Effects the Complete Sorcerer's Package

[Zacchaeus]

Another short tutorial on setting up effects this time for the Sorcerer Class. The file attached to this post contains a level 20 Sorcerer with all of the effects in the actions tab. In order to get the best out of the character you should have access to the Player's Handbook or Core Class Pack to view the links. The notes below are meant to compliment the character. The Sorcerer doesn't have many abilities that an effects can be created for or that needs an effect so the list is quite small.

A word on Spells: At the time of writing virtually every spell can be dragged and dropped into the actions tab and will create a suitable effect (if one is needed). The only things you will want to check are that the correct ability score is entered into the spell Power Group so that Saving Throw DCs and attack rolls are correctly computed, and that the duration of spells has been correctly updated in the effect.

Font of Magic – no effects can be set up but this is needed to track sorcery points.

Storm Sorcerer (Sword Coast Adventure Guide)
Heart of the Storm – Note that there isn’t a way to deal half level damage via a damage effect. It is possible to add half level damage as an effect but that would only work against a main target, not peripheral ones. It will be necessary therefore to revise the damage on these effects every second level.

Draconic Bloodline
Draconic Ancestor – The Cha check should be applied just before any check is needed, the circumstances are too narrow to create a more complex effect.
Elemental Affinity – You can’t ‘test’ for a particular damage type so all you can do is add the extra damage effect onto the character just before the correct damage type is rolled.

Wild Magic
Tides of Chaos – the effect isn’t really necessary but since an entry is needed to track usage we may as well create it.
Wild Magic Surge table – there’s a host of effects that could be created for this and if you wanted to do so you certainly could. However it’s an awful lot of work for something that might never happen.

[Couvs]

hi Zacchaeus. what would be the best way to add this to the sorcerer? I"ve been tinkering with leveling a wild magic sorcerer and just been trying to add the effects to the actions page manually (and in several cases I'm not sure i've done it right).

[Zacchaeus]

Have a read of this here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Character_Sheet#Powers) first of all.

The way I do it is first to drag the ability into the actions tab; this won't necessarily create the effect but it will create a power if one doesn't exist or it will create a new line in an existing power. It also gives you a link to the source material which is handy for reference purposes. Once you have that you'll need to edit the power using the instructions in the Wiki article. You should be able to copy/paste the effects from that character I posted into the effects dialog of the one you are creating. It's just as easy to type them in however :)

[Couvs]

yeah it's mainly the syntax of the effects that I"m not sure I got right. It's not so much an issue with spells since they copy in directly (I caved and got the basic FG license and PHB on the steam sale). The examples on the wiki are a bit limited.

now just a quick 5E question for Tieflings. with Infernal Legacy granting Hellish Rebuke at level 3 (cast at 2nd level) and Darkness at level 5, each cast once per day, am I correct in assuming that these uses of the two spells would not take a spell slot?

[Aldente]

now just a quick 5E question for Tieflings. with Infernal Legacy granting Hellish Rebuke at level 3 (cast at 2nd level) and Darkness at level 5, each cast once per day, am I correct in assuming that these uses of the two spells would not take a spell slot?

That's right.

[Zacchaeus]

Indeed, you are correct. These would be regarded as innate spells which don't use spell slots; your Teifling might not be a spell caster after all. The limit is the number of uses per day rather than slots.

[gwhitneyy2k]

Is there a way to automate rolling to see if there is a wild magic surge when a leveled spell is cast?

[LordEntrails]

Is there a way to automate rolling to see if there is a wild magic surge when a leveled spell is cast?
No. One reason is that the wild magic surge rolls are only made when the DM decides they are, and not everytime a spell is cast.

[gwhitneyy2k]

I am the DM and generally roll to determine if there is a surge each time the player casts a leveled spell.

"Wild Magic Surge
Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, your spellcasting can unleash surges of untamed magic. Once per turn, the DM can have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a magical effect. If that effect is a spell, it is too wild to be affected by your Metamagic, and if it normally requires concentration, it doesn’t require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration."

