A couple minor questions.

Discussion concerning lmarkus' campaign framework for D&D3.x and Pathfinder.

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LordXeen
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A couple minor questions.

Post by LordXeen »

Hello, I want to start by saying what an incredible creation both Maptools and the PF Framework are. This community has kept my D&D group alive despite my players' slow migrations to 4 different states. I'm having just a few minor troubles getting the framework working properly, but I'm daunted and digging through 100 plus pages of documentation. Here's hoping there's easy solutions for these:

1) When I make NPCs, all of their stats are visible to the players when they mouse over. Stuff like hit points, AC and other things I don't want them to see. How do I selectively hide info?

2) All attacks have a note afterward '>>Hidden attack' and my players can't see what they rolled. They resent asking me what they rolled. How can I make attacks public? Or at least visible to the roller?

3) Despite being told what target to hit, the attack macros don't automatically adjust target hit points, my players are balking at using the Attack system at all if clicking through the attack menu doesn't hurt their target until I hit the HP change button. Is there a way, or will I just have to keep manually damaging my baddies?

4) Is there a download-able set of tokens with stats ready for use in the Framework? Like from the Bestiary? It would save me time whenever a random encounter calls for a bunch of kobolds, or something else I wasn't prepared for.

5) One player is an Oracle, which isn't listed in the spell system. How do I Give him the appropriate spells as a spontaneous divine caster? (This one may be off topic, I'll post this question in the subforum for the Spell Manager also.)

Thanks again for everything you guys have already done. Hope I can work out the kinks and get my players to appreciate your hard work as much as I do.

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lmarkus001
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by lmarkus001 »

LordXeen wrote: 1) When I make NPCs, all of their stats are visible to the players when they mouse over. Stuff like hit points, AC and other things I don't want them to see. How do I selectively hide info?
The only thing players see on NPCs is the Armor Class. If you wish to hide the AC, you can edit the Campaign Properties and remove the exposure flag. Instead of:

Code: Select all

*AC (AC/TH/FF/CMD/CMDFF)
use
*@AC (AC/TH/FF/CMD/CMDFF)
LordXeen wrote: 2) All attacks have a note afterward '>>Hidden attack' and my players can't see what they rolled. They resent asking me what they rolled. How can I make attacks public? Or at least visible to the roller?
I am not sure what that note is you are referring too. But the fully exposed roll is visible in the tooltip (mouse over the result to see the breakout).

LordXeen wrote: 3) Despite being told what target to hit, the attack macros don't automatically adjust target hit points, my players are balking at using the Attack system at all if clicking through the attack menu doesn't hurt their target until I hit the HP change button. Is there a way, or will I just have to keep manually damaging my baddies?
Damaging critters is the GMs domain. Monsters have things like regeneration, Damage Reduction, and other specials. Allowing players to apply their damage directly is just not feasible or reasonable.
LordXeen wrote: 4) Is there a download-able set of tokens with stats ready for use in the Framework? Like from the Bestiary? It would save me time whenever a random encounter calls for a bunch of kobolds, or something else I wasn't prepared for.
Yes. (Read the first post.)
LordXeen wrote: 5) One player is an Oracle, which isn't listed in the spell system. How do I Give him the appropriate spells as a spontaneous divine caster? (This one may be off topic, I'll post this question in the subforum for the Spell Manager also.)
Yeah this is a Plothos/Wrathgon topic. Wrathgon's spell manager supports the Oracle (but his code is less stable). Plothos is working on a major re-write that will support the Oracle. In my home campaign, I use Plothos for all "standard" classes, and Wrathgon for the "variant" classes.

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Azhrei
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by Azhrei »

lmarkus001 wrote:
LordXeen wrote: 2) All attacks have a note afterward '>>Hidden attack' and my players can't see what they rolled. They resent asking me what they rolled. How can I make attacks public? Or at least visible to the roller?
I am not sure what that note is you are referring too. But the fully exposed roll is visible in the tooltip (mouse over the result to see the breakout).
There's a modified version of your framework (the PFS one?) that hides attacks from the players, including the tooltip.

