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Jan 25, 2020  Crit Multi / Flat cold damage Life Elemental Damage Attributes / Resist I usually use my Amulet for damage and attributes. We dont rly want to skill +30 str/int in the tree! The best base might be an Agate Amulet. Overall we need 111 Int (Infused Channeling) and 111 Str (if you use damage. The same applies to INT classes. The Weapon Base Damage Factor: This is your base damage. This is the Damage your weapon says it does, plus the min-max damage on your jewelry. The Elemental Damage Subfactor stack additivelly within itself, if I added a 20% Fire Damage Bracers then my elemental damage would be 100% +15%+20% = 135%. How Weapon Items Affect DPS for a Wizard. If you have to choose between +damage or +int, go for the damage. Spectral blades IIRC will deal cold damage if using a cold weapon. 2H vs 1H weapons Now, does this mean that bigger base damage (i.e. 2H weapons) are.

1. 923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg 1
2. 923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg Free
3. 923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg 3

See the Effects topic for basic effects information.

• 3Creating Effects - Player Characters
• 9Reference
  • 9.3Special Components
• 10Examples
• 11Automating Effects on NPCs

What is an Effect?

One of the most powerful features of the built in 5e ruleset is effects. It is also, judging by the number of forum posts, the area where most users find the learning curve steepest. In Fantasy Grounds an effect is anything which gives the character either a bonus or penalty of some kind to a dice roll they are about to make. In order for the effect to be properly executed the character must be on the Combat Tracker (CT) and either they or another actor must make a dice roll which involves the character. In other words effects are checked when a character attacks, does damage, makes a saving throw (including death saves) or makes an ability or skill check. Effects are also checked when that same character is attacked, or damaged or has a saving throw, ability check or skill check forced on them (such as from a spell).

Automatic Effects

Many effects are created automatically for you in the 5e ruleset by dragging and dropping from the source material such as the Player's Handbook. For example dragging spells into the actions tab will in almost every case create an effect. Where an effect is not created via this method the probability is very high that either the spell doesn't require an effect or Fantasy Grounds doesn't have a built in way to handle whatever the spell is trying to do. For example the spell 'Animal Messenger' doesn't require an effect since this spell and others like it are simply 'Theatre of the Mind' spells. As another example the spell 'Counterspell' won't create an effect either because Fantasy Grounds can't know what the difficulty class of the incoming spell might be. For more information see the 5E Character Sheet

In the case of NPCs effects appear on the Combat Tracker when the NPC is placed there either from the NPC list or from an encounter. This action causes Fantasy Grounds to attempt to parse the information contained in the NPC sheet and create the effects. Most of the standard NPCs from the Monster Manual will, when dragged to the Combat Tracker, create any necessary effects so that the DM can use them. Again, not everything will create an effect either because one isn't required or Fantasy Grounds doesn't have a way to create one. For more details see the 5E NPC Sheet and the section below on the wording used to create NPC effects.

Creating Effects - Player Characters

In the player Character sheet effects are created in the actions tab. An effect can be added to an existing power or if no power exists a new one can be created.

• Click on the 'Edit List' button at the bottom right hand side of the Actions Tab and then click on the 'star' icon to create a new power group. You can also right click on an existing power and select 'Create Item'
• Type a name into the new line where it says <<name>>. This will be the name of the action that you are going to create. You can also type into the right hand box to give the power group a name.
• Note that the Power Group now has a magnifying glass at the right hand side. You can click on this to bring up the power group dialog and here you set the ability which this power group will use for any attacks, saving throws and bonuses for all of the actions that you set within this power group.
• Now right click on the new line created above to bring up the radial menu and select 'Add Action'. This will bring up a submenu which allows you to create the following:
  • Add Cast: this allows for an attack roll to be made against the target or forces the target to make a saving throw - or both
  • Add Damage: As it's name suggests this allows for the creation of a damaging effect to apply to the target
  • Add Heal: Create a healing effect
  • Add Effect: This adds an effect to the target. This can be almost anything from applying a simple condition such as poisoned to a whole series of statements which might apply to the target.
• Whichever you choose a new line will be created with a small magnifying glass beside it. Click the magnifying glass to open up the dialogs associated with each effect type.

