Some assistance with purchases

[ddavison]

It's a pretty common complaint, especially for people that already bought products in print format -- often for very cheap compared to MSRP through Amazon. We've tried to pack it with as much value as we can to help justify the price point and taken steps to make it optional so that it doesn't become a barrier to play. They do go on sale a few times a year though for about a week at a time. Last Dec/Jan, they were 40% off for the 3 core books. I'm not sure if it will ever drop that low again, but I imagine there will be sales again in the future. Those always have to be coordinated with our publishers in advance. Meanwhile, anyone who is a completest can also get everything for 25% off by buying it all at once.

[Pickled Pisces]

I have a newbie question about this topic. I am looking at buying Fantasy Grounds and trying a standard license. Looking at the buying the books too. BUT my question is if I have the books as a DM do my players also have access to them or are they limited to the SRD? OR if they have hard copy of the books, can they use those to make characters with all the options from the Player's Handbook? It seems kind of pointless for the DM to have the Player's Handbook if the players can't access it (also the group that I want to play with really can't afford multiple copies of all the books and stuff). I'm assuming that there is an import feature for a DM to import PC's so he doesn't have to do all the work entering them.

Any response would be appreciated. Thanks

[Agamon]

I have a newbie question about this topic. I am looking at buying Fantasy Grounds and trying a standard license. Looking at the buying the books too. BUT my question is if I have the books as a DM do my players also have access to them or are they limited to the SRD? OR if they have hard copy of the books, can they use those to make characters with all the options from the Player's Handbook? It seems kind of pointless for the DM to have the Player's Handbook if the players can't access it (also the group that I want to play with really can't afford multiple copies of all the books and stuff). I'm assuming that there is an import feature for a DM to import PC's so he doesn't have to do all the work entering them.

Any response would be appreciated. Thanks

Your PHB can be accessed by players while they are connected to you, just not offline.

[Pickled Pisces]

but they can use their hard copy to use all the options not in the SRD?

Thanks for the reply

[Agamon]

but they can use their hard copy to use all the options not in the SRD?

Thanks for the reply

Not sure what you mean. Yes, they can use a physical book to build their PCs manually, but that would take a bit of knowledge of the software, and a fair bit more knowledge to make those options automated.

It would be easier for them to connect with you in the game and make PCs then, or have them send PCs to you and you create the PCs in FG.

[Pickled Pisces]

OK I think I have it. They can use their books to know what they want to build, connect with me and basically fill in the blanks. That would save a lot of time and they wouldn't have to buy anything more.

Thanks a bunch!

[Zacchaeus]

Hi Pickled, welcome to Fantasy Grounds and to the community.

Your question has been answered I think. The important point is that if you own the PHB you can share it with your players so that they can create characters using the 'drag and drop' functionality within the 5e ruleset. They won't be able to access the book unless they are connected to you. Of course they can peruse their own hard copies of the books and that means they can have a good idea of what they want before joining your game to create the characters online.

I would recommend that you take a good look at the tutorial campaign that you can get by clicking on the link in the sticky at the top of this forum and you might also benefit as a new user from some of the other links to particular topics and videos also stickied above.

[Patou]

I am a big time DM for over 27 years. I personally love the way Fantasy Grounds sets everything up. With all the upcoming VTT's emerging this year I still think you can't go wrong with Fantasy Grounds. The system simply offers too much for the DM in regards to tools to smooth out and speed up the game!

As for modules sold by Fantasy Grounds they are a big asset. I own the physical version of the PHB, MM, HofDQ, RoT, PotA, and Curse of Strahd and I was crazy enough to buy them all on Fantasy Grounds as well just because every encounter and room description are linked to the maps and the story board. Just that in itself is a time saver of flipping pages. As for combat is concerned well... i could go on but I'll save you time to play D&D instead

It is no wast of money! Trust me. Me and my players are all waiting to see what Doug and his team have cooking up in the stove and we are greatly enjoying the game we play every 2nd Friday night which thanks to Fantasy Grounds has a lot more punch then it use too.

[Kontroar]

Although I had already purchased the hardback books, I have purchased the following:

The Complete Core Class Pack (PHB)
The Complete Core Monster Pack (MM)
The Complete Dungeon Master's Pack (DMG)

Probably the biggest value I have received has been in saving time, typing, and clicking. A number of things can be simply dragged and dropped into various parts of FG without me having to create the base entry first. That being said, as I understand it, the core ability to manually recreate much of the material is already there. So, if you have the time to learn the correct syntax much can be made. Also, I do own an Ultimate license and by purchasing the complete packs, I am able to share the resource with my players while they are connected to the server. If cost is concern, you may wish to investigate the Par5e project.

As for the products themselves, the ease of accessing the content on the fly/mid-session I find invaluable. For example, WotC's decision to simply list all spells alphabetically had some reasoning, but it can be a pain if you're wanting to only look at a cross section of the spells for a certain class. (Yes, I do miss the layout of the 1st and 2nd Ed PHB...nostalgia, I guess.)The digital PHB has tables that already allow for that. So, a few clicks later and I can be discussing the spell list of a character with a player. To clarify, FG displays the list and I can simply click on the spell as opposed to marking the class spell list in the hardbound, and flipping alphabetically to find the spell I want to read about.

Purchasing the digital books is certainly dependent on individual preference, cash flow, and free time.