5E - AoE Spells Auto-Targeting & Upcast (FREE BETA)

This is an excellent catch, and it is actually the exact type of scenario I was referring to in my previous post when I mentioned: "Regarding the management of custom effects and spells that aren't currently fully automated or scalable with upcasting under the hood, I am already working on a major update addressing exactly this."

The current parser struggles with multi-option cantrips like Toll the Dead, miscalculating the base progression and incorrectly overlapping the scaling dice across the different damage actions.

The good news is that this is precisely what the new system fixes! I am currently putting the finishing touches on it, and I think I should be able to push this big update by tomorrow. Because it is a very massive update with a lot of structural changes, it will be accompanied by a video explaining all the new features and how the custom upgraded scaling logic works.

Thank you for the detailed breakdown, the fix is right around the corner!

Hi guys,

The massive update is actually postponed for a couple of days because I have some things to manage IRL. I will let you know as soon as it goes live!

Is this still in beta or will this be released as paid soon?

And how does this differ from the updated AoE Targeting extension recently updated?

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Originally Posted by SmackDaddy

And how does this differ from the updated AoE Targeting extension recently updated?

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The AoE Targeting extension does just that, adds functionalities to target tokens with areas of effect spells instead of manually targeting each token.

This extension does what it says on the first post:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post763888

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• Precise Template Auto-Targeting: Automatically calculates and selects tokens within spell templates instantly upon placement. No more dragging targets manually for Fireball!
• Smart Upcasting: Handles spell upcasting mechanics perfectly, ensuring the correct damage and scale are applied dynamically for most spells.
• Persistent Spell Management: Tracks ongoing, turn-by-turn spell effects seamlessly without cluttering your Combat Tracker.

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The upcasting popup is the key differentiating point, IMHO. But also the way they handle AOE targeting is different.

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Originally Posted by SmackDaddy

Is this still in beta or will this be released as paid soon?
And how does this differ from the updated AoE Targeting extension recently updated?

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Originally Posted by Lo Zeno

The AoE Targeting extension does just that, adds functionalities to target tokens with areas of effect spells instead of manually targeting each token.

This extension does what it says on the first post:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ing-amp-Upcast

The upcasting popup is the key differentiating point, IMHO. But also the way they handle AOE targeting is different.

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To answer the first part: Yes, the extension is currently in beta while I work through these major feature implementations and ensure everything is rock-solid. I estimate it will remain in beta for roughly another month and a half before the official release.

Regarding the comparison, Lo Zeno explained it perfectly!

The core difference comes down to the scope and design philosophy. From what I understand, the other AoE Targeting extension is a good, more generalized targeting system. This extension, however, is built from the ground up to focus on COMPLETE automation specifically tailored for D&D 5e (fully supporting both the 2014 and 2024 rulesets).

Instead of just calculating token targeting on the map, this extension integrates the shapes directly into the underlying 5e mechanics. It handles the interactive upcasting popups, automates slot deduction, manages complex dynamic damage/effect scaling based on spell levels, and tracks ongoing persistent spell.

Essentially, it aims to be a comprehensive mechanical overhaul for how spells are cast and resolved in 5e, rather than just a targeting aid!

The Update v0.2 is LIVE!

The massive new update is officially live on the Forge!

I won't paste the giant walls of technical documentation here since you can find all the specific tag details on the Forge description page itself, but this update introduces a complete overhaul for spell management, advanced custom upcasting/tags, and full NPC Combat Tracker support.

I’ve put together an update video explaining all the major changes, new tags, and features in action, so be sure to check that out for the full walkthrough!

Watch the Showcase Video on YouTube

I really hope this update addresses the edge cases we've been diving into and makes everyone happy with the new level of automation. Please pull down the latest version and let me know how it performs in your upcoming sessions!

Happy gaming!

Wow this is super awesome! Nice work.

Can you make it so that the targets when they are AOE permanent, can't be targeted? I can see when people using AOEs they might target stuff by mistake.