Problem is we often simply forget to roll it! The sheet I was using in Roll20 let me add a d20 roll every time a leveled spell was cast. So if the DM wanted to do it is there a way to add such a roll? Not on the effects table- but just to see if a roll needs to be made on the table.

[Zacchaeus]

Ad LE says there isn't any way to force a table roll from an effect or from an attack roll or any kind of roll really. Tables are something which are separate and need to be rolled on as a separate and distinct choice to make the roll.

The only thing I can suggest is to create a dummy effect (Wild Magic Roll or some such) and place it permanently on the player. This will show on the Combat Tracker and possibly serve as a reminder to make the roll.

Having said that it is also as LE says a matter for the DM to decide whether a roll is needed or not. It isn't something which needs (or should) be made every time a spell is cast, so forgetting to make the roll every so often is perfectly acceptable.

[gwhitneyy2k]

The fun, and the power, of the wild magic sorcerer is in those effects! By RAW, they only happen 5 percent of the time when a leveled spell is cast. That isn't much to begin with! Forgetting to roll for that 1 in 20 chance is a big hit to the player.

[LordEntrails]

I would have to just try to get the Player to remember to roll. You could create an action for it. Not sure. As the DM you have lots to remember, and since I can't think of a way to get FG to do it, I'd put the responsibility on the player.

[Zacchaeus]

I don't know. The wording says the DM 'can' ask the character to make a roll which suggests that it isn't automatic nor even necessary. I can see the OP's point of view in that the only reason to take the wild magic sorcerer is to have the chance to cast some free spells at the risk of wiping out the entire party with a misplaced fireball. So I think the onus is on the DM. That doesn't mean that the player can't suggest that the DM allows a roll, but I think it's the DMs resonsibility.

[JohnD]

The DM should roll a couple 20d20 before game time and make a note of the outcome. Perhaps the 3rd, 11th, 17th and 28th spells cast in the session pull wild magic.

[Gix]

The DM should roll a couple 20d20 before game time and make a note of the outcome. Perhaps the 3rd, 11th, 17th and 28th spells cast in the session pull wild magic.

Not a bad idea, JohnD!

As the GM I have a "character sheet" with some effects set up. I could add a spell counter for the Sorcerer and track it that way... ie... keep rolling d20's till I get a triggering event and set up the number of "charges" to equal however many rolls it took me to get to a triggering spell... then when he triggers it, do it over again and modify that count to reflect the next trigger.


[ ][ ] Verucian's countdown of Doom!

[mshow1323]

What in the world do I do with this thing for my Mac. I was just hoping for a quick way to make my Sorc (Divine) work easier, Metamagic included

[Trenloe]

What in the world do I do with this thing for my Mac. I was just hoping for a quick way to make my Sorc (Divine) work easier, Metamagic included
Welcome to the forums!

Download the XML to your computer. Load up Fantasy Grounds in a 5E campaign, then from the characters screen import the character - a dialog box will open to give you access to the file system to select the XML you've downloaded.

Info on the character management screen here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Character_Management

Once you've imported the character you will be able to look at the PC in FG and see all of the example effects/actions.

[mshow1323]

I think I got it, thank you.

I was hoping there was a was to click a metamagic,, like: click Distant spell, click firebolt, then have FG automatically calculate and restrict the distant as necessary. Same with Twinned, click twin then firebolt, and have FG automatic throw atk dice, then damage for both....I guess that's asking a lot



Welcome to the forums!

Download the XML to your computer. Load up Fantasy Grounds in a 5E campaign, then from the characters screen import the character - a dialog box will open to give you access to the file system to select the XML you've downloaded.

Info on the character management screen here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Character_Management

Once you've imported the character you will be able to look at the PC in FG and see all of the example effects/actions.

[Shireling]

Hello Zacchaeus. I have a player that loves the subclass of Wild Magic Sorcerer. He is only level 5 right now and we just barely adopted FG. He is also an eladrin elf which means he also has those funky fey step abilities (this will be relevant in one second... promise).

