Problem with combined effects in Bestiary

[Farnaby]

I'm going to use the Roper as an example.

According to the entry a roper has the following:


Sticky Strand Any creature hit by a roper’s strand is enfeebled 1 (https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=13) and grabbed (https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=20).
Each additional hit from a strand increases the enfeebled condition value by 1 (to a maximum of enfeebled 4 (https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=13)).
This enfeebled value decreases by 1 every 8 hours.

In FGU this has been coded as Effect: Sticky Strand; Enfeebled 1; Grabbed
Which means the 8 hours aren't coded and if the PC escapes I have to edit the effect.
If they were separate it would be just deleting one effect instead of editing the text field.

Other monsters have similar entries where effects are combined which can lead to annoying cases.
Especially when 1 effect has a countdown and the other doesn't, as soon as the countdown effect goes to 0 then the other effect disappears with it.

If we find these cases, can they be fixed?

[ShadeRaven]

Hey Farnaby, thanks for the input! :)

You are right, the effects really could be separated when they aren't tied together and can or will be removed individually. To be honest, I am sure when I took on the task of automating the NPCs/Bestiaries, I probably swept through and put in the effects as a group as they are applied and didn't really think about the removal process. I was an enormous undertaking at the time.

There are some aspects to automation that aren't ideal at the moment, but it is a huge project with a lot of variables that make it complex and tricky to implement. Trenloe continues to add amazing features to the ruleset that advances our ability to improve the automation. At this point though, we don't have anything that deals with "additional hits increase" effects just yet (it has been discussed and on the long list) nor any practical way to track long duration effects (those in the hours and days). Someday, I am sure, but not at this point.

I am also going to be honest that at this point the upcoming release of their Remastered update is occupying the majority of our focus. That said, bug fixes and simple updates are certainly still important when feasible and I am more than happy to apply any reworking of the automation available to make game play easier and/or better. So while I would normally be happy to see if I could hunt down these pesky automation effects that make things a little more cumbersome to deal with, I don't really have the time to expend on it at the moment. However, if you and anyone else wants to report these as you come across them (as with the Roper), I'd be happy to make the effort to update those more problematic creatures to make adjudicating their efforts easier. So yes, if you find them I will come ;)

Fair enough for now? :)

[Farnaby]

More than fair.
I won't go looking for them actively but I'll post them in this thread if I find one.

Thanks ShadeRaven.