Thinking about getting FG for face to face Pathfinder campaign [Archive]

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Falantrius

April 26th, 2015, 10:32

I've been GMing since the 1980s - and my games are very story based - players almost never die - the game is run for players to have fun like a cinematic experience.

There are a couple things I have noticed in FG that may meet my needs for our game group of gray beards but I wanted to ask some questions to both make sure it meets my needs AND that I am getting the right thing to do that. While there is a lot of content and videos out there - which is a good thing - a new investor like myself is overwhelmed with the sea of information in both forums and online.

My questions:
We run exclusively pathfinder - and our current game has oracles, ninja, samurai, etc. - however, the demo doesn't include any of the classes - so I wanted to ask what Pathfinder Books are available for the Library.
Advanced Players Guide?
Ultimate Magic?
Ultimate Combat?
Bestiary 2+?
Advanced Class Guide?
Ultimate Equipment?
Advanced Race Guide?
etc.
I want to make sure that all the spells, classes, traits, equipment, etc. that we are using - will be available for the campaign we are running.
Can you provide the list of what is available?

I plan to use this strictly for tabletop gaming - players don't have computers - a couple use their Iphones to look up spells and such but in general - all characters are printed on the table, dice are rolled and classic mats are on table with minis. There are some key things I want to replace - that I do by hand:

1) The Combat Tracking - to keep track of spells that the players cast on themselves. I need to do this fast so I don't have to pause the game all the time to make updates. Drag and drop spells cast on players and having the effects updated for the characters is key. Especially to let me know when a spell has expired. How easy would it be for me to do this as the GM with the tracker?

1.a) Characters during combat get their initiatives updated or reset all the time - how easy is it to move where they are in the initiative? Can you just drag and drop them? or is it a matter of just changing the Init value for the character?

1.b) If a character casts something that effects multiple players - how does the GM make that happen? For example, a Bard Song granting +2 to Attack and Damage is in play - yet this adjustment needs to show under Effects for all characters?

1.c) I am using the demo and when I hover over the icons in the Combat Tracker - it doesn't show anything - after I add a character to it - hover over shows Targets, Offense, Defense, Space & Reach, Effects - why doesn't these pop ups show in the header? This was really confusing when I first started playing with it as they did nothing to show how to use it.

1.d) Pre combat, players cast a lot of spells on their characters before walking into combat - since the players are all at table with no PCs and want to cast several spells like Communal, Resist Fire, Bears Strength, Freedom of Movement, Haste, etc. As the GM, how easy will it be fore me to do this with FG? Do I just have to walk around the table - click the box in Combat Tracker for a character - go to the ACTION tab - and Drag the BOX to the Character in the Combat Tracker? I tried that but nothing happened? I expected the effect like HASTE - to show up under EFFECTS but it didn't.

2) I have some NPCs that have been with the party the entire campaign. Other players run them just like characters - the key difference is that I sometimes pop in to say something as the NPC and I level and purchase all items for them. I want these NPCs to show up in the combat tracker and in the party sheet - so I created them as characters and added them. However, I want a way to "mark" them as NPCs and didn't see a way to do this. How is that done in FG?

3) I tried to pull the Combat Tracker to a Large Horizontal Monitor I have for the players on the wall (Dual Screen) - usually used to show Maps, etc. But it wouldn't drag outside the confines of the FG window. How can I "undock" the window to place it on the other screen? Does FG support that?

4) When creating a character, I opened the Library and selected BASIC RULEs then CLASSES and tried dropping BARD onto the character in CHARACTER SELECTION, into the box where is said CLASSES under the MAIN TAB, etc but couldn't get drag and drop to fill in. Does that work? It seemed to work for adding SPELLS and WEAPONS under ACTIONS and for FEATS under abilities. I wanted to drop the CLASS onto it - and based on the LEVEL of the character - have it show SPECIAL ABILITIES, Weapon and Armor Proficiencies. I even clicked the BOX by Special Abilities and hoped it would let me search but when I clicked the BOX it brought up what looked like a search but didn't. IS drag and drop CLASS and RACE something I can do to create characters in FG? If so, how - if not, are you going to add it?

