D&D 5E Best VTT for automating 5e combat

I GM primarily on Fantasy Grounds and the robust automation is really nice. You might have to do some coding or pay for modules where someone has already done it, but it works great.

The place where FG breaks down a little for me is it sits in this place between tabletop and video game, and certain players seem to "forget" there are other people around the "table." They move and attack as if controlling a turn based CRPG. I feel that is the big danger with a lot of good automation. The problem seems to go away when using FG for something without so much support.

Reynard said:

The place where FG breaks down a little for me is it sits in this place between tabletop and video game, and certain players seem to "forget" there are other people around the "table." They move and attack as if controlling a turn based CRPG. I feel that is the big danger with a lot of good automation. The problem seems to go away when using FG for something without so much support.

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Our group feels this way about any VTT that does to much automation. It becomes, in our opinion, a video game to a certain extent. It may even limit the DM/game, as in they may not want to go left and downward into the goblin lair, because they don't have goblins coded or a lair mapped.

So using it to move tokens on a map, and letting the players roll macros for attack and damage is about all we need. I even still tell them whether a "15" hits or not.

Also great for maintaining the character sheet.

MNblockhead said:

VTT SHOULD be a massive help is rolling saves and damage for multiple creatures, e.g., resolving fireball saves and damage. I should be able to just draw the template and have the saves rolled and the damage rolled and applied automatically. It would make a real different to the combat experience.

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Automated combat experience would be way less fun, especially in role-play light groups that just enjoy engaging in combat.

Oofta said:

Well, in my super-awesome-yet-to-be-released VTT everything would be linked and simple because I agree. If I'm not making a bunch of house rules, I should just be able to plug in monsters, have my players maintain their PCs and off we go*. Some animation would be awesome as well.

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All this is starting to sound more like a strippedown MMO than D&D, but one that takes away all the fun parts of being a player and automates it.

This is also coming from a mid 20s DM who games on all three consoles and pc. If I’m Not playing in person I just run the DnDBeyond Chrome extension through roll20, and make maps in Inkarnate. I also throw in a nice mix of theatre of the mind for exploration and puzzles/ light combat situations.

Every game is different though, and all that matters is you and your table having fun!

using roll20 but only the free version so i am quite limited i guess. Disadvantage of it is you.need discord as well, because of vc quality issues.

Zabalorf said:

Automated combat experience would be way less fun, especially in role-play light groups that just enjoy engaging in combat.

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Maybe you are reading too much into "automating". As someone playing with a group that greatly enjoys highly tactical combat, I think we would appreciate more automation of area-effect roles and other quality-of-life automations than more theater of mind types.

Because we are more tactical, we rarely hand wave. I have used average damage in the past, but would rather roll for damage because I think that extra randomness creates more tension and changes assumptions when planning your moves.

But if a PC casts an area of effect spell that effects, say 20 mobs, it just not fun for me to manually make, and the players to wait for me to make, the saving-throw and damage rolls. I makes what could be a cool event in a combat to an opportunity for a player to step away to grab a drink while I'm make rolls and manually applying the results to each NPC.

I'm more inclined to agree that animations and such can detract from the game. I like to keep things fairly abstract. I like beautiful and detailed battlemaps but still prefer the art to be abstracted. I think the animate spell effects with some of the Foundry mobs are cool the first few times you use them, but I would rather have the player or myself describe the effect rather than have the effects look the same every time it is cast, no matter who casts it.

I do like to use some sound effects but usually, I use area-based effects or background sounds and music to set mood rather than "realism." One thing I like about foundry is that you can set sound for a specific area that is muffled by walls and distance. But I treat that as a spice to be used sparingly. Partially because I don't want to detract from theater of the mind and partially because I would rather spend my prep time on the story and planning encounters and combats rather than trying to create a multi-media video game experience.

Coroc said:

using roll20 but only the free version so i am quite limited i guess. Disadvantage of it is you.need discord as well, because of vc quality issues.

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That's a disadvantage with pretty much all VTTs. Actually, Roll20 seems to be the most promising of the platforms for combining video conferencing with a VTT.

Personally, I'm happy keeping the two separate and letting each do what it does best. I use Google Meet and have used it with MapTool, Fantasy Ground Unity, and Foundry. Few services work as well no matter where you are in the world than Google. The next best for international groups would be Microsoft Teams. I put Discord as third. I hate the interface of Discord, but it does a good job getting a quality connection even with poor internet and works pretty good internationally. But it doesn't have the global reach, nor the highly demanding corporate clientele, of Google or Microsoft.

EDIT: I've also found Zoom to be impressive in how easy it is to use and the quality of the video calls. But I've not used it much internationally as I've only used it in the US, post COVID. I've not been out of the country in a while.

[QUOTE="LordEntrails, post: 8086539, member: 6804070"

See, I don't get that. How many folks actually want to have to run an AWS server to run their VTT? And if you don't, then you got to worry about port forwarding and everything else. I just don't see how Foundry is a VTT for the masses.
[/QUOTE]


I hadn't created a server in AWS before but I'm a database engineer by trade so I know how to use SSH/Bash. It took about 2 hours. YMMV, but honestly I'd rather let Amazon expose ports, it's easier (I have network engineers that deal with that for me at work too ).

MNblockhead said:

I'd be interested in learning more about which modules you use for combat. The first time I ran a game in Foundry I had to switch to MapTool for a large combat because Foundry became unresponsive. So I disabled most modules and have have just re-enabled the most useful to me and it has been stable since. I have Let Me Roll That For You active, but not Enhance Combat. I need to play more with modules to find the right balance of functionality and performance. Would rather not have to deal with it. If there were a stable Foundry module or system for D&D 5e that I could just buy and have work, I'll do it in a heartbeat. For example, I pay for patreon subscription for Virtual Tabletop Assets so that I get the awesome D&D Beyond integration it supports, which means that anything I have in DDB can be used in Foundry.

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Sorry dude I don't check here often, PM me what hours are good (I'm GMT) we can jump on my game server, it's pretty smooth, happy to answer questions.

I'd been thinking about starting a patreon to help people get set up on a free AWS stable foundry setup, but I wanted to wait untill I've finished setting up docker in my AWS instance and see if it was worthwhile hosting for people in a BYOL style.

Oofta said:

I don't find tracking combat attacks and damage all that difficult. I have to do it in a tabletop game, is it really much different for an online game? In other words, how much time and effort are you taking to get it all to work when I've always just kept track on a whiteboard?

I use Roll20 with Beyond20, Roll20 is just for maps. My players and monsters can use DndBeyond to make all of their attacks or roll manually if they want, I just have to manually track HP. So if you want something that tracks everything, cool. I just don't see that much of an advantage.

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Same reason I make all my D&decisions. Rule of cool.