Effects in 4E

[m455954]

I've read through the GM user's guide on effects and searched through the forums but I still don't understand what to enter into the Effects section of the FG console or what the correct format is.

There's a great list of all the usual condition effects in 4e in the library table, but how am I supposed to enter them?

For example, the first one is Balancing, which just crants combat advantage

Should I just enter that as Balancing;GRANTCA ?

I suppose the question I'm asking is how do I NAME the effect as opposed to just having a list of effect actions with no concept of which is which

i.e. how am I supposed to remember that GRANTCA; ATK:-5 is the effect for Climbing without having the word 'Climbing' appearing somewhere in the effect text.

Thanks,

Mark.

[djzombie]

Good question - i dont know to be honest with you. When i first started I had effects written like that, with the names of what the effect was and what they did.

The other players in my campaign took a look at my character sheet and how they were built and said i should just keep the effects in there without the names.

[EugeneZ]

There is currently no way to "label" effects without "cheating", such as using invalid syntax after a semicolon, similar to what you are suggesting.

This is only rarely an issue for our group; sometimes we see an effect and forget why it's there, but since it says next to the effect who applied it, we can usually figure it out in time.

Also, keep in mind that the conditions you are referencing exist within the ruleset. See here:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userg...effects_4E.xcp

Both "climbing" and "balancing" are legitimate conditions which will automatically apply GRANTCA (but not ATK penalties).

[m455954]

But in this Library entry

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userg...gm_effects.xcp

under the 'recommended effects' section the 'Actions' list includes Climbing, Balancing etc....

These are effects that will not be automatically added by powers since they rely entirely on the environment through which the characters are travelling, so there should be campaign 'effects' to pick - and without a way to name the effects it's hard to remember (without looking it up) if climbing gives a -5 to ATK or not (it's not entirely intuitive that it doesn't whilst Squeezing does for example).

I guess I'm looking for 'best practice' advice for setting up campaign effects since the 'help' whilst explaining what each 'action' has in terms of its effect, provides no guidance or examples on actually using effects in play.

Thanks,

Mark.

[Moon Wizard]

If you have an effect that just reads "Balancing", then it will automatically apply the GRANTCA condition.

This section of the manual goes into detail as to which words are automatically resolved into modifiers.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userg...effects_4E.xcp

Cheers,
JPG

[EugeneZ]

This discussion is starting to feel somewhat circular and I'm no longer sure I understand what is being asked. JPG's link and explanation were also in my post so I'm guessing that doesn't help the OP.

OP, have you tried adding the "Balancing" and "Climbing" conditions to the Campaign Effects list? It's the picture on the top-right of your FG window of a running man. Right click in there and click Add, then type "Balancing" and set whatever duration you think best. If you want the DM to remove it manually, just set Enc. Then drag and drop that condition onto PCs when they are, indeed, balancing, and GRANTCA will applied automatically.

[Griogre]

I would suggest for environmental effects you also consider whether it is worth using an effect or just using a modifier on to hit and/or damage rolls. Effect drops work best when you know exactly when they are going to expire or under what condition (like a save). Otherwise the DM is going to be spending a lot of time manually manipulating the effects on the tracker.

[m455954]

Thanks all for your help. My original confusion was indeed because it was not obvious to me that the system itelf would apply the correct modifiers simply by having an effect of 'Balancing' etc.. applied and so I was attempting to re-create them when I had no need.

Maybe this should be spelled out a bit more obviously in the documentation for the hard of understanding such as myself.

Thanks again.

Mark.

[djzombie]

i think the documentation is spot on actually - i just hadn't seen it before.

the docs have an entire list of effects as well as the modifiers they apply when used, that is all i needed, thanks for the help