I use your base FW and then I add /self to all of the macros in the GM section of the campaign macros because I don't want the players to see anything. ;)

@LordXeen: If your players balk at not being able to apply damage directly, just explain how it's exactly the same as if you kept track of it on paper during a f2f game. How could they know you were actually subtracting anything in that case? 8)

As Lindsay says, it's not practical to track everything within the framework. DR, energy resistance, SR, immunities, vulnerabilities/invulnerabilities, special abilities/qualities, and so on... Then there are situational effects (someone half-submerged in water who's within the blast radius of a fireball under the effects of energy substitution to make it acid. What is the result of that?). This is why we have GMs. :)

neofax
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by neofax »

LordXeen wrote:1) When I make NPCs, all of their stats are visible to the players when they mouse over. Stuff like hit points, AC and other things I don't want them to see. How do I selectively hide info?
Easy, make sure they are setup as NPC on the config tab.
LordXeen wrote:2) All attacks have a note afterward '>>Hidden attack' and my players can't see what they rolled. They resent asking me what they rolled. How can I make attacks public? Or at least visible to the roller?
If you are using my roll of the framework, grab the newest and check the "Broadcast to all players" checkbox on the attack screen.
LordXeen wrote:3) Despite being told what target to hit, the attack macros don't automatically adjust target hit points, my players are balking at using the Attack system at all if clicking through the attack menu doesn't hurt their target until I hit the HP change button. Is there a way, or will I just have to keep manually damaging my baddies?
OK, this is Pandora's Box as stated both by Lindsay and Azhrei. The FW could do it if someone spent a huge amount of time writing tons of what-ifs into code(FYI Neverwinter Nights does this fairly well and is also based off of 3.5, but by the coders own admission, it is dumbed down as there are too many rules to code around). short answer is the DM should be able to make a faster ruling than the machine. Also, I know there are people that would like to have the freedom of not having a TPK happen on the last session of a 12 month long adventure.
LordXeen wrote:4) Is there a download-able set of tokens with stats ready for use in the Framework? Like from the Bestiary? It would save me time whenever a random encounter calls for a bunch of kobolds, or something else I wasn't prepared for.
Google IMarvinTPA for either Pathfinder and 3.5. He has lots of them for both systems. I need to send him a gift PDF of the Bestiary 2 so he can start on these.
LordXeen wrote:5) One player is an Oracle, which isn't listed in the spell system. How do I Give him the appropriate spells as a spontaneous divine caster? (This one may be off topic, I'll post this question in the subforum for the Spell Manager also.)
D/L my most current version and the Oracle should be there. Or wait for Saturday as I should have a updated one with some fixes Paradox asked me to include.

Glad to have you on board and have fun gaming!

LordXeen
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by LordXeen »

Cool, thanks for the quick responses. I'll see if I can't get a test session in to reproduce the hidden attack problem but I did get a lot of the tokens I needed and the latest version of the spell manager. I'll post again after I have a chance to work some bugs out.

Thanks again for the support, hopefully I can get this campaign focused on the parts that will actually be fun instead of wallowing in mechanics.

LordXeen
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by LordXeen »

Okay, things have gone smoothly for a whole session, excellent!

New questions!

Is there an easy way cause ability damage? There's a lot of poisonous stuff in my campaign world, I'm hoping I don't have to make or modify a dex penalty item someone misses a save.

I have a bard, Is there a way to make inspire courage affect his allies or do I give everyone a 'Bard song' item and toggle it when he's singing?

I swapped the Magic Library for v11g, I see that Oracle is on the list now but when I click on 'Spells known' I get Unknown JSON type "" in function "json.get". What did I do wrong? I mean, I'm guessing there's more to it than that but I'll be honest, this forum is a little tough to make headway in since I'm no programmer. Am I just looking in the wrong place? Could I maybe get a link to a step by step for either updating the spell manager or replacing it completely, if need be?

