It's my fault, but...

[rhammer2]

You really should look into taking some classes at the Fantasy Grounds College, https://fantasygroundscollege.net/

They offer classes and online videos to run FG, they primarily show case D&D5E, but do have GMs of many different systems.

- Robert

[bkyrlach]

It just still feels like so much is not implemented right now. Worse yet, there's almost never a good manual option for doing what I need to do when I can't figure out (or Fantasy Grounds can't do) what I need to do.

Case in point, I ran a sample combat for my group to prepare for tonight's session. Several cases came up where even basic spells weren't automated. I'd love to have a way to just say "I'm rolling some damage die here", or "I'm rolling a healing die here". So, I realize that "heal" is probably one of the more complicated spells to provide automation for, but it feels almost useless in its current state.

1) It's not properly applying any of the Cleric's feats.
2) There doesn't appear to be a button to use the damage version of the spell.

Using the wiki, I am able to set up some effects, and when it works, the automation is actually pretty neat. I don't know how to handle the fact that you never know what's going to work and what isn't, and without an ability to just tag a roll as a damage roll or an attack roll, when the automation fails, it reverts to a _really_ manual process.

The other thing I couldn't find last night is how to cast spells from monsters. I ended up pitting the party against a pack of Barghest'. Halfway through the fight, I realized they could be casting spells like "Confusion". While spells for PCs at least seem to partially work, I couldn't find any way to cast these spells from the monster?

[kaernunnos]

My understanding is the FG engine trys to create the spell effects by parsing the text when it is added to the sheet, and doesn't always get it right. There is the SR community module you can grab though, it adds characters you can import with all the spells individually entered on their sheets you can drag over to your character's sheets. Ive not messed with npc casting so not much help there, but there are still aspects of the PF2 rules being worked on, adding more automation, so that could be fixed soon, I dunno.

[bkyrlach]

Yeah, I totally get that. And honestly, NLP is a really hard problem, so I get why it doesn't get every spell right. Like I said, I wish I just had a button I could click before I did a manual roll that let me say "this is damage" or "this is healing" or "this is an attack roll". Right now, it's like every other action (or like every one out of three actions) works perfectly, and then the next thing a player tries grinds us back to a halt as we realize the spell didn't do the right thing, and we need to manually fix a bunch of numbers.

[Trenloe]

Like I've said before you need to look at any actions, spells, etc. and verify that the actions you want to do are setup correctly. As mentioned by @kaernunnos above (and me before), the data is not hard coded to have everything there - the ruleset makes an effort to get somewhere close, but you (or the players) need to verify that the actions on your character sheet are setup correctly. If not, you can edit them or create them. All of the things you mention (damage, heal, attack) can all be done via actions in a spell (or use a "spell" for an ability or feat).

If there isn't a little "A" next to a feat in the campaign data list then there isn't any automation when a feat is applied. There's only a handful of feats that have automation. So, make an assumption - there's no automation with a feat, after I add it I need to go and setup any actions or abilities if I want/need them.

The ruleset framework is there, you need to work with it and not expect everything to have automation attached to it - because it doesn't. Fantasy Grounds is a VTT that allows you to play online RPGs with your friends. It is a framework, with publisher data provided for quick access. How you use that framework is up to you.

And, monster spells work the same as PCs - on the spells tab of the NPC record. You need to unlock the record to get similar editing to a PC.

I don't know how to handle the fact that you never know what's going to work and what isn't, and without an ability to just tag a roll as a damage roll or an attack roll, when the automation fails, it reverts to a _really_ manual process.

I'm confused by this statement. Damage, attack, save, heal actions aren't hidden behind the scenes. If they are there on a PC sheet or an a NPC sheet, click the magnifying glass to see what is setup and then you'll know what will happen when you click the button.

90% of the comments you've made on this thread are saying "The ruleset doesn't do this", when it actually does. This comes down to lack of knowledge of the system. It's been recommended by others that you should look into Fantasy Grounds College, and I'll add to that recommendation.

