Exactly what do I need (5e, own all physical books)

[Sadsa]

So, looking to get into FG, but I just wanted to know exactly what I'd need to do so. I'm planning on playing with a small group of friends so we can keep in contact with each other, and we all own all of the physical copies of the 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons books. I was looking to buy the Ultimate Membership, but I wanted to ask first and make sure it wouldn't be wiser to just buy the standard, and accompanying books/sets for 5th edition.
So I guess -
1.) What exactly do I need to buy after owning all of the physical 5th edition books to run the game smoothly?
2.) What would you recommend buying?
3.) What is superfluous if you already own the physical copies?
4.) What do digital editions from FG offer that the physical editions don't?

[LordEntrails]

Welcome Sadsa.

There's a really good post detailing all this, but I can't find it at the moment. Maybe someone else will jump in and link to it.

1) In short all you need is either;
a) the Ultimate license for the GM and demo/free licenses for your players, or
b) Standard licenses for the GM and all players

That will get you all the game mechanics plus the 5E SRD and Basic Rules. You can then play, but you will have to enter everything manually etc.
Note, the Ultimate does NOT include any additional DLC, books, etc

2) Depends on what you will be playing. I would buy the PHB (Core Class Pack) so that you can do drag and drop for character creation, spells, etc If you are creating your own adventures, I would buy the MM, again so you can drag and drop the monsters. Volo's if you want to do the same with those NPC's. If you are playing a published module, I would buy it as well.

3) Everything, but by buying them in FG format you will be saving yourself time. A lot of it. So it depends on if you have more time or money.

4) Drag and Drop, all the text pre-entered, pre-made encounters, maps. Automation and time savings.

[Sadsa]

Perfect, that covers everything I needed, thankyou!

[Talyn]

You brought up two separate issues, so I'll cover them individually:

Which 5E DLC do you need?
Fantasy Grounds comes with the Basic Rules and the 5E SRD modules which can easily get you started. If you want the full character options, then the D&D Complete Core Class Pack (ie. Player's Handbook) is what you want. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide also has character options. In addition to those, there is an Unearthed Arcana module for Fantasy Grounds free at the DMs Guild and is updated ASAP after Wizard's publishes their UE articles.

Now, here you have a couple options: purchase the DLC or enter it yourself since you own the books. Either is acceptable for play. Wizards of the Coast sets the price for the DLC here, though nearly every week something 5E-related is on sale, so if you want the pre-built DLC and don't need it right this very second, then I'd suggest making do with the SRD until the DLC you want goes on sale. Entering the content yourself doesn't require too much technical know-how and there are videos on YouTube demonstrating how to do it.

What do the digital versions offer over the physical? Interactivity! Drag and drop your skills, feats, whatever onto your character sheet. Level up? Just drag the Class onto your character sheet again and poof, all the stuff gets updated for your character's new level. And much more. The ease and speed of having a computer handle all the minutiae is a huge advantage of virtual tabletops over jotting stuff on paper.

You didn't say if you wanted to be a GM, a Player, or both so I stopped my DLC suggestions at the ones that offer character options. The various Campaigns that WotC has published are obviously intended for GMs so there's no need to get those if you're just wanting to play, which brings me to the other thing you brought up:

You were looking at the Ultimate License
Why? The Ultimate License is a GM license. It does not get you access to any additional DLC that the Standard (or Demo for that matter) license already provides. What the Ultimate License does is allow Demo licenses to connect to your game. If you have a Standard license, that lets you GM but all players must also have at least a Standard licence. Now, if you are planning on being the GM for your group, no one else ever wants to GM, you have the cash to spare and your players do not, then by all means the Ultimate license is probably what you'll want at some point. However if your group likes to alternate who GM's then all of you would be better off just getting a Standard license and calling it a day.
The license packages (and Ultimate Upgrade) also go on sale ehhhh roughly every 3-5 weeks-ish or thereabouts as well. The Standard license is $40 USD full price and goes on sale for $32 - $33.

[JohnD]

What you "need" to buy really comes down to what you have more or less of; time vs money. The FG versions are well worth the cost for their completeness and automation and not having to spend hours entering content.

[Trenloe]

The FG editions also come with the graphical content - share images with the players, or have pre-made PC portraits or creature tokens based off the artwork.

[LordEntrails]

One other thing to be aware of, if the DM buys a player resource (like the PHB), then while players are connected to the DM, the DM can share those resources so they players can use them (but only while connected). If a player buys a resource (such as the PHB) only they can get access to it, and only with the DMs permission.

[Zacchaeus]

More information here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e) (this is the post LordEntrails was talking about)

[Nylanfs]

This is the best video I could find that I think of everytime somebody new asks questions and we just all pile on them with different answers. :) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmtN-x_thoQ)

[LordEntrails]

This is the best video I could find that I think of everytime somebody new asks questions and we just all pile on them with different answers. :) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmtN-x_thoQ)
But he's thirsty and needs water!