C & C Questions

[Black Hammer]

Considering buying into C&C, since it has good FG support (or so I've been told) and I'm wanting to try some new systems. Couple of questions as to what I should buy, though.

First off, I'm only interested in rules and non-module content. Adventures, modules, and so forth not so much, as I prefer to write all my own stuff. Also, I have a megadungeon I've been working at off and on for years and need an excuse to use...

I do want as many character/class/ability/spell options as possible. I like variety in options, and it's nice to be able as DM to suggest more to those players less inclined to read all the books.

I have zero idea how C&C setting/s work.

So which books and FG plugins should I pick up? And is this bundle (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238703/Castles--Crusades-Megabundle-2018-BUNDLE?filters=0_2140_0_0_0 ) worth picking up? I notice it does not include the Monsters & Treasure or Castle Keepers book.

Also, any general C&C thoughts and advice welcome.

[Talyn]

I suppose I'm the primary DLC Developer for C&C, so... I recently updated both of the core books for the ruleset to the latest printings (C&C doesn't do "editions" apparently that was their initial promise or something) with all the latest features such as reference manuals, as much automation as the ruleset supports (more coming eventually, @Andraax is the ruleset developer) and so forth. It's a rules-lite d20 system, even more rules-lite than 5E in fact, and designed to give a 1E-esque "feel."

The ruleset comes with the Players Handbook and Monsters & Treasure and that's really all you need. @Mortar is the other DLC Developer who does C&C content and he is in the middle of updating the Castle Keeper's Guide to the latest printing and reference manual format.

Setting-wise, honestly anything goes. The "official" setting is Aihrde which is kinda medieval Germanic-ish? It sure ain't the Forgotten Realms, that's for sure. They also have the Haunted Highlands which is a lot darker and grittier, though they do provide places to fit HH into Aihrde if one wishes. Other people make up their own stuff or use other settings. @JohnD is one of the most experience FG GMs and he uses Greyhawk, for example.

Here's a link to the 2017 Quick Start Rules (https://www.trolllord.com/tlgstore/#!/Castles-&-Crusades-Quick-Start-Rules-Digital/p/100146285) PDF, free download with a sample adventure with four quickie pregens.

[Mortar]

C&C is a great system, @Talyn and I have been looking at attacking remastering pretty much the whole line-up. Bit by bit it well happen. Lot of material there, and not enough time with the new products in our queues.

[Andraax]

As a note - the Castle Keeper's Guide is not needed - it is a compilation of optional rules.

The stuff I would buy given your comments (not using modules, design your own settings) are, in order of importance:

Player's Handbook
Monsters and Treasure
Classic Monsters
Castle Keeper's Guide
Arms and Armor
Engineering Castles
Engineering Dungeons

For specific "feels", look at the "Codex" books - Codex Celtarum, Codex Germanum, etc.

[JohnD]

If you want options for your players, you may also want to look at the recently released Elemental Spells and the Player's Guide to Aihrde. From the content perspective, they add classes, races, equipment and spells even if you don't take the setting information on board.

There's also the Crusader's Companion (unofficial content) which adds some more classes, races, spells and creatures.

If you have more questions, ask away!

[damned]

I always ran my C&C campaigns in Greyhawk.
I enjoy C&C and all you need is the core ruleset - however it has something like 7 races and 13 classes and that is all (plenty enough for me but not for 3.5e players).

[JohnD]

damned is quite right; you get a huge amount of mileage out of the base ruleset.

[Black Hammer]

Well, I acquired a sizable stack of books from a friend (to be returned "when he needs them," and knowing him & his group, the only time he'll need OSR/retroclone books is to prop a door open), so I've started reading through stuff.

As far as FG material goes, just the basic C&C Ruleset is needed? Any particular point to the FG version of the Castle Keeper's Guide if I've got a physical one?

[JohnD]

Buy the $10 ruleset. Maybe Classic Monsters. All you need; the great thing is you can easily create your own stuff for C&C.

[Topdecker]

Is "Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde" the same as "Monsters & Treasure" - I ask since I don't see the latter in the store, but I do see it online elsewhere. The former seemed as though it would be tied to a setting - which doesn't interest me.

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[Andraax]

It is creatures and magic items specific to Aihrde that do not already exist in Monsters and Treaure.

[Talyn]

No, Monsters & Treasure is one of the Core Rules books (and is included free with the ruleset). Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.php?id=TLG8019FG2) is an additional book / DLC. I updated it to 3rd printing several months ago, which apparently is still not being reflected on the store... sigh... I'll have James look at that. The monsters are presented the same as in M&T with an additional In Aihrde section, so the monsters can be used in any setting.

The other, smaller Monsters of Aihrde DLC should honestly be removed so as to not confuse customers. Those are older books from before M&T of Aihrde was published.

[Topdecker]

Strange... I am not seeing MONSTERS AND TREASURE as a product.

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[Talyn]

Strange... I am not seeing MONSTERS AND TREASURE as a product.


Monsters & Treasure is one of the Core Rules books (and is included free with the ruleset).

That's why! :)

[damned]

Topdecker if you have the ruleset you already have M&T. Its not listed as a product separately as you cant buy it separately. No need to buy it separately because you cant use it without the Ruleset and the Ruleset includes it :)
There is also Classic Monsters.

[Topdecker]

Thanks for explaining it guys - that makes the core rule set a pretty sweet deal!

I discovered with some other projects that I greatly dislike entering creature data, so I grabbed the Classic Monsters product a bit earlier.

Fantastic to see mages rocking a d4 for HP once again. And Rogues leveling at 1250 XP.

[Segin]

I am as new and green as a gourde as can be both to FG and to CC. I bought Ultimate last night and bought several CC add ons, (castle keeper, Core Rulebook, Players Aidhe, etc). So I went to create a character, and I had to manually enter in the attributes after rolling them, which I think is par for the course. Then when I went to add race, it wouldn't take it by dragging the race over. So I just type in Human or whatever? Same thing with class. So all the abilities and changes due to race I have to manually put in to each character? Surely I am doing something wrong.

[Andraax]

There is no automation on races or leveling in the CnC ruleset. That type of automation is only in 5E and a lesser version in Pathfinder.

[Topdecker]

There is no automation on races or leveling in the CnC ruleset. That type of automation is only in 5E and a lesser version in Pathfinder.

Savage Worlds is also nicely automated and drag / droppable, but not OSRish.

[Topdecker]

There are some drag and drop items...

https://i.imgur.com/EBEeTlI.png

Both the CLASSES and RACES have a tab named 'Other' that has the drag and drop items on it (and listed levels where applicable)

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[Andraax]

Yeah, plus spells, weapons and other items. But can't just drag and drop the class.

[Segin]

Well those helps a little bit. Needless to say, this is not what I was expecting for what I thought was standard from my brief demo experimentation using dnd ruleset. It does help a little that I can drag some stuff over without having to write it in myself. It doesn't calculate anything though. If it did, I'd be alright with things. For instance, Half-elf special ability of +2 to a choice of attribute's modifier. i drag it over, so it is typed without me having to type it, but it adds nothing to the selected modifier and I can't even change the modifier manually in the character sheet. I have to change the ability score for the modifier to change as far as I can tell. So I need to mentally have notes on each little thing on a piece of paper and remember to add it in. Not what I signed up for, which is no ones mistake but mine on. (unless I am missing something, which as new as I am, I could be.)

-edit: cleanup-

I wasn't expecting full automation to be clear. +1 versus sleep spells, I knew I'd have to remember to apply that when confronted by a sleep spell. This isn't a computer game, after all. But +2 ability that changes your Str Modifier... for me to have to remember when I am doing a str modifier check, to add +2 to the modifier that shows on my character sheet, because I have an ability on page 3, (as just one example found of I'm sure many such things) is a bit less than what I was expecting.