Cast Dialog

• The first section is concerned with attacks. Click the words under 'type' to cycle through the (self explanatory) options, ranged, melee or none.
• Under 'Base' click to cycle through the options:
  • Group Attack+: This refers to the Power Group and the base attack will feed off whatever the base attack has been set within the power group (see above). So if the Power Group ability has been set to STR then this attack will use the character's STR to determine any bonus or penalty to the attack roll.
  • Ability: This allows for setting an ability for this effect independent of whatever has been set for the Power Group. Click the 'Stat' field to cycle through the options. This includes all of the ability modifiers, classes, the character level (lvl) and the character's proficiency. This allows for extreme flexibility in setting up actions. Setting this to 'Base' will feed off the ability which has been set for the Power Group.
  • Fixed: Allows for entering a straightforward number. This is useful if the attack is not based off any particular ability, class or level. In this case enter the number desired in the 'bonus' box.
  • Bonus: Enter a number if any bonus is to be applied to this attack roll.
• The second section of this dialog is concerned with saving throws.
  • Type: Click to cycle through the options. For example if you want the target to make a DEX saving throw set this to 'Dex'. Once again 'Base' represents the ability set in the Power Group.
  • Base: This is the same as the 'Base' option described above in the attack section.
  • Bonus: Again this is the same as the bonus section in the attack section.
  • On Save: Click here to select 'Half on Success' if the creature takes only half damage on a successful saving throw.
• Once completed the effect will appear in the Actions tab ready for use. Clicking the small dice icon beside the effect will cause Fantasy Grounds to make the attack and/or saving throw against the target of the attack. Players can also perform the attack and save separately by clicking first on the little sword icon and then on the dice icon beside the save.

Damage Dialog

• Click the 'Edit List' button and then the green 'Add Item' button to create a new line.
• Drag dice and drop them into the 'Dice' box for the damage amount. For example if the damage is 2d6; click and hold a d6, then right click to add a second dice and then drop into the box below 'Dice'.
• Click on the box below 'Stat' to cycle through the options. Once again 'Base' will feed off whatever ability was set in the Power Group.
• Add any bonus to the damage if this is relevant. Note that this is not the bonus from the ability being used but any bonus that might be available from a magic weapon for example.
• Enter the type of damage that the effect will do. Note multiple damage types can be entered separated by a comma. You can also add magic, silver, adamantine or cold-forged if the damage has any of these tags.
• You can continue to add new lines for more damage if this is relevant.

Heal Dialog

• Select the target of the heal by clicking through the options in 'Targeting'. 'Self' will only heal the caster. Targets will heal any target selected including the caster if he is selected.
• Cycle through the options under 'Type'. 'TEMP' will give the target temporary hit points, 'HP' will remove wounds from any targets selected by the character using the cast.
• Click the 'Edit list' button and then the green 'Add Item' button to add a new line.
• Drag dice into the dice box in the same way as described above.
• Select a stat if appropriate in the stat box by clicking through the options. Again 'base' will use the ability from the power group. There are also options to add level, proficiency or class.
• Enter a figure for any bonus to the heal.
• More lines can be added if appropriate

Effect Dialog

• The Descriptions/Conditions/Modifiers line is where you enter your effect. Almost anything can appear here including 'dummy' text. More information on how to create effects in this box is given below.
• The Duration information is specified in time units. Click on the 'RND' word to cycle through the available time unit intervals (RND = Round, MIN = Minute, HR = hour and DAY = day). If the effect should never expire, enter a zero value or leave blank. Otherwise, enter a number to indicate how long until the effect expires using the selected time units.
• Click on 'Targeting' to select whether the effect should apply to the caster (self) or to targets.
• Click through the 'Expend?' options. This determines whether the effect can expire based on usage (i.e. expended), in addition to duration. The options are as follows:
  • Never: The effect will never be expended, and the length of the effect is only governed by the duration.
  • On Next Action: The effect will be expended on the next relevant action. So if the effect is a damage effect then it will be used up when the player next rolls for damage.
  • On Next Roll: The effect will be expended immediately on the next relevant roll made by the character. For example if the effect modifies both attack and damage the effect will be used up on the next attack or damage roll. If there are several targets then each of the targets will be affected by the roll not just the first.
  • Once per modifier: The effect will continue until a roll has been made involving all of the modifiers in the effect. For example if there is an effect which applies to both attack and damage. The attack part will only be used on the first attack even if the character makes several subsequent attacks. The effect will then be expended completely once a damage roll has been made.

Case Study - ATK

So let’s take a look at just one of the possible modifiers that you can use to create effects the ATK modifier.As its name suggests this modifies a character’s attack roll. Normally an attack is made by rolling a d20 but a variety of situations and spells can add or subtract from the number rolled.

