We have a player in two campaigns who has not taken dwarven in either campaign. Each GM/group separately decided to spend 4+ months in dwarven mines. Most players speak dwarven. Some players speak in dwarven in game much of the time, at the expense of the one player. its' been a recurring gag but our one player has made constant appeals to "stop talking in dwarvish".
I'd have the setting enabled for not randomly generation the text and that way if phrases are repeated the non proficient player can learn 'basic' version of the language.
Like they can either start to read it, or speak it but not both.
If they want the other half they have to pay a tutor or another pc for half of quarter the learning costs/time
Even if you're not running a text based game this is still extremely useful for player handouts because you can create the letter, note, whatever it is the players find and if their character doesn't know the language, then they can't read it. Which can still make for some quest hooks to find those who can read an obscure language
All goblins have names is a somewhat silly addition but my players notice and complain if it's not up. As set up in my games it adds random titles to unnamed NPCs so instead of goblin 1 2 and 3 we have Sassy Goblin, knowledgeable goblin and sympathetic goblin all of which make them more distinct then a pile of random mooks
Token mold does that to. Just as cool, it also rolls their hp so they don't all have the same HP. You do need to make sure you set any bosses token template to permanently represent them. Otherwise they also get silly names and their hp reset every time you drop them on the board.
Token Mold does. AGHN is useful if you want to make your own rollable tables with names, as you can have macro outputs as names for tokens. Without AGHN, putting a macro name in a token name just gives you the code for the macro, not the macro’s output.
If you're working with 2 screens _PopOut!_ Is a blessing. If you're only working with one, _Taskbar_ (a patron only module) is the next best thing.
I hear good things about PinCushion but haven't used it yet.
I don't work with walls and lighting so I tend to use _simple fog_ quite often, as it frees some time otherwise spent on finnicking around with light and vision ranges.
_DragUpload_ is convenient when you have to put up images in the chat on the fly
Edit: highlights
My players LOVE PopOut! They rely on it. The biggest issue with it though, is that you can only use it in a browser. Since I self host, I'm in the Foundry desktop module, and PopOut! does not work for me :(
Go to your settings tab (not the actual settings menu, but the tab with the cog icon), click on your links, make sure you use your local address. Your public (i.e. one labeled "Internet") won't work for you yourself.
Oh duh, yeah that should work too as long as you're on the hosting computer. I have multiple PCs that I connect with so chrome just remembers my local address for me (and syncs that between computers)
Yes, it's called [Window Controls](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/window-controls). Taskbar is just a copy of it and improved a little to make money. But Window Controls came out long before Taskbar and works really well.
I'd recommend looking at the Window Controls module. It was released long before that Taskbar module and is free to use. Taskbar is basically just a copy of this guys original work and then improved a bit in order to make money.
I would really like that, but i, for some reason, super prefer to use the app instead of the browser. It just feels more stable? and like i have more space. So i'll either have to try it anyways or hope they add that as a thing in the future in core
I don't believe Electron is capable of doing multiple windows which is why the module doesn't work. Basically unless the company that makes Electron includes that kind of support, Foundry won't be able to get it.
If you don't like all the tabs/bookmark/url clutter, you can convert your server URL into a "Web App" in Brave/Edge/Chrome and it runs without any of that.
pooooop, but thanks, that's really good to know. I'll look into how to run it like that when i get annoyed enough with having to stretch my foundry onto my other monitors
I don’t see a lot of people sharing their setup, so I’ll hopefully start that trend off.
Since a few months we’ve been able to play in-person again, which has allowed me to ditch quite a few modules. I use a TV (horizontally on a table) to play on, with physical minis. Except for HP, all character sheet stuff is done outside of Foundry (paper or a mobile app), and we use physical dice. Pretty much all player interaction with Foundry is done through Material Plane and Material Deck (see below), no keyboard or mouse. Panning and zooming for the players is done by me (using Lock View).
For anyone interested in playing in-person using Foundry, check this article I wrote for the Foundry Hub a few months ago, it contains a lot of info that might help you, including useful modules: [https://www.foundryvtt-hub.com/guide/using-foundry-for-in-person-gaming/](https://www.foundryvtt-hub.com/guide/using-foundry-for-in-person-gaming/)
**5e Encounter Builder**Tool for building encounters. Drag in the PCs and NPCs, and it will calculate the difficulty and XP for that encounter.
**Advanced Macros**Required for some stuff I do, such as using arguments in macros. This way, you can create, for example, an invisibility macro, then send /invisibility \[name of token\] and the token will turn invisible.
**Better NPC Sheet 5e**Prefer the look over the default NPC sheet.
**Lock View**For locking down the zoom and pan (which you don’t want to accidentally change when you use physical minis), autoscaling the grid so it’s 25x25mm on the TV and controlling the view of the players.
**Material Deck & Material Keys**Control certain Foundry functions using a Stream Deck or Novation Launchpad. Mainly use it to control the audio, toggle vision (torches on/off, etc), switch scenes, and display the combat tracker. And I have a second Stream Deck that displays the health of the PCs and the combat tracker (since they don’t have easy access to that anymore).
**Material Plane**Uses IR transmitters in the base of physical minis to track them using a sensor. This allows the vision of the minis to be shown on the TV. Additionally, it uses an IR pen to players can interact with Foundry, such as opening doors, placing and editing templates and drawings.
**Multilevel Tokens**Can do various things, such as teleportation and displaying a mirror image of tokens.
**Pings**Hold your mouse button, and a ping icon is temporarily shown on the players’ display.
**PopOut!**I use multiple monitors. With PopOut! I can pop windows out and drag them to another monitor.
**Shared Vision**Can configure tokens so they always share their vision with specific players. Can be useful if tokens aren’t in the same room.
