Token rotation for spell tokens

[Lo Zeno]

My players and I use spell tokens (from a module I got from DMsGuild) in our D&D 5e games to show the effects of spells on the map; they do their job great when the spell is something with a circular area of effect (say, Fireball or Arms of Hadar) but whenever one of my players uses something with an area of effect that is a line (wall of fire) or a cone (cone of cold), things get hard because we can only rotate those tokens by 45 degrees on a square grid. If we use a hex grid we have a bit more freedom, but we still can't really rotate the token as we like, and it's especially annoying with effects in a line like wall of fire, where a player might want to block an area with it that's at 30 degrees angle, for example.

Is there any way to freely rotate tokens? It would be nice if we could have something like ctrl+shift+mouse wheel to rotate "freely" so that we could adjust the position of these tokens to match what we want on the map, while the "normal" rotation with shift+mouse wheel would keep the 45 degrees rotation (which is useful for "facing" rules in melee combat)

[Zarestia]

Press and hold CRTL while you move the token/image, thus you can freely rotate it.

[Lo Zeno]

Press and hold CRTL while you move the token/image, thus you can freely rotate it.

Can you elaborate, please? If I just press and hold CTRL it doesn't rotate them. To rotate a token I need to press Shift and scroll with the mouse wheel; if I ALSO hold CTRL while pressing Shift and scrolling the wheel, the token does not rotate, it changes size (enlarge or shrink)

[Zarestia]

Can you elaborate, please? If I just press and hold CTRL it doesn't rotate them. To rotate a token I need to press Shift and scroll with the mouse wheel; if I ALSO hold CTRL while pressing Shift and scrolling the wheel, the token does not rotate, it changes size (enlarge or shrink)

The spell tokens you use are probably added as images to the map once you drop them (I use the ones by Smiteworks and they get added that way).
You need to open the image properties and go into the "layers" mode. There you can rotate them while holding CRTL with the top north dot.

If the spell tokens are not added as images but somehow as somehting else, you can't freely rotate them.

See attached image for more visual clarity.

[Lo Zeno]

The spell tokens you use are probably added as images to the map once you drop them (I use the ones by Smiteworks and they get added that way).
You need to open the image properties and go into the "layers" mode. There you can rotate them while holding CRTL with the top north dot.

If the spell tokens are not added as images but somehow as somehting else, you can't freely rotate them.

See attached image for more visual clarity.

Brilliant, that's the step I was missing: opening the image tools and going to Layers mode. Thanks.
I'm using G Jensen's spell tokens pack btw, but as far as I know they work the same.

This works, but image tools are available only to the GM so my players can't adjust the rotation of their spell tokens. I mean, I can live with that for now, but I hope that in some future enhancement it will be possible to rotate freely tokens while in Play mode, and not just by the GM but by players too.

[Moon Wizard]

Token rotation is a very specific attribute tied to the grid settings of the map; and tied to facing. So, there are no plans to allow tokens to be rotated freeform.

The image layers system does allow fine-tuned control of rotation and size of images; so this is the system you should use if you want to place spell effects on the map.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Token rotation is a very specific attribute tied to the grid settings of the map; and tied to facing. So, there are no plans to allow tokens to be rotated freeform.

I definitely can see the issue when facing is enabled, but since (at least for 5E) facing is an optional rule and can be disabled, it could be allowed when facing is turned off.

Or at least, one thing you could consider is still a special key combination to allow the GM to do that without having to open the image tools? When I have to do that it slows down the action of the fight a lot, a key combination (even if limited to the GM and not allowed to the players) would make things somewhat faster.

[Moon Wizard]

What I'm saying is that tokens are a very specific kind of object deliberately designed for representing creatures on a map relative to grid; not by angle. Therefore, there is no mechanism where we can just "allow" a token to be on another angle.

While it's great that people have come up with all sorts of interesting uses for the objects (such as specifying spell effects as tokens), it does not change how the tokens are designed and meant to be used.

The new layers and painting system in FGU was designed to be the interface for placing free-form graphics.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

The new layers and painting system in FGU was designed to be the interface for placing free-form graphics.


And it's a great tool, for when you have to prepare your session.
It's a not-so-great tool when there's a need to change/add/adjust something on the map: a collapsed wall, a cart pulled by horses moving around, or a long-lasting spell effect to add on the spot. It's less-than-great in those situations mainly because of the time it takes to apply that change to the map - unlocking the map, opening the image tools, going to the Layers mode, dragging the picture one wants to add, stamping it, rotating it etc is rather slow and interrupts the flow of the narration - which is why people have been coming up with creative ways to use tokens, because they are easier and quicker to use during a gaming session.

I understand that tokens were designed specifically to represent creatures (or, rather, "game entities", as I think we both would agree that in a Star Wars game spaceships in a space battle would still be an adequate use of tokens), but people use tokens because the image tools are not suitable for use during a game session, where interrupting the combat or the narration for long is not desirable.

So, if tokens are not designed and meant to be used in this way (for spell effects), then maybe can I suggest to find an alternate, easier and quicker mechanism to drop and freely rotate movable graphic elements on the map (even if limited to the DM and not allowed to players) - and I don't mean just spell effects, but anything transient and not fixed to the scenery, from a fallen tree to a collapsed wall to a hole in the floor after somone steps on a weak fllorboard? Something that does not require unlocking the image, opening the image tools, getting to the Layers mode, but possibly just a drag and drop on the map, and a couple key combinations to resize the image item and rotate it.