Getting Started

[rigerco]

First off, a confession.
I am NOT a d20 person. I live over in the SWADE world.
However a friend of mine is a hard core PF1e person and I've been trying to convince him to bring his game to FGU. He can only play a handful of times per year because the group is scattered and cannot meet face to face as often.

I tried showing him some of the stuff that comes out of the box and the response was - looks like a lot of work.
I know y'all have a bajillion extensions that take that work out - is there a definitive list of "must have" extensions that I could load that would show off the work y'all have done? I don't need the fancy glittery stuff to start - I just want to be able to load a Runelords module and with the extensions show how quickly he could get going.

Thanks

[Trenloe]

Load the Rise of the Runelords Part 1, load up some PCs, and play.

It all depends what the GMs aim is - are they looking for a high level of automation? Or are they looking to use official Paizo material in a VTT to play online with their friends? If you're looking for a lot of automation then yes, it'll be a lot of work with or without extensions - plus the GM will have to spend time working out how to use the ruleset in anger (effects, etc.). We see a lot of new users spend too much time trying to automate nearly everything, never play and get frustrated. The community recommendation is to start playing and add things that you feel you really need to make your game run smoothly.

[rigerco]

He's looking for automation like I have with SWADE.
For instance cast a spell and have the effects apply to targets with a click of the button, like SWADE powers.

[Trenloe]

In the PF1e ruleset it tries to parse actions (save, damage, etc.) from the description text of the spell. As Paizo don't use repeatable language this can work relatively well for some spells, but not so well for other spells. There are some community created OGL modules that help with this - see the list here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ist-of-Modules

The "Spells with Effects" is a good one to look at - this also recommends some extensions to use in tandem with the modul.e

[Navigat0r]

With or without extensions, there is some degree of work involved - that work may come in the form of setup or a bit of slowdown as things are done manually. I myself like gameplay to run smoothly and I do not mind spending time to set up things so I choose to use extensions. As you may have noticed, not much is automated out of the box in the PFRPG ruleset (though it can be automated, which I will get to). Like you said there are plenty of free(!) community modules and extensions that can help. As Trenloe has mentioned, it is likely best to start slow with extensions so you can get knowledge of what you want FGU/extensions to do for your campaign. I second Trenloe's recommendation of the Spellbook module by dllewell (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/414/view). This contains all pathfinder spells with effects already attached. Without this module, only the most basic save/attack roll + damage spells like fireball or scorching ray have automation. Anything more complicated - which is to say, the spells you might want automation help for - don't usually have effects (enlarge person, mirror image, beast shape). There are also free community modules containing just about anything you could need to run a pathfinder campaign (all feats, all races, bestiary monsters etc - though not all are automated ).
When it comes to extensions, that depends on the needs of you campaign. For example, the aura extension is great if you are running a paladin or other aura-using character, but you probably don't need it otherwise
That said, there a few automation extensions that I find to be useful in a wide variety of situations. The first is the effect builder (and accompanying pfrpg plugin) by soxmax https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/457/view. Learning to make the effects and take advantage of FGU's power can be a big task, but the effect builder really helps by handling the syntax aspect for you. You can just make the effect with drop down menus and a few clicks if you want to automate something. For quality of life, Advanced item actions is also good for giving you actions and effects when you equip potions, scrolls and the like https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/48/view.
Finally, if you use the spellbook module I mentioned earlier, Upgrade NPC actions somewhat improves automation of NPCs in the combat tracker https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/35/view. Without this extension, many monster abilities have no automation at all (breath weapon, power attack, spell like abilities). Upgrade NPC actions also allows you to "fix" non-automated spells on a character sheet by reparsing and taking effects from the spellbook module

I myself use A LOT of extensions
So if you are looking for other extension recommendations, I am happy to help.

[rigerco]

Thanks for the recommendations. I use a number of extensions in SWADE myself. My friend has played in my savage pathfinder and section d games so is used to the automation I have there. I think he was expecting that to already be there for pf1e (bigger, more well known game, it should have it, right? I didn't bore him with history ).

Anyway, with effects list within powers and a robust list of pre created effects I think he'll be happier.

[Morenu]

I have a mod that I am working on that automates PF1e Feats and several other things, similar to dllewell's Spellbook Extended mod but for Feats and more..

My Mod list (google Sheets) Has all of the PF1e extensions & mods our group has tried at one time or another and the 1st 2 columns show what the above mod needs and what our group uses

In that Sheet, Column A(My Mod) marks the extensions required for my mod to fully work and Honestly they are most of the mods I would "not live without"

Column B(Using) are the extensions and Mods our group uses and work together without issue (until FGU gets updated, and then it typically takes less then 3 days for updates)

thats all in my signature as well a coding effects spreadsheet to help organize the effects

Hope that helps

[rigerco]

Thanks for the info! I'm collecting stuff to show him!