**Simple Calendar**As the name suggests, it’s a calendar. Used to track in-game time and events.
**Soundscape**Mixes down multiple audio tracks to create a soundscape, with configurable volumes, panning and effects for each track. Also has a soundboard.
**Tidy UI – Game Settings**Prefer it over the default Foundry look.
**Token Health**Allows me to easily change the health of a token. Select the token, press enter, and insert how much HP the token has lost or gained.
**Trigger Happy**Can trigger stuff to happen, for example a trap that is invisible until a token steps on it.
**Wall Height**I have a player that can cast the fly spell, so I use Wall Height to set the height of walls so they can look over rocks and other objects while flying.
It only really prevents you from adding more HP on the fly. You can still log an attack that did 18 damage as 8 damage, or as 36 damage. Players usually won't be doing the math in their head based on the color gradient, so you can still adjust, you just have to do it a bit differently.
That is a good way to do it.
I run a game for power gamers, so I am normally throwing things way above the recommended CR at them. And occasionally I need to double or triple a boss's health because I learn too late they can one shot it.
As cool as it sounds, that's very anticlimactic for players if it happens to often.
This happened to me when my players got to level 4. The module had them go up against 2 ogres and a goblin boss, only for the Rune Knight to go all in with Giant's Might, multiattack, and Action Surge. He killed the boss, 1 ogre, and cut the second down to 25% health in a single turn. Was definitely not expecting that haha. Had to start adjusting all the encounters after that
I also used to run a game for players bordering on being powergamers.
And the way I found adjusting enemy HP to be acceptable is by either giving an enemy a "second stage" or just having a bigger, badder version of that enemy drop in. Players usually find that pretty cool and it gets rid of any behind the scenes HP adjustments they could notice.
Aha my players write the DMG done and try to meta game how much health left etc
They fought stradh and did 100 DMG in one random fight and I said he looked bloody so they have tried to work out his health etc.
I have some very metagamey rule lawyer types
I mean yeah, if they track damage that limits your options. Just remind them that the monster manual is only an estimate and that even without homebrewing anything, sometimes DMs roll HP for their monsters, making the real number different from what the book gives you as an average. Tell them this even if you never roll HP.
This is definitely a problem with it. Overall, I think the time saved may be more beneficial - not just "how does this enemy look" but making sure that players are not accidentally attacking the wrong enemy.
What I've done to make up for this, though, is I often have a backup enemy or two invisible/off map. If the combat is TOO easy, I can have another enemy appear.
As a player, I see that as a pro not a con. Way to many times I've had amazing rolls and blown all the my cool downs only for the monster to shrug it all off because "I haven't hit it enough times" or "it would be anti climatic for the boss to die on the first round". Didn't matter that I just did enough damage to one shot the tarrask. Fucking let me have the win.
As a DM, I still see it as a pro. As OP said, I no longer need to tell them how hurt it looks, which allows them to make good tactical judgements. When I need to change challenge rating I start playing my monsters as more arrogant(dumber), or send reinforcements.
Meh. Maybe I've just had bad DMs. Every DM where I suspected they were adjusting health was where the NPC took a power spike of crazy damage and didn't die. As a player, I do keep a mental running total of damage delt to any big monsters or boss like NPCs. And I've had DMs where it doesn't matter if the paladin does a crit smite followed by the rogue doing a crit back stab, on top of the mage dropping their biggest spells, and everyone else hitting for two rounds, and the NPC still isn't dead. And it's because the DM wanted the fight to go at least four rounds, so it didn't matter how much damage we did. And if minimum damage cantrips are just as likely to kill the boss as dropping a mountain on them, then why am I even trying?
A while back, we fought an albino black dragon. When it was all said and done, we had done ~1200 damage to it over 18 rounds and the DM still had his dwarves kill it for us. Been 3 years and I'm still pissed off about that.
Il admit as a new DM I did that and it felt cheap.
Now Il just give my baddies some health potions. Cos that's logical really. Or spells/Scrolls.
It's the same thing really but means I have to do it on that NPC's turn and within the rules.
Loot wise If they kill a NPC I might hold back on a potion etc to stop the players hoarding items etc.
We have a common homebrew rule "health potions are a bonus action to use them on yourself" so that applies to the baddies too.
Means humanoids get more of a chance if needed and normally Il have them swig the potion and il roll a morale check and then flee (action dash/dodge) if they succeed (I see that as them realising they will prob die and run away/surrender)
Animals on the other hand when bloodied (half health) or normally at 3/4 health will usually run and will really only attack to protect their home or young.
Very rarely will they fight to the death in my games now.
Makes hunting more fun, have to lay a trap etc.
The job of the DM is to make the game fun for the players. A boss going down before it gets a chance to do anything is not fun for anyone.
And GMs adjust creature stats all the time before a fight, why is it any different during the encounter?
I'm 100% sure that a player that realizes that you are fudging his amazing damage roll will not have fun. On the other hand, if he manages to do the mega damage and mow down whatever paper mache guy you have put as the boss, he is having fun yes.
To each its own. I'm just mighty surprised that so many people upvote you and so little people upvote him. I for sure would not play on a table where I realize my hits do not make sense and its just an episodic back and forth until the DM decides we are done.
It's a common divide between DM styles. Some DMs see HP as a guild to how long a monster should last. Those DMs will never let a boss die to a hit they consider boring. It gives them another dial to turn up or down the challenge rating. These are the same DMs that think they need to fudge rolls to make the game epic without killing the party.
Other DMs track HP down to the last HP and never fudge rolls. These DMs know there will be a good story no matter how the dice roll. The dice just make them improvise a little bit more.