5) The Character Sheet is great and would replace what I do in Excel each week and would auto update each time the characters are updated. However, when I started creating character sheets (no I don't want to buy another product like Hero labs to create characters and import them - I want to do everything in FG) - I couldn't find ways to maintain the details for characters. While I like the Summary of the Character Sheet - I'd like a detailed / expanded version as well. For example. In the Character sheet it shows a Stat a Bonus and Dmg - truly all you need to play. However, I want to expand that to show: Initial Stat (15) Change per Race (+2) Advancement (+1) Bonus (+2) - advancement mostly being 0 except for those stats updated for stat increases due to leveling - and Bonus for magic items like Belt of Giant Strength or other. This is also true with AC Magic Bonuses, Saves and other areas like Skills. If a character has a Base Save for the Class of 8 and they just list +9 for Misc in FG. I want to know where that +9 came from. Does FG have any way to show the EXPANDED Character Sheet so its easier to update when Magic Items are changed and characters level? You have a MINI - how about a DETAIL screen?

6) I already read that you don't have a way to print out the characters in FG - you have to use another app to load the XML and print it - why isn't that integrated into the program? I'd like players to update their characters and print them back out and it looks like that not so easy to do in FG? Currently players just have a Adobe Template that they fill in - so all sheets are the same. But I have to keep re updating them by hand in FG - a real pain. If the players had a way to update to the next level and they could just email me the update - and I load it in FG that would be easier. Some players update their own characters and mail them to me - others sit with me and I update it locally. How can I make this work with FG?

7) How well does FG work for face to face gaming? Is there something else it does that I should know about?

8) For doing what I want to do, which License do I need to buy? I want all the pathfinder content and a tool I can use to manage combat and character sheet updates. I also want to be able to create custom monsters or use some directly from the Bestiary and add them into the combat tracker. I want to create key NPCs and drop them into the Combat Tracker or into the PARTY SHEET if necessary.

Looks like a lot of good work - eventually Id like to get to VTT/projecting maps on the table and the like - but that's bigger budget.

Nylanfs

April 26th, 2015, 13:59

Falantrius

April 26th, 2015, 23:14

Pathfinder: I believe this thread (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16074-List-of-Modules)will answer your question.

4) This is only supported for the 5e modules at the moment, for another solution see answer to #5 below

5) FG has a Import function from PCGen (https://pcgen.org) (which is free) so the players simply maintain their characters in PCGen and send you the xml file when they update them.

6) Again PCGen will solve this.

Thanks Paul - Installing it now - too bad it requires me to install Java first. I'll take a look. What it sounds like you are saying is that FG is not good for creating characters - which is too bad. Drag and drop onto the sheet is excellent - just need to be able to drag and drop CLASS and RACE for SPECIAL ABILITIES, Weapon and Armor Proficiencies.

I still have these open questions:

My questions:
We run exclusively pathfinder - and our current game has oracles, ninja, samurai, etc. - however, the demo doesn't include any of the classes - so I wanted to ask what Pathfinder Books are available for the Library.
Can you provide the list of what is available?
Falantrius> I'll look at this thread https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16074-List-of-Modules

I plan to use this strictly for tabletop gaming - players don't have computers - a couple use their Iphones to look up spells and such but in general - all characters are printed on the table, dice are rolled and classic mats are on table with minis. There are some key things I want to replace - that I do by hand:

1) The Combat Tracking - to keep track of spells that the players cast on themselves. I need to do this fast so I don't have to pause the game all the time to make updates. Drag and drop spells cast on players and having the effects updated for the characters is key. Especially to let me know when a spell has expired. How easy would it be for me to do this as the GM with the tracker?

1.a) Characters during combat get their initiatives updated or reset all the time - how easy is it to move where they are in the initiative? Can you just drag and drop them? or is it a matter of just changing the Init value for the character?