Let’s start with a simple example, where the character has a spell cast on him which gives him a +1 to hit. This effect is written ‘ATK: 1’ (without the quotes). In longhand this is telling Fantasy Grounds to add 1 to the d20 dice roll when a player rolls to attack. The value after the modifier ATK can be a number or a dice value and either can be positive or negative. So we could have all of the following ATK: -1d6, ATK: 4, ATK: -2, ATK: 1d4. The format as you can see is always the modifier (ATK) followed by a colon ‘:’ followed by the value ‘1d4’.

We can also specify a player’s attribute bonus as the value for the modifier. The format for this is ‘ATK: [XXX]’, where XXX represents STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS or CHA. ‘ATK: [WIS]’ will add the players Wisdom modifier (whether positive or negative) to the attack roll. We can also use the negative form ‘ATK: [-WIS]’ to reduce the roll by a specific ability modifier. We can even modify the attribute by halving or doubling it; ‘ATK: [HWIS]’ will add half the wisdom modifier to the roll and ‘ATK: [2WIS] will add double the wisdom modifier. Note that square brackets '[]' are used around the ability modifier. In addition to ability modifiers the character's level [LVL] or proficiency [PRF] or class level [BARBARIAN] can be used as a modifier.

In the case of ATK: 1d4 this will add a 1d4 to any attack roll that the player makes. However we can restrict this to just certain attacks by including a descriptor to the effect. Let’s say that we can only get a bonus on melee attacks; in that case our effect is written ‘ATK: 1d4, melee’. The descriptor is added after the value and separated by a comma ‘,’. Now when used on a character only melee attacks will benefit from the additional dice. If we substitute ‘ranged’ for ‘melee’ then only ranged attacks will get the benefit.

We can go even further and limit the benefit to only opportunity attacks. The format for this is ‘ATK: 1d4, opportunity’. Now FG needs to know when you are making an opportunity attack so when you make the attack hold down shift as you do so. If the player has the effect on him then he will get the bonus to the throw but otherwise nothing happens.

The following are all examples of effects which can be created using the ATK modifier

• ATK: 1d4 - Will apply a 1d4 bonus to the attack roll.
• ATK: [-STR] - Will apply a negative equal to strength modifier to the attack
• ATK: [HLVL], melee, opportunity - will apply half the character's level only to melee opportunity attacks.
• ATK: 1d6, ranged - will apply a 1d6 bonus to only ranged attacks
• ATK: [2CON], melee - will apply twice the CON modifier to any melee attack.
• ATK: [CLERIC] - will add the character's cleric level (only) to the attack. This is useful for multiclassed characters where the bonus relies on the class level rather than the overall level.

Combat Tracker

When an effect is applied to an actor in the combat tracker, some additional fields are available to the DM. See the 5E Combat Tracker for more details.

• Active State: By default, an effect is set to always be active (i.e. On). The active state can be toggled to Skip or Off. If set to Skip, the next application of the effect will be skipped, and then the effect will be set to On again. If set to Off, the effect will no longer be applied to rolls, but will remain in the CT.
• Duration: When the main duration field is set to Start/End Turn values, an additional field will be shown to track the initiative number when the duration should start/end.
• Applied By: The active actor will be used as the source actor of an effect, and shown in the lower right of the effect entry. If no actor is active, then this field is hidden. To set the source actor of an effect, drag the name field of a CT actor onto the label field of a CT effect entry. The source is usually just informational, but may occasionally be used to support advanced effects (such as Marked). Click on the Applied By field to clear the source actor.
• Targets: By default, effects are applied to relevant rolls for all targets. However, some effect components can be targeted (such as attack and damage modifiers). A targeting button is shown next to each effect entry, and can be dragged onto a CT entry or CT-linked token to specify that the effect is targeted to a specific actor or set of actors. Additional options to target all allies or enemies are available by right-clicking on the targeting button. The Targets field is hidden unless targets are defined. Click on the Targets field to clear the targets.

Effect Targeting

As described above in the dialog for Spell/Ability Effect there is a box for ‘Targeting’ which can be set either to ‘Targets’ or ‘Self’. It is important to understand that this isn’t asking you to tell Fantasy Grounds who the target of the effect is but rather where the effect should reside.

If we take a simple case of a character that has set up an effect to deal some extra damage, DMG: 1d6. It is the character who is the beneficiary of this additional damage (not the creature who is going to take it) and so when creating the effect the character needs to set the ‘Targeting’ box in the dialog to read ‘Self’. When the player clicks the action button to apply the effect it will correctly be set on the character even if he has a number of enemies targeted on the Combat Tracker (or none at all).

