Does 5th ed. fix some of the problems of Pathfinder in FG?

[qwortec]

I am currently running a Pathfinder game for 4 PCs. I am looking to add a fifth and maybe switch over to a new 5th ed. Campaign. The reason for this is hopefully to lessen my burden as a GM. I have a few questions though before I drop $150+ on modules.
My biggest problem with FG and pathfinder is the need to bring in custom modules for everything (bestiary, spells, items, etc.) as well as manually setting up abilities. This is a huge time-sink. Do the modules in D&D 5th ed. Fix the following issues:

1. Do the items from the PHB/CRB have links to their effects built in? For example, does the potion of invisibility have a link to the invisibility spell? Or, a better example, does the Tanglefoot Bag item have a link for its ability (i.e. does it have a link that I can drag and drop into a player’s action tab with all of the tangling roll/saves and effects?) In PF I have to manually do this for pretty much every item and then create a GM_NPC as a character where I can place the effects to pull them into PC and other NPC abilities tabs. This is a huge issue, especially for finding new items.

2. Do the NPCs from the Bestiary have all of their abilities setup already? Again, in PF I am usually forced to create spell actions for every ability that an NPC has.

3. Do the purchasable modules have all of the materials needed to run without needing to tinker too much? E.g. the NPCs all have their abilities setup and the items all have their effects setup?

4. Do the NPCs have their tokens already in place or do I need to attach them manually every time I add them to an encounter?

5. For character creation I currently use PCGen and export the XML. Does 5th ed have something like this or do I need to do this manually in client with a player?

[JohnD]

1. They seem to have pretty robust parsing for effects, saves and damage. Effects are quite extensive and applying advantage and disadvantage is quite easy IMO.

2. Abilities auto parse when the NPC is put in the CT. At least that's what I've observed while DMing.

3. Tokens are in place - usually they are from the 5e MM, but for ones where there aren't tokens there are 5e themed letter tokens.

4. Not yet but in FG 5e is drag and drop and everything is automatically updated for the most part. If you deviate and make a house rule you'll have to adjust manually.

[qwortec]

When you say that they have robust parsing effects, do you mean that it's different than PFRPG? I've been GMing PF on FG for over a year now and I'm pretty familiar with what it can and can't do. I'm more curious as to whether these are setup in advance or if you need to set them up yourself.

The best example I can think of is potions. When I give my players a new potion I grab the item from one of the modules I have but then have to edit it to include a link to the associated spell. Then, hopefully the spell in the module has the correct effects setup for it so I can drop it into their abilities tab and have everything setup (once I set a spell level and stuff first of course). This takes a bit of time, especially if I want to just drop something on the fly. Also, some of the modules for spell effects in PFRPG are not ideal. They may have the wrong damage setup or they may not have the correct save rolls or have status effects setup for players to drag and drop into the CT. I usually have to set this up manually ahead of time so they can just get the item and have it be ready to use.

[Trenloe]

I'd say just give it a go - the 5E ruleset, D&D Basic Rules and the D&D SRD are included with FG for free. Play around with it and see what it does/doesn't do.

[qwortec]

I think I'm just being unclear and causing confusion.

What I'm really interested in is how the purchasable 5e modules work. Are they setup to include all of the things I listed in my original questions? Mainly I'm concerned with spell and item effects since adding them in manually is a huge time commitment. If they don't do it then I might as well stick with Pathfinder where I've already got the community modules and my own kluges.

Could someone maybe post pics from the 5e modules showing what effects are attached to the spells and items and NPCs? I've looked around online and can't seem to find what I'm after. Shelling out $150 ($200+ CDN) is a big commitment and I don't want to do it unless it will save me a lot of time.

[JohnD]

Yeah, 5e is a big chunk to buy. Especially with the Canadian dollar in the toilet. Trudeau better hurry up and legalize pot ASAP like he promised in the election.

[Moon Wizard]

The experience in 5E will be similar to 3.5E with setting up items and abilities. The big gain in 5E is the drag and drop PC generation.

Cheers,
JPG

[damned]

The experience in 5E will be similar to 3.5E with setting up items and abilities. The big gain in 5E is the drag and drop PC generation.

In saying that you have a lot of automatic parsing of spells as well.

[qwortec]

In this regard, I've got an example question. Lets take this rogue feature:

Uncanny Dodge
Starting at 5th level, when an attacker that you can see
hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve
the attack’s damage against you.

