Limiting Magic Weapon Spell Effect to a Single Item

[Nilram the Grey]

I have been researching this and I don't see a way to limit the Magic Weapon Spells effect to a single item. It just gets applied to a creature and all it's attacks benefit. This is becoming a massive hassle when you have dual weapon weilding characters that also cast spells as you constantly have to add and remove the effect. This can happen multiple times in a turn. Am I missing something?

[LordEntrails]

Probably. What are you trying to accomplish?

An effect (added on the combat tracker) can not be weapon specific. But, you can add specific properties and additional damage to specific weapons on the weapon actions block itself.

[Nilram the Grey]

I want to apply the effect from the Magic Weapon spell to a specific weapon and not the character wielding the weapon.

[LordEntrails]

I want to apply the effect from the Magic Weapon spell to a specific weapon and not the character wielding the weapon.
So I assume this is a spell that is often/commonly cast on the same weapon and character?

You can't do this with an effect, but I would just make a copy of the weapon in the character actions and give it the +1 and magic property and name it appropriately, i.e. "Longsword (Magic Weapon)" or such. Then when the spell is active just have the player use that weapon. You'll have to track duration or create an effect with no mechanics and just a name and duration.

[El Condoro]

If Magic Weapon was going to be used on different weapons (this hour the short sword, next the dagger, for example) an effect on the character Actions sheet could be set up (Magic Weapon Attack;ATK:1) for the attack and another (Magic Weapon Damage;DMG:1) for the damage, each to expire on the next roll. The player would need to click it before each MW attack and damage, though, which would be a PITA. In most cases, what LordEntrails suggests would be the way to go.

[Zacchaeus]

The short answer is that you can't add a spell effect to a specific weapon with a general effect. Usually the effect for this spell would be DMG: 1, melee; ATK: 1, melee; DMGTYPE: magic assuming a melee weapon. It is usually enough to just put that on the character since it's most likely being cast on a fighter type welding a big sword anyway. Also it's unlikely to last a whole hour since it's a concentration spell and the spellcaster is bound to get hit at some point and lose the concentration. If, however, you expect to be swapping weapons a lot then you would need to have the DM switch the effect off in the CT when necessary.

As suggested above another method is to have a separate line for the weapon with the attack, damage and magic bonuses; but that gets tedious if you need to have that for every weapon.

[Nilram the Grey]

Thanks all. This is what I expected. The spell is most commonly cast on a dual wielding character that also has a level in Wizard and casts cantrips fairly often as well. It is a PIA as noted above. I already have so many weapon versions it is getting confusing. Specifically he sometimes fights with it off-hand to allow a thrown weapon to be in the primary hand which means two versions of the sword. If I had to clone the weapon for the magic weapon effect to "automate" correctly then it becomes four versions of the single weapon. We also use the carried, equipped, and not carried feature very strictly to track when an interaction is required to change weapons, so there is toggling back and forth between combat and prep modes on top of all this.

FG desperately needs to be enhanced to allow multiple damage options per item similar to how powers are currently being used to model spells that have multiple effects. The player would still have to click the correct damage option, but that would be much cleaner than cloning weapons. To round this out FG needs the ability to have objects carry effects that apply to characters when the object is equipped and for effects from powers to be applied to items such that when the item is used the effect is applied. I think this would allow most magic items to be modeled as part of the item and not the current mess of having to create powers to model items with the power and item being unrelated. It would also allow most powers, feats, spells, etc to have their scope properly modeled instead of all the manual manipulation of their scope.

I know I'm going to be told to put it on the list, but there is no point to that. Nothing gets done from the list that I can see. Bummer.

[Trenloe]

I know I'm going to be told to put it on the list, but there is no point to that. Nothing gets done from the list that I can see. Bummer.
This is not the case at all. The devs have said many times that they use the list for planning updates - short-, medium- and long-term. Some things can't be done without an architecture change, so you'll see some of the things that have been there for a long time, with many votes. This doesn't mean that "nothing gets done".