[theMaXX]

Repeating myself... but using (SR) Bestiary and (SR)Drag and drop works.

[bkyrlach]

Like I've said before you need to look at any actions, spells, etc. and verify that the actions you want to do are setup correctly. As mentioned by @kaernunnos above (and me before), the data is not hard coded to have everything there - the ruleset makes an effort to get somewhere close, but you (or the players) need to verify that the actions on your character sheet are setup correctly. If not, you can edit them or create them. All of the things you mention (damage, heal, attack) can all be done via actions in a spell (or use a "spell" for an ability or feat).

It's far from obvious how to accomplish that, even after pouring through the wiki multiple times and playing around with the UI. I attempted to make a copy of the heal spell to add in the ability to also cast it as a damage spell against undead, and so far the way to do that has completely eluded me.

If there isn't a little "A" next to a feat in the campaign data list then there isn't any automation when a feat is applied. There's only a handful of feats that have automation. So, make an assumption - there's no automation with a feat, after I add it I need to go and setup any actions or abilities if I want/need them

Sure, and this is where it would be nice instead of having to dig down into the guts of the spell system (which, as I stated above, are still eluding me), it would be nice if my players could use use `/die [formula] HEAL` or somesuch to just roll the right thing for their spell. I'm not even sure where to begin to set up the three different actions that heal can perform, modified appropriately for all of the feats my cleric has taken, that will also take into account heightening. Particularly for heal, when used as a three action cast, and will damage any undead/fiends in the area (due, again, to a feat my cleric took) and heal all the allies in the area.

The ruleset framework is there, you need to work with it and not expect everything to have automation attached to it - because it doesn't. Fantasy Grounds is a VTT that allows you to play online RPGs with your friends. It is a framework, with publisher data provided for quick access. How you use that framework is up to you.

And, monster spells work the same as PCs - on the spells tab of the NPC record. You need to unlock the record to get similar editing to a PC.

I'm not talking about editing a spell. I just expected the combat tracker to let me cast a monster spell from it. The bestiary entry lists the spells, but there doesn't appear to be a UI that lets me cast the spell from the monster. Googling leads me to suggestions of setting up a dummy PC and adding the spells the monsters have to that dummy PC and casting from there.

I'm confused by this statement. Damage, attack, save, heal actions aren't hidden behind the scenes. If they are there on a PC sheet or an a NPC sheet, click the magnifying glass to see what is setup and then you'll know what will happen when you click the button.

I don't think it's at all obvious, but yes, now that I'm using the UI more, I see where you can get some of this information at least.

90% of the comments you've made on this thread are saying "The ruleset doesn't do this", when it actually does. This comes down to lack of knowledge of the system. It's been recommended by others that you should look into Fantasy Grounds College, and I'll add to that recommendation.

I don't think that's entirely fair at all. Several things I've said it doesn't do, you have agreed, it doesn't do. Some other things are supported with, what at least feels like, extreme amounts of effort on my part. I did finally set up an effect to mimic rage, and another to mimic `Inspire Courage`. When it works, there are things I like about Fantasy Grounds. So far though, it feels like a lot of pain at every step.

[theMaXX]

Repeating myself... but using (SR) Bestiary and (SR)Drag and drop works.

one more time

[bkyrlach]

one more time

This feels a little unnecessarily antagonistic. I'm not trying to ignore your advice. If you think some addons are going to magically fix things, I'll give them a try.

[theMaXX]

This feels a little unnecessarily antagonistic. I'm not trying to ignore your advice. If you think some addons are going to magically fix things, I'll give them a try.

Of course not, but will solve your "trying to set an effect to mimic rage, another to mimic Inspire Courage" problem. It's all solved by the community in the best way possible and you're just trying to re-discover the wheel. (SR) Bestiary, I.E is better than the actual official Bestiary regarding automation. Also, you will learn what you CAN and what you CAN'T automate based on it's examples.
Last thing, if your PC's need something specific, you can just EDIT the values.