1.b) If a character casts something that effects multiple players - how does the GM make that happen? For example, a Bard Song granting +2 to Attack and Damage is in play - yet this adjustment needs to show under Effects for all characters?

1.c) I am using the demo and when I hover over the icons in the Combat Tracker - it doesn't show anything - after I add a character to it - hover over shows Targets, Offense, Defense, Space & Reach, Effects - why doesn't these pop ups show in the header? This was really confusing when I first started playing with it as they did nothing to show how to use it.

1.d) Pre combat, players cast a lot of spells on their characters before walking into combat - since the players are all at table with no PCs and want to cast several spells like Communal, Resist Fire, Bears Strength, Freedom of Movement, Haste, etc. As the GM, how easy will it be fore me to do this with FG? Do I just have to walk around the table - click the box in Combat Tracker for a character - go to the ACTION tab - and Drag the BOX to the Character in the Combat Tracker? I tried that but nothing happened? I expected the effect like HASTE - to show up under EFFECTS but it didn't.

2) I have some NPCs that have been with the party the entire campaign. Other players run them just like characters - the key difference is that I sometimes pop in to say something as the NPC and I level and purchase all items for them. I want these NPCs to show up in the combat tracker and in the party sheet - so I created them as characters and added them. However, I want a way to "mark" them as NPCs and didn't see a way to do this. How is that done in FG?

3) I tried to pull the Combat Tracker to a Large Horizontal Monitor I have for the players on the wall (Dual Screen) - usually used to show Maps, etc. But it wouldn't drag outside the confines of the FG window. How can I "undock" the window to place it on the other screen? Does FG support that?

7) How well does FG work for face to face gaming? Is there something else it does that I should know about?

8) For doing what I want to do, which License do I need to buy? I want all the pathfinder content and a tool I can use to manage combat and character sheet updates. I also want to be able to create custom monsters or use some directly from the Bestiary and add them into the combat tracker. I want to create key NPCs and drop them into the Combat Tracker or into the PARTY SHEET if necessary.

Falantrius

April 27th, 2015, 04:19

Falantrius

April 28th, 2015, 07:25

Thanks Paul... PCGEN seems to be buggy in my first use. For some reason, the trait list is completely empty. I like how it shows what needs to be done for the character but sometimes I select something and nothing happens. I'll keep playing with it. Do wish FG would just integrate it into the product.

My questions that remain:

I plan to use this strictly for tabletop gaming - players don't have computers - a couple use their Iphones to look up spells and such but in general - all characters are printed on the table, dice are rolled and classic mats are on table with minis. There are some key things I want to replace - that I do by hand:

1) The Combat Tracking - to keep track of spells that the players cast on themselves. I need to do this fast so I don't have to pause the game all the time to make updates. Drag and drop spells cast on players and having the effects updated for the characters is key. Especially to let me know when a spell has expired. How easy would it be for me to do this as the GM with the tracker?

1.a) Characters during combat get their initiatives updated or reset all the time - how easy is it to move where they are in the initiative? Can you just drag and drop them? or is it a matter of just changing the Init value for the character?

1.b) If a character casts something that effects multiple players - how does the GM make that happen? For example, a Bard Song granting +2 to Attack and Damage is in play - yet this adjustment needs to show under Effects for all characters?

1.c) I am using the demo and when I hover over the icons in the Combat Tracker - it doesn't show anything - after I add a character to it - hover over shows Targets, Offense, Defense, Space & Reach, Effects - why doesn't these pop ups show in the header? This was really confusing when I first started playing with it as they did nothing to show how to use it.

1.d) Pre combat, players cast a lot of spells on their characters before walking into combat - since the players are all at table with no PCs and want to cast several spells like Communal, Resist Fire, Bears Strength, Freedom of Movement, Haste, etc. As the GM, how easy will it be fore me to do this with FG? Do I just have to walk around the table - click the box in Combat Tracker for a character - go to the ACTION tab - and Drag the BOX to the Character in the Combat Tracker? I tried that but nothing happened? I expected the effect like HASTE - to show up under EFFECTS but it didn't.

