[Extension] - 5E - AGGRO: Smart Targeting System for NPCs

Hello Alan,

I can only repeat what other already wrote: I see huge potentials in the Extension. The (biased) calculation is a significant help in large battles - having (as GM) the option to accept or not accept the choice would be nice, but since you can mute the output to the players now (with version 1.1.1) while getting the whole (verbose) calculation as GM, changing the target afterwards is no issue ;)

As Rocketvault already pointed out: there are some "early adopter's bugs":

1. The extension also sets targets for Player NPCs (conjured monsters, familiars, pack animals, etc.). As these NPCs are fully player controlled, they should not be part of the automation. Perhaps a similar option like for selection of targets would be possible (Select target for: "All NPCs", "Any Hostile", or "All But Friendly").
2. I have the following error in a specific situation with ONLY this extension loaded:
   
   Code:

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   s'Saving aggro data...'
s'Aggro data save complete'
[ERROR] Script execution error: [string "Aggro:scripts/manager_aggro.lua":717: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil)

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   Situation on map: hostile where the error is generated when turn starts is adjacent to a player character and a player NPC (conjured "pet"). No target is selected for the hostile on turn start. Both adjacent tokens calculate the same threat value (200 - 100 from base, 100 from proximity). Issue is repeatable (moved turn counter back to last PC, advance turn - produces the same error) but vanishes if one token is selected as target before the turn.
   Error also occurs when one token is lifted 5' into the air which results into the same calculation, but vanishes when the token is lifted 10' (which changes its calculation to 150 - 100 base, 50 proximity). I therefore assume that the same calculation result causes the issue. Option for Target Selection is set to "Pure Logical". When set to "Logical Chance", surprisingly, none of the two is chosen as target but one of the next closer ones (150 - 100 from base, 50 from proximity).

Hope this helps in further debugging/development!

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I can only repeat what other already wrote: I see huge potentials in the Extension. The (biased) calculation is a significant help in large battles - having (as GM) the option to accept or not accept the choice would be nice, but since you can mute the output to the players now (with version 1.1.1) while getting the whole (verbose) calculation as GM, changing the target afterwards is no issue

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As suggested, I'm implementing an option to switch between auto target or leave the aggro just as advice.

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1. The extension also sets targets for Player NPCs (conjured monsters, familiars, pack animals, etc.). As these NPCs are fully player controlled, they should not be part of the automation. Perhaps a similar option like for selection of targets would be possible (Select target for: "All NPCs", "Any Hostile", or "All But Friendly").

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I'm working on an INDEPENDENT effect to make a NPC ignore the aggro calculations. That would be an easy fix for pets or allies controlled by players.

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[ERROR] Script execution error: [string "Aggro:scripts/manager_aggro.lua":717: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil)

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The line 717 and your description points to an error in the tiebreaker function for pure logical. I have a hunch about what is causing it and i'll fix it ASAP.

About "Logic Chance" selecting a third target other than that two, might be just pure chance. A higher aggro means higher chance of being targeted, but does not nullify the chance of a low aggro being selected if jinxed enough (and to be honest, a 50 threat difference is a very low value). :p Try to "force" an aggro to one of the two closer tokens with an AGGRO: 99999 effect to see if that was just a coincidence.

This may be a bit much for the extension, but is there any thought about negative weighing aggro for creatures that would suffer an Opportunity Attack if they were to go after a creature? Or having spellcasters generating more aggro for intelligent creatures? Just some thoughts. This is a pretty cool little extension!

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Originally Posted by Dax Doomslayer

This may be a bit much for the extension, but is there any thought about negative weighing aggro for creatures that would suffer an Opportunity Attack if they were to go after a creature? Or having spellcasters generating more aggro for intelligent creatures? Just some thoughts. This is a pretty cool little extension!

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Spellcasting threat and intelligence based aggro are already on my todo list for future updates (spellcaster threat is probably coming first).

Checking for adjacent targets reaction (to prevent opportunity attacks) is something that i intended to do on the original release, but got delayed because of the level of complexity (mostly because it would require the intelligence based aggro). So, until the intelligence update is released, this feature is postponed... :p

Wow - that's terrific. This is definitely a neat little extension already!!

