New free PFRPG2 extension - SUMMON: Effect

[mwfantasygrounds]

I've created a free extension for the PFRPG2 rule set that can help automate Summoning spells (as well as the upcoming Necromancer class).

I am not a programmer by trade so I expect there are issues that I haven't identified yet... be gentle

Here is the store page: https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/2059/view

Features
The player can do the following without requiring the GM to manage on their behalf:

• Summon an NPC to the Combat Tracker
• Move the NPC's token on the battle map (after the GM drags it from the Combat Tracker to the battle map)
• Access the NPC's character sheet (double-click on its token on the battle map to access)
• Take actions like Attacks and Spells as the NPC during combat (via its character sheet)

HOW TO USE:

• Create an Effect (for example, via an Activity or a Spell).
• The syntax is:
  SUMMON: $Creature_Name
  (where $Creature_Name is the name of a creature/NPC in any module that the GM has loaded, or that has been manually created by the GM for that campaign).
• Set the Effect to apply to Self.
• Set a Duration (optional).

Current Limitations (may be fixed in the future):

• In some cases the NPC is not set to Friendly. The GM can easily fix this on the Combat Tracker. I am investigating.
• The GM must drag the NPC's token from the Combat Tracker on to the battle map.
• The GM may need to re-size the token when it appears on the battle map.
• The GM has to end the turn of the summoned creature on the combat tracker to advance to the next combatant.
• When the Effect is removed from the PC, the NPC is brought to 0 Hit Points, and the GM must manually remove the NPC from the Combat Tracker (this will also remove the NPC from the battle map). This is an engine limitation and there isn't an error-free way of automatically deleting the NPC from the Combat Tracker.
• The summoning player must double-click on the battle map token, NOT on the Combat Tracker icon, to bring up the NPC's character sheet.
• The NPC has its own line of sight, so if the PC loses sight of the summoned creature, they cannot bring up its character sheet or accurately control it until it's the summoned creature's turn again and the player's view re-centers and auto-selects the summoned creature's token.
• The player must use Target Mode from the map, or the CTRL shortcut, to have the summoned creature target and untarget combatants.

Please let me know if you encounter any undocumented issues, or if you have any suggestions for improvement!

P.S. If SmiteWorks / Trenloe etc. want to take this and incorporate it in any way, shape, or form into core FG or PFRPG2 functionality, feel free!

[ScribblingRambler]

Is this only compatible with Remastered?

[Montis]

Hi, we're playing around with this and it seems quite cool - Kudos for doing this. However, there are a few small issues:

When summoning a creature, for some reason the size and reach are set to 1.

Additionally it seems that the effect needs to be exactly "SUMMON: [creature]". Usually you can give effects a "name" by having a line like "Summon Animal (sustained); SUMMON: [creature]". It's not a super big deal though and will probably require quite a bit of effort to change, the other issue is much more important imho.

The third (and even more minor) "issue" is that it seems to randomly pick from the loaded books. E.g. we summoned an Elephant and I currently have 3 entries for that in the Bestiary. One from Age of Ashes book 2 (we are playing that campaign atm), one from Bestiary (1) and one from Moster Core. It picked the AoA Elephant when summoning.
There was a similar 'issue' in the Pathbuilder importer for the items, I wonder if there could be some sort of library extension where users can sort their preference of priority for loaded modules *thinking*

[mwfantasygrounds]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll see what I can work out on those