[Andraax]

For instance, Half-elf special ability of +2 to a choice of attribute's modifier. i drag it over, so it is typed without me having to type it, but it adds nothing to the selected modifier and I can't even change the modifier manually in the character sheet. I have to change the ability score for the modifier to change as far as I can tell.

Hover over the upper right corner of the dice button and hold control while spinning the mouse wheel to add a modifier.

https://s3.silent-tower.org/images/AbilityMod.JPG

This technique works to add modifiers in many places on the character sheet. Ask questions about how to automate other things as you come across them.

[Segin]

Wow, holy crap it worked. Thanks, that helps a lot.

I guess reading the manual would help a lot too. *snicker* Time for me go tutorial diving.

*Mr. if all else fails read the instructions* here

[Topdecker]

I have found where I, as the CK/GM, can get a party ability check which I presume makes everyone in the party perform a given check (it is on the party sheet). Besides that, is PARTY ATTACK.

What in the blue blazes is that for?

[Moon Wizard]

It’s so you can do a group attack vs AC against the entire party.

Cheers,
JPG

[Topdecker]

It’s so you can do a group attack vs AC against the entire party.


Thanks!

Is it accurate to say that we have individual tables for treasure but do not have the base starter tables (i.e type 1 to 18)? I don't care to recreate the wheel if the wheel is available :)

EDIT: Well, this is handy - https://www.rpggrognard.com:8080/

[Talyn]

The Treasure Tables are still a WIP. I haven't quite worked out how (or if) I can successfully pull them off within FG in a manner I am content with. My ::SQUIRREL!:: attention span hasn't helped either... :)

[Topdecker]

LUA is no fun.

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[Topdecker]

I am a bit flummoxed by initiative. I will explain.

In Savage Worlds, you create groups of foes and each group worked with an initiative card (i.e. the group went as one). I would structure the groups so it wasn't a ceaseless wave of foe activity. This tended to prevent initiative (or the lack of it) from being a game-over situation.

With C&C, I am seeing...

https://i.imgur.com/t5ctWlN.png

Even though I have multiple groups of skeletons, they are all getting the same initiative. I am wanting the groups that I define to act on initiatives or every individual foe to have it's own initiative. I want to avoid TPKs based solely upon a mass of creatures winning initiative. Also, I want to avoid the humdrums of waiting for the turn to advance while the GM takes his epicly huge, uninterrupted turn.

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[Andraax]

In options, change the NPCs initiative from "Group" to "Individual".

https://s3.silent-tower.org/images/Initiative.jpg

[Topdecker]

Thanks! That is exactly what I want!

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[Segin]

As was obvious by my previous posts, I was asking a lot of these questions. I have found after reading the supplied links, that those questions were addressed already, and I can save my questions for things a bit harder to find an answer for. Here are the links, and hope it helps you too. I know I was searching everywhere for answers till I found this post, then eventually found these links. Helped me a lot. (although I'm sure I've got a dozen questions in my back pocket waiting to spring later! lol)

The User Guide (which is general FG, as well as several that are CnC specific)
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/User_Guides

I've read the User Guides listed on this page. Helped with questions I didn't know I needed to ask sometimes.

Youtube Tutorials about 2 minutes each:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpdpSmbbnQg&index=2&list=PLsgd1zJLdiKUrEd85Dqr6UcaaLvD7YlJd

This I watched. But found so much information crammed in there, decided I would come back and watch the 2 minute video pertaining to the subject I needed help on, when I needed it. The videos are the bomb.

[Topdecker]

Thanks, I appreciate it Segin! I am reasonably experienced with FG - but after 30 minutes of searching, I tend to reach out.

To whomever did the iconography... Out of the rulesets that I own, this is far and away the best set of icons. Heck, I even like the minimized icon :)



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[Topdecker]

Looking again at initiative...

For you guys GMing, which init die type do you go with and why? I noticed that PCs get the advantage on a tie and I am pretty sure that I as a player would prefer the D10 (since 10% of the time, I would auto-win initiative because PCs win ties).

I also like inits rolled each round since I feel like new turn orders help maintain interest. Any arguments against?

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[Segin]

Shrug. I am using d20. d10 is crowded I think, making the initiative bonus a bigger bonus than with a d20. But mainly using d20 because the previous system I was in used d20 for init, more so than the init bonus factoring more on d10 than d20.

[damned]

Segin those videos were by me and done a long time ago and were my first attempts at videos - so excuse the poor production quality.
Most of the info in them should be mostly relevant still.

[Segin]

Segin those videos were by me and done a long time ago and were my first attempts at videos - so excuse the poor production quality.
Most of the info in them should be mostly relevant still.

I don't know about poor quality. They were short and to the point which is really nice when trying to get your feet wet and game going. Finding that much information in 2-3 minutes makes it so accessible to someone who just wants to find out and jump in.

There is a place for longer, explanatory videos, but I really like the template of breaking things up and doing it 'short by showing', instead of talking about it 10 minutes (although that has its place sometimes too I suppose).

Between those videos and the User Guide, I've got plenty to chew on for now.

Thank you.

[damned]

Single topic and to the point was the intention :)

[JohnD]

Use d20 for initiative.

[Topdecker]

Castle Keeper's Guide... It is the first FG product that I have disabled because I felt like it was doing more harm than good. Adding it is a step in the wrong direction.

https://i.imgur.com/yscpXJg.png

Worse than worthless.

https://i.imgur.com/cbZjzHv.png

Why in the world do I have 3 'new items' in the new items group? They are all blank.

[Moon Wizard]

That doesn't look right. Let us check with the current content developer for that DLC to see what happened.

Regards,
JPG

[Talyn]

@Mortar's CKG update is still in progress. He sent the latest to the "beta readers" several weeks ago. But yeah, the existing product has a lot of issues like this that will be fixed in addition to reference manual and updated to the newest printing of the book.

[Moon Wizard]

I just went in and updated the existing content to avoid those specific errors; and it will be released with our Tuesday DLC updates. (i.e. tomorrow)

The extraneous item entries have been removed; and the image records have been given names.

Regards,
JPG

[Topdecker]

Here is something kinda funky that I have noticed. It might be a feature, I dunno...

If I drag and drop a monster into the NEW category... it doesn't duplicate a new instance which is the behavior of other rulesets. No, it re-categorizes the creature. (To get a duplicate to work with, you then drop it again in the NEW category.)

Admittedly, it is kind of cool to be able to create categories and move monsters around. I've not give it a lot of thought, but dividing them into type categories might be neat (i.e. undead, aberration, etc). But, I am bringing it up here because it sorta looks like a bug. Also, if I was not paying much attention to the source when I dragged and dropped it, I might not put it back exactly where it came from.

Also, 99% of the time, all I really want is a copy that I can then modify to suit my need for a quick bit of customization. It is somewhat disconcerting to actually move it to a new category.

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[Talyn]

All the rulesets do that, at least in my experience so far. You have to first create a copy of the NPC (drop it into the main window) and then drag it to whichever Group you want it. If you simply drag the reference NPC into a new Group, then as you say, it simply sorts it there without creating a local copy first.

[Andraax]

Dragging from one category and dropping onto another category is how you move items / npcs / etc from one category to another. As far as I know, this is CoreRPG functionality, so it should work the same in all other CoreRPG derived rulesets.

[Topdecker]

Well, most of my (recent) experience is with Savage Worlds - and I am almost positive that dragging to NEW is how you create a copy to work with there.