With his fey step ability, I was able to add a Power Group on the actions tab that has 1 use per rest which allows him to use his fey step abilities and I created a different power for each season and grouped them. This allowed him to track if he had used the ability as well as know the effect it produced depending on his "season" personality. Some had an effect or damage and some only had a description but they all needed to be tracked so he could count whether or not he had used the ability yet or not.

This differs from his Font of Magic feature of being a sorcerer. This ability also needs to track the sorcery points so it has a number of uses per rest as well. Is there a way to change the number of uses in this power group (Font of Magic) from having to be an actual number that you have to manually change versus being equal to the variable [SORCERER] so it can track automatically and update every time he levels up? Also, metamagic is intimately related to his tracking of sorcery points but when you create power groups you cannot combine items that track things like points and other items that are simply descriptions (more like spells). You have that ability up in the weapons section where you can have ranged, thrown and melee where the melee is a description and the others have ammunition counters. Am I missing something about power groups where you can combine items that track/count uses and other abilities that do not?

28692

I also don't know if I am missing something else when it comes to power groups: when you add an action you can choose between damage, heal, effect, and most importantly cast but you can't ever use roll table. This is related to Wild Magic Surge table... I created a new table that rolls the d20 and on the roll of 1, references the Wild Magic Surge table so with one roll it does both rolls - the d20 to determine if it occurs and the d100 if it does in fact occur. If nothing occurs, I wrote the table so that it just spits out into the chat "Regular Spell Effects."

28691

Is there any way, I can make the power group have an Add Action option where I can click a button and it rolls a table rather than having my player keep that table open or on his quick start menu on the bottom so that he has to reference that every time he casts a spell? I'm basically trying to figure out how to embed it directly into the actions tab of the character sheet.

If that functionality could be added to the character sheets - the ability to have a 5th option on Add Action to be Roll Table, this would not only solve the problem in regards to the Wild Magic Surge but also for the Tides of Chaos issue as well. Plus, I am sure there are other classes and subclasses that have a similar issue.

28693

[Zacchaeus]

Hi Shireling welcome to FG.

No there isn't a method by which you can automatically update the number of uses per day or whatever. You have to tell FG these things since it doesn't know why you are setting up a number of uses, just that you are doing so.
Tracking the number of uses can be done in a number of ways but if you have a bunch of options that the player can use and each one is in the same power group like Sorcery points or the Monk's Ki points then you need to set the limit in the Power Group itself (click the magnifying glass on the power group line). If you have things which have differing numbers of uses then you can have them all in the same power group but use preparation mode to adjust the number of uses individually rather than doing that in the power group.

You can't relate a dice roll to a table except in the specific case of critical hits and fumbles. Also wild magic only happens if the DM says so, not every time so you wouldn't want an automatic roll anyway.

[Shireling]

Ad LE says there isn't any way to force a table roll from an effect or from an attack roll or any kind of roll really. Tables are something which are separate and need to be rolled on as a separate and distinct choice to make the roll.

The only thing I can suggest is to create a dummy effect (Wild Magic Roll or some such) and place it permanently on the player. This will show on the Combat Tracker and possibly serve as a reminder to make the roll.

Having said that it is also as LE says a matter for the DM to decide whether a roll is needed or not. It isn't something which needs (or should) be made every time a spell is cast, so forgetting to make the roll every so often is perfectly acceptable.

I am the DM in our game. When we read the description of both aspects and seeing how infrequently it will actually happen (5% of the time), I said we would roll every time if we can. At level 5, he only has 9 spell slots so he can only cast (if he uses all his sorcery points to convert to spells...) at a max 11 spells before he is out of spell slots - aka 50% chance per long rest that something may or may not happen.

Still what you are saying is, adding the WMS name in the power as a reminder and then adding the Table link in the description of the power as I have done already is as good as it gets... I embedded screenshots of the players character sheet for example purposes in my last post.


