Combat Groups Extension (Fantasy Grounds Unity 5E Ruleset)

[SilentRuin]

Am I correct in saying that there isn't currently a way to roll initiative for all NPCs (or all actors) currently visible in the CT without also rolling for all the hidden actors?

Correct - there is no case i would not want that happening in my games.

[rocketvaultgames]

Right on. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I run multiple parties in a shared world on different days so I almost always want to preserve existing initiatives for hidden groups, but I definitely understand not needing it.

[MrDDT]

Right on. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I run multiple parties in a shared world on different days so I almost always want to preserve existing initiatives for hidden groups, but I definitely understand not needing it.

You can use another ext that helps with this, by giving them a fixed INIT and removing it once you start that session.
https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/692/view

[rocketvaultgames]

Thanks! I do use FIXINIT for some things. I didn't think to use it for the more global picture. I'll give it a spin but I think it's going to be more work than just rolling individual initiatives for what's showing in the CT.

[SilentRuin]

Thanks! I do use FIXINIT for some things. I didn't think to use it for the more global picture. I'll give it a spin but I think it's going to be more work than just rolling individual initiatives for what's showing in the CT.

As my players only EVER see stuff in CT that is owned by them (or of same faction in some cases when not controlling groups of things) - and I often only have the active turn CT entry and its targets as only things showing on my host CT - any non roll of inits out of sight of CT would cause issues. Just FYI. Though if you have need of something you can always rewrite it to do what you like or add your own extension in to do only visible on CT rolls - which I warn you - will cause issues for you at some point unless you always keep everything in your CT for your "current players section of the world". IMHO this will be a dangerous option if you do do it - fixing the inits as MrDDT says seems much safer as you have to actually acknowledge to yourself those things are off limits for init rolls.

[rocketvaultgames]

Sounds good. I'm in no way suggesting you should write this feature just for me! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that was there but I was just missing.

How I've been running for multiple groups is:

Total of ~200 actors in CT, all in ~20 combat groups.

Players can see anything in CT that I have toggled to visible (FGU visibility toggle) irrespective of faction, etc.

I have an "active" and "sitting out" combat group for each party.

During a session, I'll have the active party combat group and any NPCs relevant also showing.

Basically what I'm missing is a 1-2 click initiative roll for friendly and non-friendly NPCs (and PCs, ideally) that are in visible combat groups. The FGU Menu will roll for all the hidden combat groups (as expected), so I am typically once per encounter, rolling initiative on a per-actor basis for usually 2-4 actors (friendly NPCs) while the PCs roll their own. Usually Hostile NPCs are pre-rolled when added to CT. This is still easier than toggling FIXINIT effects I think.

Not directly relevant, but I'm in the same boat with Clock Adjuster. I would love for it to only adjust NPCs currently in visible combat groups, but it hits all the hidden actors as well (expiring effects in mid-combat for another party).

Regardless, Combat Groups is on a short list of must-have extensions in my book, and I thank you for that.

[SilentRuin]

Sounds good. I'm in no way suggesting you should write this feature just for me! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that was there but I was just missing.

How I've been running for multiple groups is:

Total of ~200 actors in CT, all in ~20 combat groups.

Players can see anything in CT that I have toggled to visible (FGU visibility toggle) irrespective of faction, etc.

I have an "active" and "sitting out" combat group for each party.

During a session, I'll have the active party combat group and any NPCs relevant also showing.

Basically what I'm missing is a 1-2 click initiative roll for friendly and non-friendly NPCs (and PCs, ideally) that are in visible combat groups. The FGU Menu will roll for all the hidden combat groups (as expected), so I am typically once per encounter, rolling initiative on a per-actor basis for usually 2-4 actors (friendly NPCs) while the PCs roll their own. Usually Hostile NPCs are pre-rolled when added to CT. This is still easier than toggling FIXINIT effects I think.

Not directly relevant, but I'm in the same boat with Clock Adjuster. I would love for it to only adjust NPCs currently in visible combat groups, but it hits all the hidden actors as well (expiring effects in mid-combat for another party).

Regardless, Combat Groups is on a short list of must-have extensions in my book, and I thank you for that.

If these are groups that will never meet sharing the same space, you should be creating your "base world" campaign then copying it for each group as a different campaign and letting them each play it out.

[rocketvaultgames]

Both groups are operating in the same shared world around the same time and will probably meet eventually. Even if they never did, the single campaign in FGU is SO MUCH BETTER.

They were 2 separate campaigns when I started, but once I got Combat Groups, I merged them and I can't express how much I've enjoyed that move. (I'm technically even running 2 other campaigns, numerous one-shots, and even a Blades in the Dark (set in Waterdeep) in the same 5E FGU campaign, these just don't see weekly play like the main 2)

Benefits:

Campaign is always up for either group to access.
No need to duplicate data for anything (story entries for locations, new NPCs, items, maps etc.)
Never having to switch active campaign to check a detail in the other one. (Can prep/worldbuild for either on the fly)

Downsides:

Only 1 Calendar... would be nice to have multiple "current days" tied to multiple party sheets (which would still be able to be viewed/searched as one).
Clock Adjuster can't be used without adjusting time for everything.


Operating with just the 1 campaign in FGU has saved me dozens if not hundreds of hours, plenty of aggravation, and caused me to prep/world-build minor things when I might have balked at the thought of switching back and forth between campaigns.

Again, I'm in no way saying you should change anything for me, and really appreciate all of your extensions.

[SilentRuin]

Honestly, I don't think you'd be able to get any extension to manage something like that as there are two many variables to manage. Effects time out - initiatives change (in my games rerolled every round as I don't believe in the cheat of letting players plan on what to do next based on knowing the next rounds order - way more fun with unpredictability) - damage/temp HP/etc. CT data changes - and as you share potentially the same encountered NPCs their CT data would need to be preserved to allow the other parties encountering them to see the same data.

Gist is - you will always be forced to choose some "good enough" path of manual data management that no extension will be able to predict for you. Will just have to be part of your session prep between sessions. And I believe this will include making a copy of the master campaign after any group is finished so you can bring up the master and the last stored copy to edit the master with anything the group had in its last session with common sense application of the master state of any common NPC/PC map area structures.

There is really no other reliable way to manage what your trying to do - for sure no extension could manage that kind of thing for you IMHO.

[rocketvaultgames]

Honestly, I have pretty much all that I want. My 'good enough path' is definitely good enough, but if it can be better, I'll take it.

I know some other extensions (5e Legendary Assistant, Illihad's Prompt Reaction) started out with hidden combat groups being picked up by them. They were both able to (quickly (if not easily)) make changes so only visible combat groups would be picked up (toggleable option).

Ultimately if there was a 'hook-in' of some kind where any extension could toggleably optionally care about 'everything in the CT' OR only 'actors in visible combat groups in the CT', that would be perfect.