First Time Fantasy Grounds user with some newb questions

[Paladin's Pride]

I had my first session of fantasy grounds, and it went great, but I do have a few questions.

1) The portraits I put in the application data folder weren't accessible to the players. Are portraits not shared in the way that tokens are? Will each individual have to have the correct portrait on their own machine.

2) I built an extra character with the intent of having one of the players playing it. Can she access a character I built locally on my computer, or will I have to send her the stats in word or some other format and have her build the character on her own computer.

3)Can players zoom in and out on a map independently of the GM doing so or if I adjust the scale of the map, will this automatically alter it for all the players as well?

4) Has someone developed a way to add psionics into fantasy grounds? I have a player running a psion and I am not really familiar enough with XML to build such a complicated addition myself.

[Griogre]

1) Yes. Portraits are the only piece of data that comes from the players computers. It is send to the GM and who sends it in turn on to the other players.

2) No she will not be able to access a local character on your machine. However you can set it up so she can access it. Start FG as the host. Then start FG a second time as a player (you will need to change your user name). When you player instance connects. Select the local character. This will transfer it to the server. Disconnect with the player instance. Then on the Host Clear the owner. Any player who connects can now select this server character.

3) The players see whatever the viewpoint of the DM was when he shared the map or image. It is only updated when the DM reshares.

4) Adding a module for Psionics would be not hard. I personally woundn't do it for one player - when I could access the online SRD at https://www.d20srd.org/index.htm. You could also buy the Complete SRD from Digital Adventures which does have Psionics for like 10 bucks. If you don't want to used the online SRD, this is a great option for cheap - you'll spend far more effort doing it yourself.

[GoOrange]

2) I built an extra character with the intent of having one of the players playing it. Can she access a character I built locally on my computer, or will I have to send her the stats in word or some other format and have her build the character on her own computer..

For pregen characters, I just create them in host mode. That way you don't have to log in to your own game as a player and transfer ownership. Just start the game in host mode, go to the characters window and create a new one.

The downside is that you don't have the window to automate roll and keep or point buy like you do when working in local mode, but it's easier to create server characters this way without running multiple instances of the program.

Griogre's, method should work too. This is just a different way to do it. Not necessarily better, just different.

[Paladin's Pride]

Thanks for the great advice, Griogre and GoOrange! This really helps me alot. I think I'm really going to enjoy the community here.

One question about the Digital adventures supplement. Will this supplement alter the character sheet and such to be able to track powers and power points, or does it simply add the rest of the SRD to the modules the players can access? What my player really wants is a way to have her powers listed on her character sheet and have a way to track power points. I just told her to write it in the notes section, and I could easily just create the powers she knows as "spells" and have her track them the way a sorcerer would, but if someone has done the work for me, I'd be willing to spend a bit of money on that eventually (though right now I'm saving up to buy a copy of Dunjinni).

[Griogre]

The Digital Adventures Complete SRD just adds rule modules it doesn't change the character sheet.

To keep track of the Power Points I would just put it in the special abilites on the Combat tab and roll the points down. This is better than the note section because you don't have to have the chracter sheet open just the ability mini sheet and she can roll down the points with the mouse wheel. You could also put Power points in Inventory or use weapon ammo - though that might be a pain.