Roofed Buildings - Map Layers?

[WinterSoldier7]

Looking for some help from anyone who knows the map tools; if I have two versions of a map, one with roofed buildings and one where you can see interiors, is there any way to layer them up so that I can turn the roofs off during gameplay and reveal interiors (complete with LoS and lighting)?

Thanks in advance

(I use the 5e ruleset, if that changes anything)

[Zacchaeus]

If you have walls around the buildings then you can't see into them anyway whether they have a roof or not. If you mean can you have some kind of aerial view where the players would look down and could see into the buildings if they had no roofs then that's not really possible. You could, I suppose, have a layer with just the roof assets on top of the layer with the walls and switch off the roof layer as needed. However you then have all sorts of issues with fog of ways and line of sight etc so I don't recommend it. In such cases where you have buildings with multiple floors I'd suggest putting all the layers on the same map but not as layers; rather have separate maps one for each level on the same map and just move the tokens between the levels as needed.

[Nylanfs]

I thought buildings with roofs were only a modern invention?

[WinterSoldier7]

If you have walls around the buildings then you can't see into them anyway whether they have a roof or not. If you mean can you have some kind of aerial view where the players would look down and could see into the buildings if they had no roofs then that's not really possible. You could, I suppose, have a layer with just the roof assets on top of the layer with the walls and switch off the roof layer as needed. However you then have all sorts of issues with fog of ways and line of sight etc so I don't recommend it. In such cases where you have buildings with multiple floors I'd suggest putting all the layers on the same map but not as layers; rather have separate maps one for each level on the same map and just move the tokens between the levels as needed.

Yeah, I was thinking a layer with roof assets, but was wondering about the knock-on with FoW and LoS.

I guess I would have a map that shows the roofed buildings as purely a visual (no combat) then move to a map with interiors for combat and adding LoS.

What do people use layers for in their maps, generally?

[LordEntrails]

I use layers for grouping light sources and effects (when I have enough), and for when I create the image in FGU rather than CC3+.

[Zacchaeus]

What do people use layers for in their maps, generally?

I use layers for spell tokens and for placing objects like pits or other trap types. These layers remain DM view only until they are needed and then I can make them visible to the players.

[WinterSoldier7]

Ah, that makes sense. I've not used the layers before, but feel like I need to have a poke around before my next session - I've been missing a trick

[Jesse0317]

I'm starting to experiment with using layers and different levels of a dungeon. One I'm going to tackle is the Map for the Ambergul Estate in the Ghosts of Dragon Spear adventure. Thanks to Joshua's Streams I'm a bit more comfortable using the map tools. All this balanced with how much my players will need to load from their client perspective.

[Raddu]

I have done something similar using a layer for the base map and then a layer for each tent/roof. You put the walls on the base map layer and when people go in, you can hide the individual tent/building and only people that go in can see what's inside due to LoS. It works pretty well.

[LordEntrails]

I have done something similar using a layer for the base map and then a layer for each tent/roof. You put the walls on the base map layer and when people go in, you can hide the individual tent/building and only people that go in can see what's inside due to LoS. It works pretty well.

But can they see the roof before you hide it? Wouldn't the walls bloc LOS to the roof anyway? If so, why bother with the roof?