Order Tab, Marching Order...

[Smoltok]

Hi all,

Could you tell me what is the purpose to the order tab in the party sheet ?

How could we use it ? Is it possible to "drag and drop" what this tab contains in a battle maps ?

Thanks,
Smoltok

[damned]

Its so that the party can determine their marching order at that time so when the GM determines that the trap hits the 3rd person or the assault begins on the left hand side that the players have declared their positions already... and the arguments should be... null and void.

[Nickademus]

There is no automation for it. You can't drag anything to have FG place the PCs on a map in the shown marching order unfortunately.

[Moon Wizard]

The idea is that you're supposed to drag from the left column of the order sheet which contains the party members on the party sheet onto the Marching and Formation area. I just tried that in my test Pathfinder campaign, and it appears to be working.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

But can you drag anything from the party sheet to a battlemap to place the tokens in the same orientation?

[Moon Wizard]

No, it has always been just a simple representation. No linkage to anything else.

Regards,
JPG

[Andraax]

I've always found the "marching order" tab in the party sheet to be more useful for "theater of the mind" style play - if you're using a battle map, the order is on the map already.

[JohnD]

It's nice to know where the squishies are when you're setting up a new map or a one off encounter though!

[Andraax]

If it's a wide open battle map (outdoor encounter usually) and there is no clear setup area, I drop the tokens and tell the players to arrange themselves after I give the description of what they see. Then I setup the enemies based on their setup.

[LordEntrails]

I use the marching order as a default. So that when I spring an ambush or trap on the party I don't just give them a map and let them set themselves up how they want knowing they are going into combat.

[Andraax]

I use the marching order as a default. So that when I spring an ambush or trap on the party I don't just give them a map and let them set themselves up how they want knowing they are going into combat.

My players don't tend to metagame. Besides, that's why I let them set themselves up before I decide where they're being attacked from. If they're being attacked from behind, for example, they set themselves with the fighters up front, spell casters in the back, but the I bring in the enemy from behind the spell casters. If they spread out too far, I could take out the casters before the fighter get into combat, for example.

[damned]

I use the Marching Formation extension and I use it as LordEntrails suggests.
Its where the players need to keep things up to date on.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?28564-Marching-Formation-Extension

https://www.fg-con.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/partysheet.jpg

[damned]

My players don't tend to metagame. Besides, that's why I let them set themselves up before I decide where they're being attacked from. If they're being attacked from behind, for example, they set themselves with the fighters up front, spell casters in the back, but the I bring in the enemy from behind the spell casters. If they spread out too far, I could take out the casters before the fighter get into combat, for example.

So you metagame instead of the players?
:ninja:

[Andraax]

So you metagame instead of the players?
:ninja:

Not really. I roll to see if the party is surprised. If they are, then I make sure it's a surprise. If they aren't, then I let them setup after telling them the *approximate position* of the opponents, and I setup the opponents appropriately.

For example, one time the encounter was that they encounter a child along the trail, sitting on the side and crying. After a short period of time, a band of orcs will attack from the woods on the opposite side of the trail. So, I throw up a trail through woods "generic" map, place the child on it, and lay out the situation for the players ("You're walking down this trail, from the north, heading south. You see a child on the side of the trail, sitting and softly crying. Go ahead and set yourselves up on the trail, north of the child.") After the players have arranged themselves on the map, I setup the orcs in the woods opposite about where they would come out, hidden. During the encounter with the child, I throw some perception checks for the party to determine if they hear the orcs creeping through the woods, and go into combat based on that - sneak attack, with the orcs getting a round of free attacks before the players can do anything if they fail, or I unhide the tokens as I tell them they hear a group of orcs coming out of the woods behind them.

Or another example, I'll throw out a generic map and drop a campfire token on it. "Your ranger has determined this is the best place in the area for a camp, and he's gotten the fire going for you. Go ahead and pick out your sleeping spots, first watch is so-and-so." If the encounter happens on a later watch, then I'll go "Nothing happens on first watch, second watch is so-and-so, rearrange your tokens," and so on.

Of course, I make sure that I throw out maps once in a while when there is *nothing* going on, or for a random encounter with farmers or what not, so they don't get the idea that a new map appearing means they're being attacked.