No there isn't a method by which you can automatically update the number of uses per day or whatever. You have to tell FG these things since it doesn't know why you are setting up a number of uses, just that you are doing so.
Tracking the number of uses can be done in a number of ways but if you have a bunch of options that the player can use and each one is in the same power group like Sorcery points or the Monk's Ki points then you need to set the limit in the Power Group itself (click the magnifying glass on the power group line). If you have things which have differing numbers of uses then you can have them all in the same power group but use preparation mode to adjust the number of uses individually rather than doing that in the power group.

So even if the player has a preference on the style to the Mode for the actions tab (Standard, Preparation, or Combat), in order to get multiple actions that have various use cases grouped together, you would need to use the preparation view? I don't really understand the need for different modes on the actions tab... Do you have a link or a video explaining the reasoning behind them? Especially since most of the time, Standard and Combat look virtually identical. Are the only times Standard and Combat are really any different is if you are playing a character that has to prepare or pick spells at the beginning of the day (i.e. Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Wizard)?

What is the line about Pact Magic for? I know that Warlocks are the only ones that use Pact Magic however I don't see the correlation between it and how it's any different than the typical Spellcasting line? Isn't the only difference wording but really it is the same? Or does it instead group all the spells together when you use it, since as a warlock you only have your cantrips and the highest level of spell to use as slots for all of your other spells.

[Zacchaeus]

The modes have different uses. You would use Standard mode when editing powers. Preparation mode is used to check off prepared spells, edit the number of power uses, edit spell slots as well as change the status of weapons carried/equipped. Combat mode is what you would normally use when playing. Each mode shows different information. If there was only one mode then everything would be shown at once and that would lead to the possibility of inadvertent editing of things as well as looking very messy. Most of the time your players will be in combat mode which cuts down the information shown to just what is needed for combat.

Pact Magic is, as you say, only for Warlocks. Warlocks don't have the same number or level of spell slots as other spellcasters do (The number of spell slots that a given caster has depends on whether they are a full, half or one-third caster and their spellcasting level). Since Warlocks spell progression is different then there is a need for a separate line of slots. Warlocks also recover slots on a short rest, whereas other spellcasters don't.

Oh and links:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Character_Sheet#Mode_and_Display
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?46965-New-Character-Creation-Videos

[Shireling]

What if instead of needing an extension for the Wild Surge roll table, I have a power group on the actions tab for a player's magic items so they could have easy access to the descriptions of what the items do, if they have to keep track of charges they can use the preparation mode to keep track... Is there a way to automate the charge rolls on a Wand of Fireballs for instance:

1. When you take a long rest, it automatically rolls the 1d6+1 expended charges and regains that number of uses but not all uses unlike the regular daily use powers where you regain all of them.
2. Or if you use the last daily use of that item, there is an option that will recognize this type of uses (because it is a custom number with d6s, d4s, etc) and will auto roll a d20 to see if the item is crumbled and destroyed from rolling a nat 1.

I feel like this would need to be a carefully written or designed extension to add another preparation type beyond Daily, Rest, and Once...

[Shireling]

The other option I am considering is items like a Bag of Tricks... If again, I use a power group on the actions tab of a character sheet to track the magic items and their powers, right now a player has to use three clicks to navigate to the item description, then click on the link to the roll table, and then roll on the roll table to see the outcome of wanting to use a magic item. Is there an effect that I can add (use the cast or effect feature with appropriate syntax) to roll on the roll table instead of having it become a navigation nightmare?

Would this be another extension or do I not know what effect to add or how to word it properly under the spell group or power group?

[Zacchaeus]

For things like Wands with charges yes you would set up a power group for the wand, drag in the spell that the wand casts and use preparation mode to set the limit of the charges. Ticking off or regaining charges is a manual process; there's no automation for that nor is there any extension that I am aware of.

As for the bag of tricks nothing has changed since your post above. There is no effect that will allow a table roll. Your players can of course drag the table link into their shortcut bar so that they can just click that to bring up the table.

[Shireling]

For things like Wands with charges yes you would set up a power group for the wand, drag in the spell that the wand casts and use preparation mode to set the limit of the charges.

I totally agree that this makes sense to allocate the max number of charges based on the spell being cast that is associated with the item...