2) I have some NPCs that have been with the party the entire campaign. Other players run them just like characters - the key difference is that I sometimes pop in to say something as the NPC and I level and purchase all items for them. I want these NPCs to show up in the combat tracker and in the party sheet - so I created them as characters and added them. However, I want a way to "mark" them as NPCs and didn't see a way to do this. How is that done in FG?

3) I tried to pull the Combat Tracker to a Large Horizontal Monitor I have for the players on the wall (Dual Screen) - usually used to show Maps, etc. But it wouldn't drag outside the confines of the FG window. How can I "undock" the window to place it on the other screen? Does FG support that?

7) How well does FG work for face to face gaming? Is there something else it does that I should know about?

8) For doing what I want to do, which License do I need to buy? I want all the pathfinder content and a tool I can use to manage combat and character sheet updates. I also want to be able to create custom monsters or use some directly from the Bestiary and add them into the combat tracker. I want to create key NPCs and drop them into the Combat Tracker or into the PARTY SHEET if necessary.

Nylanfs

April 28th, 2015, 13:07

The only "Thing that needs to be Done" that looks like it doesn't do anything is the language section and it makes the box above it blink a little, but it's not obvious.

You also have to have a race and class assigned for it to properly work.

jshauber

April 28th, 2015, 14:03

Hopefully this will help...

1) I would suggest that you as GM have at least a basic character sheet for each player so that you can access it as needed.

1a) You can manually enter INIT values on the combat tracker, it also accepts decimal points so you can have 19.2, 19.1 19 etc. as people interrupt and take wait actions. You can also set the tracker to roll new INITs each turn automatically if you play that way.

1b) You can drag/drop the effect to each character that is being affected. This goes back to having a character sheet for each character or just have one sheet with a ton of effects created on it that you can drag from. Alternately, you can type each effect on the combat tracker for each character i.e. Bard Song;ATK:2, DMG:2 you can then also fill in the duration so that it counts down automatically.

1c) if you click the icon it opens the entry on the combat tracker for you. Also, when an entry is the active player/NPC it will open the attacks for you to roll from. I think this is what you are talking about, if not please give more detail.

1d) Refer to 1b) for having effects set up to drag/drop or set up the effect to apply to all targets and ensure that the character is targeting all friendlies when you click the effect and it should apply to all with syntax and duration.

2) you can change the NPCs to yellow. If you look the PCs are green and monsters are red. By clicking the face you can make them friend/neutral/enemy. I suggest you make them neutral for ease of recognition.

3) you can't take anything out of FG, what you can do is drag FG across both screens. Just right click on background and change from window mode. This allows you to drag FG across multiple screens (which every GM LOVES). You then put the tracker on the screen the party sees and gives you more real estate for other stuff on your screen.

7) I have used it for Face to Face games and it works well. IF you have a paid version and at least one other player has it and can connect to you to run some player stuff it makes things a lot easier. Let them have the casters with effects that they can drag/drop or do targeting before applying effects. This will make your life much easier and also gives them a chance to learn what FG can do as they play around with it a bit.

8) You will want a Full License at least. This will allow one demo user to connect to you (as referenced in 7). If you will have more than either they need a lite license or you can upgrade to Ultimate and host as many free (demo) players as you want. You will want to go to https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16074-List-of-Modules to get modules that the community has loving created for all to use that contain LOADS of stuff and also https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?15925-List-of-Extensions for helpful extensions to make life easier.

I suggest making use of the encounter feature to have encounters created before hand so that with a click you can add them to combat tracker and map to speed things up. There are many things to learn in FG and the learning curve can be daunting, but once you "get it" you will wonder how you lived without it for so long. I do everything in FG now even if for face to face since it makes organizing and running a game so much easier.

I hope that cleared up some things for you.