Anyhow, it was a bit freaky :), but I'll roll with the changes.

[Talyn]

If that is the case, don't count on it lasting. Savage Worlds was originally not a CoreRPG-based ruleset. @Ikael has been slowly making it more and more CoreRPG-compliant while adding new features so if this behavior is currently in SW, it's entirely possible that it will be removed at some point for compliance.

[Topdecker]

Understood. It may already be implemented given the number of updates to Savage Worlds. I haven't done a lot of encounter building in SW since early this year.

I have been digging C&C. I just plugged in the first level for DCC #01 - I wanted to see if C&C's universal translator functionality that others have remarked upon was as good as has been mentioned and the module has been pretty easy to convert thus far. I would have to agree that C&C is uniquely positioned to convert just about anything OSR and 1e, 2e, and 3e as well. Really cool tool for the GM that wants the best modules, no matter the game system :bandit:.

https://i.imgur.com/wu4VdBh.jpg

It is a Big Freaking Map (tm), but it is right on a 1mb file size while maintaining pretty good detail. I sort of worry about the players navigating it, but hey, it is 2018 :) Still, a 4100 x 3000 pixel map should cause a few discussions on how to scale and scroll around the battle map.

https://i.imgur.com/CCM0O9e.png

It has good detail while being small enough to transfer and display nicely. After this one, I will convert DCC #27 which continues the tale. If anyone is familiar with DCC line, is there a module that you'd recommend before others?

I also have already knocked out a conversion for Blood Moon Rising from Small Niche Games. That looks like a lot of fun :)

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[Talyn]

I'm not familiar. I think I have GG's adventures (or at least a couple of them) they wrote for C&C with the intention of doing the FG versions. GG's borderline hostility to VTTs has made me pretty much disregard everything they do now, including their own games.

[Trenloe]

4100x3000 pixel map is way above the recommended image size of 2048x2048. Keep an eye on performance and memory use, especially on the player side. If you're sharing a lot of other stuff, your players may experience issues.

[Topdecker]

Interesting comment about GG. From what I know of of them, they have a certain style and swagger that works for them. That style doesn't seem to involve color anything except cover art. On the visual aids alignment chart, FG (and VTT in general) are probably on the opposite side.

Yeah, the image size is huge Trenloe. I worked hard to honor the file size, but there is a noticeable pause when I open one of these images. It also clearly has a mask overlay which will get somewhat complex as the sessions complicate it as sections are revealed.

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[Talyn]

Troll Lords, Frog God, Raging Swan and several other small studios also publish primarily black and white art except for covers, but they're perfectly fine licensing for VTTs. I haven't dealt with Goodman Games at all myself, but the commentary from those who have has been quite a bit more negative than with others who decline VTT licensing. I have no problem saying "screw 'em" because I only have so much free time and it's not like I'm losing out by not playing one of their games, which no one locally has ever heard of anyway.

Listen to Trenloe about the image size! When sharing content, the client (ie. players) use up more memory for everything being shared than the server (you) does; up to 400% has been reported a few times. This is why 99% of the "why are my players crashing and/or disconnecting for no reason?" threads here, the answer is "there is a reason -- you're sharing too much!"

[damned]

For NPCs....

Dragging teh NPC and releasing within that same frame is how you dupe the entity.
Dragging it to the frame above and releasing it on another chapter/book/description is how you relocate it.

[Topdecker]

Thanks, Damned. I tried it (dropping in it's source area) and it did as you said - it created a copy in the NEW section.

[JohnD]

Man, my summer hiatus is around half over... I'm itching to get back at it.

[Topdecker]

You are wise to take summers off. I've been trying to get a campaign closed down, but we are missing more weeks than we are playing - just so much going on.

[damned]

Thanks, Damned. I tried it (dropping in it's source area) and it did as you said - it created a copy in the NEW section.

What is the new group you are trying to drag too?
Is it an existing module/reference (read only) or a group you have created?
Its working as it is supposed to for me.

[Trenloe]

Yeah, the image size is huge Trenloe. I worked hard to honor the file size, but there is a noticeable pause when I open one of these images. It also clearly has a mask overlay which will get somewhat complex as the sessions complicate it as sections are revealed.
I’m not sure what you’re saying here. You’ve worked hard to honor the recommended 1MB file size? That’s cool, but really that’s a nice to have and only impacts time to share to the players.

The BIG thing you should always try to do is to keep the image resolution within the recommended 2048x2048 pixels. Break big images up into smaller sections if you have to. The fact that you’re seeing a noticeable pause when opening the image is due to the image resolution being beyond the recommended size. And is a major cause of concern once you start using this image within an actual game session. I can’t stress strongly enough the need to try to stick to the recommended image resolution.

[Topdecker]

Ah yes, back to stupid questions...

I have a 4hd creature. I want to inform C&C that it is 4HD for combat purposes - and I want to lock in the hit points. What is the notation for this? "4(38)" results in 438. As does "4 (38)" and "38" gets the hit points right, but I doubt that the system is aware that it is a 4hd creature.

Thanks in advance!

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[Andraax]

You have to make the monster into a "character" type NPC to force HP.

https://s3.silent-tower.org/images/ForceHP.JPG

[Topdecker]

That would be pretty awkward if I were trying to faithfully plug-in a module.

I wish that the encounter builder had some customization options for encounters. You know, where you can arm and armor your humanoids, customize stuff like hit points, and otherwise tweak the encounter without creating NPCs or duplicates of creatures. It is the logical point for doing stuff like this.

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[Segin]

I've been messing around with EFFECTS. The Wiki/help, wasn't explained enough for a newbie. But with trial and error I have experimented enough to get some interesting effects (pun!) on my effects. har har. And have for the most part been successful. Some DUMB Question/comments:

Just typing in Prone, seems to be programmed in automatically as are the other five conditions on the first table. I'm guessing those are the only ones. The next table are modifiers you can play with to make the effect you want from a skill/spell/ability/race etc.

It is pretty sweet that you can target and have duration and such. I'm not sure why more things aren't pre-programmed. Spells aren't pre-programmed like Prone, and as it shouldn't take much time to do, (unless it isn't possible to do) I'm wondering why it isn't. Which leads to my question.

Bless/ Shield of Faith - The AC part of those spells are easy to type in as an effect in the effect list and just Click on when the spell is cast. Example:
Character X casts Shield of Faith
mark it as cast on the Spell Tab, making it disappear.
bring up the effects and (while Character X is selected) click on the Effect "Shield of Faith;AC:2"
This now gives the proper AC bonus and the duration I want which was put in the effect.

**I've played around with the +2 bonus on all saves portion of Shield of Faith. ABIL:2 being the closest thing. Gives +2 to all modifiers, not touching attacks (awesome!). Problem is it also effects Hide, Pick Pocket, etc under the Abilities and not just saves. So

So continuing on with my example, for the +2 bonus of Shield of Faith, I bring up the Modifier table and click on my Modifier- Spell SAVES +2 option if my character has to roll a save while under the effect of Shield of Faith (which the duration is being kept up with by the effect Shield of Faith;AC:2 in the Combat Tracker.

Anyway, there may be more information out there. Just haven't come across it yet. I think I am going about it the easiest/best way available (other than keeping up with spells on a piece of paper and making the adjustments in my head or on a piece of paper). Wondering if anyone else approaches it differently/better.

How I approach a racial +2 Save versus Fear is have that modifier added under an ability in the Ability tab and a Note/reminder on the first tab of the Character so that when that situation comes up, I roll by clicking on the ability. I could also just modify the roll by 2 and clicking Charisma.