Ticking off or regaining charges is a manual process; there's no automation for that nor is there any extension that I am aware of.

I completely agree that ticking off charges is a manual process but regaining charges is not. If the preparation mode is set for once, yes it is manual (very similar to ammunition with ranged and thrown weapons). For daily or rest modes under preparation, those are reset to full when you take the respectively corresponding long or short rests. That being the case, I didn't know if automation could be created using a similar UI to the heal and/or damage effects where you can have a UI with custom input to set up the amount that could be re-rolled.

Example is a Wand of Fireballs. Spell is Fireball. There is a total of 7 charges and you regain 1d6 +1 charges at dawn. So you would have the total number be 7 daily but the extension would instead be called custom not daily and each long rest it would roll 1d6 + 1 and regain the number of charges up to the max... again 7. Also, if you used all the charges the extension could roll a d20 and on a roll of 1 it could output into the chat a message saying "the item crumbled and was destroyed" and then the extension could call the delete item function and remove the item from the power group. You could apply this extension to quite a few different magic items that have similar rollable recharge systems...

Clearly, I have thought about this for a little while but the issue is that I don't really know how to code in lua so I don't know how to build a custom extension properly. And I don't know how to open up other extensions that I currently use to see how they are coded to build my own. Any suggestions on how to learn or best things to watch? It is like building custom items and other things within Fantasy Grounds - I had to spend a lot of time experimenting, watching YouTube videos, and combing over the Wiki page and discussion boards to find what I was looking for.

[LordEntrails]

Automation to do what you want could be created, via an extension that modifies the behavior of the ruleset using XML with LUA coding. But, without an extension to customize the behavior, i.e. through the interface itself, you won't be able to get the behavior you want. If you have the number of charges/spell/action set to daily, they will all reset upon a long rest. Instead if you set them to Once, they will not recharge, and you will have to manually reset them.

Their is a MoreCore Coding tutorial on YouTube. Start there :)

Extensions are simple .zip files that have been renamed. So you can rename them and unzip them and see how they work.

[robertonobre01]

Another short tutorial on setting up effects this time for the Sorcerer Class. The file attached to this post contains a level 20 Sorcerer with all of the effects in the actions tab. In order to get the best out of the character you should have access to the Player's Handbook or Core Class Pack to view the links. The notes below are meant to compliment the character. The Sorcerer doesn't have many abilities that an effects can be created for or that needs an effect so the list is quite small.

A word on Spells: At the time of writing virtually every spell can be dragged and dropped into the actions tab and will create a suitable effect (if one is needed). The only things you will want to check are that the correct ability score is entered into the spell Power Group so that Saving Throw DCs and attack rolls are correctly computed, and that the duration of spells has been correctly updated in the effect.

Font of Magic – no effects can be set up but this is needed to track sorcery points.

Storm Sorcerer (Sword Coast Adventure Guide)
Heart of the Storm – Note that there isn’t a way to deal half level damage via a damage effect. It is possible to add half level damage as an effect but that would only work against a main target, not peripheral ones. It will be necessary therefore to revise the damage on these effects every second level.

Draconic Bloodline
Draconic Ancestor – The Cha check should be applied just before any check is needed, the circumstances are too narrow to create a more complex effect.
Elemental Affinity – You can’t ‘test’ for a particular damage type so all you can do is add the extra damage effect onto the character just before the correct damage type is rolled.

Wild Magic
Tides of Chaos – the effect isn’t really necessary but since an entry is needed to track usage we may as well create it.
Wild Magic Surge table – there’s a host of effects that could be created for this and if you wanted to do so you certainly could. However it’s an awful lot of work for something that might never happen.

Hello.
Thanks for the tutorial, but how do I view the character from the * .xml file present inside FG?

[Zacchaeus]

Hello.
Thanks for the tutorial, but how do I view the character from the * .xml file present inside FG?

Import the file into FG. Create a campaign or open an existing one and then click on the PCs button; click on the blue import character button and then on the import from file button and navigate to wherever you saved the .xml file downloaded from the first post.