FANTASY GROUNDS Virtual Tabletop's D&D License!

Officially licensed D&D electronic tools! For real! Fantasy Grounds, one of the leading virtual tabletops, has just released a set of D&D 5th edition licensed data packages. These include the D&D Basic Rules, packs for each of the core classes, and a pile of monster packs. Each states specifically that "This product is licensed from Wizards of the Coast." This appears to be the first officially licensed and branded electronic product. (thanks to Matchstick for the scoop)

Check out their D&D wares here. They mention that "The DMG is still in the works, along with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat and Princes of the Apocalypse." and that "The basic 5E ruleset will continue to be provided directly within Fantasy Grounds to all licenses. These purchasable options add a new graphics theme that is officially branded, along with the library module support, and whatever other enhancements we could squeeze in, like tokens or portraits or decals."

Here's the announcement:

We are proud to announce that we are officially licensed to sell D&D source material and content inside of Fantasy Grounds! This is the beginning of a great new partnership between SmiteWorks and Wizards of the Coast that will benefit gamers worldwide.

You can purchase the D&D Complete Core Class Pack with all the class, feats, spells and equipment or you can purchase individual classes only. You can also buy the monsters in packs or as the D&D Complete Core Monster Pack. These products have been converted to work really tightly with Fantasy Grounds to give you the best possible gaming experience - we know you're going to love them. They contain all the great artwork and content from the official products and all the smarts and integration to work with Fantasy Grounds. Not only will you get the same content that can be found in print, but you also get an exciting new Fifth Edition theme, adventures and content customized specifically for ease of play inside of Fantasy Grounds.

For Dungeon Masters and players on a budget, you might pick up a Player Customization Pack and one or two Class Packs of your choice. Dungeon Masters can often get by with just the Adventure of their choice and one or two Monster Packs.

Don't forget that players can gift purchases through Steam for Dungeon Masters who have linked their license on Steam.
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[smiteworks]

Some of these features can be dragged to your character sheet for reference during play. You will probably need to tweak these some under your powers screen if you want to automate some portion of them. For instance, to add Combat Superiority and maneuvers, you may want to set it up something like the image below. Basically you can drag the Combat Superiority ability to your power tab (and also to your Abilities tab for redundancy) and it will pre-fill a Save and two effects that it recognized. You may or may not have need of that depending on which maneuvers you choose. If you toggle the Display on your powers to Summary and your Mode to Preparation, you can set it to allow 4 combat maneuvers per Rest and record the known maneuvers in your summary. The magnifying glass next to the Save and next to the effects can be clicked to provide greater control. For the Saving throw your targets will need, you can set that it is Str based and has a base DC of 8 + Ability plus Str bonus plus proficiency. If your Dex is higher, you can toggle it to use that instead. Once the final DC is shown on the screen you can make your targets auto roll against it by clicking the Dice Icon next to Save. You can then drag the appropriate effect over. If you are dealing additional dice or getting an additional bonus to hit on your next roll, then I recommend rolling a d8 for your combat superiority die and then dragging that result to your Modifier window prior to launching your main attack or damage roll.
View attachment 67887

Tip:
Prep:
Save a die macro to roll and label combat superiority
1. Type into Chat Window (don't hit enter): /die 1d8 Combat Superiority
2. Drag that chat text to a Macro slot
Usage:
1. Click the macro to roll the die
2. Drag the result to your modifier box
3. Launch your normal attack or damage

Result Screenshot:
View attachment 67886

 

[Mirtek]

OK, I bought FG, the full class pack and the character customization pack.

But the sage background is only showing the first 6 personality traits. Also adding an explorers pack is adding neither the 50 feet of robe nor the mess kit nor the 10 day rations.

Honestly I am pretty disappointed given that I just paid 90 EUR for this

 

[Nylanfs]

It is being upgraded and fixed there have been 3 updates since release that I am aware of.

Also as a note as of right now (04/14/15 3:40ishpm GMT+5) ALL full licenses are upgraded to Ultimate for the duration of FG-Con, so if you have a group that wants to try it out now is a good time to try.

 

[Selvarin]

I should've done that. I went with the $3.99/month subscription and the $50 PHB core pack. Then I would've had a chance to try the layout and decide if it was worth it.

As it stands, I don't care for the layout. Going back and forth to add....ehhh.

I think there's a market for this *and* for a well-designed 5E character manager. I'll keep looking for the latter.

 

[smiteworks]

OK, I bought FG, the full class pack and the character customization pack.

But the sage background is only showing the first 6 personality traits. Also adding an explorers pack is adding neither the 50 feet of robe nor the mess kit nor the 10 day rations.