24103

[damned]

Hi Segin

I havent used CnC for a while so I wont try and answer those questions.
If you were to PM me any improvements/additions to the Wiki to make it easier for the next person I will review and add them in.

[Andraax]

There is no way to distinguish between a "saving throw" and an "ability check", so effects cannot be applied to only one. The rare cases where it matters, you'll just have to either apply a manual modifier, or just adjust the result in your head.

BTW, the next release adds "Defenseless" as an automatic AC: -10 adjustment, similar to Prone.

[Segin]

Ok thanks. I was attempting to automate some spells as much as possible. Shield or Bless each gives a +# to ST's and if I could click on an effect to emulate that the spell was active, that would just be nice. The work around is to emulate the AC or To Hit, and if the save happens to be needed, just use a modifier.

Thanks for your work and the response/information. Does the wiki on effects give all the possible modifiers we have to work with? If it does, no response needed. If there are others, I'd love to know the entire list.

Again, thanks.

[EDIT] nevermind, found this. --> https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?18006-Effects-library Although, on second thought, this probably doesn't work in CnC. Probably all the active modifiers we can use are already represented on the wiki. Still, we can do a lot with those tools. Thanks!

[Talyn]

If you were to PM me any improvements/additions to the Wiki to make it easier for the next person I will review and add them in.

Also, anyone who updates the Wiki, please notify me too so I can add the changes to the Wiki Effects page in the PHB Quick Reference Index.

[Frankison]

Ah yes, back to stupid questions...

I have a 4hd creature. I want to inform C&C that it is 4HD for combat purposes - and I want to lock in the hit points. What is the notation for this? "4(38)" results in 438. As does "4 (38)" and "38" gets the hit points right, but I doubt that the system is aware that it is a 4hd creature.

Thanks in advance!

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Have you tried 4 (d1+37) ?

[Talyn]

The script uses the notation seen in M&T: ie. 4(d8) or whatever die you're using as that monster's base. Note that to set specific hit points, @Andraax showed above to click the radio button to change it to a "character" type. I don't know if you can then switch it back to "Monster" type and still have it abide by the HP you set. Sometimes the ruleset will still act upon "hidden" data, sometimes not. Also be aware in the Options button down at the bottom under House Rules (GM) there are three different toggles for how you want the script to set monster HP when loaded into the Combat Tracker.

[Topdecker]

Did I not read a caution somewhere about using +# format in regards to hit points? That 4(d8+3) doesn't work as expected? I think that I read this in relation to conversions of other materials.

(At work, cannot test but I can see that a Monster Manual does not have any entries with a '+# ' inside the parens).

[Talyn]

I just tested and 1 (d8) +25 worked perfectly fine. (Used a large bonus so I could tell if it was doing anything or not.)

[Topdecker]

So "4(d1)+34" should be the answer to my initial question. 4HD creature with 38hp.

[Talyn]

So "4(d1)+34" should be the answer to my initial question. 4HD creature with 38hp.

If you set the HP option to "Maximum" then yes; otherwise the NPC will have 35–39 HP. (1d4+34)

[damned]

If you set the HP option to "Maximum" then yes; otherwise the NPC will have 35–39 HP. (1d4+34)

d1's always roll a 1.

[Talyn]

My bad, my brain saw 1d4 not 4d1. This is what 37 hrs awake and counting gets ya. :(

[Segin]

Not sure if you look at emails, hence mentioning it here. Concerning the wiki, made several examples/explanations, added several lines, sent to Damned and Talyn via website email. thats all.

[damned]

Not sure if you look at emails, hence mentioning it here. Concerning the wiki, made several examples/explanations, added several lines, sent to Damned and Talyn via website email. thats all.

Ive received but I havent had a chance to review.

[Segin]

I don't think I can change the wiki. But here was my additions I thought might help someone new. It also includes more examples and corrects some grammar. I am assuming that only the modifiers on the wiki are available for CnC rule set.

My changes are within the \\ change \\ symbols. Notes to be taken out are inside << note to take out >> symbols.


Campaign Effects
\\The first time you open the effects in your campaign, the list will be bare. You may customize you’re list of available effects using built in functionality.\\ In addition to the basic label and visibility fields, the C&C ruleset adds a few more capabilities. The effect label can contain one or more modifiers or conditions that adjust rolls made by that CT actor. \\These are added directly into the label and must use a correct format (see Label Features below).\\ Additionally, an effect expenditure toggle button and duration fields \\are available for use and are explored further in the Combat Tracker section.\\ <<Deleted Duration explanation and added below>> \\To add an effect, open the effects window and click edit list (bottom right). You may now click “add item” which will gain you access to creating the label for your desired effect. This might include either predefined conditions (such as Prone) or a name, modifier(s) or condition(s) as well as duration/visibility.\\

Combat Tracker
\\Once you have effects in your list, you can apply it to an actor by clicking on the effect icon and dragging it to the desired actor on the Combat Tracker or CT-linked token or (if the actor is the active) just by clicking on the icon.\\ When an effect is applied to an actor in the combat tracker, in addition to the fields added in Campaign Effects, a few additional fields have been added.

• Duration: Tracks the initiative number when the duration should decrement (if not zero). \\The duration indicates the number of rounds that an effect will last once applied. If the value is zero, then the effect will not expire.\\ <<<-- added from above>>

Conditions
• Not case-sensitive.
• Do not stack. \\
• These Conditions are Pre-defined and you only need put the Status name in the effect label for the modifier to be applied.\\

Modifiers
• \\These effect modifiers allow you to create your effects to suit your need. These are the only modifiers available for creating CnC effects.\\

<<ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES below are formatted as:
Effect
Result
Note
I think some of these contradict current examples but maybe not>>

\\
*Shield of Faith;AC:2
Adds 2 to current AC.
Shield of Faith also gives a bonus to ST's. Currently, changes to ability modifiers effect more than just ST's. Depending on which way you change the modifier, it could change attack bonus or abilities for example. Therefore, if an actor is required to make a ST during the duration of this effect, must manually add the modifier to the roll (or click on a user defined modifier for the purpose of adding a bonus to ST from a user created modifier in modifier table.)

*ABIL:2
Adds 2 to all ability modifiers instead of a specified ability.
When no specific ability is put in, such as strength, then it affects them all. The same limitations apply as other examples below that have a specified ability.

*DEX:5
Improves actual ability score by 5.
A Dex of 19 (bonus of +3) under this modifier would be a dex of 24 (a bonus of +6). This would affect the Move Silently ability for example. It also effects the To Hit on range weapons. It also effects ST’s. It does not affect AC. You could change Dex modifier to AC manually under the combat tab, if desired.

*ABIL:5 dexterity
Adds 5 to current modifier.
Does not affect AC or Range To Hit bonus. It does effect ST’s and at least some abilities. A dex of 19 (bonus of +3) with this effect would have a bonus of +8. A level one would have a ST of +4 without, +9 with. This would also effect an ability such as Move Silently.

*ABIL:6 strength
Adds 6 to current modifier.
Same as dex example above. Does not change melee To Hit bonus.
\\

[Moon Wizard]

I added some of the information you provided which was new, and adjusted other information to be more informative.

Regards,
JPG

[damned]

I added some of the information you provided which was new, and adjusted other information to be more informative.

Regards,
JPG

Thanks Moon Wizard I was getting there - but hadnt yet!

[JohnD]

I wish we could change the title of this thread. There are no stupid questions when it comes to this criminally under utilized ruleset.

[Topdecker]

This is directly from an official C&C product....

Asha (The White Lady) (She is a neutral 5th level illusionist Rogue/2nd Level human Bard whose vital statistics are...

