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Bumamgar
July 23rd, 2014, 23:19
It doesn't appear to be possible to add spells to NPCs at this time? Is this on the TODO list?

Moon Wizard
July 23rd, 2014, 23:22
We're still undecided on how to handle NPC spells. We may leave as is to reflect how it is specified in the rules currently (i.e. just list of spells) or go full-blown caster sheets (i.e. like 3.5E). The full-blown caster sheets end up adding a lot of prep time and complexity to running NPCs, so I'll probably let this sit a while until people really get to play with it for a while.

Regards,
JPG

Irondrake
July 23rd, 2014, 23:55
This is just a thought, but how difficult would it be to drag a spell from a library datafile to an NPC and have it drop and create an action from it? Parsing hit, damage, etc just like any other NPC attack action?

Moon Wizard
July 24th, 2014, 00:00
That would probably be much easier, and something that could be done sooner.

How would you consider that the metadata fields be handled? (School, Level, Casting Time, Range, Components, Duration)

Cheers,
JPG

Irondrake
July 24th, 2014, 00:27
For NPCs most of that information isn't really necessary. It could be simply blended into the text of the action description, maybe formatted so it can be easily discerned that it is a spell, but the important part would be the information would be there without it being too much of a hassle to access. Perhaps for those building NPC databases the spells could be zlinked?

Moon Wizard
July 24th, 2014, 01:42
The Zlink is tied to formatted text fields, and the NPC action field does not allow formatting since it precludes the auto highlighting of rolls/effects.

Maybe I'll give a pass at spell drop support, and see where we end up. Have a couple other things to address first though.

JPG

Irondrake
July 24th, 2014, 04:24
ZLink was just a pull from the air anyway ;) I'd be happy just being able to drop spells onto an NPC and have it create the Action :)

ShadeRaven
July 24th, 2014, 06:35
Spell drop support would be WONDERFUL. Not only because it would be a quick way to get the generalized spells to creatures easy, but because that would allow library support of common powers/features to also be added to the library for quick drop-in. So creatures that share Brute, Sneak Attack, or Breath Weapon (for example) could be set up in a library entry and then added easily as creatures are created.

Speaking of that...

What is the current plans with Recharge? Since that's returning in 5E, is there going to be a field to set Recharge (and availability) with NPCs?

Moon Wizard
July 24th, 2014, 06:53
There was already a format for Recharge text in the play test packet, and that is still in place. I just tried it with the Giant Spider from the Lost Mines adventure in the Starter Set, and the recharge was parsed for the Web action.

Cheers,
JPG

ShadeRaven
July 24th, 2014, 06:56
Tonight's Issue: Rest Powers in a Shared Field blanking each other out on use.

Details: For our Fighters, they are Sharing a Power Group called - Fighter Features. At level 2, this means they get two powers in this category: Action Surge and Second Wind. The Preperation and Group Details looks like this:
7098

The intent here is that there are two powers in this group that each get 1 use per Rest, but the group itself has two uses within it before it goes away. The hope is that a player could use Action Surge, check it off, see that disappear (until the next rest) while one use of Second Wind remains. If Second Wind gets used before a rest, the entire group will disappear until a rest happens.

So from Combat View, the base looks as such:
7099

Two powers, each with a checkbox circle ready to show use. As hoped for.

Unfortunately, my best laid plans fall apart when one is selected. As soon as one is chosen, the other fades to black (so to speak) and becomes un-checkable. The power still lists, but the ability to show it's usage is removed as well as the ability to have it go away once it's been used. Here's the image of what it looks like after Gamil has used Action Surge, leaving him just Second Wind until the next rest:
7100

As you can see, Action Surge has gone away from use, but Second Wind now shows a check mark, too, and can't be indicated as available or unavailable because of it.

What does work is if I set up both items as having 2 uses per rest, and then remember that a check in one of the two use circles means that the power isn't available, but the other one is. It would look like this:
7101

As indicated, we can see Action Surge having a checked use, and Second Wind could be checked off as well (in which case then both would disappear). Very workable, but ideally, I think it would be nice if the individual rest count for each power would determine whether or not a check mark in their usage circle has it fade to black or not.

Man, I hope all of that makes sense.... and man, I hope this is not another one of those cases where it's hard for you to replicate. :P

At any rate, thanks again for listening!
SR

ShadeRaven
July 24th, 2014, 06:58
There was already a format for Recharge text in the play test packet, and that is still in place. I just tried it with the Giant Spider from the Lost Mines adventure in the Starter Set, and the recharge was parsed for the Web action.

Cheers,
JPGAwesome! I haven't tried it out yet, but that's great news indeed. I'm sure the groups will get to see it in action, then, soon enough :)

Moon Wizard
July 24th, 2014, 07:01
Can you try setting them up without a group limit, but with a 1 use per Rest limit for each ability instead?