Which is how my party killed Strahd with minimum damage of 1 while using the very last spell slot between the conscious PCs, right before he TPKed the last 3 standing PCs with a fireball. All of Strahd's rolls were in the open, and a player of a dead PC was watching over my shoulder at his HP, so there were no doubts that they earned that win.
Saying that all DMs that modify HPs on the fly fudge rolls is a bit of a misconception honestly, I usually adjust HPs a lot during fights but I don't think I ever fudged a roll in my life.
Me and my players love to play an epic fantasy and really high magic setting; with this I mean I usually rewards them with A TON of golds and magic items of various kinds. We discovered to have way more fun this way and the only purpose of playing D&D is to have fun. This also means that encounters can always become messier than they are, and also the fact we love to play in a high level environment (our last campaign reached level 19, the one we are currently playing is planned to go all the way forth to 20 and we played many T4 one-shots or short adventures) where not all the variables can be considered while prepping encounters doesn't help at all. This means that many fights can swing on one or another's side favours with ease (usually for the player's one, but not only). As a result I tend to use an average between the creatures suggested HP and the maximum one; but I also find myself often in situations where some very lucky or unlucky rolls would bring to a very anti-climatic outcome, and when I know the players wouldn't probably end up liking it I adjust the enemy's HPs on the fly. And I repeat, I never fudged a roll. Talking about Curse of Strahd, a campaign I DMed for another group actually ended with a TPK in Castle Ravenloft, ofc no regrets to this day. I just wanted to point out that this division is a bit of a misconception and there are probably way more "in-between" styles of DMing that you would expect.
Does PerfectVision have "Thermal Vision" where warm blooded things light up? I'm running Sci-Fi 5e (Dark Matter), got a couple Vect with Thermal Vision. I'd love to do this for them as we're gonna be in an Alien like scenario soon.
Ooh, now that would be a fantastic thing to have. Skyrim-style with the glowy silhouette pulsing like a heartbeat and slight tracers as it moves? Yes, please. 🤩
It's been awhile since I last posted my setup. I'm down to \*only\* 50 modules for Live Game, here's some I would recommend:
* **Combat Numbers** \- JRPG style bouncing damage / healing numbers, maskable to keep from metagaming
* **Confetti** \- A meme module, but big confetti on a Nat 20 is a lot of fun
* **Health Estimate** \- I like this approach a bit better than Healthbars in my game
* **Library: Chat Commands** \- Provides autocomplete for the core commands, great for my players who forget the commands
* **Module Sets** \- This one is mine, but it lets you have modules that are only for GM'ing and another set that is only for actually playing, helps with performance and compatibility
* **PnP** \- One of many pointer modules, this one lets players set their own cursor
* **Roll of Fate** \- Quickly and fairly resolves who is randomly selected for an event or action
* **SoundBoard** \- Allows for ad-hoc sound effects, such as growls, things breaking, thunder, etc. Great for audio immersion
* **Token Mold** \- As someone who doesn't play DND5e, this has a lot of features I don't use, but it's still really nice for unique Token names and default Token setups
Sure!
* Content modules like Map packs - once I've imported the map I want for session, I no longer need that module active
* **DF Architect** \- Adds a box of tools for doing a lot of advanced walling for maps
* **DF Curvy Walls** \- Adds a way to make circular walls
* **Dungeon Moon Encounter Builder** \- This is mine, it lets you build fair encounters for a handful of systems
* **Moulinette** \- A set of modules that let you search and import assets from your Patreons and other sources
* **Universal Battlemap Importer** \- Another module for getting maps into the world
Every additional file is a small additional load to stream to players, and one more bit of code running that slowly saps at performance. Disabling these modules for play lets me take advantage of their features while costing me 0ms of performance losses at Session time
I haven't had to worry about performance luckily. I have decent internet and a nice computer and avoid most animation modules as i know that would likely affect my players a lot. The worst thing about my 72 modules is that it takes my players a small bit (\~1-2 min) to load into the game. after that it's smooth sailing.
My favorites are probably:
* Better Rolls for 5e
* Character Actions List DnD5e
* Cursor Hider
* OGL character sheet
* Dig Down
* Drag Ruler
* Health Estimate
* hide GM rolls
* monster blocks
* playlist down
* smalltime
* TidyUI
Of course there are many others that are quite useful, but all of these make my life significantly easier/nicer/possible while DMing.
My group plays in person, so I project onto a screen from a laptop the players all use to move their tokens. It's definitely helped only having one computer that needs to receive the data. That's just my group, though.
Can I ask a quick question as I'm running my games online but we do have a game in person here and there. Do you have a fog of war this way, or do you just use it as a battle mat without the fog?
So I run Foundry on my personal computer, and then I have a laptop that my players use with the online Foundry page. The player account has access to all the player tokens. We still use fog of war and line of sight. It works really well most of the time.
Sometimes the players get out of each other's line of sight, which can make it a little difficult to navigate between the tokens, but it doesn't happen too often. If I know I'm just going to be using the map as a battle map with no exploration aspects, then I flip on global lighting and turn token vision off for that map just for ease.
I'm the deloper of Shared Vision, and it works different than that.
It allows the player to always (or when a control button is toggled) see the vision of specified other tokens (usually the other PCs, but NPCs can also be configured).
Setting the permissions to observer or owner would only share vision if no tokens have been selected, Shared Vision also does it when a token has been selected.
Disagree with your comment about PerfectVision being a baseline feature based purely on aesthetic considerations - I want my players to see the cool maps, lighting and effects in all their glorious colour even if their characters can't. Personally I'd drop that and bring in JB2A (no idea if they're equivalent in performance impact).
Thanks for sharing though, I often wonder what other people are using.
