Echo Knight and the new effects system

[thePhantomStranger]

Hey everyone!

I’ve been checking out the newer automation tools and effect systems in Fantasy Grounds Unity, especially the recent improvements around advanced effects and automation, and I was wondering:

What could I use to better support the Echo Knight subclass?

More specifically, I’m curious about ways to make the echo feel smoother and less “manual” for players during combat. Things like:

• easier control/ownership of the echo token
• automating echo-related attacks or effects
• cleaner handling of opportunity attacks from the echo’s position
• movement/swap interactions
• automatic targeting or range validation from the echo instead of the fighter
• temporary effects tied to the echo token itself

I know and understand that some parts probably still require manual handling because of how unique the subclass is, but with the newer automation framework and advanced effects system, it feels like there might be some clever solutions now.

Curious to hear how the Hive Mind other DMs and the community are handling it.

[Zacchaeus]

Took some tracking down as to where this subclass came from

Sounds like you want to create a PC character for this and the player can take control of it just like they would any other character. Just set up the second character according to the rules and give it the stats and attacks that it can make based on the main character.

Most of the effects (like the blinded stuff, and temp hit points) goes on the main character.

[thePhantomStranger]

Took some tracking down as to where this subclass came from

Sounds like you want to create a PC character for this and the player can take control of it just like they would any other character. Just set up the second character according to the rules and give it the stats and attacks that it can make based on the main character.

Most of the effects (like the blinded stuff, and temp hit points) goes on the main character.

Oh, sorry for not point out the subclass supplement.
That actually makes a lot of sense, thanks for the clarification.

I was originally thinking more in terms of “summon-style” automation, but treating the echo as a secondary PC-like actor with delegated ownership does seem cleaner for player control.

Especially since the echo has a weird hybrid behavior mechanically — not exactly a creature, but still interacting with positioning, attacks, opportunity attacks, and teleport swaps. Good point as well about keeping most conditional effects on the main character instead of the echo actor. That probably avoids a lot of edge-case automation headaches.

Really appreciate the insight!