They can be targeted by AOEs and other AURAs. Maybe put an option in for it?

AOE Effect ext also has built in that if you have the creature type "Object" it will not be targeted by AOE Effects. Also using type Object, will not trigger on self (when it's the bearer of that). So if you are placing an AOE Effect on an "Object" NPC place holder. You can use the basic coding of

NameofAoE; AURA: 10 all; AOE Effect Name; Effect of AOE.

Example:

Code:

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Flaming Sphere; AURA: 5 all; AoE Flaming Sphere; SAVEE: [SDC] DEX (M); SAVEDMG: 2d6 fire

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When this is placed on a normal NPC that has a type other than "Object" it will trigger each end of turn, however, if the type is "Object" it will not place the "AoE Flaming Sphere" on that Object. Also it will not place that on any Object type.

That make sense?


So much good stuff in this update. Thank you for the video.

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Originally Posted by Henix

The Update v0.2 is LIVE!

Watch the Showcase Video on YouTube

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Massive update indeed! I'm still going through the video but it already looks like a lot of great stuff

I am still doing some testing to figure out the conflict, but with this update, me nor my players get the pop-up (or shapes that pop-up) any longer when clicking use power. My player said he was getting this in his logs:

[6/12/2026 11:20:52 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_add_button) in windowclass (ct_section_targets)
[6/12/2026 11:20:52 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_clear_button) in windowclass (ct_section_targets)
[6/12/2026 11:20:59 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_add_button) in windowclass (ct_section_targets)
[6/12/2026 11:20:59 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_clear_button) in windowclass (ct_section_targets)
[6/12/2026 11:21:00 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_add_button) in windowclass (ct_section_targets)
[6/12/2026 11:21:00 AM] [WARNING] window: Anchored static width ignored for control (targeting_clear_button) in windowclass


UPDATE: Disregard - I ended up not realizing the name changed and it was unloaded in my extensions (normally if the name stays the same, it doesn't unload it) I loaded it, and it's working now. Thank you! (maybe this will help someone else which is why I left my post intact)

Congratulations again on the extension. This latest update is impressive.

I'm still testing and trying to adapt my modules to use your new tags.

Here's a small note:
Regarding cantrips for NPCs (2014 version), there is no automatic upcasting.

Example with the mage (2014):
Spellcasting. The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The mage has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation

==> The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster --> Fire Bolt should roll 2d10

Do you think it would be possible to search for spell level cast for NPCs and use that value if it is defined for HCULVL or the upcast of cantrips?

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Originally Posted by MrDDT

Wow this is super awesome! Nice work.

Can you make it so that the targets when they are AOE permanent, can't be targeted? I can see when people using AOEs they might target stuff by mistake.

They can be targeted by AOEs and other AURAs. Maybe put an option in for it?

AOE Effect ext also has built in that if you have the creature type "Object" it will not be targeted by AOE Effects. Also using type Object, will not trigger on self (when it's the bearer of that). So if you are placing an AOE Effect on an "Object" NPC place holder. You can use the basic coding of...

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That is actually a fantastic idea! Handling the "Object" creature type to prevent self-targeting and accidental AoE clutter makes perfect sense, especially for placeholder tokens. I will absolutely look into integrating this logic or adding an option for it in a future build. Thank you for the detailed suggestion!

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Originally Posted by Lo Zeno

Massive update indeed! I'm still going through the video but it already looks like a lot of great stuff

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Thank you so much! I'm really proud of this update and glad to hear you are liking the new features and the showcase video. I appreciate the support!

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Originally Posted by SmackDaddy

UPDATE: Disregard - I ended up not realizing the name changed and it was unloaded in my extensions (normally if the name stays the same, it doesn't unload it) I loaded it, and it's working now. Thank you! (maybe this will help someone else which is why I left my post intact)

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Glad you got it sorted out! Just out of curiosity, did the name actually look different to you in the FGU launcher? It shouldn't have changed between the old version and the new one, but I'm happy to hear it was just a quick loading issue and that everything is working perfectly for you and your players now. Thank you for leaving the post up to help others!

