Ironing out some details: Help! (please)

[jbear]

So I've noticed that my version is lacking a few features compared to the version on Xorn's tutorial. So, I'm wondering how I can get these features going.

Im running on a Full Liscence, using a HP laptop, Windows 7 Operating System. I have only been doing this by myself as 'localhost'.

I'm sure the 'lack' of these features has to do more with my underpowered powers of observation and IT uselessness than any real lack of anything. SO if some kind soul could patiently point me in the right direction, spelling things out as simply as possible.

Features I can't figure out how to get going:

- When Xorn passes over the tokens, they seem to brighten and the squares around them seem covered in shadow, as if marking the area they threaten. Which brings me to my next question: Is there a way when a monster's turn comes around there token illuminates so I can distinguish which is which (Imagine I have 5 minion tokens, all identical. I need to know which is which when they get blasted)

-There are options to enable the DMs rolls to be open, but I can't find the feature that makes a successful hit then automatically apply the following damage (xorn does this on the tutorial). I'm having to drag and drop attacks to make the 'HIT!' come up and then the damage as well.

- Xorn activates some of the character class options at the beginning of combat which then remain 'on'. It seemed that a self-target was necessary. I can't seem to either self target or target allies to apply 'friendly effects'. Do I have to press a special key to do that? Actually I can't even get my ranger's Hunters Quarry to target enemies. It is straight out of the PHB module dragged and dropped into his powers. Do I need to alter it and give it an attack or effect line for it to work properly? Same question with the Rogue's Sneak Attack.

- What are the steps you take to activate a second screen? My only experience hooking my laptop up to the TV causes a kind of cloning. Whatever is on the laptop just comes up on the bigger TV screen. Obviously what I want to happen is that, somehow, I can drag things off one screen and onto the other, giving myself a really big desk top space to have all my windows up at once. I get the theory, but I have no idea how to implement that. I guess it starts with right clicking on my desk top and doing some fiddling with my Graphics Card?

I'm sure there are more things that were in my head, but have now vanished. So I imagine as I tinker around with FG more and bump into more of my limits I'll politely return with more questions.

I have read the 4e Guide in the Library and watched all of Xorns tutorials. But these things still escape me.

Cheers in advance!
J

[Moon Wizard]

Jbear,

It has everything to do with us being on the cusp of our latest release. Xorne was so excited about the updates, that he used the beta version to make his tutorials. I just pushed the release this morning, so you can update to the latest version next time you start up FG.

Let me answer each of your questions. Thanks for letting me know that you read the guide, since that let's me know where to start.

1. The highlighting around tokens is controlled by fields in the combat tracker. When you drag a token from a combatant entry in the combat tracker, it creates a linked token.

The linked token will have a few different highlights going:
- When active (i.e. turn flag next to combatant entry), a white circle will be drawn around the token.
- When there is a grid on the image/map, there will be background shading that matches the token's faction (red, yellow, green) and the token's size (1x1, 2x2, ...).
- When the combatant is bloodied, the faction shading will darken.
- When you hover over a linked token, the token name will appear on a tooltip, and a dark gray highlight will show the reach of the combatant.

You can change the faction by clicking on the faction box on the combatant entry. You can change the size/reach by clicking the grid symbol on the combatant entry, and modifying the fields that appear. Finally, you can drag a token from the token box onto the combatant entry to define the token for that entry, and then drag to any map to create a linked token.

2. I'm not sure how Xorne made it look effortless, but attack and damage rolls are not linked. You make an attack roll, then manually make your damage roll depending on the result.

3. Effects are the most complex part of 4E (both the game itself, as well as the ruleset). There are a bunch of options here. Let me touch on a few.

* When building/editing power effects on a character, there is are 2 buttons next to the effect which control targeting and application.
- The targeting button can be changed between forced self-target and using current target(s).
- The application button can be changed between apply all modifiers (All), apply any modifier once then expire effect (Once) and apply each modifier once then expire each piece of effect (Single).

* When applying an effect as a self-target:
- you can preset the effect to force self-targeting (as above), then double-click the effect;
- you can drag the effect onto your token or combat tracker entry;
- or you can hold the ALT key and double-click, which is the shortcut key to force self-targeting (see options panel)

* One of the confusing aspects of effects is that they can be limited in scope to certain combatants (i.e. you gain +4 to attack against a single target). In this case, each effect can also have "targets". The GM can set these effect targets for you, or you can try using third party effect targeting (see manual).

* Effects do not support conditional applications. Thus, powers that give bonuses or effects when target has a condition or is bloodied will not automatically be determined. The current way to do this is to have the players/GM apply the bonus or effect at the relevant time. (i.e. before the attack roll is made) Just like in a face-to-face game. You can implement these as character power abilities, or as campaign effects/modifiers.

* For example, in my game, the rogue has Sneak Attack. It is implemented as a Sneak Attack power with an effect which is self-targeted, applies once, has the value "DMG: 5d6" and expires at the end of his turn. Since Sneak Attack can only be applied once per turn (usually) and only when he has combat advantage, it makes the most sense to have him manually apply when the conditions are right.

4. Second screen support will be specific to your system (graphics card, monitor and Windows version). Typically, second screens can be configured as clones or desktop extensions, depending on OS or graphics driver support.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you have more questions.

Cheers,
JPG

[jbear]

Wow, talk about a quick response!