I am pretty sure that the it should be a 5th level Illusionist / 2nd level bard. I am also beginning to believe that a lot of airplane glue was huffed during the production of the adventure...

Is there an illusionist rogue that can multiclass as a bard? I don't own all of the products - I don't even know if I noticed a section on multi-classing in what I own.

EDIT: Found and read the multi-classing options (3/3/3 or 2/2 vs Primary/supporting). Probably inclined to use the primary / supporting method unless I get a lot of push back from my players.

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[Talyn]

Which product is this?

[Topdecker]

Which product is this?

The Free City of Eskadia

[Topdecker]

JohnD -

The Darlene map of the Haunted Highlands is giving me that good old Greyhawk vibe :).

https://i.imgur.com/MvlKoj1.jpg

Seems likely that I am going to try out TLG's setting. I did plug in ALL of the rendered Greyhawk maps and had that on tap for a setting - but it would just be too weird if another C&C Greyhawk campaign were spawned :)

If you were unaware of them: https://ghmaps.net/greyhawk-maps/flaness-map-download/

Those maps are absolutely sick. I got them all into a module with a key map - click the key, load the correct area. Seems to me that there were 72 sections. 250mb of loving detail.

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[Segin]

Thanks for the adjustments to the wiki.

The examples are still few and confusing (example: some are affected, some aren't, figure it out yourself). But people can do their own trial and error with the hints there to learn what will effect a skill/ability (says it doesn't, but in my tests it did). And you know, peeps can use some initiative themselves if they want to use effects.

It's better than it was and there are more important things than this to worry with. Your changes helped make it clearer.

Thanks for taking the time, to make it more readable and helpful to newbs like me in 'most' of the areas!

Segin

besides, with my discovery of Savage Worlds which seems like it might be different in a good way, cool way, and the Pathfinder 2.0 playtest coming up, CnC will probably be laid to rest for some time for me.

[JohnD]

That NPC could be following the Class and a Half rule. 5th is main class = 2nd in supporting class.

[JohnD]

Nice Darlene map... where did you get it from?

[Andraax]

Nice Darlene map... where did you get it from?

It was part of the Kickstarter.

[JohnD]

Which one?

[Andraax]

Well, it's a Haunted Highlands map, so I guess the Haunted Highlands Kickstarter... :-D

Castles & Crusades Return to the Haunted Highlands (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/castles-and-crusades-return-to-the-haunted-highlan?ref=profile_created)

[Topdecker]

The Darlene map is on sale (50% off) at the TLG store. I am a sucker for a good map - good visual aids make me happy.

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[Topdecker]

That NPC could be following the Class and a Half rule. 5th is main class = 2nd in supporting class.

Yeah, that is how I eventually decided to interpret it. It works ok for me since I was leaning towards class and a half to handle any multi-classing. But "illusionist Rogue" isn't a thing; I decided to go with the caster class since spells were listed.

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[JohnD]

For multi-class I prefer the Enhanced Class option from Expanding Classes.

However, if someone wants to use a different (official) method, I generally go with it.

[Topdecker]

Expanding Classes... Somehow was not on my radar. Guess I'd better correct that.

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[Topdecker]

Added Expanding Classes.... Yeah, the Enhanced Class option has a really gentle way to get some extra customization without falling hopelessly behind in the power curve. Thanks for pointing me that way, John.

https://i.imgur.com/ZZHVTCG.jpg

Plugging in the CK Guide to the Haunted Highlands is going nicely. The free 'Deities of the Highlands' will keep me from needing to replicate that info. Getting a living map is the primary goal - but honestly, I know the map pretty well now. (The CK Guide to HH is the first TLG product that I've really enjoyed reading, though I am about to hit the section filled with adventure modules.)

So TLG pulled the DB series of modules and dumped them all (and 3 that were never printed individually) into the CK Guide to the Haunted Highlands. What does that mean for an FG version? I figure that having DB1 and DB2 out there is basically blocking it out AND slinging together something with 9 modules in it would be a real bear.

I went ahead and grabbed the Aihrde Player's Guide - mostly to get the race-specific classes, but there is a lot of other extras. Is there any supporting material (i.e. not adventures) that someone aiming to implement a full-featured campaign set in Aihrde might want or need?

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[Talyn]

Technically @Mortar was "in charge" of doing all Haunted Highlands content for FG while I was doing the Aihrde stuff, etc. I was considering butting in and doing the Players Guide to the Haunted Highlands anyway, but we'll see. I have some C&C stuff coming that I haven't announced yet (plus the one that I did announce). However — TLG recently announced that they're going to do a whole new version of both Haunted Highlands books, and the DB-series will be removed from that and re-issued as its own boxed set. Having the DB-series in the CKG2HH was problematic for FG because — just like what may happen with M&T + Classic Monsters once M&Tv5 is released — SmiteWorks is rather hesitant to just remove DLC that people have paid for. One option was for @Mortar to not bother including those in the CKG2HH but remaster+update the existing ones and do the new ones and those could be a "package deal" included with the CKG2HH. The other would be to simply do it as one huge DLC and now the customers have two versions of some of the same content in their Library... Similarly, Rune Lore is still available on FG because it was the most expensive C&C DLC for who knows what reason, but TLG have officially discontinued it as a product. @Moon Wizard and I did some extremely "quick 'n dirty" hotfixing to make the DLC "good enough" (or at least passable) fixing the errors, etc. but all the class, rune spells, equipment, etc. will reappear in Adventurers Backpack once I do that. TLG is officially repurposing (and I think rewriting) the lore/adventure section of Rune Lore, so once that's done, there's another DLC that will, to a degree, repeat what some customers already own.

That's funny that the CKG2HH is the first book you've enjoyed. The HH books in particular have a reputation for typos, etc. More than usual from the Typo Lords. :)

As for more material to run an Aihrde campaign... eh... not really. After Winter's Dark is good for lore, but I'd recommend the PDF over the DLC (although I'm thankful for the commission if you buy the DLC! :) ) same with the Codex of Aihrde. Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde is ok as well. If you run the A-series, that's set in Aihrde. Or plug-n-play any favorite adventures from any other edition into Aihrde. I still haven't decided where I'd place Neverwinter in Aihrde, for example, if I wanted to run Lost Mine of Phandelver without doing too much work beyond renaming things. Same with any of the classic 1E adventures...

[Topdecker]

Well, I am actually glad to hear that a box set is in the works for the DB series. They've got their art game kicked-up and if they can get a handle on the cartography, they'll have a fine product. (The Bowbe Roadhouse has 21,000 square feet on the first floor - someone needs to get on that.)

Compared to The Free City of Eskadia, The CK Guide to the Haunted Highlands is a joy to read. The former is so bad that it is often...inscrutable. At least the adventure portion is rough - i really need level 5-7 material and it seems to fit the bill though I have seriously considered tearing the book into two parts a couple of times now. (Yeah - I have both print and digital and have misgivings that I hope the city proper will ease.)

Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde is the only one that is still on my radar. The Book of Familiars -Mystical Companions now (?) - is one that I would like to read, but having DLC seems overkillish given the rarity of familiars.

Thanks for all the info!

[Talyn]

I have the Mystical Companions PDF, it's pretty cool. Familiars and Companions rules for each class. Just not sure how well (if at all) the FG ruleset would currently support them, so it hasn't really been on my radar to build yet.

[Topdecker]

I GMed a campaign in the day where the players started hunting Rocs and, after barely surviving the encounter, finally decided upon Griffins as steeds. They spent a lot of time and money acquiring them and it was nice in the sense that it greatly expanded their range - and hence their ability to do things. (I ended up ruling that they had to get eggs and then bond with the Griffins shortly after hatching.)