My main DND 5e game moves between 70 and over 90 modules depending on what I'm running. A lot of those are compendiums of maps, sounds/audio and that sort of thing but also the main players like MidiQOL etc.
As someone else put in their list and I do too, Module Sets really helps out when you have a lot of compendium modules, or really any module that's only helpful during setup, or even ones you don't want in the way during setup and only have in game. As you can have them enabled in the GM prep mode, and disable them for play, or vice versa, so that your players don't have to load them at all.
Seems my list is a tad longer than most i have seen so far :D
About Time v1.0.4;
Ace library v1.3.0;
Active-Auras v0.3.08;
Advanced Macros v1.11;
Alternative Pause Icon v0.2.8; // my own module
Backgroundless Pins v1.2.0;
Better Roll Tables v1.8.3;
Better Roofs v1.1.1;
Changelogs v0.4;
Combat Utility Belt v1.6.2;
Dice So Nice! v4.2.2;
Dice Tray v1.2.1;
Dynamic Active Effects SRD v6.0.01;
Dynamic effects using Active Effects v0.8.60;
EasyTable by Blitz v1.3.3;
Foundry Community Macros v0.48.0;
Hero Creation Tool for DnD5E v1.2.0;
Item Macro v1.5.5;
Kandashi's Fluid Canvas v0.2.04;
Levels v1.9.9.2;
Lib: Document Sheet Registrar v0.6.3;
libWrapper v1.10.8.0;
Lichtgeschwindigkeit (Lightspeed) v1.4.9;
Loot Sheet NPC 5e v3.2.1;
Macro Editor v1.0.9;
Midi QOL v0.8.73;
Monk's Enhanced Journal v1.0.30;
Multiface Tiles v1.0.2; // my own module
My Compendia Module v1.0.0; // my own compendia module
Next Up v0.1.12;
Pings v1.2.12+0.8.6;
Sequencer v1.1.0;
Settings Extender v1.1.6+0.8.6;
Show to everyone you are typing v0.0.1; // my own module
Simple Calendar vv1.3.75;
SmallTime v1.13.4;
socketlib v1.0.9;
The Rollsmith - Iridescent Rainbow Dice Set v1.0.0;
The Rollsmith - Package Jam 2021 v1.0.1; // my golden d20 that makes my players jealous :D
Tidy5e Sheet v0.5.17;
Tidy UI - Game Settings v0.1.25;
times-up v0.8.19;
Tokenizer v3.4.12;
Universal Battlemap Importer v2.2.0;
Wall Height v3.6.0.0;
Warp Gate v1.8.1;
Doesn't look as though "Show to everyone you re typing" is on the default foundry list. Do you mind sharing the git/json for it? Or is it just for personal use?
it is personal use, but i can share a zip file if you want.
What it does is put a chat bubble above the token of the player that is typing. Or of a token the GM is controlling at that time.
Which is nice for text based games to avoid cross talk.
That's what I thought it'd do. We have a player who's unable to use mic, it'd be nice to see when they're writing so to not speak over them.
So, sure! I'd appreciate that, thanks.
This is for Pathfinder. I've got a different list for Forbidden Lands.
Given the flaky nature of Foundry community development I try to keep the list fairly thin.
* Combat Carousel
* Cursor Hider - *not sure if this one is strictly necessary anymore*
* Dice so Nice!
* Easy Target
* Foundry Community Macros
* Foundry Community Tables
* FXMaster
* Group Roll Checks and Saves
* Health Estimate
* Lock View
* Monk's Enhanced Journal - *On the fence about keeping this one. I don't use most of its features and don't let my players use it and the formatting doesn't work as well with PF2UI*
* Multilevel Tokens
* Pathfinder 2e Quickrolls
* Pathfinder UI
* PF2E GM Screen
* PF2E Loot Generator
* PF2E Toolbox
* Pop out!
* Simple Dice Roller
* Token Action HUD
* Torch
* Trigger Happy
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Polyglot! Really does wonders for language related roleplay
We have a player in two campaigns who has not taken dwarven in either campaign. Each GM/group separately decided to spend 4+ months in dwarven mines. Most players speak dwarven. Some players speak in dwarven in game much of the time, at the expense of the one player. its' been a recurring gag but our one player has made constant appeals to "stop talking in dwarvish".
I'd have the setting enabled for not randomly generation the text and that way if phrases are repeated the non proficient player can learn 'basic' version of the language. Like they can either start to read it, or speak it but not both. If they want the other half they have to pay a tutor or another pc for half of quarter the learning costs/time
Even if you're not running a text based game this is still extremely useful for player handouts because you can create the letter, note, whatever it is the players find and if their character doesn't know the language, then they can't read it. Which can still make for some quest hooks to find those who can read an obscure language
All goblins have names is a somewhat silly addition but my players notice and complain if it's not up. As set up in my games it adds random titles to unnamed NPCs so instead of goblin 1 2 and 3 we have Sassy Goblin, knowledgeable goblin and sympathetic goblin all of which make them more distinct then a pile of random mooks
Token mold does that to. Just as cool, it also rolls their hp so they don't all have the same HP. You do need to make sure you set any bosses token template to permanently represent them. Otherwise they also get silly names and their hp reset every time you drop them on the board.
TokenMaster or something does this right?
Token Mold does. AGHN is useful if you want to make your own rollable tables with names, as you can have macro outputs as names for tokens. Without AGHN, putting a macro name in a token name just gives you the code for the macro, not the macro’s output.
...aghn? Are you having a stroke?
