Some assistance with purchases

[xguild]

Hey All

Currently on my 2nd year of a campaign I'm running using Fantasy Grounds, so first let me just say to the developers that all of your hard work is appreciated. You guys did a fantastic job with this tool and while I hope that you guys recognize that there is a lot more that could/should be done with it, as it is today it's already the best in the business as far as I'm concerned.

Now aside from the ruleset I have always done my own customization. I'm fairly familiar with the tool and my players intimately familiar with the rules, so for me personally there hasn't much reason that I could see to make any purchases (aside from the tool itself).

Now I do realize there is some convenience in having the books online but given that they cost as much as the books I have already purchased I'm curious for those of you that have purchased the online stuff like class packs, monsters manuals etc.. how much of an impact it has had? I guess I'm specifically interested in long time users of FG who like me probably already have extensive libraries build manually.

Also for those of you that have purchased things like the core books and class packs, do you feel you got your monies worth? By my calculation to get the Complete Class Pack, Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manual we are talking an excess of 150 bucks plus you need the license which I have found is more bearable with the 9.99 a month for the Ultimate. All and all probably one of the most expensive gaming accessories I have ever heard of.

Now grant it I can continue to manually do everything but I guess I'm curious of those that have done a full plunge whether you feel afterwards that it was worth it to you and whether you feel you get enough out of it to justify the cost? Any other commentary in general is also appreciated, I have a lot of questions but largely I'm just curious about peoples experiences in terms of cost vs. value.

[Zacchaeus]

It's horses for courses.

I had all of the hardback books and then par5ed them into FG and then I bought all the electronic versions as soon as they came out. Other folks will tell you you don't need anything so it's really up to you.

In my case I usually only play with published modules so technically all I really need is the PHB (or Core Class Pack as its called in the store) so that my players have all of the options for creating characters. This is absolutely worth buying for this reason alone. Also of course you have all the rules in it so you can look these up and can link stuff to story entries, key board shortcuts, notes etc for easy retrieval of often used areas of the rules.

If you are creating homebrew adventures then I would have to say that the MM is pretty essential. The time saving in simply dragging an NPC into an encounter or random table is quite significant over creating your own. And if you do want to create your own then you can start with an NPC out of the MM and adjust a few things to make them unique much more easily.

And that leaves the DMG. Well, for me, that is really essential just for the magic items and treasure tables alone.

As for money's worth; yes, cheap at the price even though everything was a duplicate purchase. (I don't play at all on an actual table - I only play via FG)

So, for me everything was worthwhile but it really does depend on your needs and your budget. If you could only make one purchase then I'd suggest the PHB.

[damned]

I think the PHB and MM are excellent value and big time savers.
I havent got the DMG so cant help you there.

[Zacchaeus]

i havent got the dmg so cant help you there.

what? :)

[ddavison]

If you already have levelled characters, then adding the PHB now may not give you the best bang for the buck, since the characters may need to be rebuilt with the drag-and-drop approach to take advantage of that automation on future level-ups.

The MM is probably a nice add, but the SRD 5 already contains a large amount of those monsters. What the SRD version lacks is the full descriptions of the monsters, the monster images you can share with your players during play and the tokens generated from those images. If those things would enhance your play sufficiently, then that might be a good purchase.

The DMG has all the images for each magic item which is very nice and has all the random tables pre-created. That is probably the biggest draw there.

The adventure modules and Sword Coast Adventurer Guide is where the purchases really start to shine, IMO. Having all the maps pre-loaded and linked and monster encounters pre-placed is a huge time-saver. They are all completely stand-alone as well, so you don't even need the MM or PHB in FG form to use them.

[Nylanfs]

Way to upsell Doug. ;P

[xguild]

Thanks for all the replies guys, greatly appreciated, its definitely helped to steer my decision.

It sounds to me that there is obviously some great features of the digital content but I honestly can't get over the price tag. I don't fault Fantasy Grounds here, but the books are 50 bucks a piece, I already paid for them, to do it again is kind of like... eh. I feel like it should be more of a deal, or some sort of connection between digital purchases and physical purchases.

Its really hard to justify and for me its really not THE money, I mean I have a very disposable income, but there is something about WoTC and its history of digital future promises that were never delivered to now appear as a licensed product that carries the same value as their physical content, it just urks me. I'm actually surprised that this isn't a more common conversation.

[damned]

Its not an uncommon thing to point out.
The digital platform has been completely built by a 3rd party - smiteworks - and they have invested huge amounts of time in the product and of course so have the wizards in their original product(s).
For me paying for the products seems only fair (I also have all the physical products too) but everyones perspective will be different.

[viresanimi]

As a GM that don't really play D&D that much, I do own all three of the core books on FG. The only one that I haven't gotten that much out of (yet) is the Dungeon Master's Guide. The two others are simply excellent. All the automation in creating characters, levelling them, all the monsters with abilities working better than I understand them, is the reason why I bother with D&D at all! If I didn't have such excellent material at hand, I wouldn't bother. That is how good I find them.

So for me, it has been a blessing. Especially because D&D isn't my go to game and the material makes it that much more accessible. But then, for people that are very well versed in D&D and only play that. Then it might be easy and fast to just do things manually. It all comes down to preference. Personally I haven't regretted my purchases for a moment.

Vires Animi

[ffujita]

My experience is completely opposite to yours. It's great to know that if I find myself with no extra money, (having already paid for the Ultimate license) I can do everything else myself if I want to. I went ahead and bought everything -- compared to when I was a teenager -- playing D&D with minis, and character sheets costing the $.25 each side to photocopy (page protectors, physical dice, containers to hold everything) -- the bite on my "fun" money is so small now (<10%) than then (>50%). Of course, if I amortize my computer and monitor cost -- it's a bit higher. I got a 43" 4k TV mostly to play FG on. In another thread, I'm begging SW to make the DDEX modules into FG modules so that I won't have to. So it's really up to you. And that's a good thing.

