Suggestion: Easily apply damage/healing with the D/H keys

[damned]

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...Dice-(DM-only)
This doesnt answer the OPs original request though....
It might get someone somewhat closer though.

[tintagel]

I started writing about that, but then deleted it, as one of the main things the OP mentioned was making things easier for new users. Because that isn't an easy to use solution either - create a dummy PC with 2 actions - one damage with a d0, one healing with a d0. Drag those two actions to the hotkey bar. Add the dummy PC to the combat tracker and then the map so that targeting on the map can be used - but remember the dummy PC is not an actual creature on the map! Target the creatures that will be the recipient of the damage/healing, type the value in the modifier box and press the relevant hotkey. It works, but newbie friendly? Not at all...

EXACTLY. This is what I have to do and I'm just... well flabbergasted.

See, You all don't know, but here's a long story and I hope some of you read it.

Long ago, I worked on a VT called d20pro. I helped design the original software. I didn't code. I was a usability person, and I did some of the artwork for it (icons, menus, etc). I've been using it for years and even bought Fantasy Grounds in 2007 in order to do a competitive analysis for d20pro. Even then, FG was impressive, but at the core user experience, it didn't match d20pro. Obviously, I was biased; I helped write our user experience after all. The company was owned by Mindgene when I was involved and sold to Mesa Mundi, the current owner. I got out at that time but haven't shopped for a replacement until recently. Again, I don't work on d20pro anymore and have no allegiance. I'm trying to switch to FG honestly.

Anyways, one of the core ideas I had was that the User Interface needed to be direct and intuitive. See tokens on the map? Drag-drop to move them. Right-click to get a menu of what you can do to that token. Tokens weren't separate from the creature. Want to attack with a creature? Right-click it and choose Attack, or select and hit the A key. Then your attacks were listed. Select them, then click the creature you want to deliver them to and confirm. During this process - at every step - you could override things. Add dice, modifiers to damage or hit or impose disadvantage. It was obvious and in your face with a popup. Want to damage 4 units as a DM? Select them via box drag and hit D, and a popup asks how much. Done. Life displayed on the unit. Want to heal your 5 party members for 17 damage? Select, H, type 17, [enter].

See a 50 second video of d20pro in action: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rM...WU_Fhy0lWwGSXn

In FG, I have to select tokens, use a hotkey or special dummy pc to deliver a healing spell or effect, BUT WAIT, I have to type 17 into the modifier box FIRST, then roll the d0 die and THEN I can drag it to each creature. Or I can do mental math on 5 different wound values on the tokens - NO, on the Combat Tracker..? and slow my game down to do the maths.

Now i know that sounds like a rant, but hear me out. d20pro felt like a nice sedan, like an Altima, that I could get into and just drive. Things were fine. FG feels like a limousine. It rubs my feet as I ride. It has full auto-driving and GPS and a wine rack and DVD. But for the life of me, I can't find the Gas pedal or even the steering wheel.

FG: "Why would you want to steer it manually? Just program where you want to go into the GPS."
Me: "But what if I change my mind and want to go into that field over there?"
FG: "Easy, I wrote an extension that simulates a steering wheel. You just have to program the Lat/Long with minutes/seconds into the dash and it will 'steer' you where you need to go. Easy if you know some Javascript or XML."
Me: "but... I just want to steer myself."
FG: "we found that most people like automatic."

And yet I'm on these forums. And I've spent a week digging deep into the software, and I recently purchased $90 of content (5E core set). Why? Because lately d20pro has had serious performance issues. My Altima broke down on me twice in a week and left me stranded on the road, so to speak. So I checked out this Limo I had in the garage since 2007 and I'm blown away at its potential. I think with the right mods or extensions it might launch cruise missiles at my old high school enemies. But I can't steer it or control the gas with a pedal. I'm invited to write some code or an extension and then maybe maybe it will feel like a steering wheel.

SO... my mom always told me, "Don't complain unless you have a solution." And if you are still with me, you get to hear it:

Allow a right-click menu option on a token to Damage it. A window pops up asking for how much. That number affects the wound value (5E) and deal damage. Negative damage heals. This gets around the keyboard limitations, but doesn't solve damaging multiple creatures. For that, you can have a checkbox on the popup window that says, "apply to all selected tokens" maybe?

[Bidmaron]

Hey, tintagel, thanks for the very constructive way that you concluded and your overall tone.

But I have to say that I've been here a while, and while people grouse in general about the UI (almost always the new folks, and once people get used to it, most cease to bitch about it), no one has ever brought up what you are saying (that I can remember). Me personally, I've never had an issue doing heals and adjusting HP up or down. I use my FG conveyance the way it was designed, and don't expect it to do something like some alternative tool (which I honestly never used one of the alternates).
Your solution may solve your itch making FG work more like the tools you are used to, but think about it a second because you would have to do that for every token you are talking about. Doesn't sound so easy to do anymore. Plus, who can do it, DMs or players too? If players, then you will have 10x more DMs saying they don't want the loss of control having players randomly healing or wounding characters. Then you have to provide a setting as to who can do the function you are asking for. The next thing someone will demand is that the little token HP adjuster is really cool, but why can't it let me roll a d6 (or a d5+2 or...) instead of just having to type a number into the window. Since FG doesn't have modal windows, someone else will not notice that there is a new tiny window somewhere (and where would that be, by the way?) that is asking for the HP adjustment. And then, later in the game after clearing up some windows, they finally notice this little HP adjustment window, but now the token it was meant to adjust is no longer in existence, so the logic tied to the window has to handle that case also.