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 00:08

Paul
It tells me to add 2 traits for the character - when I click there it goes to the tab with the traits but the left hand window where a list of Traits should be to select SHOULD be - is empty. So there are no Traits to Select. How do I get it to populate the TRAIT list?

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 00:37

1) I would suggest that you as GM have at least a basic character sheet for each player so that you can access it as needed.
> Falantrius - I am trying to US PCGEN to create characters so the players can use that and EMAIL me the XML file to load into FG. I'm hoping to get this working but I'm working on getting the RIGHT pathfinder info so the characters can be created.

1a) You can manually enter INIT values on the combat tracker, it also accepts decimal points so you can have 19.2, 19.1 19 etc. as people interrupt and take wait actions. You can also set the tracker to roll new INITs each turn automatically if you play that way.
> Falantrius - As I thought, you just enter a new number - didn't know it supported decimals though :)

1b) You can drag/drop the effect to each character that is being affected. This goes back to having a character sheet for each character or just have one sheet with a ton of effects created on it that you can drag from. Alternately, you can type each effect on the combat tracker for each character i.e. Bard Song;ATK:2, DMG:2 you can then also fill in the duration so that it counts down automatically.
> Falantrius - I was trying to drag a spell like "Barkskin" or "Haste" from the spell list to the character and it wasn't doing anything. If I drag something from the EFFECTS window - that works. But when I drop a spell on the character its not doing anything. Am I doing something wrong? Does the spell have to have something set to make this work?

1c) if you click the icon it opens the entry on the combat tracker for you. Also, when an entry is the active player/NPC it will open the attacks for you to roll from. I think this is what you are talking about, if not please give more detail.
>Falantrius - What I am saying is that if you open the combat tracker and hover over the header items like HP - it says "Hit Points" in the popup but the items in the header from "Target" to "Effect" don't pop up the text in the header when you hover over them - once you load a character, the pop ups work but only on each character. Looks like a bug to me....or just not implemented there.

2) you can change the NPCs to yellow. If you look the PCs are green and monsters are red. By clicking the face you can make them friend/neutral/enemy. I suggest you make them neutral for ease of recognition.
> Falantrius - Ah! ok I thought there might be something in the CHARACTER that I can set like under NAME put NPC or something. Color coding will work.

3) you can't take anything out of FG, what you can do is drag FG across both screens. Just right click on background and change from window mode. This allows you to drag FG across multiple screens (which every GM LOVES). You then put the tracker on the screen the party sees and gives you more real estate for other stuff on your screen.
> Falantrius - Yah tried this - didn't work so well. If it was horizontal - that would work but my second monitor is VERTICAL 54" Wide Screen so when you drag across both screens its on the bottom half and the resolution is wrong for the monitor. I wanted to "Undock" the Combat Tracker and take it over to the other monitor and maximize it at the top but doesn't seem "built" to do that. I think I am going to have to run the client on the same PC and put it on the VERTICAL monitor - haven't tried that but online forums seem to say that will work.

7) I have used it for Face to Face games and it works well. IF you have a paid version and at least one other player has it and can connect to you to run some player stuff it makes things a lot easier. Let them have the casters with effects that they can drag/drop or do targeting before applying effects. This will make your life much easier and also gives them a chance to learn what FG can do as they play around with it a bit.
> Falantrius - I'll try that

8) You will want a Full License at least. This will allow one demo user to connect to you (as referenced in 7). If you will have more than either they need a lite license or you can upgrade to Ultimate and host as many free (demo) players as you want. You will want to go to https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums...ist-of-Modules to get modules that the community has loving created for all to use that contain LOADS of stuff and also https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums...-of-Extensions for helpful extensions to make life easier.

I suggest making use of the encounter feature to have encounters created before hand so that with a click you can add them to combat tracker and map to speed things up. There are many things to learn in FG and the learning curve can be daunting, but once you "get it" you will wonder how you lived without it for so long. I do everything in FG now even if for face to face since it makes organizing and running a game so much easier.
> Falantrius - I don't know where the ENCOUNTER feature is - but sounds like it will help a lot. I've been looking through the modules to try to figure out which ones I need to get to minimize duplication for Pathfinder AND so I can tell which ones the Players will need (so I can put them on a drive share for them to copy).
Thanks for your help.