JPG

ShadeRaven
July 24th, 2014, 07:10
Me again. Yes, I know. Where's that silence spell when you really need it!

Player spellcasting is working great, so this is merely an ease-of-use request and nothing more.

Feature Request: When the Star to the left of a Spell Action is clicked, it then populates an appropriate level checkbox circle indicating that one of the uses for that spell level has been employed.

Details: Wizard Fen decides he wants to cast Sleep against the Wild Dogs that are attacking the party. The associated spell is used on the action tab and dice tumble about giving indication of the results of the spell. That done, Fen's player then clicks the Star showing he used that power and above, where it shows that he has three available 1st level slots, one gets then filled (checked) leaving him with two unused and one unavailable.

Certainly, this is not much more than a way to speed up things just a tiny as the player could scroll up (if necessary) and then manually click on the spell slot box to show use, but it would make things perhaps a tiny easier (?), especially as the spell lists start to grow and wizards fill their books with many options.

[EDIT] Just occurred to me that this isn't the Beta Thread but I am adding feature or issues to this thread which was very individual focused on one particular aspect. Ooops. My bad!

ShadeRaven
July 24th, 2014, 07:15
Can you try setting them up without a group limit, but with a 1 use per Rest limit for each ability instead?

JPGAh ha! Bloody brilliant. :) I thought I'd have to show the Power Group's total use there to indicate how many were available to the group (kind of like spell prep), but there I am wrong obviously. Yes, you are right (of course)... that completely solved the issue as both are now independent of each other. Channel Divinity had me over thinking this (where, of course, you want the two powers to be tied into 1 use).

Thanks again!

El Condoro
July 24th, 2014, 08:11
If you give them their own group e.g. Name - Action Surge; Group - Action Surge, and then set the use to 1/Rest, they work as intended. Perhaps not perfect as they are both class features but...

[Edit] LOL must be a lot online at the moment. Answered above!

Bumamgar
July 24th, 2014, 14:05
I think it would be nicest if NPCs had a spell tab similar to what is available on the character sheet. Spells as actions doesn't really do a good job of tracking spell availability for an NPC

Irondrake
July 26th, 2014, 02:10
Most NPCs aren't going to get a lot of spells off, honestly ;) My group sees a caster, the caster becomes a splat as fast as they can make him one.

El Condoro
July 26th, 2014, 02:47
Yeesh! Those spell casters would be well advised to seek out a Shield spell from somewhere. :)

Seriously though, is there a technical reason why NPCs can't have an Actions tab like PCs? Spells are going to be used a lot by monsters and spell casters - adding the effects manually will slow game play down considerably. In the 4E ruleset powers could be dragged onto the sheet, like the PC sheet in 5E now.

Moon Wizard
July 26th, 2014, 05:10
Spells can be dragged onto the NPC sheet now as actions.

Full blown spell caster preparation, tracking, separate actions and more is another story and is a lot of coding. Plus, it complicated the NPC UI and increases GM prep.

I'm waiting to see how prevalent spells actually are in the MM and adventures. Plus, my time to prep before Gencon is very short. I'm moving this weekend, and travelling for my other job in a week.

As a workaround, you can always set up an NPC in the Characters section, log in via second instance on host machine and take ownership so that players don't see.

JPG

El Condoro
July 26th, 2014, 05:57
You're moving - my sympathy is with you! :) I hate moving.

Thanks for the reply and explanation. I hope I didn't seem pushy or ungrateful, because I think the ruleset is great as it is. We have so much functionality even before the core books have been released. Anything else is a bonus.

The localhost idea might be a goer. Cheers

Hecklerus Prime
December 28th, 2015, 04:38
Old thread, I know, but it's a feature I would really like to see implemented. My group and I just finished the Lost Mines of Phandelver. By our count, 7 of the 20 NPCs in the adventure could have benefited from full spell descriptions, similar to what PCs enjoy. We're about to start the Hoard of the Dragon Queen and I expect that ratio will hold or increase. I know we would really enjoy this benefit to be added to the NPC sheets, although we do know that it dramatically slowed NPC sheet load times in 3.5e. At this point, we'd be happy to just have the functionality to create full spells & effects, rather than have them already loaded onto the sheet. To me, DM prep time is a worthy sacrifice for in-game simplicity. That's my 2 Cp, at least.

Hecklerus Prime
December 28th, 2015, 04:42
Holy cow! Nevermind. I just looked at the CT a little closer and saw the spell entries. Well, there's egg on my face! Sorry!

Now to figure out how we went an entire adventure and missed that...

damned
December 28th, 2015, 07:29
Holy cow! Nevermind. I just looked at the CT a little closer and saw the spell entries. Well, there's egg on my face! Sorry!

Now to figure out how we went an entire adventure and missed that...

it was probably the egg. wash your face before game and you will see things much more clearly! :)

hey! and no throwing eggs at me - you asked for that!