HywelPhillips
January 25th, 2021, 21:53
Hi Everyone,
I've been playing 5E on FGU quite a bit recently and I've tried a lot of extensions. These are the ones my groups have found most useful. I'll link to current places to get them, which is often DMsguild. Note that some are not currently available because of the FG/DMSG misunderstandings. When FG Forge becomes available I'll repost the links.
CATEGORY 1: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
If your budget can possibly stretch to these, they will make your life significantly easier running 5E.
The Rob2E Effects Coding series
Spell coding is essential because it implements effects for every standard 5E spell to the limit that FG supports. It is a huge timesaver and greatly smoothes running combat. If you only buy one thing in addition to the PHB, DMG and MM make it this.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/209256/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Effects-Coding--Spells
The others in the series are not quite as vital simply because there aren't so many class features, feats, race traits, etc. in the game but honestly just buy the bundle and be done with it.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/280094/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Coding-BUNDLE
If magic items feature heavily in your game, get the item effects codings too. Less essential because you usually don't have as many items as you do spells. But still does a great job of implementing as many effects as FG will support and save you time and energy. May not pay for itself in saved work over the course of one campaign but you will be glad of it if you're running multiple groups.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/280093/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Coding-ITEMS-BUNDLE
Mattekurre's Syrinscape modules
If you want to add sound to your games, get a subscription to Syrinscape's online player:
https://www.syrinscape.com/online/?fromhomepagearticle
Then add MatteKurre's sound links and sound chat triggers bundle:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/319720/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sounds-BUNDLE
What this does is to add a new category in FGU for Syrinscape sounds - for example allowing you to select music and sound effects for a scene in advance and pin it to the map so you can just click to start it playing when the encounter starts.
Then the chat trigger watches for key phrases going by in the chat window - like someone casting a charm person spell, or rolling a critical hit. It'll then play an appropriate one-shot sound in Syrinscape. Since it does this automatically, it is zero work for the GM. But the triggered sounds are customisable, up to and including uploading and creating your own soundscapes in Syrinscape or triggering bespoke one-shots for individual characters. It is some work to get set up and it is not a low-cost solution, but it's infinitely better than spotify playlists and Discord bots. My players LOVE the break of tension when the "wah wah wwaaaaah" sad trombone plays when someone rolls a natural 1.
TTRPG Safety Kit
Free, from here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54029-TTRPG-Safety-Toolkit-Extension
Adds red/amber/green cards to FG. I've not had players need to use it yet, but I find its presence very reassuring when playing with strangers from all over the world... both for them as players and me as GM. Especially so if you run games with more adult themes, as I sometimes do. It's simple and functional and free. You may not need it with your regular group, but it is a good thing to have to hand.
CATEGORY 2: BINARY
These extensions will go from "don't need it" to "shut up and take my money" as soon as you get a player character using these feats or powers extensively. By the time you have multiple players using them, you'll never want to be without the extensions again.
Druid Wildshape and Polymorph
There are multiple different extensions out there to handle this. The two front runners are One Click Druid and Polymorphism.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/261591/Critically-Awesome-Essentials--One-Click-Druid-Fantasy-Grounds
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/324556/Polymorphism-Extension-Fantasy-Grounds-Unity
We've tried both. All players in all my groups have agreed that we prefer One Click Druid, despite Polymorphism seeming to do the same job with a more slick interface. Polymorphism is basically one GM implementing what they want for their own campaign, and has some strict rules accordingly. We always felt like we were fighting the extension. One Click Druid is simpler to set up - way simpler the first time a player gets unwillingly polymorphed into a sheep. It just treats a wild shape like a spell, which is easier for players to get their heads around, and it doesn't put such strict limits on how it is used.
Kent McCullough Extensions
These are a nice little suite of single-purpose extensions to automate particular things.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/314133/Kent-McCullough-Fantasy-Grounds-Extensions-BUNDLE
For example, automatic elemental adept. This is a perfect example of an extension that's totally meh until you get a spell caster with this ability, at which point it stops you counting 1's rolled and fudging damage on pretty much every round and you thank the lord that you can just buy it and be done with all that faff.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/312867/Fantasy-Grounds-Automatic-Elemental-Adept
Of them all, I find Automatic Death Resistance, Automatic Elemental Adept, Automatic Flanking and Range, Automatic Mirror Image and Automatic Pack Tactics the most useful, mostly because they save me work as the GM. Some of the others are a bit more player-focussed.
Automatic sneak attack is a bit too situational - there's a few too many exceptions where various rogue sub-classes can get a sneak attack anyway, and rogue players get pretty good at remembering to push the button for the big damage. They only get one sneak attack per turn, too. Halfling luck is OK if you always forget it but again players are usually pretty switched on with that.
5E Modifier Buttons
It's such a simple thing - it just adds extra buttons for opportunity attack, critical damage, cover, half damage, etc.. But I find having the buttons reminds me to use stuff like cover which I normally forget. For a dollar I think it is totally worth it, myself.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/328295/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Modifier-Buttons
CATEGORY 3: NICE IF YOU LIKE THAT SORT OF THING
These extensions are more a matter of taste than of saving you work as a hard-pressed GM.
