Which 5e content is included with a purchased ultimate license

[madcook81]

Hi All,

Sorry if this is a re-post. I have purchased the ultimate license for Fantasy Grounds, but looking at the official tutorials, there appears to be 5e content that my license doesn't include. Specifically, I'm referring to the class packs (although info on others I am missing would be great too.) Are these extras I have to purchase?

Right now it seems like I'm not getting a whole lot for my $149, but that could just be my lack of knowledge regarding the software. Thoughts?

[Zacchaeus]

Hi, madcook81 welcome to FG and to the community.

With your licence you'll get the basic D&D players and DMs guides as well as the DD5E SRD documents which gives you a fair bit of the PHB, DMG and MM. However all of them have limitations compared to the full PHB, DMG and MM. The complete Core Class Pack, the Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters guide are all optional purchases and are not included in the licence.

[madcook81]

Thank you for the welcome Zacchaeus. I appreciate the info. At this point, I will swallow my buyers remorse. It's a shame that I have to purchase another $200 - $300 worth of content to have the fully integrated "complete" version of 5e. Oh well, lesson learned.

[madcook81]

Is that the case for the other rulesets that are included in the ultimate license? would I need to purchase full books for Pathfinder or 3.5e?

[Blahness98]

If you have all the books already, you can just enter the data in from there. The only thing the additional modules net you is the ability to drag and drop directly from the library. And you can always to it your self using the 5e parser in the 5e section. You don't need to purchase anything else if you don't need it.

For 3.5 and Pathfinder, most of everything is Open Content. Head over to the Pathfinder/3.5 section of the forums and check out the library module sticky. I think most of the open content is there for the download.

[madcook81]

Thanks Blahness, I'll have to look into the parser. where do I find it?

[Blahness98]

It is a sticky here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27297-Par5e) in the 5e forum.

[Zacchaeus]

The other thing worth noting is that if you intend running one of the adventures (which you can also buy) then everything you need is in those adventures such as monsters, magic items etc. As noted above in other replies none of the core books are 'necessary' but I would certainly recommend the Complete Core Class pack as being very close to essential. The reason being that it is the only volume which will allow your players the full choice of character classes, races and backgrounds as well as all the feats, spells and equipment and all in an easy to use drag and drop method for creating the characters and levelling them up.

Learning how to use Fantasy Grounds is going to take you a wee while and if you attempt to learn how to use par5e as well you might find yourself getting overwhelmed. Ease yourself into the process; I would point you in the direction of the Lost Mines of Phandelver as a good starting place. It comes with everything you need to play including 4 pre-generated characters. The adventure is designed for those new to the 5e ruleset.

[madcook81]

Again thank you for the response, premade modules aren't quite as gratifying for my creativity as homemade adventures. I've been running D&D for over 20 years, and my players have also been playing (or running) for almost as long. Home brew seems to be the only thing that satisfies everyone. It seems like google hangouts or some other group video chat is a better option than trying to manually do the additional work that's necessary for Fantasy Grounds.

[Trenloe]

Is that the case for the other rulesets that are included in the ultimate license? would I need to purchase full books for Pathfinder or 3.5e?
There seems to be a misunderstanding in what the "Ultimate" license gives you. It does not give you any more product content that the standard license. The difference is that the Ultimate allows you to run games for players without a license, whereas players will need a standard license if the GM also has a standard. You don't get any additional products with the Ultimate. This is shown in the version differences on the home page (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php).

Pathfinder and 3.5E come with SRD library material - not any of the book as there is not a license agreement for 3.5E or Pathfinder. However, as a lot of Pathfinder is released under the Open Gaming License (OGL) there are quite a few community produced library modules released under the OGL: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16074-List-of-Modules

[Trenloe]

It seems like google hangouts or some other group video chat is a better option than trying to manually do the additional work that's necessary for Fantasy Grounds.
I'm not sure about that. If you're using hangouts/video you're not getting any of the advantages of playing using a VTT - what are you going to do for maps/handouts? What are you going to do for mini placement? etc.. And, FG is so much more than that - it keeps all of your campaign info in one location - and the game "freezes" the data between sessions so you pick up exactly where you left off. You don't *need* to have all of the books in FG to play. You also don't *need* to manually enter all of the data to play. It's entirely up to your style of play and preparation. Fantasy Grounds completely allows you to run your own home brew games. There's a bit of preparation, yes, but that soon becomes second nature once you're familiar with the application. Don't dismiss Fantasy Grounds as your VTT option - it will save you so much time and effort in the long run...