Nylanfs

April 29th, 2015, 01:03

Look in the lower left it might not have switched to the right pool.

jshauber

April 29th, 2015, 04:22

OK to follow up on a few things...

You don't drag the spell, beside the spell name there should be a magnifying glass, click that and it opens the effects/heals/damage. You can then modify the effect to make sure it has correct duration or change the heal/damage dice or modifier. Here is where you also set the effect to apply to self or target as I mentioned earlier.

On the right side is an NPC button, click that, it opens a list of NPCs. It will be blank to start but you can drag them from library modules like the Beastiary. Once they are in the NPC box you can then rename them and modify the NPC sheet for spells, different weapons, etc. There is also a button for ENCOUNTERS on the NPC listing. If you click that it now opens a new ENCOUNTER menu. You can click the brown button and it opens a green + button, click that and it opens an Encounter Window. Now drag/drop NPCs from the NPC list or the beastiary to the encounter window. It will give you an entry with a blank circle (for you to add a token) and an box with 1 in it. You can change the number to say 5 and it will now give you 5 blank circles below the NPC. When you put a token in the main circle it will auto-populate the 5 below. You can then drag the 5 tokens to a map and have the encounter pre-set up for when you get to it. On the Encounter Window is a small arrow in bottom left corner. When you click that it will put the NPCs on the Combat Tracker for you with initiative rolled and HP filled in. You can control the way most things are done on the options window, random HP or static for each NPC, variable INITS or same for group...You get the idea.

Sorry for the wall of text, but hopefully it gives you a few more things to try. Best to just open some stuff and see what it does!!!!

Trenloe

April 29th, 2015, 05:52

Best to just open some stuff and see what it does!!!!
And read the Wiki... and watch some videos... ;)

Trenloe

April 29th, 2015, 06:00

And, you can't add spells to the actions tab until you've added a spell class. Info in the Wiki here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/3.5E_Character_Sheet#Add_Spell_Class You'll need to add some spells per day to the spell class to enable the spell level headers - and drag your spells to the correct level header to ensure they are added to the right level. You need the specifically add a particular spell to the level as FG allows you the flexibility of having spells used/cast at different spell levels due to special abilities, meta-magic feats, etc..

dulux-oz

April 29th, 2015, 06:05

And read the Wiki... and watch some videos... ;)

Hi Falantrius,

As the others have said - Welcome!

Just to reinforce what Trenloe has said (he's a great guy, btw, and very, very knowledgeable about FG and RPGs - as an Immortals, he's worth listening to. Actually, any of the Immortals are worth listening to - that's one reason why they're Immortals in the first place, after all) - to reinforce what Trenloe has said, one of the quickest ways of learning how to use FG to play RPGs is by watching some videos. There are quite a few Tutorial Videos on the FG Wiki - Damned's are excellent, as are Xorns, and people seem to find mine useful as well (mine are also available from the links in my sig, below). Start with the Videos on the CoreRPG - most of the Role-Playing Games used with FG are built on top of the CoreRPG, and thus the CoreRPG has most of the common functionality of the various Rulesets (Ruleset = programming logic to play a given RPG with FG). By learning how to use FG with the CoreRPG you and your friends will stand yourselves in good stead to be able to play ANY RPG with Fantasy Grounds.

Anyway, have fun, keep on asking questions, and get "stuck in"- you'll will be glad you did!

Cheers

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 07:20

Paul - I reloaded the character and went to traits and the whole list is visible. Not sure what magic occurred but its the first I've seen the list. Selected traits and am moving on. Hope it doesn't pop up again.

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 07:38

"You don't drag the spell, beside the spell name there should be a magnifying glass, click that and it opens the effects/heals/damage. You can then modify the effect to make sure it has correct duration or change the heal/damage dice or modifier. Here is where you also set the effect to apply to self or target as I mentioned earlier."