Anyhow, is this a mix of mounts and familiars - or just familiars?

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[JohnD]

I GMed a campaign in the day where the players started hunting Rocs and, after barely surviving the encounter, finally decided upon Griffins as steeds. They spent a lot of time and money acquiring them and it was nice in the sense that it greatly expanded their range - and hence their ability to do things. (I ended up ruling that they had to get eggs and then bond with the Griffins shortly after hatching.)

Anyhow, is this a mix of mounts and familiars - or just familiars?

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It really depends on the class in question. Expanded familiars, more powerful mounts, even enhanced weapons or other belongings IIRC - all depending on class and what advantage(s) you take.

[Mortar]

Technically @Mortar was "in charge" of doing all Haunted Highlands content for FG while I was doing the Aihrde stuff, etc. I was considering butting in and doing the Players Guide to the Haunted Highlands anyway, but we'll see. I have some C&C stuff coming that I haven't announced yet (plus the one that I did announce). However — TLG recently announced that they're going to do a whole new version of both Haunted Highlands books, and the DB-series will be removed from that and re-issued as its own boxed set. Having the DB-series in the CKG2HH was problematic for FG because — just like what may happen with M&T + Classic Monsters once M&Tv5 is released — SmiteWorks is rather hesitant to just remove DLC that people have paid for. One option was for @Mortar to not bother including those in the CKG2HH but remaster+update the existing ones and do the new ones and those could be a "package deal" included with the CKG2HH. The other would be to simply do it as one huge DLC and now the customers have two versions of some of the same content in their Library... Similarly, Rune Lore is still available on FG because it was the most expensive C&C DLC for who knows what reason, but TLG have officially discontinued it as a product. @Moon Wizard and I did some extremely "quick 'n dirty" hotfixing to make the DLC "good enough" (or at least passable) fixing the errors, etc. but all the class, rune spells, equipment, etc. will reappear in Adventurers Backpack once I do that. TLG is officially repurposing (and I think rewriting) the lore/adventure section of Rune Lore, so once that's done, there's another DLC that will, to a degree, repeat what some customers already own.

That's funny that the CKG2HH is the first book you've enjoyed. The HH books in particular have a reputation for typos, etc. More than usual from the Typo Lords. :)

As for more material to run an Aihrde campaign... eh... not really. After Winter's Dark is good for lore, but I'd recommend the PDF over the DLC (although I'm thankful for the commission if you buy the DLC! :) ) same with the Codex of Aihrde. Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde is ok as well. If you run the A-series, that's set in Aihrde. Or plug-n-play any favorite adventures from any other edition into Aihrde. I still haven't decided where I'd place Neverwinter in Aihrde, for example, if I wanted to run Lost Mine of Phandelver without doing too much work beyond renaming things. Same with any of the classic 1E adventures...


Well, I am actually glad to hear that a box set is in the works for the DB series. They've got their art game kicked-up and if they can get a handle on the cartography, they'll have a fine product. (The Bowbe Roadhouse has 21,000 square feet on the first floor - someone needs to get on that.)

Compared to The Free City of Eskadia, The CK Guide to the Haunted Highlands is a joy to read. The former is so bad that it is often...inscrutable. At least the adventure portion is rough - i really need level 5-7 material and it seems to fit the bill though I have seriously considered tearing the book into two parts a couple of times now. (Yeah - I have both print and digital and have misgivings that I hope the city proper will ease.)

Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde is the only one that is still on my radar. The Book of Familiars -Mystical Companions now (?) - is one that I would like to read, but having DLC seems overkillish given the rarity of familiars.

Thanks for all the info!

Its not just typos. Its the number of typos, and the sloppiness of the layout (inconsistent application of styles throughout a given work) that is driving me nuts. If something like "1st level" bolded once, then it should appear that way consistently. The CKG has paragraphs where it appears both in bold and regular text. If a table name is updated or changed between editions - the paragraph that is beside that table in the layout (and where that table name appears in bold) should be correspondingly updated. Inconsistent spacing before and after non-alphanumeric characters...CKG, pg 208 left column is a great example.

Oh....Gasses/Gases :mad:

/end rant....crawling back under my rock now.

[Talyn]

Its not just typos. Its the number of typos, and the sloppiness of the layout (inconsistent application of styles throughout a given work) that is driving me nuts.


Say his name a few times and he appears... Mortarjuice! Mortarjuice! Mortarjuice! :D

Hey, there's a reason I headbutted my way into being an editor for them, after all! Speaking of which:



Oh....Gasses/Gases :mad:


An ellipsis is three dots, not four! Unless you have an ellipsis at the end of a sentence, in which case certain style manuals allow a period following the ellipsis. BOOM! :D ;) :p

[Mortar]

An ellipsis is three dots, not four! Unless you have an ellipsis at the end of a sentence, in which case certain style manuals allow a period following the ellipsis. BOOM! :D ;) :p

Wasn't intending it to be an ellipsis, I originally had almost an entire line of dots but figured that was way to much so reeled it back a bit and never bothered to look


Mortarjuice just sounds wrong

[Talyn]

Mortarjuice just sounds wrong

Doesn't it, though? But I didn't think saying "Beetlejuice" got the point across quite the same.

M'kay so four dots (or more) equals "lengthy sigh of exasperation," got it! :p

[Topdecker]

Guess that I will remain upbeat and will simply acknowledge that it could be better.

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[JohnD]

Guess that I will remain upbeat and will simply acknowledge that it could be better.

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Use the guts and make it your own creation on top of the ruleset.

[Topdecker]

Use the guts and make it your own creation on top of the ruleset.

Right on, I can handle that. I am a GM class of '77 guy, John, so we are of the same era and I am familiar with getting a module and only stealing ideas from it :)

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[Topdecker]

An actual newbie question...

I am plugging in weapons where the text says something like the NPC is +9 to hit with this weapon. Meanwhile, the NPCs to hit bonus is only 6. How does one write the weapon out so it receives the to hit bonus?

Also, it is not clear to me how the system knows if a weapon is melee (str bonus) or ranged (dex bonus) on the NPC sheet. I've been tweaking the Bonus to Hit, but honestly I am not sure if that it the right thing to do - and it is usually not accurate for both classes of weapons.

Thanks!

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[damned]

An actual newbie question...

I am plugging in weapons where the text says something like the NPC is +9 to hit with this weapon. Meanwhile, the NPCs to hit bonus is only 6. How does one write the weapon out so it receives the to hit bonus?

Also, it is not clear to me how the system knows if a weapon is melee (str bonus) or ranged (dex bonus) on the NPC sheet. I've been tweaking the Bonus to Hit, but honestly I am not sure if that it the right thing to do - and it is usually not accurate for both classes of weapons.

Thanks!

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Been a while... but in CnC Monster NPCs dont have stats - they just have the BtH so the weapon should be +3 right?
It is irrelevant whether its Melee or Ranged. If the monster is primarily a Ranged attacker then they will primarily be equipped with ranged attacks/weapons.

If it is a NPC that has stats I think the BtH is still the deciding stat?

[Andraax]

By default, an NPC will get a BtH equal to his HD (for monsters). You can set a BtH for character type NPC directly.

Weapons can be entered as:

[number of atks] Weapon Name [bonus with weapon] (damage dice)

So, "2 Claws (1d6)" will do two attacks with claws. "Longsword +4 (1d8+4)" will do a +4 attack (in addition to the BtH) and a +4 to damage.

