Will 5e abilities and items that currently do not work be implemented in FG Unity?

Firstly, this is not an attack on FG in any way. We currently play on it and generally like and appreciate the system. However, my group is currently considering upgrading from FG Classic Ultimate to FG Unity Ultimate and my players have raised this concern (Which I share).

So explain the title more; Right now in the 5e rule set there are numerous abilities and items that do not actually do what they are supposed too. Current examples off the top of my head are 'Barbarian Rage', 'Smite','Gauntlets of Ogre Str.', 'Ring of Protection' etc.

There are obviously many, many others and some more niche than others but the abilities like Rage are pretty central for the barbarian class. Right now, each time a new char has been built or new items found the tech savvy of the groups have been having to search the forums for ways to 'implement' the items or abilities after we find out that they are not working. Some of the fixes are very smooth, others not so smooth and confuse the less knowledgeable players.

They (And I) found it weird that some core abilities simply weren't in the game and needed a player (Community content creator?) to work out how to code it and implement it to even be able to actually play that class. Some fixes were easy and just required creating a new power, copy/pasting in the community created code and clicking it on and deleting the effect to turn it off. Some I even worked out myself how to do after a little trial and error, which seemed to raise the issue of why it wasn't implemented from the start, even if just for basic things like Rage or Smite that are pretty central to certain classes.

After this was raised by one of them many months ago, we were told that the developers were busy concentrating on Unity so these types of things wouldn't be getting fixed. Seemed fair enough at the time, why fix the old systems little bugs when you are building the entire new system?

So are they getting fixed in Unity, or have they already been implemented? After buying the new system, will we still need to be searching for community fixes and creating new powers to make basic abilities work in a kind of janky way that requires the GM to remove effects when the power is 'turned off'? Same for magical items?

Thanks,
Fean

Welcome to FG.

All of the things that you mentioned can be coded using the effects system so the ability to code them is there already. The rulesets for Classic and Unity are the same so what works or doesn't work in Classic will be the same in Unity.

Things are not standing still of course and the devs have indicated that the way that the effects system currently works will get overhauled in the future. It's on the list but not at the top quite yet.

Here's some videos for you that details all of the effects and how to use them https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...-Videos-for-5E
Some other more specific things are in videos listed here https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...112#post492112
And here's the wiki link https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassia...ced+Automation

Thanks for the info, it will definitely help to have all the resources in one place to access rather than searching the forums each time.

As I mentioned, I knew it was possible to code everything in using the effects system. It just frustrates myself and my players when they level up and gain an ability or get a great roll on a loot table for a new magical item... then pause the game while we all search for how we have to implement it ourselves and create the effect needed. For magical items, I can understand it would take a some time on the Devs part to actually code in how they work and have it add to our abilities or action tabs once we 'wear the item' instead of us doing it ourselves. It just seemed odd that basic class features don't work unless you code it yourself.

It will be interesting to see how they implement changes to the system in the future and we will keep looking at Unity and considering if now is the right time to upgrade.

MOD: Moved to 5e forums

Fean, something else to remember is that Fantasy Grounds Unity, while awesome, is just a framework for using a plethora of gaming systems. It is a VTT or Virtual Table Top. They are constantly adding new rule sets and content creators are constantly adding new, inventive and pretty darn awesome extensions and mods to facilitate all of the rules the core framework lacks. Many of those are free to download and use. Where I find myself having the most difficulty is I am one of those 'details' type of DMs that wants to tweak things. That means I have to do a lot of effects coding and such to make my homebrew additional rules work. If you are going off the basic rules, most of that stuff can easily be added with extensions. There are extensions that include the code for magic item effects, spell effects, feats, class skills...all of that kind of stuff. It is already out there, just not part of the framework provided directly from Smiteworks. At least not yet.

One of the greatest aspects of Fantasy Grounds, IMO, is this flexibility and the great content creators putting options out there. There is also the fact that the community is extremely helpful. Not me so much, I am clueless, but there are a good number of folks always ready to answer questions and help you out.

My gamers and I have often asked the same question you are. Why isn't all this just included in the framework. I think it is because the team at Smiteworks is small and the number of rulesets supported is significant. With the frequency of new material released for all of the rulesets, I don't think they could even try to keep up coding all that stuff in to that level of detail. Same problem I have designing my game. I go down the rabbit hole on one thing to crazy detail level and never get to the point of finishing everything I need to for smooth play. They have to pick a level of detail where they, as a company, can keep the framework up to date and functional with the new content with the staff they have. Just my opinion but I hope it helps.

Happy gaming, hope you and your players have lots of fun. And yes, going to FGU is FULLY worth it in my opinion.