Tracker open on turn
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/321993/Fantasy-Grounds-Combat-Tracker-Open-on-Turn
You'll either find this invaluable, or annoying as hell. I thought it would be former, turned out to be the latter. But you might love it. It just pops up the sheet of whoever's turn it is on the combat tracker.
NPC Maker 5E
If you regularly homebrew monsters and wish there was an easier way to blend existing creatures, this is pretty useful. There is a bit of a learning curve, and you still need to put in some work to tune the results, but it makes creating vampire plants a lot easier. I use it a lot despite having a lot of monster books.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/330579/Fantasy-Grounds-NPC-Maker-5E
Mad Nomad's character sheet tweaks
The main thing we like about this is also the simplest thing it does: it adds a box for current HP as well as wounds taken to the front page of the 5E and automates the math to keep them both up to date. Some people prefer to count down hit points remaining, others to count up wounds taken. This lets them do it their favoured way. It is interesting that when I introduced it, both my groups immediately got more comfortable with adjusting hit points and knowing how wounded they were. Sometimes it is the smallest things that make a difference to the UI experience. Buy it just for that.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/326461/Fantasy-Grounds-Mad-Nomads-Character-Sheet-Tweaks
Mad Nomad's Party Combat Stats
Does nothing for the GM but OMG even the roleplayingiest roleplayers LOVE to be able to see how much damage their characters have handed out, or taken. Install it and your players will love you, if they are anything like my groups. There are other programs to do similar things, but IMO this is the best - just install at the start of the campaign and off you go.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/324470/Fantasy-Grounds-Mad-Nomads-Party-Combat-Stats
Celestian's CoreRPG Better Menus
Saves screen space by moving the big sidebar buttons on the right hand side of the standard FG layout to drop-down menus. Players with small screens really appreciate it.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?58226-Better-Menus-(CoreRPG-5E-etc)&highlight=better+menus
... and those are the extensions that have found a permanent home on my active games. I'm sure there are more (post the ones you like the best in the thread maybe?) and I've tried a lot of the commercial ones but these are the ones that I really appreciate every time we play. Hope that's useful if you're just getting started!
P.S. you don't NEED any of these especially if you're happy to put in effects yourself. FG runs 5E with more automation than any other VTT right out of the box. But adding a selection of the best extensions can turn your rough-sounding engine into a purring delight best suited to your play style.
Cheers, Hywel
I've been playing 5E on FGU quite a bit recently and I've tried a lot of extensions. These are the ones my groups have found most useful. I'll link to current places to get them, which is often DMsguild. Note that some are not currently available because of the FG/DMSG misunderstandings. When FG Forge becomes available I'll repost the links.
CATEGORY 1: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
If your budget can possibly stretch to these, they will make your life significantly easier running 5E.
The Rob2E Effects Coding series
Spell coding is essential because it implements effects for every standard 5E spell to the limit that FG supports. It is a huge timesaver and greatly smoothes running combat. If you only buy one thing in addition to the PHB, DMG and MM make it this.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/209256/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Effects-Coding--Spells
The others in the series are not quite as vital simply because there aren't so many class features, feats, race traits, etc. in the game but honestly just buy the bundle and be done with it.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/280094/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Coding-BUNDLE
If magic items feature heavily in your game, get the item effects codings too. Less essential because you usually don't have as many items as you do spells. But still does a great job of implementing as many effects as FG will support and save you time and energy. May not pay for itself in saved work over the course of one campaign but you will be glad of it if you're running multiple groups.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/280093/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Coding-ITEMS-BUNDLE
Mattekurre's Syrinscape modules
If you want to add sound to your games, get a subscription to Syrinscape's online player:
https://www.syrinscape.com/online/?fromhomepagearticle
Then add MatteKurre's sound links and sound chat triggers bundle:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/319720/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sounds-BUNDLE
What this does is to add a new category in FGU for Syrinscape sounds - for example allowing you to select music and sound effects for a scene in advance and pin it to the map so you can just click to start it playing when the encounter starts.
Then the chat trigger watches for key phrases going by in the chat window - like someone casting a charm person spell, or rolling a critical hit. It'll then play an appropriate one-shot sound in Syrinscape. Since it does this automatically, it is zero work for the GM. But the triggered sounds are customisable, up to and including uploading and creating your own soundscapes in Syrinscape or triggering bespoke one-shots for individual characters. It is some work to get set up and it is not a low-cost solution, but it's infinitely better than spotify playlists and Discord bots. My players LOVE the break of tension when the "wah wah wwaaaaah" sad trombone plays when someone rolls a natural 1.
TTRPG Safety Kit
Free, from here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54029-TTRPG-Safety-Toolkit-Extension
Adds red/amber/green cards to FG. I've not had players need to use it yet, but I find its presence very reassuring when playing with strangers from all over the world... both for them as players and me as GM. Especially so if you run games with more adult themes, as I sometimes do. It's simple and functional and free. You may not need it with your regular group, but it is a good thing to have to hand.