If I add it to my PC's rogue when I have the modules, will this create an effect that will actually halve the incoming damage? Can my player apply it as an effect for a single roll?

[JohnD]

You'd have to set that (as an ability) up on the character sheet or apply it as an effect in the CT I believe. Spells etc... for the most part parse automatically from what I can tell, including setting up the effects on the character sheet.

[Trenloe]

What I'm really interested in is how the purchasable 5e modules work. Are they setup to include all of the things I listed in my original questions? Mainly I'm concerned with spell and item effects since adding them in manually is a huge time commitment.
As I've said above, try it with the D&D Basic Rules module or the D&D SRD module - both of these are free. They include spells, NPCs and items and they are no different, in terms of effects content, to what you'll get in the purchasable modules. See for yourself how they work.

Note: spells do have effects, as do NPCs to a certain level. Items don't have effects as they are not designed to contain effect code.

[TinCanKing]

Modules contain everything you need to run it as is. That includes the story, the maps, the items, the NPCs, and the tokens. If you want to customize them beyond what's already included, such as by adding new monsters or items, you'll need the Monster Manual and/or DMG.

[Dracones]

Could someone maybe post pics from the 5e modules showing what effects are attached to the spells and items and NPCs?

Yes. Here's a couple examples. Princes of the Apocalypse https://tarsis.org/me/prince1.png

First one, you go through and the party hits on section 3.05 Tremors. The story sheet has body of text you can click into chat and an encounter link. The encounter link brings up the Ankheg encounter with tokens and total worth. Click on the creature link brings up the creature stats with an image attachment if needed. Attacks and what not are clickable.

Another example with a caster: https://tarsis.org/me/prince2.png

This encounter also has a treasure parcel I've brought up an image link I have up in the background. This guy is a caster and his spells are described in his description.

From the Lost Mines module: https://tarsis.org/me/lostmines.png

The above has some magic items in it and you can see how they describe Nimble Escape for goblins which is their unique ability.

The main difference with Pathfinder is going to be that in 5E the monsters have far fewer abilities. Typically very generic things like movement type and senses. Then they typically have common attacks which are clickable and drag-able(which does saving throws). Then a monster will typically have a unique power or two. So they don't have 10-20 feats and abilities, but rather 1-2 common attacks and 1-2 unique abilities that are described there.

Casters do have normal spells, but the spells are described(at least in this module). Also these modules and 5E PHB/DMG are the full PHB, module and DMG. So they have every piece of art, every map that's included, hand outs, full descriptions of rooms, monsters, they have the encounter placement on maps and so on.

So it should be easier to run. Partly because 5E is easier on the GM(MUCH less to lookup and know) and partly because the WoTC modules in Fantasy Grounds are designed to be a complete offering.

[kylania]

Attacks and what not are clickable.

Here's some examples of the attacks being clickable. From within the Actions description you can hover over the Melee Weapon Attack: and the damage details and click the highlighted area to make an attack or roll damage.

https://i.imgur.com/ukG7mL3.png

Once added on the Combat Tracker you'll see these options in the Actions section that displays when it's the NPCs initivite turn and the fields are clickable here as well. The Ankheg has targeted the player and attacked with it's Acid Spray attack by clicking on the SAVEVS: field. This automatically rolled the saving throw for the PC. Then damage was rolled by clicking on the DMG: field and since the PC succeeded on the saving throw the damage roll was automatically halved for her and the 7 points of damage applied to her Wound count.

https://i.imgur.com/eZqn4dG.png

[Ghost Matter]

Yeah, 5e is a big chunk to buy. Especially with the Canadian dollar in the toilet. Trudeau better hurry up and legalize pot ASAP like he promised in the election.

I recommend buying on Steam for Canadian dollars.

[ddavison]

Spells and NPCs do a pretty good job in 5E of recognizing effects compared to the PFRPG ruleset at this time. Character Abilities are the area where you will still end up spending some time. The good news is that this is only during the level up stage. There are also a bunch of common effects which have recommend syntax on the wiki page and the effects window has a help button that opens the wiki page directly from the program with a click. Check out the example effects from the wiki for some common character abilities and DMG item effects you might consider.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects

[Trenloe]

For PC class effects, check out the "Complete Package" series, links in post#1 here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27296-Guides-videos-and-other-helpful-information

[Griogre]

Finally, to address the heart of your question as a DM - 5E is much less of a time sink for the DM than 3.x/Pathfinder, IMO. The system is less complex and NPCs/Monsters are easier to run and set up since they are less complex.