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Originally Posted by Vaall

Congratulations again on the extension. This latest update is impressive.

I'm still testing and trying to adapt my modules to use your new tags.

Here's a small note:
Regarding cantrips for NPCs (2014 version), there is no automatic upcasting.
==> The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster --> Fire Bolt should roll 2d10

Do you think it would be possible to search for spell level cast for NPCs and use that value if it is defined for HCULVL or the upcast of cantrips?

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Thank you for the compliments, Vaall!

And thank you for the excellent report. Since the NPC support feature is brand new, there are bound to be a few edge cases like this that pop up. The parser isn't currently checking the NPC's descriptive text line to grab their overall spellcaster level for cantrip scaling. I will definitely look into the code to see how I can account for this and pull that caster level properly for NPC cantrips. Thanks for catching it!

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Originally Posted by Henix

Glad you got it sorted out! Just out of curiosity, did the name actually look different to you in the FGU launcher? It shouldn't have changed between the old version and the new one, but I'm happy to hear it was just a quick loading issue and that everything is working perfectly for you and your players now. Thank you for leaving the post up to help others!

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Name is too large in the extension screen so I am not sure. The only other extensions that do this are the WOB (World of Bethica) extensions....each new version shows at the bottom of my screen (because "W" is the last letter in the extension list) -- I just didn't think yours would have changed, but I am glad it wasn't a conflict, because my entire party have been shown what this can do (5 of 6 party members are spellcasters), and are super excited for Sunday's game day!

Used this for today's session and it worked beautifully - great job! Preparing for a different group for tomorrow, I found an issue with Searing Smite. It has damage that does increase with upcasting and damage that doesn't increase with upcasting, but there's nothing in the config, so I can't do any mods to make it work correctly. And even though it says it's going to increase damage with upcasting, it doesn't.

Attachment 67826

Looks like that's true of all paladin spells.

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Originally Posted by SmackDaddy

Name is too large in the extension screen so I am not sure. The only other extensions that do this are the WOB (World of Bethica) extensions....each new version shows at the bottom of my screen (because "W" is the last letter in the extension list) -- I just didn't think yours would have changed, but I am glad it wasn't a conflict, because my entire party have been shown what this can do (5 of 6 party members are spellcasters), and are super excited for Sunday's game day!

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That's awesome to hear! I really hope your group has a blast with it. With 5 out of 6 players running spellcasters, your table is the ultimate proving ground for this kind of automation! Please let me know how Sunday's game day goes, how your players enjoy the extension, and if there are any specific areas where you feel it can be improved.

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Originally Posted by GKEnialb

Used this for today's session and it worked beautifully - great job! Preparing for a different group for tomorrow, I found an issue with Searing Smite. It has damage that does increase with upcasting and damage that doesn't increase with upcasting, but there's nothing in the config, so I can't do any mods to make it work correctly. And even though it says it's going to increase damage with upcasting, it doesn't.

Looks like that's true of all paladin spells.

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Thank you so much! I'm thrilled to hear it worked beautifully for your session today.

Regarding Searing Smite and certain other Paladin spells, you've hit on an edge case that the default automatic parser can't perfectly automate on its own.

However, you can manually adapt these spells right now using the new custom effect features introduced in the latest update! You can code the upcast damage modifier directly into the effect line like this:

Code:

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DMG: 1[+1/HSULVL]d6 fire

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Here is how that works under the hood with the new system:

• When cast at its base level (1st level), HSULVL (Henix Spell Upcast Level) evaluates to 0 because it is cast at its base slot, so it adds 0 to the 1 before the tag and remains 1d6 fire.
• If you upcast the spell to a higher slot, HSULVL will equal the number of levels it was upcast by (1, 2, etc.), which dynamically updates the dice count—adding 1 die for every upcast level, resulting in 2d6, 3d6, and so on.