Honestly I am pretty disappointed given that I just paid 90 EUR for this

Hello Mirtek,

I'm not sure if you've run a Check for Updates recently, but we have pushed out a few data patches over the last few days. The Sage Personality Traits lists 8 options that can be selected or rolled randomly. The window has a scroll bar and may not show them all at once on your screen. You can use the scroll bar or the mouse-wheel while the cursor is inside that window.

The Explorer's Pack is not currently bringing over the rations, the empty backpack or the rope automatically. We will add this to our fix list. In the meantime, you can use the filter to quickly search for and then pull these items over to your character's inventory.

Overall, I want to be clear to everyone reading the thread here that Fantasy Grounds is not intended as a rules validating character builder. With the Complete Core Class Pack or the D&D Basic Rules, it does contain all the reference material you actually need to build a character; however, building a character in Fantasy Grounds is more akin to building a character for a face-to-face game. There are a number of things that are automated above what you would get with a paper sheet, such as the auto-calculation of encumbrance and some automation on the preparation of attacks and spell actions. The true power of Fantasy Grounds comes when you begin using the completed character sheet to play the game online.

As a player, you can easily target and launch attacks or spells at monsters and have it automatically determine a hit or a miss or force your targets to roll against a set saving throw. You can have it automatically deal full or half damage or apply an effect to anyone who fails. The DM can do the same thing from monsters to players. The more you play with it, the more advanced automation you'll be able to incorporate into your game. The level of automation you decide to use in your game is up to you and your group. Some groups prefer to use only the basic level of automation while others use it to the maximum degree.

Here's a tip for getting your players engaged and excited early. Set up a combat training room.

1. Open up one of the included maps in the FG Map Pack
2. Set a grid on the map
3. Drag your players and a few monsters into the Combat Tracker and then drag their tokens from the combat tracker to the map
4. Increase the monster's hit points to something very large -- add a couple zeros to the end of each monster's hit points
5. Set the monster's as visible and share the map with your players.
6. Let your players practice dropping different attacks on their enemies and toggling various modifiers to their rolls, such as concealment, cover, advantage, disadvantage and applying normal or critical damage.

Remember, your players can target multiple creatures by CTRL+clicking them on the map. They can untarget them the same way, or they can drag and drop their attacks or damage directly onto the monster token or the monster listing in the combat tracker.

 

[Dire Bare]

Overall, I want to be clear to everyone reading the thread here that Fantasy Grounds is not intended as a rules validating character builder.

I think your website is clear, and this has also been made clear in this thread . . . but I still think lots of folks aren't getting it, sadly. Criticizing the software for not being a character builder is like criticizing an orange for not being an apple. You might want an apple, but to complain about the orange not being one is a bit silly.

This is not on Smiteworks in any way, but I wish WotC had delivered (or licensed) a character builder first to lessen the confusion. But, I suppose, you work with what you have and FG is an amazing virtual tabletop that only needed the datasets to become the official D&D virtual tabletop. There is not likely a ready-to-go 5E character builder just waiting for a license.

Thanks Smiteworks for producing a great product, for getting the D&D license, and for being on top of customer communication and bug fixes! I haven't purchased FG yet, but based on what I've seen in this thread from your company, I'm saving up my pennies to do so!

I know you guys are a small team and probably have plenty on your plate, but SMITEWORKS should seriously consider a companion app for FG that is a rules validating character builder! That would have value on its own, and increase the value of FG! Get on that!

 

[Tony Semana]

Wow. I've been as excited for and supportive of 5E since the play-test. But this is a big miss-step for me; the only mac option for FG is through steam. And all that does is create a wineskin wrapper... what a sub-par option! That and fold in the pricing and this is a non-starter.

 

[VenomousFiligree]

FG runs flawlessly on my Mac, both via Steam and via Crossover, don't know why that is sub-par....

 

[smiteworks]

One of our three core developers is exclusively a Mac guy. We worked with him to build the Mac version on Steam and we have always limited ourselves to DirectX video calls that are very well supported in WINE. I realize that some other game and software companies may distribute sub-par versions of their software inside a WINE wrapper, but I assure you that Fantasy Grounds runs really well within that space.

 

[Tony Semana]

Well I'm glad it'll be of use to you. It's sub-par because it's obviously (to me) written for a different platform. Between the settings-tango that needs to be done on setup and the window-in-window UI even before getting into the app, it's sub-par to me because it doesn't run flawlessly to me. So I'm not going to buy a piece of software at that price-point that wasn't even written for the platform I'm running, just so I can buy the ruleset over again in electronic form.

This isn't a dig on FG. It's a criticism of the approach Wizards has taken. I feel like for 5E's electronic/online solution it could have/should have tried to be more; more platform agnostic, more mobile/tablet friendly more electronic and more online.