ACTIONS, SPELLS AND EFFECTS ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY! – Part 1 – Basic Questions

[whiteTiki]

Hi there everyone, I've been a user of FG for about a month now. I've already managed to run my sessions as DM with absolutely no big problems. I've purchased all the core books available (PHB and MM) and some adventure books. I do have some few complaints about the system and how it Works, especially after having purchased all that content plus an ultimate subscription but that's for another thread. It’s important to mention that this is a 2 part thread. In this part my intention is to discuss and cover my basic questions and doubts were in the “– Part 2 – Effect Syntax Questions” thread is all about that. The syntax when creating effects.

Recently I've been trying to make my players have all their spells with an effect programed on it (when it applies). Currently I have a Paladin, a Sorcerer and a Cleric and I'm going crazy cause there are a lot of things about spells and actions that are not clear or well programmed especially after you purchase the official content from the FG store. So I have a few really basic questions I want the community to comment about so we can decide what’s best for each case. I also want to add that this are ONLY the problems I have encountered for players level 6. That means, a small list of spells and actions compared to a 15th level player.

Before reading the next section PLEASE keep in mind that my intention here is to automate everything that is possible and organize it well and clear for the players. So, if you are going to propose something like “Dude, just make the characters roll that manually, that’s what I do and it solves a lot of problems” this is not the thread for it. It’s not the threads intention and It won’t really solve or answer my question. Thank you.


++BASIC QUESTIONS

1.- If you want to create a thing like Channel Divinity in the Actions Tab, what the F do you do? I mean, it’s a single power that you can use X times a day, so it shouldn’t be 2 powers right? It should all fit perfectly into 1 power, but you have the problem that you can choose from several options on what you want to do with your Channel Divinity. In my case I created 1 power and gave it several effects according to the Channel Divinity Options. (Please comment on this so I can learn other alternatives)

2.- How the F do you guys deal with scrolls? I'm using the actions tab, where players have their scrolls. It’s not a spell really so I created it like an Ability (you know, the small sword icon instead of the book icon under "Group Type") BUT IT STILL RECOGNIZES IT AS A SPELL. So when my characters are using their spells and check marking the slots they have used and they finish a battle with no more spell slots available then the scrolls disappear from the actions list under combat mode because the system thinks they're spells! I found out that this happened because I dragged and dropped the spell from the PHB module with the intention of NOT writing all down, but at the end I had to create a completely new power so it didn't recognize it as a "spell" (any comments on this? was this ok? or are there any better ways to do it?)

3.- There should be a thing on the core rules programmed for the CONCENTRATION STUFF. It's so hard to keep track of that. FantasyGrounds should be able to know which effects are concentration related and if the character or enemy that made the cast receives damage and fails his CON check THEN THE EFFECT IS LOST. Is there something like that that I don’t know of?

4.- MULTIPLE LEVEL SPELLS, HOLY F that really is a problem. What are you guys doing to solve this problems? Let’s have “Cure Wounds” for this example, you all know that Spells automatically group themselves in several categories “Spells (Level 1)” “Spells (Level 2)” etc, But then there’s the “you can cast this spell using a 2nd level spell slot” thing. So “Cure Wounds” it’s a Level 1 spell, but it’s also a 2nd level spell and a 3rd level spell, etc. What are you guys doing for this ****? Is it better to just have the spell be a Level 1 spell and create a lot of “healing actions” according to the level it represents? Or is it better to duplicate the spell as a level 1 spell, level 2 spell, and so on (but in this way all your “preparation mode” gets F’ed up)? Now, this example was pretty simple, but imagine a spell that has a casting action with its save and its damage and also and effect and you can cast it using a 1st, 3rd and 5th level spell slot for example… If you keep it all simple in 1 single spell without duplicates, you’ll have a lot of F’ing stuff laying around in a single spell it will get confusing. (Please I need help on what’s the best way to do it).

[Nylanfs]

#4, drag the spell effects to the target, Right click to increase effect and drop. Then select off that level you cast it as. Other wise yes you would have to create a spell of each level to make it automatically take off the available slot.

