Book of Lost Spells

[jojogladco]

I'm a bit put off by this item being for sale in the store. I've purchased quite a bit from the FG store and this is the 1st item that I've felt wasn't ready for prime time.

The book claims to be for 5th Edition but terms used in the spells clearly are from other editions. I'm running into things like bonus to Diplomacy checks, references to something called Tactical Advantage and Morale checks.

Spells that reference saving throws seem to rarely have the cast effect built into the spell. Spells such as damage Morale which has a -2 ATK penalty doesn't have the -2 ATK effect built into it.

There is a lot of good material in the module and I'm sure I'll enjoy it once I'm done putting time in to fix it.

I would recommend putting a clear warning that the module isn't as polished as other items for sale in the store and will require a serious time investment in the DM's part to review the 700+ spells and fix/adjust them to work with combat automation/use correct terms.

[arkanis]

It would be nice that the powers that be put a review system in the store. I'd like to purchase some third party adventures for 5E but i'm in the dark. The catalogue is too large and the info is too sparse. I don't want to do another "forge of the dawn titan" flop. IMO that thing is terrible for the price, but at least it helped me to stay away from further lair assaults.

[Zacchaeus]

I'm a bit put off by this item being for sale in the store. I've purchased quite a bit from the FG store and this is the 1st item that I've felt wasn't ready for prime time.

The book claims to be for 5th Edition but terms used in the spells clearly are from other editions. I'm running into things like bonus to Diplomacy checks, references to something called Tactical Advantage and Morale checks.

Spells that reference saving throws seem to rarely have the cast effect built into the spell. Spells such as damage Morale which has a -2 ATK penalty doesn't have the -2 ATK effect built into it.

There is a lot of good material in the module and I'm sure I'll enjoy it once I'm done putting time in to fix it.

I would recommend putting a clear warning that the module isn't as polished as other items for sale in the store and will require a serious time investment in the DM's part to review the 700+ spells and fix/adjust them to work with combat automation/use correct terms.

I'm not familiar with this one but I'll add it to my list to have a look to see what can be done - no promises since I may not have the time.

One thing to note is that many of the effects created from spells in the PHB are 'hard coded' and are not picked up and created by the internal parser; so similar spells in any third party products might not have the same kind of thing that you might get with a PHB spell.

[Zacchaeus]

It would be nice that the powers that be put a review system in the store. I'd like to purchase some third party adventures for 5E but i'm in the dark. The catalogue is too large and the info is too sparse. I don't want to do another "forge of the dawn titan" flop. IMO that thing is terrible for the price, but at least it helped me to stay away from further lair assaults.

What's wrong with Forge of the Dawn Titan? If you have problems with it then report them and I'll have a look to see if whatever the problem is can be fixed.

[jojogladco]

I'm not familiar with this one but I'll add it to my list to have a look to see what can be done - no promises since I may not have the time.

One thing to note is that many of the effects created from spells in the PHB are 'hard coded' and are not picked up and created by the internal parser; so similar spells in any third party products might not have the same kind of thing that you might get with a PHB spell.

I think it understand what you're saying but I want to check.

If the author has used the wording Make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. The internal parsrer picks that up just fine and when I drag the ability to the character sheet the ability will show the Cast options and populate the save.

If the author said on a failed save for Wisdom the spell takes effect. The parser can't parse the wording and nothing happens.

If that's the case i get why the effects don't create. In fact that was my thought last night reading the spells.

I'd just like to see items like this either not allowed for sale in the store or have a warning on the purchase page so you know what you're getting when you make the purchase.

Lastly thanks for the quick reply with great info as always, you're the man!

[Myrdin Potter]

I think the book of lost spells was written before the 5e SRD came out. FGG has been a little slow to move over to standard 5e wording even after the SRD came out, but a regular poster here is now helping them in that and I expect their products going forward to get increasingly better.

I don't think the issue with the book is the spells themselves (like most 3PP books like that some are good and some are not but there are a lot of good ideas). I think it is just the archaic conversion using pre-SRD conventions.

I even helped them on something recently and trust me, the most involved 5e Frog these days also uses FG and knows that the standard wording is properly parsed.

[LordEntrails]

It would be nice that the powers that be put a review system in the store. I'd like to purchase some third party adventures for 5E but i'm in the dark. The catalogue is too large and the info is too sparse. ...
Doug (ddavision) has talked about this in other posts before. I think it is something on their list to do, but FGU along with current support and improvements are their priority.

Even though I would like a review system in the FG store, I don't know how well it would actually get used. I think of the DMsGuild as an example. How many products there have any reviews? I's seen products in the bronze level with dozen and dozens of sales that have no reviews. I think I've heard the expected rate is less than 1% of buyers actually make a comment or review.

Anyway, in the meantime, before I buy something I'm not certain of, I search online for reviews and blogs about the product. And then if I can't find what I want, I start a thread here to get people's input, like I did here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?38865-Seeking-Opinions-on-Kingdoms). Sure, it would mean it would be nice if everything was at our fingertips, but it also means we have to take the time to provide info for others in the community (i.e. how many products have you* bought online and written a review for?).

* not "you" in particular, just "you" as in any of us.

[Zacchaeus]

I think it understand what you're saying but I want to check.

If the author has used the wording Make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. The internal parsrer picks that up just fine and when I drag the ability to the character sheet the ability will show the Cast options and populate the save.

If the author said on a failed save for Wisdom the spell takes effect. The parser can't parse the wording and nothing happens.

Indeed, departing radically from the 'standard' WotC wording will mean the parser won't pick it up. Many 3rd party products (especually those that came out for 5e prior to the SRD) tended to not use the WotC wording for fear of copyright infringement; products written after the SRD came out do tend to be rather better in this respect.

I'll add the BoLS to my list to review and I'll see if I can bring it a bit more up to date. It will be at least 6 weeks before I can even look at it mind you, so don't be holding your breath.

[arkanis]

What's wrong with Forge of the Dawn Titan? If you have problems with it then report them and I'll have a look to see if whatever the problem is can be fixed.

There's no technical problem, it's the quality of the content for the price. I entertain the idea that if a review system was in place before I purchased the adventure, the rating would have warned me that it was subpar. That's why I hesitate to purchase some of the discounted third party 5e material, there's no way to tell before clicking the buy button if the material is any good.

[Myrdin Potter]

The FG content is typically available on the main PDF sites like drivethrurpg.com. I typically check reviews there before making a purchase. Hard to make a not so great module good just because it was converted to FG format. Otherwise, I google for reviews and see if there are any reviews available.

[Beerbelly]

I understand comparing a review system here to one in DMs Guild, however I think it's not a great comparison. The amount of users who use this forums I think would also use the review. It's a tighter nit of people who use and buy from Fantasy Grounds. Though a majority of people wouldn't, I think the percentage of them that do would greatly benefit the store and overall, the quality of the content that gets put out with a better input of feedback on a per item basis.

[Zacchaeus]

I've had a look at this one and I don't think I'm going to be able to make the kind of wholesale changes that might be needed to make the saving throws work. In most of the other situations I've seen there isn't a way to automate the effects via any kind of wording changes. As for 'tactical advantage' I'd just read that as 'advantage' since that seems to be what it means.

[Myrdin Potter]

The book came out before the 5e SRD and "tactical advantage" was the common word choice then as it was felt that "advantage" alone was protected. They do mean exactly the same thing.