[madcook81]

Thanks for the replies Trenloe. For maps/handouts, I have a private Facebook group. When we started playing, we didn't have grids and minis, just our imaginations. when I create maps, they include coordinates, so it's relatively easy to do combat. (monster is at A3, your character is at A5, there's 10 ft of distance between you and it's a clear line of sight. Roll to hit with your thrown dagger. Yes a 17 hits. roll damage...)

There are some things I like about FG, but it's not going to do what I had wanted it to do without a lot of prep work. For example, I wanted to be able to create NPC's on the fly by opening library books and clicking and dragging weapons, abilities, etc. onto an NPC sheet and then voila! an NPC is born. The only way I seem to be able to do that is by purchasing another $150 - $200 worth of content. Alternately, I can manually write everything down and then all FG has done is replace my pencil and paper with a much more complicated digital version. Sure I can share a map, but they already have access to those maps via our Facebook page.

Can I manually type "DAMAGE: 1d6 Bludgeoning" for my NPC who uses a staff and then click on that tag and drag it to the PC's portrait and have combat calculations done automatically? Can I type in the background for a PC and have all the info sync up on the back end and populate the appropriate areas of a character sheet without actually buying digital copies of books I already own?

I really want to give Fantasy Grounds a shot, but I'm having a hard time understanding exactly where the time savings is. Without an additional purchase, can I create an NPC or monster that uses the same syntax as the official tutorial videos and have combat work the same way? could I manually type "quarterstaff 1d6 bludgeoning damage" in the attack section of the character sheet, then click and drag that to the PC who is fighting the NPC that has RESISTANCE: bludgeoning tag and have the combat calculation correctly determine damage in the chat/text window?

[Trenloe]

Without an additional purchase, can I create an NPC or monster that uses the same syntax as the official tutorial videos and have combat work the same way?
Absolutely - see this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-POluSDHAc

You can do the same for PCs - enter in the data manually. Or, better yet, use the SRD/Basic rules that come with the base 5E ruleset (you have these already) to drag/drop the entries that already exist and manually amend/add those that aren't in the SRD/Basic Rules. FG comes with a lot of base 5E data (the SRD and the Basic Rules) - which include spells, NPCs, base class/background info, items, etc.. You can already do a lot of "stuff" without any additional purchases. Sure, if you want access to everything that is in the 5E hard back books then the additional purchases will save you a lot of time and are great to have with the additional artwork you can share with the players, but you don't *have* to have them to be able to use a lot of the power of Fantasy Grounds and the 5E ruleset - that you already have.

[madcook81]

I had a player that created a lv.1 Wizard, his background was the "Folk hero" when I went to the background section of his FG character sheet, I wasn't able to type anything. That's what caused me to start questioning what I had purchased. is there some trick that I'm not seeing?

[Zacchaeus]

Can I direct you here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?28150-New-5E-Sample-Campaign-Tutorial-Available) to the sample campaign for 5e which you will find comes with Fantasy Grounds. It gives you a very good insight into what the software can do.

Can I also direct you here to the Wiki (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) which also gives you a good deal of information both in video and written tutorial form (click on 'User Guides' to get to the menu for each different ruleset and general guidance).

The answers to most of your questions above are yes, FG can do that, and yes it can do it without any of the additional Core rulebooks. However it has to be said that if you are going to be doing homebrew (and to be honest even if you aren't) there is always going to be some preparation involved. No software is ever going to do everything for you to the extent that you don't have to do anything at all. Like many users you are at the initial 'oh **** what do I do?' stage of using FG. It will take you a little time to find your feet and as Trenloe says take your time to learn what can and can't be done before you rush to a conclusion. It may well be that FG isn't for you but you have spent the money so you might as well find out exactly what it can do.

[Zacchaeus]

I had a player that created a lv.1 Wizard, his background was the "Folk hero" when I went to the background section of his FG character sheet, I wasn't able to type anything. That's what caused me to start questioning what I had purchased. is there some trick that I'm not seeing?