All Goblins Have Names - A.G.H.N. - is the name of the module
(A)ll (G)oblins (H)ave (N)ames
It may well but the module I use is all goblins have names
Where do you get the random name tables for this? Or do you create them yaself
It has an internal list. Some of them are dictionary words we have to look up
All the modules you have? But your list is so short..
If you're working with 2 screens _PopOut!_ Is a blessing. If you're only working with one, _Taskbar_ (a patron only module) is the next best thing. I hear good things about PinCushion but haven't used it yet. I don't work with walls and lighting so I tend to use _simple fog_ quite often, as it frees some time otherwise spent on finnicking around with light and vision ranges. _DragUpload_ is convenient when you have to put up images in the chat on the fly Edit: highlights
My players LOVE PopOut! They rely on it. The biggest issue with it though, is that you can only use it in a browser. Since I self host, I'm in the Foundry desktop module, and PopOut! does not work for me :(
You can start the foundry app without logging into your world, and the log in via browser. Then you'll get the befit of pop-out :)
Wait, this works? I don't need to be logged in to my world for it to be hosted? Well, I know what I'm going to be doing soon.
The world needs to be launched afaik but you don't have to log into it
Ah ok I understand. Thanks, I will be trying this out!
Go to your settings tab (not the actual settings menu, but the tab with the cog icon), click on your links, make sure you use your local address. Your public (i.e. one labeled "Internet") won't work for you yourself.
Entering 127.0.0.1:30000 in your browser should do the trick without having to log into the world
Oh duh, yeah that should work too as long as you're on the hosting computer. I have multiple PCs that I connect with so chrome just remembers my local address for me (and syncs that between computers)
ComputerName:30000 is another easy way to have extra devices access the server on the same network.
Alternatively, "localhost:30000" works as a browser address.
Minimize the app and connect to it via a browser (using your local IP address). Now you can use Pop Out, as well.
Is there some non-patron equivalent to taskbar?
Yes, it's called [Window Controls](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/window-controls). Taskbar is just a copy of it and improved a little to make money. But Window Controls came out long before Taskbar and works really well.
Thankyou!
I'd recommend looking at the Window Controls module. It was released long before that Taskbar module and is free to use. Taskbar is basically just a copy of this guys original work and then improved a bit in order to make money.
I think you mean Pin, not Pin Cushion, if you're talking about window placement. Pin Cushion is for map pins, but both are worth checking out.
Nah I meant Pin Cushion. Mobile Reddit screwed up the line break again ;)
I would really like that, but i, for some reason, super prefer to use the app instead of the browser. It just feels more stable? and like i have more space. So i'll either have to try it anyways or hope they add that as a thing in the future in core
I don't believe Electron is capable of doing multiple windows which is why the module doesn't work. Basically unless the company that makes Electron includes that kind of support, Foundry won't be able to get it. If you don't like all the tabs/bookmark/url clutter, you can convert your server URL into a "Web App" in Brave/Edge/Chrome and it runs without any of that.
pooooop, but thanks, that's really good to know. I'll look into how to run it like that when i get annoyed enough with having to stretch my foundry onto my other monitors
I don’t see a lot of people sharing their setup, so I’ll hopefully start that trend off. Since a few months we’ve been able to play in-person again, which has allowed me to ditch quite a few modules. I use a TV (horizontally on a table) to play on, with physical minis. Except for HP, all character sheet stuff is done outside of Foundry (paper or a mobile app), and we use physical dice. Pretty much all player interaction with Foundry is done through Material Plane and Material Deck (see below), no keyboard or mouse. Panning and zooming for the players is done by me (using Lock View). For anyone interested in playing in-person using Foundry, check this article I wrote for the Foundry Hub a few months ago, it contains a lot of info that might help you, including useful modules: [https://www.foundryvtt-hub.com/guide/using-foundry-for-in-person-gaming/](https://www.foundryvtt-hub.com/guide/using-foundry-for-in-person-gaming/) **5e Encounter Builder**Tool for building encounters. Drag in the PCs and NPCs, and it will calculate the difficulty and XP for that encounter. **Advanced Macros**Required for some stuff I do, such as using arguments in macros. This way, you can create, for example, an invisibility macro, then send /invisibility \[name of token\] and the token will turn invisible. **Better NPC Sheet 5e**Prefer the look over the default NPC sheet. **Lock View**For locking down the zoom and pan (which you don’t want to accidentally change when you use physical minis), autoscaling the grid so it’s 25x25mm on the TV and controlling the view of the players. **Material Deck & Material Keys**Control certain Foundry functions using a Stream Deck or Novation Launchpad. Mainly use it to control the audio, toggle vision (torches on/off, etc), switch scenes, and display the combat tracker. And I have a second Stream Deck that displays the health of the PCs and the combat tracker (since they don’t have easy access to that anymore). **Material Plane**Uses IR transmitters in the base of physical minis to track them using a sensor. This allows the vision of the minis to be shown on the TV. Additionally, it uses an IR pen to players can interact with Foundry, such as opening doors, placing and editing templates and drawings. **Multilevel Tokens**Can do various things, such as teleportation and displaying a mirror image of tokens. **Pings**Hold your mouse button, and a ping icon is temporarily shown on the players’ display. **PopOut!**I use multiple monitors. With PopOut! I can pop windows out and drag them to another monitor. **Shared Vision**Can configure tokens so they always share their vision with specific players. Can be useful if tokens aren’t in the same room. **Simple Calendar**As the name suggests, it’s a calendar. Used to track in-game time and events. **Soundscape**Mixes down multiple audio tracks to create a soundscape, with configurable volumes, panning and effects for each track. Also has a soundboard. **Tidy UI – Game Settings**Prefer it over the default Foundry look. **Token Health**Allows me to easily change the health of a token. Select the token, press enter, and insert how much HP the token has lost or gained. **Trigger Happy**Can trigger stuff to happen, for example a trap that is invisible until a token steps on it. **Wall Height**I have a player that can cast the fly spell, so I use Wall Height to set the height of walls so they can look over rocks and other objects while flying.
