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View Full Version : PFRPG Weapon entries CT vs. Action tab



PhilFischer
July 22nd, 2014, 04:55
I have some questions about PFRPG in general including weapons, combat tracker and the action tab on character sheets as well as others.

First regarding weapon and damage entries on character sheets and on the combat tracker:

a) It does not appear that weapons on the Action tab of a character sheet, when loaded on to the Combat Tracker, load the Atk field automatically for that entry.

b) Entries for the Atk field on the CT appear like: +1 Mithril Keen Flaming Burst Rapier +12/+7 (2d6+4/15-20). I assume the following
b1) Using the following entry, there is no way to set the weapon critical multiplier, that is (2d6+4/15-20x3) does not multiply crit dmg by x3.
b2) There is no way to add the 1d10 for crit dmg (for Burst) to the dmg entry, i.e. (2d6+4/15-20,1d10)
b3) There is no way to add the type of damage (Fire) for a single die using this damage notation.

c) Hence, the Action tab on the character sheet. Using that form interface for a weapon allows:
c1) easily change the crit multiplier, on crit, magic plus, etc
c2) still no way to add burst damage unless you make a second weapon with it. It is supported by having 2x for regular wpn dmg, 2x for fire/ice dmg, and 1x for the 1d10 burst dmg. Very nice!!
c3) allows full damage type for each die type!

d) Based on this info the Action tab is superior to using the Combat Tracker. However if you still use the Targets feature on the CT, you can still use the Actions tab of the character sheet to roll To-Hit and Damage.

e) The defense section on the CT (the shield) is for informational purposes only. There is no way to set, or temporarily set the entry in the CT to FF (flat footed) or Tch (Touch) type AC or even use this section in some way (dragging the Tch AC to an attack in the Chat window). Is there anywhere else to do so? Actually change the AC to FF, Tch, etc?

f) Does 5e pretty much work like this Action tab weapon?

damned
July 22nd, 2014, 05:05
Are you clicking on the magnifying glass to set all those values?
Have you tried using Effects for Flat footed etc?

Trenloe
July 22nd, 2014, 05:20
a) It does not appear that weapons on the Action tab of a character sheet, when loaded on to the Combat Tracker, load the Atk field automatically for that entry.
Correct, they don't and that is by design. The combat tracker is primarily a GMs tool, and as such it doesn't load PC attacks - for a number of reasons, one of them being that the PC attacks are stored in a much more complex form than NPC attacks. If the GM wants to roll PC attacks they can open the PC character sheet by clicking on the link in the Combat Tracker entry.


b) Entries for the Atk field on the CT appear like: +1 Mithril Keen Flaming Burst Rapier +12/+7 (2d6+4/15-20). I assume the following
b1) Using the following entry, there is no way to set the weapon critical multiplier, that is (2d6+4/15-20x3) does not multiply crit dmg by x3.
b2) There is no way to add the 1d10 for crit dmg (for Burst) to the dmg entry, i.e. (2d6+4/15-20,1d10)
b3) There is no way to add the type of damage (Fire) for a single die using this damage notation.
These all use standard Paizo stat block notation. I suggest you have a look at some Paizo stat blocks from the PRD for plenty of examples: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/monsterIndex.html
b1) Separate the crit range and the crit multiplier with a forward slash / the default if not included is 20 and x2. In your example 2d6+4/15-20/x3.

b2) There is not a way to automatically include damage specifically applied on a critical roll. A lot of GMs/Player will setup effects to cover damage like this.

b3) If there was specific damage that was always being applied as an additional dice then this can be added to the damage using plus in the damage. e.g. Flaming Longsword +8 (1d8+4 plus 1d6 fire).


c) Hence, the Action tab on the character sheet. Using that form interface for a weapon allows:
c1) easily change the crit multiplier, on crit, magic plus, etc
c2) still no way to add burst damage unless you make a second weapon with it. It is supported by having 2x for regular wpn dmg, 2x for fire/ice dmg, and 1x for the 1d10 burst dmg. Very nice!!
c3) allows full damage type for each die type!
See my comments above.


d) Based on this info the Action tab is superior to using the Combat Tracker. However if you still use the Targets feature on the CT, you can still use the Actions tab of the character sheet to roll To-Hit and Damage.
For PCs a GM has to use the actions tab to make attack related rolls. Players don't have access to the attacks section of the combat tracker anyway.


e) The defense section on the CT (the shield) is for informational purposes only. There is no way to set, or temporarily set the entry in the CT to FF (flat footed) or Tch (Touch) type AC or even use this section in some way (dragging the Tch AC to an attack in the Chat window). Is there anywhere else to do so? Actually change the AC to FF, Tch, etc?
FG will use the correct AC based on the attack type. If the attack is touch, then the touch AC will be used, etc.. You can code the attack type in the actions tab of the PC or in the NPC statblock. See a Shadow Demon as an example of coding an NPC touch attack: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/demon.html#_demon-shadow

Or, before you make an attack roll, open up the modifier window (the +/- icon in the top right of the desktop) and click the Touch and/or Flat-footed button. This will make the next attack of that type.