Effect to assign a specific ability score

[ravenloft713]

Is there a way to put an effect to force an ability score to a set value? In other words, can an effect be made to force a target's Strength score to 18 regardless of whether it used to be 1, 5, 18, or 99?

If not, how does one make a +5 [stat] increase? (to apply multiple times until the desired number is reached).

Thanks in advance.

[Trenloe]

The effect is just a modifier - it doesn't look at either the base, or the current adjusted score. You'll have to adjust the effect before/after applying to give the desired end result.

[Zacchaeus]

You can adjust a stat by using the effect <stat>:x. For example to increase strength by 5 points use STR:5. If you want someone who has Stregth of 14 then you want STR:4 to make it 18. Similarly you can use DEX: 3 to increase dex by three and so on. If their abilty score is greater than 18 and you want to reduce it then use a negative STR: -3 for example.

More information on effects here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects).

[Nickademus]

Wouldn't "STR: [-STR]; STR: 18" work? It would have to come from a PC character sheet, but for a spell that changes a character's strength to 18, this might work.

[ravenloft713]

"STR: [-STR]; STR: 18" gives the person an "Effects +9". So that didn't work out as expected.

[ravenloft713]

For fun I also tried "STR: [-STR]", "STR:[-STR]", "STR:-STR]", "STR:[-10]", and "STR:-10". Only the last one (no ability score, or brackets) worked. So I think we will make an effect or two for the druid and his forms like "Wildshape: Name; STR:4; DEX:-2; CON:1" and he will need to review/math/edit the name/numbers himself. On any given session, it probably won't be much of an issue. Not perfect but I'm content since I know how to get the results I need.

And for those not familiar with effects and ability scores, no changes will be made to the character sheet (ability scores, save throws, skill checks...) but when dice are activated, an "Effects: +3" or "Effects: -3" appears (numbers will vary of course). Also make sure you are matching the right weapon to the stat. At first I used a premade NPC Wizard with a shortsword (using DEX) and putting STR effects. Once I gave him a warhammer the dice roll results produced the additional text I needed in the chat window.

This experience was similar when my druid PC and I were making Barkskin effects (AC:4 natural armor) and so forth. The AC didn't change until I got frustrated and tried to kill the test character where we noticed his AC was super high (we had placed multiple AC effects as part of our multiple attempts).

[Zacchaeus]

STR:[-STR] does actually work - althouh not possibly the way you are thinking it does. If your character has a STR of 12 then they'll have a bonus of +1 to strength. The effect STR:[-STR] will apply a penalty of -1 to any STR based checks or saving throws. This effectively removes the bonus. It doesn't remove the strength only the bonus that Strength gives. Similarly if the PC has a STR of 18 then the effect will apply a -5 penalty to checks.

In other words it is not reducing the actual STR below 10 effectively. If you have a character of STR 10 and want to effectively give them a STR of zero then you'd need to apply an effect of STR:-5.

Similarly giving a character STR:18 does not give the character a strength of 18 but rather adds that amount of STR to the character; so a character with STR 10 would become 28 - hence your +9 bonus.

So, you mentioned a Druid so I'm guessing what you are trying to do is create effects so that your Druid takes on the characteristics of the beast they are transforming into; leaving aside that the best method of doing this is to create an NPC or PC with the required stats for the wildshaped creature what you will need to do is add to the Druid sufficient STR that gives the requisite bonus. So if the wildshaped creature has a STR of 18 and your Druid has only 12 then you need to add 6 to the Druids strength. So STR: 6 will give the correct result.

[Moon Wizard]

Also, the [STR] tag only works when initially applying the effect from a PC to the combat tracker. At the time it is applied, the value is replaced with the value from the PC.

Regards,
JPG

[ravenloft713]

Also, the [STR] tag only works when initially applying the effect from a PC to the combat tracker. At the time it is applied, the value is replaced with the value from the PC.

Regards,
JPG

The effects I have been testing have been in the Effects window (running man icon) and also within the Combat Tracker (expanding and editing/clicking + under effects icon). Are you saying I will receive different results had I made it on the character sheet and then drug it onto the Combat Tracker? Would you elaborate a bit more? As you can imagine, I drag the PC in once and we wipe/add effects as needed based on each encounter.

[ravenloft713]

I did further testing and discovered that indeed, the [bracket abilities] have different mojo if used from the character sheet vs CT/Effects windows.

[Zacchaeus]

Yes you should be creating these effects in actions. Unless you are creating some kind of generic effect you should always create in the actions tab and then test by placing the effect from there onto the CT. Otherwise incorrect connections might prevent the effect from working correctly - as you have discovered.

[Nickademus]

The effects I have been testing have been in the Effects window (running man icon) and also within the Combat Tracker (expanding and editing/clicking + under effects icon). Are you saying I will receive different results had I made it on the character sheet and then drug it onto the Combat Tracker? Would you elaborate a bit more? As you can imagine, I drag the PC in once and we wipe/add effects as needed based on each encounter.

What FG does when you use the bracket tags is it searches the ability score section of the character the effect is coming from and substitutes the ability score modifier for the '[<ABIL>]' tag. Therefore, if the effect doesn't come from a character sheet, when FG looks for the associated ability score (such as from the effect window which has no ability scores) it finds nothing and substitutes nothing.

[Trenloe]

Yep, this is key for any of the [...] effect tags. Info here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects#PC_Specific_Notes