All of the lines in the Notes section of the character sheet (which is where I am assuming you tried to edit) are fully editable. Just click on any of the lines to bring up the editing cursor. And just in case this is what you were trying to do you can't edit the source material - so for example you can't edit the DD - players Basic rules or DD5ESRD Data - or indeed any such reference manual.

[madcook81]

Understood, but when I type in "Folk Hero" in the background section, the PC doesn't gain proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival. Are Backgrounds not included in the SRD? do I need to load both SRD and starter libraries?

[Trenloe]

I had a player that created a lv.1 Wizard, his background was the "Folk hero" when I went to the background section of his FG character sheet, I wasn't able to type anything. That's what caused me to start questioning what I had purchased. is there some trick that I'm not seeing?
I've just checked and I can left-click in the background title on the main tab (which then shows a text cursor) and type in the name of the background. I then add additional info in the various sections of the "Notes" tab. You can enter all of the info manually, and check the relevant proficient skills on the "skills" tab.

Or, open the "DD Basic Rules - Player" module that you already have and drag/drop the "Folk Hero" background to the character sheet.

[madcook81]

I'll give those suggestions a shot when I get home later today. So far I'm not happy with the license purchase itself, but the forum responses are impressive, thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

Understood, but when I type in "Folk Hero" in the background section, the PC doesn't gain proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival. Are Backgrounds not included in the SRD? do I need to load both SRD and starter libraries?

You have to drag the background into the character and they will gain the proficiencies. Typing it in won't do anything. Have a look here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Character_Sheet) at this tutorial or here for a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nurEMR4JJeU) on character creation.

[Trenloe]

Understood, but when I type in "Folk Hero" in the background section, the PC doesn't gain proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival. Are Backgrounds not included in the SRD? do I need to load both SRD and starter libraries?
In general typing some text doesn't magically match data somewhere else in the application. If you are typing things like race, background, class, etc. you will generally have to fill in other things manually such as proficiencies, hit dice, etc..

Fantasy Ground primarily does the 5E character sheet data population by drag/drop actions from the library.

This is an excellent video showing you how drag/drop from the library all hangs together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nurEMR4JJeU This is made with the PHB class packs, but the process is exactly the same with the SRD/Basic Rules libraries. Where Doug activates some of the PHB library modules at 4:15, just activate the "DD Basic Rules - Player" library module instead and use the links in that library to create the character.

[Varsuuk]

Also the wiki on character sheet, sorry don't have link atm, but it's on those prev links - shows you the perfect order on how to enter the info to maximize things like getting automatic stat ability adjustments etc.

I created everyone's chats cos didn't want to "overwhelm them" ( or because it was fun...potatoe, potahtoe)

[damned]

Hi madcook81 welcome.

Im chiming in late :)
The SRD contains a broader scope of information but in less detail. Eg it contains all the classes but only one option for most of the customisations.
The Basic Rules contains a narrower scope of Class and Race information but in more detail.
Both contain about 200 spells and monsters (iirc) but without as much detail or pretty tokens.
Particularly the Basic Rules will give you a good idea of the versatility of the Core Classes while the Core Monsters contains more monsters, contains tokens and contains all the descriptive text from your physical copies.

As Trenloe points out the Ultimate contains exactly the same content as the Full license. Ultimate refers only to being able to host games for any number of free/demo clients. Only the SRD and Basic Rules are included for 5e as well as a chunk of SRD data for 3.5e and Pathfinder. All other licensed content is... licensed and licensed separately to the base application.

If you really are unhappy with purchase you can send an email to support@ and discuss with them. They want happy customers.

If you and your gaming group want to try out some 5e in action we have a bunch of 5e games with room at FG Con 8 but be quick. 225 player registrations in the first 5 days. Here are some 5e games that are not fully or mostly full. The first 5 are homebrew. Those run by Ultimate GMs can be played in with a free/demo client while those run by a Full GM will require some sort of license even if its the free 30 day trial license.

https://www.fg-con.com/events/dd-5e-the-tears-of-the-dragon/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/balance-disturbed/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/trouble-at-the-oasis/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/sxg-pharaoh/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/the-incomplete-lunch-3/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/ddal-4-1-suits-of-the-mist-level-1-2/
https://www.fg-con.com/events/ddal-03-13-writhing-in-the-dark-levels-5-10/