[ddavison]

It's a pretty common complaint, especially for people that already bought products in print format -- often for very cheap compared to MSRP through Amazon. We've tried to pack it with as much value as we can to help justify the price point and taken steps to make it optional so that it doesn't become a barrier to play. They do go on sale a few times a year though for about a week at a time. Last Dec/Jan, they were 40% off for the 3 core books. I'm not sure if it will ever drop that low again, but I imagine there will be sales again in the future. Those always have to be coordinated with our publishers in advance. Meanwhile, anyone who is a completest can also get everything for 25% off by buying it all at once.

[Pickled Pisces]

I have a newbie question about this topic. I am looking at buying Fantasy Grounds and trying a standard license. Looking at the buying the books too. BUT my question is if I have the books as a DM do my players also have access to them or are they limited to the SRD? OR if they have hard copy of the books, can they use those to make characters with all the options from the Player's Handbook? It seems kind of pointless for the DM to have the Player's Handbook if the players can't access it (also the group that I want to play with really can't afford multiple copies of all the books and stuff). I'm assuming that there is an import feature for a DM to import PC's so he doesn't have to do all the work entering them.

Any response would be appreciated. Thanks

[Agamon]

I have a newbie question about this topic. I am looking at buying Fantasy Grounds and trying a standard license. Looking at the buying the books too. BUT my question is if I have the books as a DM do my players also have access to them or are they limited to the SRD? OR if they have hard copy of the books, can they use those to make characters with all the options from the Player's Handbook? It seems kind of pointless for the DM to have the Player's Handbook if the players can't access it (also the group that I want to play with really can't afford multiple copies of all the books and stuff). I'm assuming that there is an import feature for a DM to import PC's so he doesn't have to do all the work entering them.

Any response would be appreciated. Thanks

Your PHB can be accessed by players while they are connected to you, just not offline.

[Pickled Pisces]

but they can use their hard copy to use all the options not in the SRD?

Thanks for the reply

[Agamon]

but they can use their hard copy to use all the options not in the SRD?

Thanks for the reply

Not sure what you mean. Yes, they can use a physical book to build their PCs manually, but that would take a bit of knowledge of the software, and a fair bit more knowledge to make those options automated.

It would be easier for them to connect with you in the game and make PCs then, or have them send PCs to you and you create the PCs in FG.

[Pickled Pisces]

OK I think I have it. They can use their books to know what they want to build, connect with me and basically fill in the blanks. That would save a lot of time and they wouldn't have to buy anything more.

Thanks a bunch!

[Zacchaeus]

Hi Pickled, welcome to Fantasy Grounds and to the community.

Your question has been answered I think. The important point is that if you own the PHB you can share it with your players so that they can create characters using the 'drag and drop' functionality within the 5e ruleset. They won't be able to access the book unless they are connected to you. Of course they can peruse their own hard copies of the books and that means they can have a good idea of what they want before joining your game to create the characters online.

I would recommend that you take a good look at the tutorial campaign that you can get by clicking on the link in the sticky at the top of this forum and you might also benefit as a new user from some of the other links to particular topics and videos also stickied above.

[Patou]

I am a big time DM for over 27 years. I personally love the way Fantasy Grounds sets everything up. With all the upcoming VTT's emerging this year I still think you can't go wrong with Fantasy Grounds. The system simply offers too much for the DM in regards to tools to smooth out and speed up the game!

As for modules sold by Fantasy Grounds they are a big asset. I own the physical version of the PHB, MM, HofDQ, RoT, PotA, and Curse of Strahd and I was crazy enough to buy them all on Fantasy Grounds as well just because every encounter and room description are linked to the maps and the story board. Just that in itself is a time saver of flipping pages. As for combat is concerned well... i could go on but I'll save you time to play D&D instead:)

It is no wast of money! Trust me. Me and my players are all waiting to see what Doug and his team have cooking up in the stove and we are greatly enjoying the game we play every 2nd Friday night which thanks to Fantasy Grounds has a lot more punch then it use too.

[Kontroar]

Although I had already purchased the hardback books, I have purchased the following:

The Complete Core Class Pack (PHB)
The Complete Core Monster Pack (MM)
The Complete Dungeon Master's Pack (DMG)

Probably the biggest value I have received has been in saving time, typing, and clicking. A number of things can be simply dragged and dropped into various parts of FG without me having to create the base entry first. That being said, as I understand it, the core ability to manually recreate much of the material is already there. So, if you have the time to learn the correct syntax much can be made. Also, I do own an Ultimate license and by purchasing the complete packs, I am able to share the resource with my players while they are connected to the server. If cost is concern, you may wish to investigate the Par5e project.

As for the products themselves, the ease of accessing the content on the fly/mid-session I find invaluable. For example, WotC's decision to simply list all spells alphabetically had some reasoning, but it can be a pain if you're wanting to only look at a cross section of the spells for a certain class. (Yes, I do miss the layout of the 1st and 2nd Ed PHB...nostalgia, I guess.)The digital PHB has tables that already allow for that. So, a few clicks later and I can be discussing the spell list of a character with a player. To clarify, FG displays the list and I can simply click on the spell as opposed to marking the class spell list in the hardbound, and flipping alphabetically to find the spell I want to read about.

Purchasing the digital books is certainly dependent on individual preference, cash flow, and free time.