Spellcasting NPC

[sebadiaz77]

Hi, im having problems creating a Spellcaster NPC. The spells dosn't take the ranged spell attack bonus or the DC of the NPC.

In write this in the trait section of the NPC



Spellcasting
Spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks).
Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, light, shocking Grasp
1st level (3 slots): burning hands, mage armor, detect magic

But the spells dosn't take those values.

Thnx

[Honken]

It would be easier if you could say what rulesset it is, i guess it looks like any of the D20 variants...

/H

[Zacchaeus]

Hi, im having problems creating a Spellcaster NPC. The spells dosn't take the ranged spell attack bonus or the DC of the NPC.

In write this in the trait section of the NPC



But the spells dosn't take those values.

Thnx

I'm assuming 5e ruleset

That Trait description looks correct. Have you tried deleting all the spells from the NPC and then closing and reopening it? If you just edited an existing NPC then unless you delete all the spells and re-populate them the spells DCs etc won't work.

[sebadiaz77]

5e correct, yes i tried. Its a new NPC i don't know why the DC or spell atack is not working, i re-populate the spells but nothing.

[jajen2003]

I'm having the same issue with an NPC spell caster of mine as well.

I manually change the damage dice, but the CT still recognizes the old 1d8 value, instead of the new 2d8 value.

Bugs. It's all part of the experience.

16603

See the updated Chill Touch damage in the NPC character sheet, and the not updated value in the CT. :/

As you can see, all the other spells' damages have been updated in the NPC sheet and they update in the CT. All but Chill Touch.

[Andraax]

Did you remove the NPC from the CT and re-add it? Many NPC fields on the CT are not "linked" the original record.

[jajen2003]

The work around I've been going with in the meantime, is to just change the value manually in the CT. This is fine for me, since my issue revolves around 1 powerful NPC. But what if I was using a monster that would be used over and over again. This isn't really a fun-to-deal-with bug, although it's not game breaking.

Would be nice to figure out what's behind it.

[jajen2003]

"Did you remove the NPC from the CT and re-add it? Many NPC fields on the CT are not "linked" the original record."

Many times.

And if that's the case, that's stupid. It's an expected behavior to have whatever info is on the NPC sheet to also be in the CT. Esp. if the item it's referencing is parseable and the CT is expecting that sort of information.

The CT should mirror the sheet that was dropped into it 1:1.

[Zacchaeus]

5e correct, yes i tried. Its a new NPC i don't know why the DC or spell atack is not working, i re-populate the spells but nothing.

I can't replicate this so there must be something wrong elsewhere in the sheet perhaps. Can you say if you still have the same problem in a new campaign without extensions. Also could you provide a screen shot

[Zacchaeus]

I'm having the same issue with an NPC spell caster of mine as well.

I manually change the damage dice, but the CT still recognizes the old 1d8 value, instead of the new 2d8 value.

Bugs. It's all part of the experience.

16603

See the updated Chill Touch damage in the NPC character sheet, and the not updated value in the CT. :/

As you can see, all the other spells' damages have been updated in the NPC sheet and they update in the CT. All but Chill Touch.

I think your problem is that the spell was dragged into the NPC rather than listed in his spellcasting block. I can replicate this if I drag the spell in and then change the damage; when the NPC is placed on the CT the spell shows the original damage rather than the amended one. If, however, the spell is listed in the spellcasting block then any changed damage is reflected in the CT correctly.

I'm not sure whether that is expected behaviour or not; I will try to find out.

[sebadiaz77]

This is my NPC, and the result in the CT. No extension loaded


16605

[Zacchaeus]

This is my NPC, and the result in the CT. No extension loaded

Your spells are certainly not populating correctly - see my screenshot for the way it should look (note the headings for each spell)

What is the source for the spells (SRD, PHB, Basic rules etc)?

[sebadiaz77]

Im dragging the spells from DD5E SRD Data

Fire bolt its the only one that par5ed myself.

[jajen2003]

I think your problem is that the spell was dragged into the NPC rather than listed in his spellcasting block. I can replicate this if I drag the spell in and then change the damage; when the NPC is placed on the CT the spell shows the original damage rather than the amended one. If, however, the spell is listed in the spellcasting block then any changed damage is reflected in the CT correctly.

I'm not sure whether that is expected behaviour or not; I will try to find out.

Do you mean this spellcasting block or are you referring to something else?

16612

I just want to make sure I'm understanding your explanation correctly.

[Andraax]

And if that's the case, that's stupid. It's an expected behavior to have whatever info is on the NPC sheet to also be in the CT. Esp. if the item it's referencing is parseable and the CT is expecting that sort of information.