Thanks again.

-X

neofax
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by neofax »

LordXeen wrote:Is there an easy way cause ability damage? There's a lot of poisonous stuff in my campaign world, I'm hoping I don't have to make or modify a dex penalty item someone misses a save.
OK, there are two ways to handle this. One is for throw away tokens like creatures the DM uses and the other for PC/NPC tokens that stick around in the campaign. Sorry to say, but you will have to make ability penalties, but they are fairly simple to do. The easy way for throw away tokens is to use the "Edit Character" button and click the "Temp Mods" radio button and place the penalty in there(remember, this is the total so if the token takes 2 points and then 3 the second time you apply you will need to make the number 5 and not 3 as the macro does not do the math for you). The correct way is to click on the "Edit Character" button and select the "Edit Items" radio button and then make a descriptive name like "Spider Bite 2 CON". Then in the notes, I like adding the Frequency/Onset/Saves and additional info for the affliction/poison for ease later when I forget how I got the disease/poison and need to remember what needs to happen. Then, go down to say ConMod and place the -2(or whatever) and save. Then click again on the "Edit Character" button and click the "Equip Items" radio button and equip this item. It can be a nuisance the first couple times, but it is a ingenious way to keep track of this type of stuff. Also, I plan to figure out a way to make this more automated but need to sit down and brainstorm the best possible route using the framework.
LordXeen wrote:I have a bard, Is there a way to make inspire courage affect his allies or do I give everyone a 'Bard song' item and toggle it when he's singing?
Here is how we handle it in our group and in the Organized Play group I participate in. The Bard sings and he tells everyone to place the ActiveMod on their tokens and what level Bard he is so they can place the level appropriately.
LordXeen wrote:I swapped the Magic Library for v11g, I see that Oracle is on the list now but when I click on 'Spells known' I get Unknown JSON type "" in function "json.get". What did I do wrong? I mean, I'm guessing there's more to it than that but I'll be honest, this forum is a little tough to make headway in since I'm no programmer. Am I just looking in the wrong place? Could I maybe get a link to a step by step for either updating the spell manager or replacing it completely, if need be?
Well, currently the spell Manager has some rough edges and the other Spell Manager by Plothos does not have the APG info. If you send me the token in question, I will take a look at it and try to fix the problem( neofax99 <AT> gmail dot com). I cannot make a guarantee that it will work. I have this problem come up sometimes and I normally fix it by starting over with a new token. Or, you can swap out the 11g Lib:Magic token with wrathgon's 11E Lib:Magic token to see if that works better for you.

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Azhrei
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Re: A couple minor questions.

Post by Azhrei »

neofax wrote:
LordXeen wrote:I swapped the Magic Library for v11g, I see that Oracle is on the list now but when I click on 'Spells known' I get Unknown JSON type "" in function "json.get". What did I do wrong? I mean, I'm guessing there's more to it than that but I'll be honest, this forum is a little tough to make headway in since I'm no programmer. Am I just looking in the wrong place? Could I maybe get a link to a step by step for either updating the spell manager or replacing it completely, if need be?
Well, currently the spell Manager has some rough edges and the other Spell Manager by Plothos does not have the APG info. If you send me the token in question, I will take a look at it and try to fix the problem( neofax99 <AT> gmail dot com). I cannot make a guarantee that it will work. I have this problem come up sometimes and I normally fix it by starting over with a new token. Or, you can swap out the 11g Lib:Magic token with wrathgon's 11E Lib:Magic token to see if that works better for you.
Yeah, this is actually a bug. The json.get shouldn't be called without testing the parameter first.

The problem is that the code assumes it can retrieve the Oracle settings from the current token, but an older token won't have those settings. So the proper thing for the code to do is (1) request the values for the Oracle, then (2) if the value is empty set it to a workable default (perhaps pulled from the Lib: token so that each class can have an appropriate default).

I'd love to work on the FW some more 'cuz I have a bunch of things I want to do, but there's just not enough time...

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