Building out spell effects for NPCs

[tadkil]

I've figured out how to add spell effects for PCs. For example, Bless was relatively easy to figure out how to add and build just based on the interface and the wiki.

How do you add this sort of spell effect to a monster? I spent about an hour trying to build out Bless for the Eye of Gruumsh and could not figure out what I was missing. What are you recommendations & is there some documentation I am missing for effects?

Thanks,

Tad

[Moon Wizard]

There's no current way to automate this effect right on the NPC sheet. The internal spell parser gets about 90% of the spells correct, but won't handle certain ones including bless.

There's some new code in v3.1.3 that will automatically set up the PC sheet with the correct effect, but it has to override the text parsing to do it. This means I can't use the same mechanism for the NPC effect parsing inline. I may be able to do something to get it to add to the CT when NPC added though. Let me look at it.

In the mean time, the formula in the CT entry for bless should be [EFF: ATK: 1d4; SAVE: 1d4; (C) (D:10)]

Cheers,
JPG

[tadkil]

Thanks Moon Wizard.

[epithet]

What's the (C) for?

[Willot]

Concentration I assume. You can only (generally) have one concentration spell at a time.

[tadkil]

Guys, where's the best tutorial/documentation for writing spell effect formulas?

[Zacchaeus]

Well you can try here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22736-5E-Effects-examples) and here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Character_Sheet) and also here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?26235-Help-my-spells-don-t-parse) and here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects) too.

Note also that the forthcoming version 3.1.3 (in test) has all of the spell effects built in so that they can be dragged and dropped and just work..

[tadkil]

Well you can try here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22736-5E-Effects-examples) and here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Character_Sheet) and also here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?26235-Help-my-spells-don-t-parse) and here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects) too.

Note also that the forthcoming version 3.1.3 (in test) has all of the spell effects built in so that they can be dragged and dropped and just work..

Thanks Zacchaeus. Looking forward to the drag & drop, but I always want to feel like I have mastery. Thanks for the direction.

[Zacchaeus]

Test version now also includes overrides so spells that previously didn't auto parse now do when dragged into the NPC sheet.

[GunnarGreybeard]

Test version now also includes overrides so spells that previously didn't auto parse now do when dragged into the NPC sheet.

That's definitely going to be helpful.

[Moon Wizard]

The overrides actually only apply when spells added to PC sheet (creates spell actions) or NPC with spells added to CT (creates actions on attack lines).

Cheers,
JPG

[Zacchaeus]

The overrides actually only apply when spells added to PC sheet (creates spell actions) or NPC with spells added to CT (creates actions on attack lines).

Cheers,
JPG

Sorry again, not being too bright this morning. I see now that I have re-read the OP this was not quite what he was asking. However, the updates in 3.1.3 are superb in respect of the scenario that I was talking about and you must not be too modest Moon Wizard. :)

[epithet]

Will the overrides apply if the text of the spell description on an NPC sheet has been changed in some small way? For example, if a damage type were changed from fire to necrotic, would the engine still recognise the syntax and apply the override?

[Zacchaeus]

Will the overrides apply if the text of the spell description on an NPC sheet has been changed in some small way? For example, if a damage type were changed from fire to necrotic, would the engine still recognise the syntax and apply the override?

It depends :)

At present some (most?) spells parse when they are dragged onto a PC or when an NPC is dragged onto the Combat Tracker. However some don't and one such is the subject of the original post, Bless. The wording of Bless and a number of other spells just wasn't ever going to be parsed, so what has been done is that in the case of Bless the actual effect will be written to the PC sheet or if on an NPC to the Combat Tracker. Since the actual wording of the Bless spell is ignored during this process then any changes you made to the spell (say giving a d6 rather than a d4) will be ignored. So the answer to your question is no, changes won't follow through, in cases such as Bless.

However if the spell parses without an override such as Sacred Flame then changing the damage type (or almost anything else) will follow through.

Unless of course, I'm wrong again, because so far I haven't had a brilliant day ;)

[Moon Wizard]

Zacchaeus is correct. If you want it to use the default parsing for a custom spell, just change the spell name.

Cheers,
JPG

[Fenris4024]

....
Note also that the forthcoming version 3.1.3 (in test) has all of the spell effects built in so that they can be dragged and dropped and just work..

So, if I read this correctly, the current testbed of FG includes all the spells as working for drag and drop functionality? I know I checked out some when I first bought FG (unsure of the version #) and was getting LUA errors on a LOT of spells....

[Moon Wizard]

To be a little more specific. Parsing of the supported spell actions in the 5E ruleset has been improved. Also, for those spells in the PHB which weren't being parsed, the spell actions/rolls will be added to PC sheet (for PCs) or to CT entry (for NPCs) through a new script that overrides the built-in parsing.

Regards,
JPG

[Zacchaeus]

So, if I read this correctly, the current testbed of FG includes all the spells as working for drag and drop functionality? I know I checked out some when I first bought FG (unsure of the version #) and was getting LUA errors on a LOT of spells....

Since Moon Wizard has been following me around all day correcting my bold and sweeping statement let me try and redress the balance somewhat and run down what the situation currently is.

First off not every spell needs to have any effects in order for a player to use them, so we can effectively ignore these. We are talking about spells such as Alarm, Animate dead, Arcane Dead to name but a few. These are mainly 'theatre of the mind' type spells which mostly don't impinge on combat (usually).

Then there are the spells that do parse successfully via Fantasy Grounds built in parser. When such a spell is dragged onto a character sheet attacks, saving throws and damage are 'parsed', and in the character sheet will appear all the necessary attacks etc in order that such a spell will work in combat without the player (or DM) needing to intervene. Such dragging and dropping has been around for a few versions now.

For NPCs, spells can also be dragged and dropped into the NPC sheet. However those spells are not parsed on the NPC sheet itself but rather the parsing happens when the NPC is dragged onto the Combat Tracker and the attack, damage etc appears there.

However in the current version there are a number of spells which the parser doesn't catch and the effects are not generated for these spells either on the PC sheet or when an NPC gets itself onto the Combat Tracker.

Version 3.1.3, currently in test, has new code which considerably improves the situation as far as this latter group of spells are concerned. Now when such spells are dragged to a character sheet the effects necessary to use the spell in combat will be written to the character sheet. Additionally if such a spell is present on an NPC the effects will be written to the Combat Tracker.

So, my statement that all spell effects have been built in was too broad. What I should have said was what Moon Wizard has said above, i.e. that spell actions has been improved for spells which currently do not parse and for which effects are desirable.

[Fenris4024]

Awesome news... I think the spells that were throwing the LUA's were ones with durations IIRC. Hopefully that's all fixed and good to go!

Yeah, some of them don't NEED to parse anyways, but I was looking for exactly what you guys said, about spells that actually affect combat (Mage armor, Bless and the like). Looking forward to the new build more and more!

[Zacchaeus]

Awesome news... I think the spells that were throwing the LUA's were ones with durations IIRC. Hopefully that's all fixed and good to go!

I'm not aware of any spells which are giving a LUA error, this must have been some time ago I feel and I would imagine fairly quickly corrected. Certainly dragging and dropping spells have been around and working for many months.

[Moon Wizard]

This occurred in one of the first builds of the beta released, and was patched within a couple days.

Cheers,
JPG