When an NPC is dropped into the CT it's a copy of the original NPC. It can be renamed, changed, etc, without the changes going back to the original NPC record - because they're not linked. Makes sense to me. If you had 5 of the same NPCs on the CT, and you change *one* of them (he picked up a different weapon when he fumbled and dropped his, for example) you wouldn't want all five to change at the same time...

[Zacchaeus]

Im dragging the spells from DD5E SRD Data

Fire bolt its the only one that par5ed myself.

There's your problem. Don't drag the spells from anywhere. All you need is the spellcasting block in the NPC. Close the NPC and when you reopen it or place it on the CT the spells will auto populate from whatever resource you have open.

[Zacchaeus]

Do you mean this spellcasting block or are you referring to something else?

I just want to make sure I'm understanding your explanation correctly.

Yes, that's what I was talking about. But I have now done some further testing. Stupidly, because it was handy, I was testing on Fire Bolt which works but it would appear that Chill Touch doesn't. I have tested Chill Touch now with all sorts of variations including changing damage type and difference dice values but it obstinately refuses to reflect the changes on the CT. So it looks like it's a problem with that particular spell. I'll note that down on the list of bugs and see if it can get fixed.

(If you look you'll see that the damage type isn't being shown on the CT - so that kind of points to a problem somewhere)

[sebadiaz77]

Right, now is working thnx a lot!!

[Moon Wizard]

There's a spell action override file in the ruleset that overrides the actions in the spell, because the parsing cannot accurately reflect the full action set for the spell. (Chill Touch is one example.)

If you add the spell to the NPC and add a single character to the spell name (such as the number 2), it will disable this feature, and you will get the default parsing algorithm.

Regards,
JPG

[jajen2003]

When an NPC is dropped into the CT it's a copy of the original NPC. It can be renamed, changed, etc, without the changes going back to the original NPC record - because they're not linked. Makes sense to me. If you had 5 of the same NPCs on the CT, and you change *one* of them (he picked up a different weapon when he fumbled and dropped his, for example) you wouldn't want all five to change at the same time...

The NPC in question has been put in the CT from my NPCs tab, from a source OTHER THAN the DD MM Monster Manual. The edits I've made to the NPC, all of them, except the Chill Touch 2d8 damage are fine. It's just that Chill Touch damage. Won't parse over. Tried six ways from Sunday.

P.S. - I see that people smarter than me are now aware that this IS an issue. Noted. Sorry for spamming the thread. :/

[jajen2003]

There's a spell action override file in the ruleset that overrides the actions in the spell, because the parsing cannot accurately reflect the full action set for the spell. (Chill Touch is one example.)

If you add the spell to the NPC and add a single character to the spell name (such as the number 2), it will disable this feature, and you will get the default parsing algorithm.

Regards,
JPG

Well fiddlesticks. That's good to know

Is it on a google sheet to be fixed?

[Zacchaeus]

Well fiddlesticks. That's good to know

Is it on a google sheet to be fixed?

The spell is 'fixed' insofar as the override is there so that the parts of the spell which don't parse can appear on the CT. If you test it out you'll see that as MW says adding a character to the spell defaults it to the normal parsing algorithm which has the effect of correctly interpreting the damage if you change it. However the other parts of the spell then don't appear on the CT. So its a compromise as to whether you want the other parts there or whether you want the correct damage. Unless the parser has considerable re-writing it's not going to pick up every single possibility in all possible spells.

My solution here would be to leave the spell as it is and when it comes around to the damage use the pick up and add a dice method to drop on the target. The player just needs to remember that they get that extra dice :)

[jajen2003]

Thanks, Z.

Yeah, this is for an NPC. A Lich specifically. THE lich from the MM.

That's not the answer I was hoping for, but, I remember from my days of dealing with PAR5E, and yeah... Nope. Not gonna touch that with a rogue's 10' collapsable pole, and will take it as is.

In the meantime, yes, I've been dealing with the Lich's Chill Touch damage as suggested. It's just a bummer that everything else works, but Chill Touch is being such a pain.

[Zacchaeus]

I may have confused you, not par5e but the parser within FG that deals with the creation of effects, attacks, damage and a multitude of other things. It takes key phrases from the text of spells and actions and tries to make sense of them and put them on the CT. It can handle lots of situations but not all of them.

[jajen2003]

I may have confused you, not par5e but the parser within FG that deals with the creation of effects, attacks, damage and a multitude of other things. It takes key phrases from the text of spells and actions and tries to make sense of them and put them on the CT. It can handle lots of situations but not all of them.

No, I know what you meant. The public version of Par5e is one thing, I can't imagine the working version you guys are using for all this new stuff. What I mean is, I'd fix it myself, but it's not worth it.

It's a lot of work for what is essentially just imaginary battles in our heads. But damn, what fun!