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Originally Posted by Arnagus

Hello Alan,

I can only repeat what other already wrote: I see huge potentials in the Extension. The (biased) calculation is a significant help in large battles - having (as GM) the option to accept or not accept the choice would be nice, but since you can mute the output to the players now (with version 1.1.1) while getting the whole (verbose) calculation as GM, changing the target afterwards is no issue ;)

As Rocketvault already pointed out: there are some "early adopter's bugs":

1. The extension also sets targets for Player NPCs (conjured monsters, familiars, pack animals, etc.). As these NPCs are fully player controlled, they should not be part of the automation. Perhaps a similar option like for selection of targets would be possible (Select target for: "All NPCs", "Any Hostile", or "All But Friendly").
2. I have the following error in a specific situation with ONLY this extension loaded:
   
   Code:

   ---

   s'Saving aggro data...'
s'Aggro data save complete'
[ERROR] Script execution error: [string "Aggro:scripts/manager_aggro.lua":717: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil)

   ---

   Situation on map: hostile where the error is generated when turn starts is adjacent to a player character and a player NPC (conjured "pet"). No target is selected for the hostile on turn start. Both adjacent tokens calculate the same threat value (200 - 100 from base, 100 from proximity). Issue is repeatable (moved turn counter back to last PC, advance turn - produces the same error) but vanishes if one token is selected as target before the turn.
   Error also occurs when one token is lifted 5' into the air which results into the same calculation, but vanishes when the token is lifted 10' (which changes its calculation to 150 - 100 base, 50 proximity). I therefore assume that the same calculation result causes the issue. Option for Target Selection is set to "Pure Logical". When set to "Logical Chance", surprisingly, none of the two is chosen as target but one of the next closer ones (150 - 100 from base, 50 from proximity).

Hope this helps in further debugging/development!

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The console error should be fixed with the new updated version. Thank you for your feedback!

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Originally Posted by Alanrockid

The console error should be fixed with the new updated version. Thank you for your feedback!

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Thanks a lot! Confirmed that the issue is gone.

As for the AGGRO - any change away from the calculated 200 caused a target to be selected and the error to be gone. I can reproduce a random selection or targets with lower AGGRO than adjacent tokens, so the choice of the third token seem to have been pure chance. Nevertheless I was not able to reproduce a chance selection of any of the two adjacent tokens when both had the same AGGRO result. I tried 10 times, several different tokens were selected (from AGGRO 150 to 125) but not those two. With the update, any token (including the two adjacent) might be selected randomly, so issue is gone as well.

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Originally Posted by Alanrockid

I'm working on an INDEPENDENT effect to make a NPC ignore the aggro calculations. That would be an easy fix for pets or allies controlled by players.

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That would do the trick indeed (although I need to find a way to apply the effect automatically to summoned monsters/conjured animals - perhaps cloning the NPCs specifically for those spells and adding an additional trait/ability "Summoned" for using EE to apply the effect).
Looking forward to have it. :)

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Originally Posted by Arnagus

That would do the trick indeed (although I need to find a way to apply the effect automatically to summoned monsters/conjured animals - perhaps cloning the NPCs specifically for those spells and adding an additional trait/ability "Summoned" for using EE to apply the effect).
Looking forward to have it. :)

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You can already achieve what you want using the excellent (and free) extension "Advanced Effects". This extension allows you to add fixed effects that are already active whenever the actor is added to Combat Tracker. It works with both PCs and NPCs. Just add a "INDEPENDENT" (next update...it won't be long) effect to the summoned NPC sheet and it will do the trick.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...cs-characters)Advanced Effects' Forge Page

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This extension was originally created by Celestian and is current maintained by Rhagelstrom

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I am looking into the extension and is there a way to stack the bonus aggro?

Example:

Rogue/ranger multiclass:

Sneak attack: DMG: 1d6: AGGRO: 100

Dread Strike: DMG: 1d8: AGGRO: 150

I would like to see the bonus aggro be 250 but it only calculates one of them.

Thank you