DICE PACKS BUNDLE
  1. #1

    Interesting boss mechanics in FGU

    I've been thinking about how FGU could lend itself well to some interesting boss mechanics and as much as I have a few of my own suggestions, untested, I would like to hear what others think.

    For example;

    - You could have a boss that fights on multiple planes or changes the map. Is it possible to have a party on the Combat Tracker spread across more than one map? If so, you could have two maps running where one half of the party have to hold off the boss whilst the other has to achieve something.

    - You could have a boss who uses LoS to hide after every attack until the party works out a way to anchor them

    - You could use LoS to have a boss that throw up walls whenever someone gets near

    - Weather changes are purely aesthetic but cool features


    What else? Does anyone have any cool suggestions that take advantage of the FGU features?

  2. #2
    Zacchaeus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    20,742
    Yes, you can have different party members on different maps. This isn't unique to Unity.
    If there is something that you would like to see in Fantasy Grounds that isn't currently part of the software or if there is something you think would improve a ruleset then add your idea here https://www.fantasygrounds.com/featu...rerequests.php

  3. #3
    LordEntrails's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    -7 UTC
    Posts
    17,152
    Blog Entries
    9
    Rather than using multiple maps, I would suggest a single map with multiple sections. FGU only remembers token LOS for a single image, so if you switch images, LOS will be reset. This applies to mutli-level dwellings and closely linked encounter locations (i.e.portals etc).

    With FGU you can also use map layers combined with tiles to do things like have variable geometry locations. Turning on and off specific tile layers would allow something simple like a rotating hallway. I'm sure more advanced techniques can be developed too.

    Problems? See; How to Report Issues, Bugs & Problems
    On Licensing & Distributing Community Content
    Community Contributions: Gemstones, 5E Quick Ref Decal, Adventure Module Creation, Dungeon Trinkets, Balance Disturbed, Dungeon Room Descriptions
    Note, I am not a SmiteWorks employee or representative, I'm just a user like you.

  4. #4
    The only experience I have with map layers is to add effects and such, do you know of any tutorials available to talk me through how else I could use the feature?

    And thanks for the advice.

  5. #5
    LordEntrails's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    -7 UTC
    Posts
    17,152
    Blog Entries
    9
    I don't know of any tutorials. Maybe Mr Z's videos go into it. Not sure.

    But as an example, take a hallway corridor that sometimes branches left and sometimes branches right. Put two tiles in the space, one with the left branch and the other with the right branch. Hide one 'right' one and and the first time the party passes through the hallway goes left. Change/switch the visibility of the two layers and next time the party will see the hallway goes right.

    Some players may not even notice, others might start to wonder

    Problems? See; How to Report Issues, Bugs & Problems
    On Licensing & Distributing Community Content
    Community Contributions: Gemstones, 5E Quick Ref Decal, Adventure Module Creation, Dungeon Trinkets, Balance Disturbed, Dungeon Room Descriptions
    Note, I am not a SmiteWorks employee or representative, I'm just a user like you.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by WinterSoldier7 View Post
    I- You could have a boss that fights on multiple planes or changes the map. Is it possible to have a party on the Combat Tracker spread across more than one map? If so, you could have two maps running where one half of the party have to hold off the boss whilst the other has to achieve something.
    Yes, I've done this many times in FG Classic. For example, using the DND 5e ruleset I had a fight partly in the prime partly in the feywild and partly in the shadowfell against a deity who existed in all three simultaneously. Each map was a minor variation of the prime map and the party was on all three. I had variant bosses on each map but they were linked for effects.

    - You could have a boss who uses LoS to hide after every attack until the party works out a way to anchor them
    Yes this is also available in classic, you just manually click the eyeball that makes the token invisible. I often have enemies run around corners and vanish or duck behind a wall and move to a different part of the wall without being visible to the party. I also do fights in 3D where someone is on a roof and they stand up to shoot, then kneel down below the peak of the roof and are not visible to the people on the ground. All this done just by clicking the eye in the combat tracker.

    - You could use LoS to have a boss that throw up walls whenever someone gets near
    Yes, I also do this. I use tokens not linked to NPCs (or sometimes I make a 5' section of wall with a defined AC and HP) and it works in classic too.

    - Weather changes are purely aesthetic but cool features
    not just aesthetic. Add an NPC hazard or trap for the rain or sleet that might sweep you off your feet or down a slope into a river with a strong current. encounters with interesting terrain and events are much more fun in general. Again, I do this in Classic.

    What else? Does anyone have any cool suggestions that take advantage of the FGU features?
    No, because I don't use Unity yet (other than testing which has shown me I'm not wiling to move yet until it gets more stable and faster). But I do have lots of ideas for cool mechanics that work in both Classic and probably unity.
    Multi-stage boss: have two NPCs in the encounter, the first stage of the boss and the second stage of the boss. When the first one is defeated or a certain event occurs the first vanishes and is replaced by the second. Click the eye to make the first invisible, click the other eye to make the second visible, transfer any effects that would not be canceled onto the second. This doesn't just work on bosses. I use it for elementals that are bound by something and elementals that are raging out of control.

    The enemy is the map itself. I do this for Kaiju battles. I make custom tokens out of parts of a creature's artwork and use the creature as the map with the party running around on its body and use NPC Hazards to represent the danger of being thrown off, etc. I lay the tokens over the map at the same size as the map and with no border art on the token so it looks like the map is interactive.

    One that Classic cannot do easily that I am looking forward to in Unity is taking advantage of the on-the-fly-map-asset-editing and have a battlefield that changes during the encounter. This would allow things like Avatar-style Earth and Water bending changes to the terrain. Not just the walls you mentioned, but pillars, trenches, tunnels, ice slides, etc. Also imagine rapidly growing vines and plants transforming the map, or a spreading river of lava, or a building crumbling and falling off a cliff where a row or two of squares on the map vanish every so often. I also have an adventure I've been wanting to run based on the Rolemaster rules where it occurs in a series of tunnels that are only stable while you look at them. As soon as you go around the corner if you turn around and come back it looks different. The Line of sight mechanics would make that so much easier.

  7. #7
    Wow, plenty to chew on there. I love this stuff and hopefully, with some practise, I can get it working with confidence in my own sessions!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
5E Product Walkthrough Playlist

Log in

Log in