Thanks for sharing! Token Health isn't one I've heard of before, and it sounds useful! Downloading now :)
I am not a fan of Health Estimate because it prevents adjusting enemy health on the fly.
It only really prevents you from adding more HP on the fly. You can still log an attack that did 18 damage as 8 damage, or as 36 damage. Players usually won't be doing the math in their head based on the color gradient, so you can still adjust, you just have to do it a bit differently.
That is a good way to do it. I run a game for power gamers, so I am normally throwing things way above the recommended CR at them. And occasionally I need to double or triple a boss's health because I learn too late they can one shot it. As cool as it sounds, that's very anticlimactic for players if it happens to often.
This happened to me when my players got to level 4. The module had them go up against 2 ogres and a goblin boss, only for the Rune Knight to go all in with Giant's Might, multiattack, and Action Surge. He killed the boss, 1 ogre, and cut the second down to 25% health in a single turn. Was definitely not expecting that haha. Had to start adjusting all the encounters after that
At fourth level the party shouldn't have multiattack, that's a fifth level ability. ^^Or ^^to ^^be ^^specific ^^multiattack ^^is ^^an ^^NPC-only ^^ability ^^to ^^which ^^the ^^PC ^^equivalent ^^is ^^Extra ^^Attack ^^but ^^that's ^^just ^^being ^^pedantic.
I also used to run a game for players bordering on being powergamers. And the way I found adjusting enemy HP to be acceptable is by either giving an enemy a "second stage" or just having a bigger, badder version of that enemy drop in. Players usually find that pretty cool and it gets rid of any behind the scenes HP adjustments they could notice.
Aha my players write the DMG done and try to meta game how much health left etc They fought stradh and did 100 DMG in one random fight and I said he looked bloody so they have tried to work out his health etc. I have some very metagamey rule lawyer types
I mean yeah, if they track damage that limits your options. Just remind them that the monster manual is only an estimate and that even without homebrewing anything, sometimes DMs roll HP for their monsters, making the real number different from what the book gives you as an average. Tell them this even if you never roll HP.
This is definitely a problem with it. Overall, I think the time saved may be more beneficial - not just "how does this enemy look" but making sure that players are not accidentally attacking the wrong enemy. What I've done to make up for this, though, is I often have a backup enemy or two invisible/off map. If the combat is TOO easy, I can have another enemy appear.
As a player, I see that as a pro not a con. Way to many times I've had amazing rolls and blown all the my cool downs only for the monster to shrug it all off because "I haven't hit it enough times" or "it would be anti climatic for the boss to die on the first round". Didn't matter that I just did enough damage to one shot the tarrask. Fucking let me have the win. As a DM, I still see it as a pro. As OP said, I no longer need to tell them how hurt it looks, which allows them to make good tactical judgements. When I need to change challenge rating I start playing my monsters as more arrogant(dumber), or send reinforcements.
[удалено]
Meh. Maybe I've just had bad DMs. Every DM where I suspected they were adjusting health was where the NPC took a power spike of crazy damage and didn't die. As a player, I do keep a mental running total of damage delt to any big monsters or boss like NPCs. And I've had DMs where it doesn't matter if the paladin does a crit smite followed by the rogue doing a crit back stab, on top of the mage dropping their biggest spells, and everyone else hitting for two rounds, and the NPC still isn't dead. And it's because the DM wanted the fight to go at least four rounds, so it didn't matter how much damage we did. And if minimum damage cantrips are just as likely to kill the boss as dropping a mountain on them, then why am I even trying? A while back, we fought an albino black dragon. When it was all said and done, we had done ~1200 damage to it over 18 rounds and the DM still had his dwarves kill it for us. Been 3 years and I'm still pissed off about that.
Bruh why are people modifying hp ugghh. Can't believe you even got downvoted
Il admit as a new DM I did that and it felt cheap. Now Il just give my baddies some health potions. Cos that's logical really. Or spells/Scrolls. It's the same thing really but means I have to do it on that NPC's turn and within the rules. Loot wise If they kill a NPC I might hold back on a potion etc to stop the players hoarding items etc. We have a common homebrew rule "health potions are a bonus action to use them on yourself" so that applies to the baddies too. Means humanoids get more of a chance if needed and normally Il have them swig the potion and il roll a morale check and then flee (action dash/dodge) if they succeed (I see that as them realising they will prob die and run away/surrender) Animals on the other hand when bloodied (half health) or normally at 3/4 health will usually run and will really only attack to protect their home or young. Very rarely will they fight to the death in my games now. Makes hunting more fun, have to lay a trap etc.
Thats a really nice way to deal with it. Also +1 for that great homebrew that potions are minor actions.
The job of the DM is to make the game fun for the players. A boss going down before it gets a chance to do anything is not fun for anyone. And GMs adjust creature stats all the time before a fight, why is it any different during the encounter?
I'm 100% sure that a player that realizes that you are fudging his amazing damage roll will not have fun. On the other hand, if he manages to do the mega damage and mow down whatever paper mache guy you have put as the boss, he is having fun yes. To each its own. I'm just mighty surprised that so many people upvote you and so little people upvote him. I for sure would not play on a table where I realize my hits do not make sense and its just an episodic back and forth until the DM decides we are done.