Have patience, you will learn to maneuver your limousine, but quit expecting it to work just like the Altima you left on the side of the road....

[tintagel]

Thank you for recognizing my desire to be helpful. I hope displaying competitor features is ok on these forums. I really do want FG to be even better than it already is. I'm hoping for a minor feature that would provide large benefits while being as innocuous as possible.

I can clarify a bit if it helps:

• One, these manual damage/heal options are for the GM only. Their purpose is to manually override or control the game to make things just happen. At minimum, the ability to heal/harm/destroy/copy/place creatures is the DM's area. It's fundamental to his/her ability to run the game.
• I mentioned a method to affect multiple targets. It would be similar to Delete All Tokens, only it would only affect those selected. Just like when you move a group.
• Right-clicking on a unit to perform actions is already present in the system and since its initiated by the user, the pop-up window isn't going to be ignored any more than the window that pops up when you turn on Manual Dice or when you click on a pin. It's pretty obvious...

Yes, asking the limo to allow what the Altima does sounds a bit entitled, but you must understand, I've driven many VTs and they have some universal features - a primary one being the ability to easily apply damage/healing. I would go so far as to say it's Industry Standard, so I would be careful in dismissing such functionality. Granted, FG can do it but it's non-intuitive and takes too long for an act uniquely suited for a computer to perform (math). I've found MANY forum topics from folks asking for more intuitive Face-to-Face support, and I've only been using FG for a week.

[Bidmaron]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it can't be done - it absolutely could be done, but few folks experienced enough to do it are going to spend time on something that can already be done with very little effort other than understanding the way FG currently works. As you no-doubt noted, the wish list is polluted with requests for UI-related matters trying to make FG work more like some other program, but you will rapidly get to the point that you look past that because FG is so awesome in what it can do that the others can't touch that we try to be content with SW working to bring us more of that awesomeness rather than trying to make new-adopters lives easier for the first two weeks. Maybe a cruel view, but....

But, it wouldn't be the first time someone had a good and relatively simple idea that one of the grognards around here leapt on to do, but most of us have more critical things we are working on that bring new and not recycled capability to the system we love....

[Andraax]

Yes, asking the limo to allow what the Altima does sounds a bit entitled, but you must understand, I've driven many VTs and they have some universal features - a primary one being the ability to easily apply damage/healing. I would go so far as to say it's Industry Standard, so I would be careful in dismissing such functionality. Granted, FG can do it but it's non-intuitive and takes too long for an act uniquely suited for a computer to perform (math). I've found MANY forum topics from folks asking for more intuitive Face-to-Face support, and I've only been using FG for a week.

I don't know. I already do this - select all the applicable tokens, and drop a damage / heal roll into the chat box, and it applies to all selected tokens. If I want to force a number, I turn on manual rolls, select tokens, then drop a damage / heal roll into the chat box and type the number into the pop-up.

[Trenloe]

T...a primary one being the ability to easily apply damage/healing.

Maybe you've overlooked the ability to be able to apply damage/healing directly to to creatures in the combat tracker? Click on the wounds field, make a change. Use CTRL+mouse-wheel to make an incremental change up/down.

This is one thing that users more familiar with other VTTs sometimes struggle with. The data is stored in the token, the token is attached to the main creature record - which is in the combat tracker. So, always use the combat tracker as the master - make changes to wounds, init, etc.. Editing data is not tied to a "token" per se, it's tied to the related record in the CT.

[Andraax]

Maybe you've overlooked the ability to be able to apply damage/healing directly to to creatures in the combat tracker? Click on the wounds field, make a change. Use CTRL+mouse-wheel to make an incremental change up/down.

You can enter a number in the modifier box, then drag it to the wound field and it will add that number to the wounds.

[LordEntrails]

I hope displaying competitor features is ok on these forums.

Absolutely. Any honest and respectful discussion related to FG (even remotely) is welcome here.

I think as you've seen, there are a lot of opinions on user interface. Not much different than any software application. (I've got experience in the 3D MCAD sector, and discussions there are not much different.)

It's not that new users don't have valuable insights and suggestions, but my advice is to always learn how to use the application the way it was designed to be used. Then, after you are proficient with it, look to customize/configure the UI to fit your needs. Even though any given UI is unlikely to be optimized for any given user, they usually have some competence put into their development and if you can learn to think like the developer, you can learn to excell at the UI, rather than struggling with it.

I'm glad you've joined us and hope you stick around, imo it's obvious you have a lot of value you can bring to the community. Welcome!

[Trenloe]

You can enter a number in the modifier box, then drag it to the wound field and it will add that number to the wounds.

This exact process won't actually work - the Wound field in the CT doesn't accept a number dragged directly from the Modifier box. You need an extra step - drag from the modifier box to the chat window, then from the Chat to the CT wound field.