Best Practices and Tips For FGU Combat

[chaoticgoodbeard]

I've been running on Fantasy Grounds for a long time now, but I still feel like my combat is clunky and slow. This is especially true when I want to alter something on the fly. I'm wondering if any of you have any tips or best practices you give to people in order to improve the flow and pace of combat when using FG?

Running FGU.

Thanks!

[Ulric]

It might be helpful to list the specific things you are altering on the fly so we will know what tips to provide you.

[WinterSoldier7]

Agree with above, that with specifics we can provide more help, but I do also know exactly what you mean in general.

I love FGU for how it's allowed me to create a world filled with NPCs, maps, notes etc... but the combat can sometimes be a bit like 'I want to make a roll so now just need to sift through a few open menus to find the button I need'. Off the top of my head, it gets fiddly to go to the inventory and unequip a shield every time you want to put it away - a player of mine got tired of doing it, but then we remembered that not putting it away meant their AC never adapted to not being shielded. Do you mean things like that?

[Trenloe]

Also, what ruleset are you using?

[chaoticgoodbeard]

Thanks for your replies!
Running: 5E

Some example scenarios: Last game I had created an NPC who was just a commoner, I tend to be pretty improvisational so I made the guy cool enough that the players asked him to fight some devils with them. They then proceeded to hand him a sword, but there was no action for it, so I kept having to manually keep track of things.

At this point my players are high level and I normally try and run a pretty tactical game, however, running large amounts of baddies one by one slows things down. Is there a way to create a Monster group as you would in person? Like I have 5 goblins but they all roll as one group on their initiative?

Also how do you anticipate for unforeseen combat encounters? My guys wander down an alley, they get into an unexpected fight with some thugs. I usually have extra maps ready, but it still takes time to slap some monsters on their and get it all set up which grinds everything to a halt.

[SilentRuin]

Thanks for your replies!
Running: 5E

Some example scenarios: Last game I had created an NPC who was just a commoner, I tend to be pretty improvisational so I made the guy cool enough that the players asked him to fight some devils with them. They then proceeded to hand him a sword, but there was no action for it, so I kept having to manually keep track of things.

At this point my players are high level and I normally try and run a pretty tactical game, however, running large amounts of baddies one by one slows things down. Is there a way to create a Monster group as you would in person? Like I have 5 goblins but they all roll as one group on their initiative?

Also how do you anticipate for unforeseen combat encounters? My guys wander down an alley, they get into an unexpected fight with some thugs. I usually have extra maps ready, but it still takes time to slap some monsters on their and get it all set up which grinds everything to a halt.

If not using extensions and using raw FGU:


I'd make an NPC goblin and call it (5 goblins) where I increased the HP to 5x a goblin's and say it got a multiattack of 5 times at different directions - and also make it Huge or Gargantuan in size.


For unforeseen combat I'd simply have an encounter made for it that had them already defined in your alternate map. Then you just place them when the encounter happens and drag the CT friendlies into that map and start placing them where they really should go.

I use extensions though to handle large scale combats, NPC inventories, and pre set encounter groups etc. But that is a whole other thing.

[Zacchaeus]

You can use the group combat rules in the DMG where there's a bunch of low level NPCs. So you work out the minimum dice that they need to hit and how many dice they need to roll to make that and use that number to determine how many actually hit. So suppose you have 10 goblins and they need a minimum of 18 to hit then 2 of them will hit AC 18 and roll that amount of damage.

I never have unforseen combat encounters so I can't really speak to that but I suppose I'd prepare a few ready made encounters and a couple of maps with those encounters pre-placed on them in advance. For initiative there's an option to have monsters in the same group have the same initiative.

[LordEntrails]

A couple of techniques I use and/or can think of.
There is a DM option for group initiative. This will have one initiative roll for all NPCs of the same name.