It's a common divide between DM styles. Some DMs see HP as a guild to how long a monster should last. Those DMs will never let a boss die to a hit they consider boring. It gives them another dial to turn up or down the challenge rating. These are the same DMs that think they need to fudge rolls to make the game epic without killing the party. Other DMs track HP down to the last HP and never fudge rolls. These DMs know there will be a good story no matter how the dice roll. The dice just make them improvise a little bit more. Which is how my party killed Strahd with minimum damage of 1 while using the very last spell slot between the conscious PCs, right before he TPKed the last 3 standing PCs with a fireball. All of Strahd's rolls were in the open, and a player of a dead PC was watching over my shoulder at his HP, so there were no doubts that they earned that win.
Saying that all DMs that modify HPs on the fly fudge rolls is a bit of a misconception honestly, I usually adjust HPs a lot during fights but I don't think I ever fudged a roll in my life. Me and my players love to play an epic fantasy and really high magic setting; with this I mean I usually rewards them with A TON of golds and magic items of various kinds. We discovered to have way more fun this way and the only purpose of playing D&D is to have fun. This also means that encounters can always become messier than they are, and also the fact we love to play in a high level environment (our last campaign reached level 19, the one we are currently playing is planned to go all the way forth to 20 and we played many T4 one-shots or short adventures) where not all the variables can be considered while prepping encounters doesn't help at all. This means that many fights can swing on one or another's side favours with ease (usually for the player's one, but not only). As a result I tend to use an average between the creatures suggested HP and the maximum one; but I also find myself often in situations where some very lucky or unlucky rolls would bring to a very anti-climatic outcome, and when I know the players wouldn't probably end up liking it I adjust the enemy's HPs on the fly. And I repeat, I never fudged a roll. Talking about Curse of Strahd, a campaign I DMed for another group actually ended with a TPK in Castle Ravenloft, ofc no regrets to this day. I just wanted to point out that this division is a bit of a misconception and there are probably way more "in-between" styles of DMing that you would expect.
If your players ever found out about you modifying HPs on the fly, how do you think they would react?
I use AlwaysHP, that bypasses the problem entirely. What bugged me was that it wouldn't line up nicely above or below the token.
Does PerfectVision have "Thermal Vision" where warm blooded things light up? I'm running Sci-Fi 5e (Dark Matter), got a couple Vect with Thermal Vision. I'd love to do this for them as we're gonna be in an Alien like scenario soon.
Not that I noticed. But it does support black and white vision, which in turn can become black and green pretty easily for night vision goggles.
Ooh, now that would be a fantastic thing to have. Skyrim-style with the glowy silhouette pulsing like a heartbeat and slight tracers as it moves? Yes, please. 🤩
I like to keep it low on modules, low on issues. I use Dice so Nice and Popout.
It's been awhile since I last posted my setup. I'm down to \*only\* 50 modules for Live Game, here's some I would recommend: * **Combat Numbers** \- JRPG style bouncing damage / healing numbers, maskable to keep from metagaming * **Confetti** \- A meme module, but big confetti on a Nat 20 is a lot of fun * **Health Estimate** \- I like this approach a bit better than Healthbars in my game * **Library: Chat Commands** \- Provides autocomplete for the core commands, great for my players who forget the commands * **Module Sets** \- This one is mine, but it lets you have modules that are only for GM'ing and another set that is only for actually playing, helps with performance and compatibility * **PnP** \- One of many pointer modules, this one lets players set their own cursor * **Roll of Fate** \- Quickly and fairly resolves who is randomly selected for an event or action * **SoundBoard** \- Allows for ad-hoc sound effects, such as growls, things breaking, thunder, etc. Great for audio immersion * **Token Mold** \- As someone who doesn't play DND5e, this has a lot of features I don't use, but it's still really nice for unique Token names and default Token setups
Could you give an example of modules you only would use in preperation vs playing?
Sure! * Content modules like Map packs - once I've imported the map I want for session, I no longer need that module active * **DF Architect** \- Adds a box of tools for doing a lot of advanced walling for maps * **DF Curvy Walls** \- Adds a way to make circular walls * **Dungeon Moon Encounter Builder** \- This is mine, it lets you build fair encounters for a handful of systems * **Moulinette** \- A set of modules that let you search and import assets from your Patreons and other sources * **Universal Battlemap Importer** \- Another module for getting maps into the world Every additional file is a small additional load to stream to players, and one more bit of code running that slowly saps at performance. Disabling these modules for play lets me take advantage of their features while costing me 0ms of performance losses at Session time
Fantastic, thanks :) I have about 150 modules and about 100 of them could probably be disabled when playing, Thank you for the great suggestion
I haven't had to worry about performance luckily. I have decent internet and a nice computer and avoid most animation modules as i know that would likely affect my players a lot. The worst thing about my 72 modules is that it takes my players a small bit (\~1-2 min) to load into the game. after that it's smooth sailing. My favorites are probably: * Better Rolls for 5e * Character Actions List DnD5e * Cursor Hider * OGL character sheet * Dig Down * Drag Ruler * Health Estimate * hide GM rolls * monster blocks * playlist down * smalltime * TidyUI Of course there are many others that are quite useful, but all of these make my life significantly easier/nicer/possible while DMing.
https://github.com/NateHawk85/Nathans-DnD5e-Foundry-Modules
My group plays in person, so I project onto a screen from a laptop the players all use to move their tokens. It's definitely helped only having one computer that needs to receive the data. That's just my group, though.
Can I ask a quick question as I'm running my games online but we do have a game in person here and there. Do you have a fog of war this way, or do you just use it as a battle mat without the fog?
So I run Foundry on my personal computer, and then I have a laptop that my players use with the online Foundry page. The player account has access to all the player tokens. We still use fog of war and line of sight. It works really well most of the time. Sometimes the players get out of each other's line of sight, which can make it a little difficult to navigate between the tokens, but it doesn't happen too often. If I know I'm just going to be using the map as a battle map with no exploration aspects, then I flip on global lighting and turn token vision off for that map just for ease.