Ok, so I think I know what my error is inso far as the highlighing and the tokens. I may have pulled the tokens from the NPCs and dropped them on the map, and then pulled the tokens from the NPCs onto the comabt tracker, so they may not have been linked. I also didn't set up a grid. So, I'll check that out again now.

- As for attacking and rolling damage. Sorry I haven't made myself clear. He rolled attack and damage seperately, however when the roll was high enough to hit it applied the hit automatically. He didnt have to drag the attack roll onto the target that the player had made in order for the hit to register. Then when he rolled damage if he had hit then the damage application was also automatic. How do I choose that automated option? I hope my question is clearer.

Yep, effects are the most confusing part. But I haven't quite mastered targetting yet. What could be a possible reason that I am unable to friendly target allies to apply positive effects? Could this be related to having dragged their Icons directly from their PC images and not the combat tracker, again?

Also I cant target anything, auto at the start of combat OR when the situation arises, with Hunters Quarry. I have a feeling becuase it needs an effect line edited in, as does the Sneak Attack. Is there somewhere to read the correct wording for these two effects in particular.

Also, is there a way to put an Assassins shroud on a target, and have it keep count of the number of shrouds, and then invoke etc...? I imagine that hasn't been coded yet (seems pretty darn tricky) and that it should just be dealt with by players and DM, right?

Ok, so, what I am going to need is the Desk Top Extension configuration, the version that Windows 7 and my driver has right. Once configured how do you send things to one screen or another, especially say if you are running 2 windows with DM and Player on each (as Xorne does on the tutorials)?

Again, thanks for the really quick and useful reply. It's oing to take me a while to wrap my head around effects and targetting, but, so long as I'm doing the basics right (and im able to ally and self target) then I can get the rest by trial and error.

Cheers again!
J

[Nephilim667]

you can drag windows from one monitor to another and maximize a window to use both monitors right next to each other. or you can maximuze multiple windows one each monitor. very comfortable.

[Moon Wizard]

The host should always be able to drag or double-click target and apply rolls/effects. To allow auto-application of rolls/effects for clients, you need to make sure that the "Target: Enable PC Actions" option is set to On.

Also, to target on the host, you need to SHIFT-left-click on the combat tracker or map token, and the active combatant (if any) will target whatever you just clicked on. Targeting on the client is easy, just left-click the token you want to target and a colored ring will show up.

For your specific items,
* You will probably need to add the effect for Hunter's Quarry, Sneak Attack and Warlock's Curse. They are all special cases. I recommend using the example I gave previously for Sneak Attack. You can right click on the power to Add an Effect Ability.
* For the assassin's shroud, you will need to track just like you would at the table. I focused my efforts on making sure I could make as much of the core rulebooks work as possible, and saved any other add-on rulebooks for later. This sounds a lot like an Inescapable Weapon, which is a lot of book-keeping no matter how you do it. I don't use those items in my game anymore, or I house-rule them.

Regards,
JPG

[jbear]

Thanks again!

Everthing seemed to work a lot better all of a sudden with a grid on, and of course having dragged the tokens onto the map from the combat tracker instead of vice versa.

the self targetting and party targetting also resolved with that change, as I had the Allow option on.

I have noticed dm damage is auto, where as PC attacks and hits wait for the confirm from the DM. I guess in a game where players can make all sorts of errors, especially while learning, this is probably a good idea to leave on initially. I'm still curious as to how to change this option, or if that is possible, at least while I play against myself as DM and party, to get the hang of things. It would certainly speed things up.

I figured that those powers needed an effect line. I probably can read how to write effects correctly in the guide.

Ok, and DMs can target with pressing shift, that is handy to know. That will speed things up as well. Anyway, things are going way more smoothly. its just a case of pottering around on it now til it becomes second nature.

cheers for all your help! Now to tackle hooking up a second screen!
J

[someoneinatree]

I have noticed dm damage is auto, where as PC attacks and hits wait for the confirm from the DM.

In your GM Combat options in the new release there should be a single "Target: Enable PC actions" that should allow PCs to apply damage and effects without waiting for permission.

I figured that those powers needed an effect line. I probably can read how to write effects correctly in the guide.

Yeah the 4e guide does have extensive descriptions on what syntax to use for effects.

The new 2.7 release does make a lot of this stuff much easier for DMs which is fantastic.

[jbear]

Ok, so the effect line for Warlock's Curse, Sneak Attack and Hunter's Quarry, taking into account I'm going to apply each one manually when the situation occurs, should look something like this?:

DMG: +1d6
Self
Once

2d6 in the case of SNeak Attack

and the shielding swordmage could have:

DMG: -5 [-CON]
target
once

or would it be?:

DMG: [-CON +5]
target
once

or?:
DMG: -5 +[CON]

Anyway, I guess I can just ry it and see if it works. But I wanted to ask why the Blind Effect doesn't include a -5 to attacks. In theory you can still target/attack when you are blind. Just curious what the reasoning behind that is.

Cheers!
J

[Moon Wizard]

It would be "DMG: -5 [-CON]" for target/once.

Another way to implement would be to make it a heal for 5+CON.

Cheers,
JPG

[jbear]

I'm trying to write an effect theat gives the PC +2 dmg vs one target that lasts the entire encounter:

TRGT;DMG: 2 for Self/All/Enc

Is that right? Because, it is giving me a +2 dmg vs other enemies that weren't targeted when I applied the effect.