Following on some of the DM/GM blog advice I've read elsewhere (linked in my post titled 'GM Advice'), for your prep create some generic encounters and put them in a module (see Adventure Module best practices linked in my signature). You can create half a dozen or more, and have them be so generic that you could use them next session or in a year plus. Something like "Thugs in an Alley", "Orcs in the Forest", "Abomination in a Cave" and "Cultists on the Road". Then make them around the appropriate CR and you can use these as needed, and even rename the NPC in the encounter before placing in the CT so if the situation means the thugs belong to the "Black Fist Gang" you just rename them. Or the abomination is "Grek's Horror" you just rename it.

Or, if you are familiar enough with your assets, tell your players to take a 3 minute break to grab a drink wile you setup the next encounter. Or sometimes, I manage to distract them with a theoretical or strategy type question that they get talking amongst themselves and don't even know I'm taking the time to setup the encounter.

[WinterSoldier7]

If not using extensions and using raw FGU:


I'd make an NPC goblin and call it (5 goblins) where I increased the HP to 5x a goblin's and say it got a multiattack of 5 times at different directions - and also make it Huge or Gargantuan in size.


For unforeseen combat I'd simply have an encounter made for it that had them already defined in your alternate map. Then you just place them when the encounter happens and drag the CT friendlies into that map and start placing them where they really should go.

I use extensions though to handle large scale combats, NPC inventories, and pre set encounter groups etc. But that is a whole other thing.

Out of interest, could you link me to the extension you mention which deals with NPC inventories - that sounds like something I could use.

[SilentRuin]

Out of interest, could you link me to the extension you mention which deals with NPC inventories - that sounds like something I could use.

A free one is called KitnKaboodle I believe.

[deer_buster]

If not using extensions and using raw FGU:

I'd make an NPC goblin and call it (5 goblins) where I increased the HP to 5x a goblin's and say it got a multiattack of 5 times at different directions - and also make it Huge or Gargantuan in size.

For unforeseen combat I'd simply have an encounter made for it that had them already defined in your alternate map. Then you just place them when the encounter happens and drag the CT friendlies into that map and start placing them where they really should go.

I use extensions though to handle large scale combats, NPC inventories, and pre set encounter groups etc. But that is a whole other thing.

Downside to 5->1 is that tactical combat is not possible with only 1 vs 5.

Interested in knowing what extensions you use for large scale combat, et.al.

[Booker Grimm]

I ran quite a large battle the other night with six PCs and their 6 retainers vs about 15 NPCs.

What I do is make sure everyone is grouped in the combat tracker (you can do this through the options).
I have the PCs tell me what they are doing and plug in their initiative.
Then I roll for all the NPCs initiatives from the menu button.
On the retainers turn I select target all enemies.
Then roll an attack.
And a damage if I need to.
Same for the NPCs.
The PCs have their own turns.

It speeds things up because you need not go through every NPCs attacks directly if they are of the same type (say guards swinging swords - spellcasters are obviously handled separately).
Works good for generic retainers too, like archers or spearmen.

Add a bit of flavour like, 'Arrows fire back and forth and a few of your men and the enemy are hit. Johnson goes down, an arrow embedded in his throat!'.

That large battle took about an hour to complete and lasted maybe 10 rounds.

[LordEntrails]

Oh, Auto Center is a good thing to turn on too if you have a lot of NPCs. Esp. if they are all of the same time. It will center the map on the NPC at the start of their turn so you know who's turn it is. Makes selecting, targeting, etc much easier.

I think the largest combat I've done is 6 PCs and 49 NPCs. But it's possible I've done more. I just did one with somewhere approaching 100 NPCs or more, but only about 5-10 were active on the CT at any turn. (It was a kruthik hive for 14th level PCs. Effectively and endless swarm of easy adversaries that slowly eat away resources if you don't find a way to win other than attrition.)

[Booker Grimm]

I added a quick video to show people how I do one round for fairly large groups. After the round is complete, I move the tokens to where I need them and update the PCs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQk-RupQ1_E