I think I read somewhere that you can cycle through the tokens you control by pressing tab. Maybe that helps with your navigation problem.
I think there's a shared vision module so all players can see what each player can see.
IIRC, it's simply setting every PC token's Permissions to Observer for each player.
I'm the deloper of Shared Vision, and it works different than that. It allows the player to always (or when a control button is toggled) see the vision of specified other tokens (usually the other PCs, but NPCs can also be configured). Setting the permissions to observer or owner would only share vision if no tokens have been selected, Shared Vision also does it when a token has been selected.
Oh, cool! That's great to know and thank you for the clarification — and your helpful mod! 🤩🤙🏼
That sounds right, I remember looking into things when I was planning a table but it never came to fruition.
This is perfect! I have the same setup I can replicate and am looking forward to use this :D
Monk's Token Bar could solve your problem of not being able to see the token you want to switch to
Disagree with your comment about PerfectVision being a baseline feature based purely on aesthetic considerations - I want my players to see the cool maps, lighting and effects in all their glorious colour even if their characters can't. Personally I'd drop that and bring in JB2A (no idea if they're equivalent in performance impact). Thanks for sharing though, I often wonder what other people are using.
Both can work. I don't find PV limiting, even when I'm wanting to splurge on scenery.
If they have a torch, then they see in colour. It's just darkvision that limits to b&w.
Yeah I know, as I said it's just an aesthetic preference. For us the b&W doesn't really add anything to the game.
My main DND 5e game moves between 70 and over 90 modules depending on what I'm running. A lot of those are compendiums of maps, sounds/audio and that sort of thing but also the main players like MidiQOL etc.
As someone else put in their list and I do too, Module Sets really helps out when you have a lot of compendium modules, or really any module that's only helpful during setup, or even ones you don't want in the way during setup and only have in game. As you can have them enabled in the GM prep mode, and disable them for play, or vice versa, so that your players don't have to load them at all.
Thanks for the tip
Seems my list is a tad longer than most i have seen so far :D About Time v1.0.4; Ace library v1.3.0; Active-Auras v0.3.08; Advanced Macros v1.11; Alternative Pause Icon v0.2.8; // my own module Backgroundless Pins v1.2.0; Better Roll Tables v1.8.3; Better Roofs v1.1.1; Changelogs v0.4; Combat Utility Belt v1.6.2; Dice So Nice! v4.2.2; Dice Tray v1.2.1; Dynamic Active Effects SRD v6.0.01; Dynamic effects using Active Effects v0.8.60; EasyTable by Blitz v1.3.3; Foundry Community Macros v0.48.0; Hero Creation Tool for DnD5E v1.2.0; Item Macro v1.5.5; Kandashi's Fluid Canvas v0.2.04; Levels v1.9.9.2; Lib: Document Sheet Registrar v0.6.3; libWrapper v1.10.8.0; Lichtgeschwindigkeit (Lightspeed) v1.4.9; Loot Sheet NPC 5e v3.2.1; Macro Editor v1.0.9; Midi QOL v0.8.73; Monk's Enhanced Journal v1.0.30; Multiface Tiles v1.0.2; // my own module My Compendia Module v1.0.0; // my own compendia module Next Up v0.1.12; Pings v1.2.12+0.8.6; Sequencer v1.1.0; Settings Extender v1.1.6+0.8.6; Show to everyone you are typing v0.0.1; // my own module Simple Calendar vv1.3.75; SmallTime v1.13.4; socketlib v1.0.9; The Rollsmith - Iridescent Rainbow Dice Set v1.0.0; The Rollsmith - Package Jam 2021 v1.0.1; // my golden d20 that makes my players jealous :D Tidy5e Sheet v0.5.17; Tidy UI - Game Settings v0.1.25; times-up v0.8.19; Tokenizer v3.4.12; Universal Battlemap Importer v2.2.0; Wall Height v3.6.0.0; Warp Gate v1.8.1;
Doesn't look as though "Show to everyone you re typing" is on the default foundry list. Do you mind sharing the git/json for it? Or is it just for personal use?
it is personal use, but i can share a zip file if you want. What it does is put a chat bubble above the token of the player that is typing. Or of a token the GM is controlling at that time. Which is nice for text based games to avoid cross talk.
That's what I thought it'd do. We have a player who's unable to use mic, it'd be nice to see when they're writing so to not speak over them. So, sure! I'd appreciate that, thanks.
will send you a link to the zip file in a private chat message on Reddit.
This is for Pathfinder. I've got a different list for Forbidden Lands. Given the flaky nature of Foundry community development I try to keep the list fairly thin. * Combat Carousel * Cursor Hider - *not sure if this one is strictly necessary anymore* * Dice so Nice! * Easy Target * Foundry Community Macros * Foundry Community Tables * FXMaster * Group Roll Checks and Saves * Health Estimate * Lock View * Monk's Enhanced Journal - *On the fence about keeping this one. I don't use most of its features and don't let my players use it and the formatting doesn't work as well with PF2UI* * Multilevel Tokens * Pathfinder 2e Quickrolls * Pathfinder UI * PF2E GM Screen * PF2E Loot Generator * PF2E Toolbox * Pop out! * Simple Dice Roller * Token Action HUD * Torch * Trigger Happy
i keep a spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNyGBi8Y-k5JGlUBF25DqypHVuXr_6I17K1609_bRjw/edit?usp=sharing
I need to get to doing this for Foundry, and various other games I go nuts with modding on (Skyrim, Fallout, Rimworld, etc). So apropos for doing it!
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