[Andraax]

Been a while... but in CnC Monster NPCs dont have stats - they just have the BtH so the weapon should be +3 right?
It is irrelevant whether its Melee or Ranged. If the monster is primarily a Ranged attacker then they will primarily be equipped with ranged attacks/weapons.

If it is a NPC that has stats I think the BtH is still the deciding stat?

Most of the time I don't bother with stats, even for human NPCs. If I have, say, a soldier that is a 3rd level fighter, I setup a monster type NPC, with "3 (d10)" hit dice, and a weapon that I add +1 to the attack and +1 to the damage (to account for a fighter's weapon specialization). If that fighter happens to be equipped with a magical or high-quality weapon, I might add some more bonuses to the attack and damage. If he's more of an elite fighter, I might add another +1 or +2 to the HD and / or another +1 or +2 to the attack / damage (to account for high stat modifiers).

[Topdecker]

Andraax -

Thanks for the thorough treatment - I appreciate it!

I have already created monster types for guardsmen and such, so I get what you are saying about creating a monster as opposed to an NPC. The bulk of them simply don't deserve any sort of detail work. Creating a monster doesn't work that well for non-fighter sorts with rogues being the most common example - they simply don't get the bonuses to hit that the fight classes enjoy and I have not found a good way to handle it. (A 5th level rogue with a short sword could be handled with "SHORT SWORD -3 (1d6)" I suppose, but I greatly dislike needing to reference the class tables for BtH info constantly.)

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[JohnD]

Personally I make every NPC as fully fleshed out as possible. Andraax's method above is just as valid; every CK will figure out what works for them, their game and their approach to running a game.

I don't mind the extra minute or so my approach takes - I'm usually working from a base template to begin with and modifying from there. This also makes it easy to populate a lot of under the hood variety into my NPCs, which is something I value, even if it may not always be apparent during the game.

[Mortar]

Doesn't it, though? But I didn't think saying "Beetlejuice" got the point across quite the same.

M'kay so four dots (or more) equals "lengthy sigh of exasperation," got it! :p

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

[Talyn]

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

No argument from me on that one. All I can say is that they've never had a "real" editor work for them. Tim and Steve get most of the editing credits and neither of them have the background for it. I've been talking a fair amount with one of the other guys who has done some editing for them, again with no background, but he's obsessive that the monster stats, etc. are correct. He was just put in charge of rewriting Of Gods and Monsters. So it seems there's definitely a path for upward mobility as well. I have the English background and, as Steve puts it, "makes them comply" (or something to that effect) with what I say LOL. I just don't have any professional experience until I was handed Adventurer's Backpack. Steve wants to start giving me manuscripts on a regular basis (working on one right now in fact) so I'm considering taking the online copyediting certification course from University of California, San Diego. I dunno.

[Mortar]

I'd say do it.

[mac40k]

That and a book that is being re-edited and reprinted for its 3rd time shouldn't still have errors that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

3rd time? I picked up the 1st ed of the Player Guide back when the game first came out and recently bought the 7th ed/printing. Still some of the same typos that were present in the 1st version. Surely someone at some time pointed these out. I can't fathom how they manage to remain in there.

[Topdecker]

When building an encounter, is there any way to set any of the groups as being friendly? Or neutral?

Also, is there a way to clear the tracker completely without needing to delete each and every friendly by hand? I am working on a fairly large-scale encounter (25 or so friendly - but very temporary - combatants) and between needing to click on every one of them to make them friendly and then click on every one of them to clear the tracker, well, it is a lot of clicking.

Thanks!

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[Andraax]

There is a "Faction" setting between the ID and Link. Click to set it to friendly / neutral.

Leave them set as neutral if you're going to remove them after a battle. Friendlies are supposed to stay on the CT for long periods of time.

[Topdecker]

Got it - thanks! That will save me a bunch of time! I am use to having that set to something - the blank box kind of threw me, I guess.

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[Andraax]

Got it - thanks! That will save me a bunch of time! I am use to having that set to something - the blank box kind of threw me, I guess.

If it's blank, it defaults to "Foe".

[Topdecker]

C&C has three combat maneuvers that must be announced before the round begins; Dodge, Disengage, and Evade.

First, this there any mechanism within the C&C implementation to support this? I didn't notice anything. (I guess that I need to make sure that the round does not advance to a new round when a player ends their turn).

Secondly, I don't know 100% how disenage works. I mean, I *think* that disengaged is declared, the player chooses a fighting withdraw or to flee (probably earning a series of opportunity attacks), and then they get to move. After this is done, they are finished and the round then proceeds. (On a side-note, I don't know if a player can call a disengage action if they are not engaged - to allow themselves to move first. I would probably allow it, but it is pretty weird.)


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[Talyn]

Any casters who plan on casting spells are also supposed to announce so at the beginning of a round, before initiative is rolled. (Edit: disregard, that is optional at the GMs discretion!) As far as I am aware there is no codified mechanism within the ruleset to enforce this. Not sure how feasable an (optional) function that would "pause" and perhaps popup a UI dialog (and/or chat message) for the GM to pay attention that the round is about to change would be, that's @Andraax's territory.

====
Players Handbook, 7th Printing

DISENGAGING FROM COMBAT

Disengaging from combat is a dangerous maneuver since it exposes the character to attacks, but it automatically puts distance between the disengaging party and their opponent. The player must announce that he is disengaging at the beginning of the round. The disengaging character does not roll initiative. If disengaging a character can take no other action. The character is allowed a movement as defined below. Player characters, monsters and non-player characters can disengage from combat.

Hasty Disengagement: is one in which the character or monster attempts to leave combat and expends all effort to do so. A character disengaging hastily may move as far as possible up to their maximum running distance, but they suffer a –2 to armor class and their opponent gets an attack against them as they run away. This is a free attack and does not count against the opponent’s other action in the round, although the opponent may not make a second attack against the fleeing character. The armor class adjustment lasts throughout the combat round and applies to every attack against the fleeing character.

Fighting Disengagement: is a more carefully executed withdrawal from combat. By performing a fighting disengagement, the character moves one-half their movement rate or less away from their opponent and they can disengage from combat. The character suffers no penalty to armor class, but they cannot take any other action in the round.

In the round following the disengagement the character or monster has put distance between theirselves and their opponent.
=====

So at the beginning of the round (prior to initiative) the player announces she is using the DISENGAGE maneuver, and clarifies which one (hasty or fighting). Initiative is rolled (except for the disengaging player). If the player chose the hasty disengagement, her character may move their running speed distance but at –2 AC and their opponent gets a free attack (one of, if not the, only times C&C allows for an "attack of opportunity" (that term is not part of C&C however)). If the fighting attack was chosen, the character moves one-half their movement rate with no penalty to AC and no free attack provoked. In the next round, the character has moved that distance from their opponent and may roll initiative and act per normal. So the primary difference between the two is "how far will the character move?" and if the running distance was chosen the penalty for that is possibly being hit.

[Topdecker]

Thanks, Talyn. FWIW, I don't see anything that says that spell casting needs to be declared. There also isn't any handler for multi-round casting. If I do find it, I will probably house-rule it out of existence. Having no movement when casting is a significant penalty already.

I did buy the 7th edition PDF today just so I could get a good answer for these questions. Still somewhat hazy.

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[Talyn]

Not sure how many combat-useful spells have a CT higher than 1 but I would certainly leave that in. It's something else to come up to make the player (and her character) consider before committing to that course of action. If they decide to cast a spell with a CT of 2 or 3 that's a couple rounds they can't move and a couple rounds they need to be protected before their spell casts and takes effect. That's all part of tactics and the consequences of choices.

[Topdecker]

Yeah, after thinking about it, it makes more sense. It gives both sides a chance to break spells before they are cast.