I hope this helps clear up your doubts and gets it working perfectly for your group tomorrow! Let me know if you run into any issues.

Hey, first of all, great job!

I had a lot of fun testing your extension all weekend from every possible angle.
I can confidently say that ASD has become completely unnecessary given the quality of what you've built here.
Here are a few notes and suggestions:

Effect duration on caster (persistent AoE)

Would it be possible to automatically add a duration to the effect applied to the caster of a persistent AoE spell ("Spell Name (x° Level)")?
Ideally, this duration could be pulled from the "Duration" field in the spell description.
Another point: even when I manually set a duration (e.g. 1200 for 2 hours), a short rest removes the effect entirely.
I observe the same behavior when advancing time (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/2931/view).

Concentration tag (C)

I noticed that the "(C)" tag is automatically added to this effect, even when the spell does not require concentration.
This isn’t a major issue (and maybe no non-concentration persistent AoE spells even exist), but it might be better to only add it when the spell actually requires concentration.

Template effect on summoned NPCs

Regarding the template effect: applying it directly to the summoned NPC is a great idea, and it works very well
However, this effect does not go through the standard FGU pipeline, so other common tags are not interpreted.
That’s not really a problem since your system already covers most use cases — I’m just stress-testing edge cases 

Aura visualization on temporary NPCs

This might not be possible due to the temporary nature of the summoned NPCs, but aura visualization doesn’t seem to work.
Whether using default or custom colors, even with an effect like:

Code:

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AURA: 20 !self, all, green; X

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the aura keeps the original actor color instead of the defined one.

New AoE type (rectangle)

All existing AoE types (cone, cube, line, sphere, emanation) are working perfectly
Do you think it would be possible to add a rectangle type?
The idea would be something similar to line, but with the origin point centered instead of placed at one end.
This would allow behavior closer to the 3DRect shapes from AoE Effects (and thus have an exact visualization of the walls of fire, for example)

AoE Automator window trigger

Small detail (maybe already documented and I missed it):
For the AoE Automator window to appear, the "School" field must be filled in.
Otherwise, nothing happens when clicking Use Power.
Once defined, it works perfectly for all spells and even powers with limited uses.
The automatic popup on click feels really great

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Originally Posted by Vaall

Aura visualization on temporary NPCs

This might not be possible due to the temporary nature of the summoned NPCs, but aura visualization doesn’t seem to work.
Whether using default or custom colors, even with an effect like:

Code:

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AURA: 20 !self, all, green; X

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the aura keeps the original actor color instead of the defined one.

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Aura visualization will be baked into the AoE Effects extension on the next version 1.1 released on this coming Tuesday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eViy...sdWQKcl4AaABAg

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Originally Posted by Henix

I hope this helps clear up your doubts and gets it working perfectly for your group tomorrow! Let me know if you run into any issues.

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Works great - thanks. It was a big hit today.

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Originally Posted by bwatford

Aura visualization will be baked into the AoE Effects extension on the next version 1.1 released on this coming Tuesday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eViy...sdWQKcl4AaABAg

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Yes, I was a bit hasty in my description; I meant "Auras Visualized."
https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/620/view

I'll update this point when you release version 1.1 of AoE Effect ;)

Speaking of AoE Effects and auras visualizations... I don't know how feasible it is, and it's not something of a "must have", but it would be kind of a killer feature if you could do it: if 5E AoE Spells Auto Targeting could be compatible with AoE Effect in a way that would allow to add the aura visualization effects to the spell targeting template for permanent spells, that would be HUGE. AoE Effects includes visualizations for more than just auras (see Web, Grease, Silence...) and allows to define custom visualizations (including animations) so allowing this extension to apply those same visualizations (assuming AoE Effects is active at the same time) would make the targeting templates much more immersing during play.