CATEGORY 2: BINARY
These extensions will go from "don't need it" to "shut up and take my money" as soon as you get a player character using these feats or powers extensively. By the time you have multiple players using them, you'll never want to be without the extensions again.
Druid Wildshape and Polymorph
There are multiple different extensions out there to handle this. The two front runners are One Click Druid and Polymorphism.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/261591/Critically-Awesome-Essentials--One-Click-Druid-Fantasy-Grounds
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/324556/Polymorphism-Extension-Fantasy-Grounds-Unity
We've tried both. All players in all my groups have agreed that we prefer One Click Druid, despite Polymorphism seeming to do the same job with a more slick interface. Polymorphism is basically one GM implementing what they want for their own campaign, and has some strict rules accordingly. We always felt like we were fighting the extension. One Click Druid is simpler to set up - way simpler the first time a player gets unwillingly polymorphed into a sheep. It just treats a wild shape like a spell, which is easier for players to get their heads around, and it doesn't put such strict limits on how it is used.
Kent McCullough Extensions
These are a nice little suite of single-purpose extensions to automate particular things.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/314133/Kent-McCullough-Fantasy-Grounds-Extensions-BUNDLE
For example, automatic elemental adept. This is a perfect example of an extension that's totally meh until you get a spell caster with this ability, at which point it stops you counting 1's rolled and fudging damage on pretty much every round and you thank the lord that you can just buy it and be done with all that faff.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/312867/Fantasy-Grounds-Automatic-Elemental-Adept
Of them all, I find Automatic Death Resistance, Automatic Elemental Adept, Automatic Flanking and Range, Automatic Mirror Image and Automatic Pack Tactics the most useful, mostly because they save me work as the GM. Some of the others are a bit more player-focussed.
Automatic sneak attack is a bit too situational - there's a few too many exceptions where various rogue sub-classes can get a sneak attack anyway, and rogue players get pretty good at remembering to push the button for the big damage. They only get one sneak attack per turn, too. Halfling luck is OK if you always forget it but again players are usually pretty switched on with that.
5E Modifier Buttons
It's such a simple thing - it just adds extra buttons for opportunity attack, critical damage, cover, half damage, etc.. But I find having the buttons reminds me to use stuff like cover which I normally forget. For a dollar I think it is totally worth it, myself.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/328295/Fantasy-Grounds-5E-Modifier-Buttons
CATEGORY 3: NICE IF YOU LIKE THAT SORT OF THING
These extensions are more a matter of taste than of saving you work as a hard-pressed GM.
Tracker open on turn
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/321993/Fantasy-Grounds-Combat-Tracker-Open-on-Turn
You'll either find this invaluable, or annoying as hell. I thought it would be former, turned out to be the latter. But you might love it. It just pops up the sheet of whoever's turn it is on the combat tracker.
NPC Maker 5E
If you regularly homebrew monsters and wish there was an easier way to blend existing creatures, this is pretty useful. There is a bit of a learning curve, and you still need to put in some work to tune the results, but it makes creating vampire plants a lot easier. I use it a lot despite having a lot of monster books.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/330579/Fantasy-Grounds-NPC-Maker-5E
Mad Nomad's character sheet tweaks
The main thing we like about this is also the simplest thing it does: it adds a box for current HP as well as wounds taken to the front page of the 5E and automates the math to keep them both up to date. Some people prefer to count down hit points remaining, others to count up wounds taken. This lets them do it their favoured way. It is interesting that when I introduced it, both my groups immediately got more comfortable with adjusting hit points and knowing how wounded they were. Sometimes it is the smallest things that make a difference to the UI experience. Buy it just for that.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/326461/Fantasy-Grounds-Mad-Nomads-Character-Sheet-Tweaks
Mad Nomad's Party Combat Stats
Does nothing for the GM but OMG even the roleplayingiest roleplayers LOVE to be able to see how much damage their characters have handed out, or taken. Install it and your players will love you, if they are anything like my groups. There are other programs to do similar things, but IMO this is the best - just install at the start of the campaign and off you go.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/324470/Fantasy-Grounds-Mad-Nomads-Party-Combat-Stats
Celestian's CoreRPG Better Menus
Saves screen space by moving the big sidebar buttons on the right hand side of the standard FG layout to drop-down menus. Players with small screens really appreciate it.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?58226-Better-Menus-(CoreRPG-5E-etc)&highlight=better+menus
... and those are the extensions that have found a permanent home on my active games. I'm sure there are more (post the ones you like the best in the thread maybe?) and I've tried a lot of the commercial ones but these are the ones that I really appreciate every time we play. Hope that's useful if you're just getting started!
P.S. you don't NEED any of these especially if you're happy to put in effects yourself. FG runs 5E with more automation than any other VTT right out of the box. But adding a selection of the best extensions can turn your rough-sounding engine into a purring delight best suited to your play style.
Cheers, Hywel