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[Andraax]

There is already an option to pause at the end of a round (it announces the next round, but doesn't make it anyone's turn until the advance button is pressed again).

I handle the combat options that need to be declared at the beginning by using an effect for those who declare. How I handle CT1 spells is that the player announces they are casting a spell on their initiative, and the spell goes off before the end of their turn. However, someone who had a higher initiative and declared a "wait" on their turn can attempt to interrupt a spell as soon as the caster declares it. Anyone who declares a wait, but does not go before the end of the round can also perform an action during the break between rounds (when other actions are declared).

[Topdecker]

Initiative... Is there any way to add an initiative bonus or "always wins initiative" to a monster / npc?

Thanks!

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[Andraax]

Initiative... Is there any way to add an initiative bonus or "always wins initiative" to a monster / npc?

"INIT" effect. Make the bonus higher than your initiative die and it will always be on top. To make it "stick" add something like "Initiative 10" or something to the special field on the NPC.

[Topdecker]

Like so?

https://i.imgur.com/Hn0Else.png

Yeah, I am plugging in parts of the BECMI critter list.

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[Topdecker]

Not where I can test it, or I would.

Does the XP calculate hit points on it's own when building encounters? In other words, if I have a creaturer that has 3 hit points and XP is listed as 10+1, does FG award / calculate 13 XP for the characters?

Thanks

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[Talyn]

No, the D&D rulesets do because they just have straight XP numbers. There's no script to calculate the various +N bits for C&C. Not sure if Andraax plans to add that someday or not?

[Andraax]

I've got some ideas on how to handle that but no firm plans yet.

[Topdecker]

I've been plugging in XP into the encounter and then just calculating average hit point for the XP kicker (I allow the game to roll hit points, so they are all over the place in play). I thought that I was doing it in a fair fashion, but just wanted to make sure, so thanks for the answers :)

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[JohnD]

I've been plugging in XP into the encounter and then just calculating average hit point for the XP kicker (I allow the game to roll hit points, so they are all over the place in play). I thought that I was doing it in a fair fashion, but just wanted to make sure, so thanks for the answers :)

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That's what I do for XP... assume an "average" value and then treat every instance the same knowing that over time, the HP will average out to that.

[Andraax]

Actually, I'm thinking of treating max as max, then treating everything else as average.

[Topdecker]

I am all for it since it is pretty much my current system :)

[Topdecker]

Yeah, another question, sorry.

Touch attacks. By rule, they go against AC 10 with dex mods applied (spells and other mods could also apply).

Anyhow, is an attack by a monster named 'touch' handled correctly. Or is there some other way to enter the monster to make the attack work correctly?

"1 touch (1d6)" is how the attack appears.

Thanks

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[Topdecker]

Ah, nevermind, I can see it in the chat window.

[ATTACK] Touch [TOUCH]

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[Andraax]

Did you try it out?

https://s3.silent-tower.org/images/Touch.JPG

BTW, it can have the word "touch" anywhere in the attack name. Like you can do "Shocking Grasp (touch)" as the attack name.

[Topdecker]

That is good to know, thanks! I will almost certainly run into more touch attacks that have different naming conventions.

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[Talyn]

On that note, if you find any in M&T post them here and I can tweak their attacks so that [TOUCH] will definitely be applied.

[Segin]

I did some searching on the forum. Found some interesting things. My question is how do people use healing spells. Do they just roll a d8 and manually add it to the character sheet or CT? I tried doing it as a weapon (original idea until I searched the forum and found other references to that) which didn't work "min attack damage of 1" on 1d8-11 etc. I tried effects with not much luck.

My search of the forum yielded:
"""""reference spells can now be opened on the charsheet without the module needing to be opened Rightclicking on an individual spell name will give the options on the radial menu to reveal spell dice (for this spell or for all spells of this level.
"This opens a new field where ""damage"" or ""healing"" Can be selected. And a string"
field where a dice string should be entered. e.g. 10d10 (for a 10th level fireball)
clicking the redial menu again will hide the spell dice. They will default to hidden when
the charactersheet is exited

"If the spell is an attack and the GM deems it hits then the player can press and hold shift, and " then press the casting button again. This will roll the dice entered into spell dice at all targets
on the list (good for area effect spells), if the targets have saved for half damage he should
press and hold alt instead of shift and then press cast. The damage will be halved (rounded down)and a message reporting that the roll is a half damage save is sent to the chat window.
all these damage rolls are added to the CT wounds entry if healing has been selected the steps are the same, but the value is deducted from the wounds entry do the target is healed.

Another thing I want to work on - when time permits - is a module containing all offensive (and even healing) spells as Weapons. This means you could target your enemy and then click a Magic Missile DAMAGE (no need to roll for hit as it always hits) as the [Weapon] attack and it would describe the attack and inflict the damage. Again someone might (not dropping any hints really) beat me to it."""""""

So interesting things, but not an answer have I found.

[Andraax]

Most of what you quote seems to be referencing the 5E ruleset. Healing does not work that way in the C&C ruleset. Many people just roll the dice, then drag and drop the result on their HP field (either the CT or the sheet) - but only the GM or the player himself can do this. If you want the healer to be able to handle this for others, they can create a "weapon" entry that has "[HEAL]" in the name. If you drag and drop the damage for that "weapon" onto another player's token or CT entry, it will roll the dice and heal them. I also make players that are trying to heal someone who is in combat make a "touch" roll - to touch the other player to accomplish the heal while they are dancing around, avoiding being hit by enemies - you can make this named something like "Healing Touch [HEAL]" and if you drag and drop the attack, it will do a "touch" roll, and if that is successful, you can drag and drop the "damage" dice and it will roll and heal them.

[Segin]

@Andraax Great thanks. That's crazy good information. I just tried it successfully. And if for some reason you need a hit modifier I tried Healing Touch [HEAL] +20 and it worked charmingly.

That's all. I have a secondary question, but its more academic in nature. I seem to remember seeing that [HEAL] somewhere before. I'm sure it was in the forum probably (nevermind on that, I'll find it sometime. I'll not ask anyone to go looking for a reference in a forum *chuckle*) but if there is a rules reference list of options where [HEAL] is mentioned among others I'd love to not be as dumb and have to ask questions that are there for me to learn on my own.

As far as those quotes:
First two are from 2012 where a guy was working on the CnC and gave a list of things he had in store, but had to leave before finishing (that's how I understood it). Dr. Venture/Uriel many other references to heal in that one.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16229-Take-up-the-yoke&highlight=heal

Third and last quote was from Damned about CnC character sheets back in 2014 where he wanted to have weapons that, well you see the quote. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20680-Character-Sheet-questions&highlight=healing

And Talyn had some quotes back then. One of my favorite Talyn quotes not directly about heal, but coincided with my search: "I could but since I'm the guy who bitches about umpteen bazillion threads around here about the same thing, it'd be a little hypocritical of me to go making my own umpteen bazillion threads." I got a chuckle from that one.

Thanks again for your help!!!

Segin

[Andraax]

I had explained at some point that adding the string "[HEAL]" to a weapon name triggers the "heal" code built in to CoreRPG. I didn't actually have to code for that, just found it while inspecting the code. I had to add the "touch" part, however, to the ruleset.

[Talyn]

Me? Mouthing off? NO WAY!!1!!eleven!! :p

I never got around to adding [HEAL] to the wiki yet (it's a CoreRPG function, so it works in every ruleset layered over CoreRPG) but it is found in the Quick Reference Index (QRI) of the Players Handbook:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25293&stc=1&d=1542150399

Andraax were there any other keywords buried in the CoreRPG code we should document?