Can one modify the official 5e rulesets?

[eepMoody]

I run a customized version of 5e for an ongoing online campaign, and this toolset is really intriguing to me. Thing is, I would need to take the 5e core classes and rules and tweak them to suit my campaign.

Example things that are modified in my campaign:
- Uses a spell point system instead of spell slots, would need to add a place on Character Sheet to track them.
- Some classes and spells are prohibited, I'd need to remove them
- Some classes gain alternate abilities, particularly around spellcasting (see the spell points thing)
- Some spells are modified, I'd want to adjust their descriptions globally so any character who gains them gains the correct versions
- There are new races, and existing races have different bonuses. I'd want to duplicate the ones that exist and make subtypes of them.
- New domains for Cleric types. I'd want to make sure they're tied into the character builder

Is any/all of this possible?

[damned]

- Uses a spell point system instead of spell slots, would need to add a place on Character Sheet to track them.
** requires you to do some XML coding. best done as an extension so updates to the base system dont get overwritten.

- Some classes and spells are prohibited, I'd need to remove them
** you should be able to delete them - they wont actually delete but they will be deleted from the current campaign

- Some classes gain alternate abilities, particularly around spellcasting (see the spell points thing)
** you should be able to add your own

- Some spells are modified, I'd want to adjust their descriptions globally so any character who gains them gains the correct versions
** you shoudl be able to do this. spells dont usually have an automation - they are mostly just descriptive

- There are new races, and existing races have different bonuses. I'd want to duplicate the ones that exist and make subtypes of them.
** should be able to do this. best way to do this would be to do it in Par5e and create a new library module

- New domains for Cleric types. I'd want to make sure they're tied into the character builder
** should be able to do this. best way to do this would be to do it in Par5e and create a new library module

[Daperez]

Unlike all the other modules I've purchased in the past, the 5e module seems to have installed in some secret place on my computer. With, for example, the Savage Worlds Hellfrost Bestiary and Player's Guide, I remember being able to write my own monsters from scratch and house-rule new skills into the reference guide by decompiling the module, editing the XML contents, and rezipping them, but it doesn't look like this will be possible with 5e. I'm a little disappointed, but overall far more satisfied that we have these in the first place. I can always keep using PAR5E to create custom content, and if this is the price we had to pay for WotC to agree to let FG publish the modules, I can live with it.

[damned]

Hi Daperez - this is an anti-piracy measure. Its not done this way to stop you tinkering but to stop illegal sharing of the modules. The Wizards IP is very valuable to them and they got burnt pretty badly by PDF sharing on D&D 4. You can create your own stuff within FG and export it out as a MOD or you can use the Par5e tool to create more structured mods. The guys at SmiteWorks really want this to be a successful everyone - for the players, for their business and for Wizards so that it is only the first of more goodness coming our way!

[demonsbane]

(. . .) You can create your own stuff within FG and export it out as a MOD or you can use the Par5e tool to create more structured mods.

How effective is making Library Modules from within Fantasy Grounds, à la WYSIWYG? I wonder if some things have been changed and updated, and now that module creation from inside doesn't result in duplicated entries. Perhaps there is some helpful thread around discussing or elaborating the subject.

[pensezbien]

I know Smiteworks likely has no say in the matter and has to use the anti-piracy measure for contractual reasons, but if you ever find a sympathetic ear at WotC: fully OCRed PDFs for all three core books, wonderfully searchable and indexed with nice PDF bookmarks, leaked online in 2014 and have remained continuously available since then with a trivial Internet search (which I will not publish here). Therefore the burden WotC is imposing on you is not making the core books any harder to obtain or share illegally in PDF form, and maybe they could reconsider if that's what they're worried about. Really they should offer a legal paid version of what's now only possible to obtain illegally for free, and too widely disseminated to remove from illegal availability.

I guess they are making it harder to share your pre-typed, typo-corrected, and artwork-inclusive Fantasy Grounds data files, which they might view as worth the hassle - until of course someone unscrupulous breaks your measures, which happens over time with every DRM system in existence. After that happens once, it'll end up somewhere illegal for free, as always with these things, and then only we honest paying customers deal with the anti-piracy technology. (To be clear, I have no plans or desire to break your DRM, but eventually someone will.)

Certainly I want Wizards' and Smiteworks' businesses to succeed: I've bought an FG Ultimate License and your version of the PHB and MM , as well as the physical Starter Set, Icons of the Realm / Starter Set minis, DM screen, PHB, MM, DMG, HotDQ, RoT, and PotA. I'm not the enemy here, just a messenger. :)

[damned]

How effective is making Library Modules from within Fantasy Grounds, à la WYSIWYG? I wonder if some things have been changed and updated, and now that module creation from inside doesn't result in duplicated entries. Perhaps there is some helpful thread around discussing or elaborating the subject.

No - FG is great for making campaigns within the app but not for making library modules. Par5e is still best for that.