I'm one of those who really doesn't have a lot of extra time - I just want to open it up and use it and I'm finding out that this program has a HUGE learning curve. I was hoping for it to me more user friendly - seeing how I'm a usability guy and project manager for Windows :) So many things I just want to "DCR" and have fixed ...but as it is, I'll fumble through.

I did what you outlined the first time I used it - however, when I press the magnifying glass, all I get is:
[0] Cast [/] Attack [O] CLC [ 0] [O] Save [ ]

Healing spells have HEAL along with this but I haven't seen anything with EFFECTS

Im looking at Resist Elements,Barkskin and Resist Energy for example. No condition

I guess I'm going to go have to hunt for videos.
BTW - I bought the Ultimate - but I guess I don't get anything until Paypal releases funds.

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 08:10

Here is a simple example:
I have a Ranger 8th level character I just created - I have added all his spells on the Action TAB. I've added his TOKEN to the COMBAT TRACKER and to PARTY SHEET.
He is listed as a spontaneous caster and a RANGER and set his level to 8.

The character wants to cast BARKSKIN on his character and have the +2 Natural Armor applied to his character and have it tracked for 10min /lvl OR 80 minutes.
I cant seem to figure it out how to "CAST" it and have it applied- and have the duration show in Combat Tracker under EFFECTS.

Moon Wizard

April 29th, 2015, 08:17

Falantrius

April 29th, 2015, 08:59

Within the spell on the PC sheet actions tab,
1. Right click on the spell entry.
2. Select the Add Spell Action->Add Effect option.
3. Click magnifying glass.
4. In the description section, type "AC:2 natural"
5. In the duration section, click on box under "Mult x Stat (Max)" label until it reads "CL" (i.e. caster level) and enter 10 in box before "x". Also, click Units field to read "MIN".

Regards,
JPG

I selected the spell from the Library and drag and dropped it into the spell list thinking all that would be setup automatically.
Do you have to do that for every single spell for every single character?
For $150 I thought all that would come with it as part of the Pathfinder Library items. Maybe its not on the demo version....

Secondly, how do I cast that on the character - so its applied?
I dragged the CAST over to the character in the Combat Tracker and nothing
Then I tried dragging only the effect TEXT over to the Combat Tracker and it worked.

Thanks - Learned a lot from that.
I guess that's how its done?

Moon Wizard

May 1st, 2015, 10:07

Falantrius

May 1st, 2015, 10:30

For the most common effect conditions, the text will be parsed automatically and added as an effect action in the spell details. However, the bonus and penalty modifier text parsing is more complex, and has not been implemented.

To apply an spell effect action from a PC sheet, you can:

Press the effect button (applies to current target(s) if any, or else chat window)
Drag the effect button (drop on token linked to CT, CT entry, PC portrait or chat window)
Double-click the effect text label (applies to current target(s) if any, or else chat window)
Drag the effect text label (drop on token linked to CT, CT entry, PC portrait or chat window)

Cheers,
JPG

Thanks JPG
I have went through the spells on each character sheet that I have imported from PCGEN and added both Damage, Duration and Condition/Effects to each.
When they cast the spell on a target - wont those effects/dmg/durations be applied to the target? or am I going to have to do what you list above EVERYTIME I cast a spell?

Trenloe

May 1st, 2015, 15:02

When they cast the spell on a target - wont those effects/dmg/durations be applied to the target? or am I going to have to do what you list above EVERYTIME I cast a spell?
The cast button triggers any attacks/saves needed by the spell. Then, if the spell succeeds you can do one of the things M_W lists in his bullet points - if you're using targeting it's a one click (the first option in the list).

Fantasy grounds is deliberately designed along the 80/20 rule automation wise, and the casting of spells needs to be a 2 step process as there are many feats/abilities that can effect the result of a spell/attack, damage/effects aren't automatically applied as part of the cast. Think of it like the attack, do I hit? If so, apply damage process.