Using Function Keys for Effects as DM

[Aaron]

Hi,

As a DM I'm always looking for ways to make the job smoother, and FG does a good job at helping with that. To this end I am looking to make more use of the Function Keys (F1, F2, F3, etc), to store frequently used effects, but I am unable to get it working as desired.

If I click the effect button within the effect window, it will add the effect to the currently acting NPC or PC on the combat tracker. If I drag this effect to a function key and then press this function key, it will just list the effect in the chat window, and not place the effect on the currently acting character.

Players are able to create an effect on their actions tab with targeting set to [SELF], and then drag this effect onto an F Key and press that key to have the effect placed upon their character. They cannot do this with effects that are not set to self.

Is there something that I am missing or is this functionality not available?

Thanks.

[Zacchaeus]

I'm not sure since I've never used the function keys in that way but I suspect that the f-keys can't tell who is being targeted for an effect, so that might be the reason.

The question though is why do you need to use the function keys for effects? I find that all the effects I need are either on the PC or NPC which is where you really need them

[Aaron]

I only open the effect window when it's needed because, as you've said, the effects are almost always on the NPC or PC sheet and easily accessible.

One example is I use a fumble effect which grants advantage against the fumbler for one turn, which would make it easier to apply if it was simply an F-Key press. At the moment I reopen the effects window, find it and drag it over, but I will be streamlining this a bit by placing it on an F-Key and dragging it from there.

[Zacchaeus]

Well that does seem to work. I created an effect GRANTADVATK: in the effects window, dragged it to an Fkey and then dragged it to a player on the CT and it works as expected. It doesn't do anything if you just click it since I don't think the f-key will know that it has an effect in it which it should apply to the selected character on the CT.

[Trenloe]

If I click the effect button within the effect window, it will add the effect to the currently acting NPC or PC on the combat tracker. If I drag this effect to a function key and then press this function key, it will just list the effect in the chat window, and not place the effect on the currently acting character.

This is due to the hotkey bar storing the drag data not the click data. The drag data doesn't need target information, because the premise of a drag is that you're going to drag it to a target.

If you're into coding, you can see the differences in the CoreRPG utility\scripts\effects.lua file, actionDrag and actions functions. It would be possible to write an extension to have a click on the hotkey (Interface.onHotkeyActivated event) to check if the type is "effect" and to do similar code to the effect action function. There's a similar extension here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...Roll-Extension that could be used as an example - this does something similar for skill rolls from the 3.5E party sheet, but the theory is the same.

[Aaron]

Thanks Trenloe and Zachchaeus,

I understand this a little better now. Last session I just put my frequently used non-sheet effects onto the hotbar and dragged them from there, it helped a lot. Having the F key have click functionality as suggested by Trenloe would be good, but is beyond my coding ability (which is very basic), but I'm happy with how I have it now.

Thanks, and have fun.