It's the primary source of feature improvements for the devs. If you want your request to have the best chance of being considered for future inclusion, then put it on the wishlist.

https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/

[LordEntrails]

One thing to remember/observe about the wishlist;it default sorts by votes, so the big things that require FGU are what get seen first. That leads to the perception that it's stale.

You can also look at the upcoming 3.2.2 beta list of improvements Moon Wizard published this week, I think there are at least half a dozen items on it that are related to the wishlist. I haven't counted, but many of the improvements are familiar and I think have corresponding or similar "wishes".

[Nilram the Grey]

Ok, I'ved added it. I checked and three not very useful things from the list seem to have been completed this year and two not very useful things in 2016. At least this is according to the list itself. All the useful stuff never gets worked on. I assume this is because the code base prior to FGU is horrendous and therefore development of all useful stuff is pending FGU. FGU is very behind the originally projected dates. If FGU isn't out this fall it will be more than a year late.

What I'm learning is what appeared to be ok automation for first level characters is really terrible automation for seventh level characters. It is the main reason FG combats take forever as levels increase and not the game mechanics themselves.

I'm going to go see if I can find the 3.2.2 beta list and see if the wish list just isn't tracking things correctly.

[Nilram the Grey]

LordEntrails,

Was that a typo on the beta list, since 3.3.1 is already out? I searched the forums and could find no beta lists of enhancements being announced.

[Zacchaeus]

It's 3.3.2 currently in test (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?39182-Test-Release-v3-3-2).

And what some consider not useful others consider essential. So things that have been added over the last couple of years will have pleased some and not others; it's all a bit subjective.

[LordEntrails]

Do note that I do not think the tracking on the the wishlist itself of closed/completed items is correct. At least I've always assumed Moon does not go back and close them after he's implemented them. It would just be more low-value administrative work for him.

[LordEntrails]

And yes, it was a typo, 3.3.2 is correct.

[Nilram the Grey]

Zacchaeus,

I was going by the wish list's own tracking of closed items. If it is not accurate then that is part of the reason for my perception along with all the top items never being developed.

Thanks for the link to 3.3.2. I'm not sure why searching for 3.3.2 doesn't produce the thread.

Is it fair to say the enhancements I was asking about above would require FGU? Is there any ETA for FGU yet? The lack of automation for so many basic things is very frustrating. Sorry.

[Zacchaeus]

FGU is something which brings the software up to date; it is not something which is going to allow a flood of new automation such as the thing you want. What you want to do can likely be done with the current architecture. It is not a question of whether it can be done it is a question of whether it is worth the development time to do something.

But as I said before what one person sees as a crucial much needed enhancement is not necessarily what anyone else sees as a crucial much needed enhancement. There are many posts such as yours yearning for something and the only place to put those is on the wish list.

Oh, and there's no date for FGU as yet.

[Haggar]

Just learning from this thread I am very new to programming and am definitely not a computer guy at all. To me a computer screen is a magic box. I learned some useful syntax above "DMG: 1, melee; ATK: 1, melee; DMGTYPE: magic" thanks for that. In addition to that is their a syntax for an additional D12 damage die? Is that possible to add?

[LordEntrails]

Sure.
DMG: 1d12

I actually find the old wiki easier to understand when it comes to effects. It has lots of good examples. See; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Effects

The new Wiki page is here; https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGU/pages/884913/5E+Effects+for+Advanced+Automation

[Haggar]

Thanks a lot Lord! Really appreciate that.

[Haggar]

I just realized I'm in the D&D forums but would you happen to know if this is the same syntax as in PF2 for an extra D12 die?

[LordEntrails]

I just realized I'm in the D&D forums but would you happen to know if this is the same syntax as in PF2 for an extra D12 die?
I don't know. But there should be a wiki page for effects in PF2E on those wikis. If not, the PF2 forum would be able to get you the info you need :)