's possible. If so, how hard is it to do? The spell modules i've been working on have been fairly straight forward, but that's only because I can copy/paste previous entries and update them with different spell info, then do the same in the spell lists.

Thanks in advance ;)

[madman]

One is still regarding spell modules. When a spell is in a character's spell book, I noticed that it will have a dice button to automatically roll for a spell's damage. Is FGII pulling this from the spell descriptions automatically? or is it something I will have to add in manually somewhere? And will it add bonuses for caster level automatically as well, or is that a manual job also?

My other question is regarding classes.
I realise that in the 3.5E ruleset, the players are more or less responsible for keeping their character sheets up to date and accurate. Entries in the libraries seem to just be text descriptions copied from the handbooks, and players need to crunch the numbers and refer to tables to work out their skill points/saving throws/BAB increases etc.

Is there any way of programming this process and automating some of it? ie: if I were to increase my cleric level from 1 to 2, could I have FG automatically calculate my skill points for the level, automatically increase my will and fort saving throws by 1, maybe automatically roll the correct hitdice and update HP total, and increase my BAB from 0 to 1? I notice that on the skill page there is a field for unspent points/ranks, but was unsure whether there's some way the client utilises it, or just for keeping track of skill points you don't want to spend until a higher level (in a different class's class skill for example).

1)The link on the right side of a spell description has all the fields in it. You can enter the info from a spell by hand there, and Right click to re-parse spells. If you right click it brings up the radial menu where you can add damage, heal, cast, or an effect as another way to do it.

2)Yes, I believe that with the right skills and some time you can add all the stuff your talking about. Some knowledge of XML and LUA would be needed to achieve this.

Chris

[Moon Wizard]

There are entire products dedicated to character creation and leveling management. (i.e. Wizards Character Builder, Hero Lab, ...) The primary challenge is just the large amount of work necessary to build all the character creation/leveling code and get it working with all the possible permutations.

Our approach has been to build a character sheet that provides a lot of flexibility, and work on a tool to import characters from popular character builders. (See Laboratory forum for Character Converter utility.)

You could potentially manage the character in an external tool, then re-import every time they levelled. The only challenge is that you have to make the item changes in the character builder app, and possibly rebuild some spell rolls (if you make custom ones).

Regards,
JPG

[Veidt]

Cheers guys.

I was mainly concerned about whether the spell entries i'd created would work properly, the other stuff is just peripheral ;)

Most of my group is just using the Hero Forge spreadsheet to track our character development, so it's not a massive deal to copy the relevant info into FG when we level, was just wondering tho.

FG is an excellent tool. Pretty happy we're playing with it tbh.

[Callum]

When a spell is in a character's spell book, I noticed that it will have a dice button to automatically roll for a spell's damage. Is FGII pulling this from the spell descriptions automatically? or is it something I will have to add in manually somewhere? And will it add bonuses for caster level automatically as well, or is that a manual job also?

FG does parse the spell descriptions for standard text (such as damage dice) and includes those in the spell effects. This works pretty well for things like damage and healing, but it can't interpret all the effects that might be generated by a spell, so you will often have to add extra effects yourself. It does take into account caster level (if you've set this at the top of the spell class list). To see how these work, and adjust them or add your own, click on the magnifying glass icon to the right of the spell. To see all the calculation fields, you'll need to click on further drop-down icons.

The library (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userguide35E/) covers a lot of the basics, but you'll need to search this forum for more advanced stuff (or just ask)...