New User Advice - Learning FG for Pathfinder 2e

[rencheple]

I have been involved in an in-person Pathfinder 2e game for the last couple of years, and our GM is moving 5 hours away in a few weeks. I picked up Humble Bundle's "PATHFINDER'S FINEST: 2E FANTASY GROUNDS EXPERIENCE" bundle to learn how to use Fantasy Grounds to continue our campaign. I'm reviewing the quick-start video material and referencing the PFRPG2 - Pathfinder 2 Ruleset guide for help, but I am still frustrated.

The first thing I want to do is figure out how character creation works for Pathfinder 2e. I've created a mock campaign, completed the campaign setup wizard (thank you, quick start video), and now want to add some characters. From the interface, I click on characters (under players), then the "+" to add an item. A blank character sheet opens. The first step I always take is to roll ability scores to see where the dice take me, so I roll "/die 4d6d1" six times.

Here's where I am confused. I expected to drag and drop the dice roles onto the attributes to assign them, but that didn't work. When I am dragging it over to the character sheet, the only attribute blocks that highlight are the "Misc +/-" and the "Dmg." I can drop the value in the "Misc +/-" field, which adds to the attribute, but I want to set the attribute itself.

The attribute score boxes do not respond to anything - the plus in the upper right corner or each has no effect, and I can't drag and drop the dice rolls onto the attribute name or boxes. Maybe it was because I am the GM that it wouldn't allow it, but the videos I've found suggest that it should. Regardless, I am not a player in any campaign, and it doesn't seem like I can switch between player & GM a la Roll20.

Can someone help me, please? What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks,
Tim

[Trenloe]

Welcome to the FG forums!

There are a lot of videos that delve into the advanced functionality of the Pathfinder 2 ruleset here: https://www.youtube.com/@martinblake4215/videos

The Pathfinder 2 ruleset doesn't directly support the alternative character creation method from the legacy Core Rules, which Paizo has removed from the remastered rules. It was something we were lined up to implement, but since it was removed in the remastered rules the priority is pretty low for us.

However, you can make it work with a bit of manual manipulation.

If you look closely at the ability score fields in the character sheet (highlighted below) you can see that each has a small "+" sign in the top right. This means that a modifier can be applies to this number using the CTRL+Mouse-wheel combination - see the "Temporary Modifiers" entry in the Number Field Wiki entry here: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996640055/Basic+Actions#Number-Fields

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60997

This will allow you to set your base attributes, but you'll need to further adjust as you step through the usual ABCD character creation process (Ancestry, Background, Class and Determine Ability Scores). I've done a quick example video on that here: https://youtu.be/R1dOQiwN_G8 It takes a little bit of awareness of the usual boost process, but it's certainly manageable.

[rencheple]

Thank you very much, Martin. (Cool name, BTW.) I'll give it a shot after work today.

[rencheple]

In one of your videos, I noticed that die roll totals appear as part of your command execution. I've been looking for that option but am not finding it - where do I turn that on?

[Trenloe]

In one of your videos, I noticed that die roll totals appear as part of your command execution. I've been looking for that option but am not finding it - where do I turn that on?
That's standard. If you're not seeing the totals, then you may have enabled multiple themes, or a single theme that presents the result in the same color as the background - so it's there, but you can't see it.

If you're not using any themes, then please post a screenshot showing the issue.

[rencheple]

It looks like all the themes were selected. I dropped it to just the leather theme and I can now see the totals. Once again, thank you.

[Trenloe]

It looks like all the themes were selected. I dropped it to just the leather theme and I can now see the totals. Once again, thank you.
Only load a single theme. Themes are extensions that override base ruleset configuration and code and are usually designed with only that base code in mind and not designed to work with other themes. Loading more than one theme could give you a look you might like, but can have unpredictable results, this example being one of them.