[limpinjezus]

1. I do it the same way you are describing if I am unserstanding you correctly.
2. I'd do scrolls the same way as a spell, I'd just rename it Scroll of xxxxxxx.
3. Add an effect of Concentration; Spell Name; [SELF] with the proper duration for the spells in the actions tab for each spell that requires it. When the player uses the spell, they should also use the Concentration effect. This will only serve as a reminder, in the combat tracker however.
4. As an example of Cure Wounds, I have 3 effects. One is Domain power for the Life Domain, Disciple of Life; Heal: 3; [ROLL]; [SELF] This effect puts and effect on the player that expends on their next roll, adding 3 (Spell Level + 2) Healing to the next Roll of the player. Second is an effect to handle casting at higher levels; Cure Wounds; Additional Spell Slots + Disciple of Life; HEAL:1d8+1;[ROLL];[SELF] Becasue Disciple of Life adds spell level, for each level above 1 I had to add 1, hence the +1 to the 1d8 extra healing above level 1.

So as the player, they first would add the Disciple of Life effect if that is in their Domain and then if they want to add additional spell slots, ie. Cast at a higher level, the just use the Additional Spell slots effect as many times as they want. Each adds 1 spell slot. Then they use the Heal action to roll and all the effects get expended on the roll and add the appropriate number to the heal.

[whiteTiki]

Interesting, thanks to both for the quick answer. Nylanfs, what you describe Works but only with healing and damaging, but is pretty awesome. It's not working with effects, for that I'll use Limpinjezus technique, which will help me keep everything in one spell, but with a bunch of effects inside it.

BTW Limpinjezus, how do you manage to make the scroll not detected as a spell? just remove the "level X" on the properties of the scroll? Because the problema for me is that scrolls get detected as spells for purposes of spell slots spent, so when I have consumed all my spell slots, the scrolls also disapear from the actions tab and they return when I do a rest. Of course I could just change "combat" mode to something else and they will be there, but thats not my point really.

[limpinjezus]

Create a new power group and name it Scrolls. Then drag the spells from the PHB to the new group. They will add in under the Scrolls group and allow you to set uses and such in the prep section. Set them to 1 ONCE usage. You'll need to delete them as they get used.

[Redemption77]

When it comes to more damage for spells per level, before the player casts the spell I just drop the extra dice in their damage section of the spell and when the spells cast, clear them and put back in the proper dice

[jshauber]

Experienced DM with a fairly experienced crew of players that know FG pretty well and like to solve things themselves. I will comment the best I can based off of what I have seen them do.

1. For CHANNEL DIVINITY your method should be fine. I believe my cleric created one power with multiple effects.

2. For scrolls as a GM ALWAYS include the spell/s link (little dragon head that you drag/drop) in the scroll item itself. This way the players can either add it to a spellbook (if they wish) by dragging it themselves and then deleting it from the scroll (or the entire scroll) or they can create a special section for scrolls as has been mentioned but still able to drag/drop the spell and then create any effects needed. The same goes for potions that have spell effects, drag the spell to the magic item for ease in use later.

3. As LimpinJ mentioned since concentration is not automated, just have the players create a CONCENTRATE effect with duration as a reminder if it is a problem. Once you have a lot of the other stuff working well trying to keep track of a couple things the program doesn't do isn't as big a deal.

4. I have seen my players just create additional heal/damage entries for spells as they gain levels. I.E. a cure wounds spell will have multiple + for the heals based on what spell slot they want to use for the casting. So my 6th level cleric PC will have a 1d8+6, 2d8+6 and 3D8+6, etc. as you hover over each it gives you what the heal will be, just click and mark off the appropriate spell slot. The same can be done for damage spells. This keeps the action tab from being too cluttered and also makes the players stay involved with their PCs as they level since they need to go in and change bonuses and add new levels of heal/damage to each spell.

Hope that helped. Ask more questions if you have them, we are here to help and share our accumulated knowledge to make the GM and player base as large and happy as possible!!!

[whiteTiki]

Thanks for everyones help, pretty nice ways to get around all of this. Specially the concentration thing. An effect with the duration will do it.