On the other hand suppose we have some spell or ability which means that an enemy gets disadvantage on attack rolls DISATK:. Clearly there’s no use this effect sitting on the character; it must be placed on an enemy and so when setting the targeting we make sure that it reads ‘Targets’.

So when setting the ‘Targeting’ to ‘Targets’ or ‘Self’ we need to think about what the effect is setting out to achieve, who should benefit or who should take the penalty. Once you have sorted that out you should be able to work out on which creature that effect should be sitting.

There is another layer of depth however to the effect system built into Fantasy Grounds – effect targeting. This concept is probably best illustrated with another example and we’ll use the wizard cantrip True Strike. This spell tells us that on your next turn you gain advantage on your first attack against the target of the spell. Let’s say our spellcaster is up against 6 Goblins and he is going to cast the spell on Goblin 3.

Based on the above we need to figure out who is going to benefit from this spell and clearly it is the caster and so the ‘Targeting’ of the effect needs to be set to ‘Self’. So we set up an effect ADVATK: and set the targeting to ‘Self’. We click on the action button and it places the effect on the Wizard. However there’s a problem because we have just given our Wizard advantage on every attack roll he makes against any Goblin, not just Goblin 3.

What we need to do then is target this effect only at Goblin 3 and we do this by holding down SHIFT and dragging the effect onto Goblin 3. You will see that when you do so the effect appears on the Wizard (because we set the targeting to Self) not on Goblin 3. Now our Wizard will only get advantage on an attack against Goblin 3.

A similar kind of situation arises with the Hex spell which allows the caster to get an additional 1d6 necrotic damage against whomever the spell is cast upon. We create the effect DMG: 1d6 necrotic; and set the targeting to ‘Self’. When cast shift-drag the effect onto the target. Now, only against that target will the caster get the additional damage.

It needs to be noted that not every modifier can be used in this way. Modifiers which can be make use of effect targeting have a ‘T’ in the ‘Notes’ column in the tables below. For convenience these are ATK, AC, DMG, Invisible, RESIST, VULN, IMMUNE, COVER, SCOVER, ADVATK, DISATK, GRANTADVATK, GRANTDISATK.

A Word on Syntax

As has been seen from the notes above there is a syntax which must be followed so that effects will work successfully.

• Modifiers need to be followed by a colon ':' if you intend to have anything after them such as a number, dice etc. If the colon is missed then Fantasy Grounds assumes that there is nothing to follow. Thus if the effect requires nothing after the modifier the colon can be missed out.
• Some modifiers can accept descriptors. These must follow the dice or number separated by a comma. For example ATK: 1d6, melee
• If the modifier is to be modified by a player stat then that should be enclosed in square brackets '[]'. For example SAVE: [CHA]
• Effects can be chained together but each must be separated by a semi colon ';'. For example AC: 1; ATK: 1; DMG: 1d6
• You can add a description to an effect ending in a semi colon. For example Bless; SAVE: 1d4; ATK: 1d4. this is useful for reminding players what the effect is.
• A special tag '!' can be used as a kind of logical NOT. For example the effect 'RESIST: bludgeoning, piercing, !magic' creates an effect which allows whoever has the effect to resist damage from bludgeoning or piercing weapons provided they are not magical. If they are magical then all of the damage will get through. Other useful delimiters are !silver and !adamantine.

Spells and Constitution Saving Throws

In many cases when a Spellcaster casts a spell they must maintain concentration on that spell for the duration. If, whilst concentrating on a spell, the spellcaster takes damage they must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 10 or half the damage whichever is greater. On a failure concentration on the spell is lost. Fantasy Grounds can handle this automatically provided that the effect is affixed with ;(C). If the caster who is concentrating on the spell takes damage Fantasy Grounds will make the appropriate saving throw and on a failure remove any effects from any actors who are being influenced by the spell.

So, for example, if an effect is created for the Bless spell then it should be ATK: 1;SAVE: 1;(C)

Note: As noted in the table below 'concentration' can replace the ability modifier for advantage and disadvantage to saving throws or to the save effect itself.

Reference

The following sections details the conditions, modifiers and other components which can be used to create effects within the 5e ruleset. A number of examples are also provide to help users get started.

Conditions

• The following are the conditions from Appendix A of the Player's Handbook which Fantasy Grounds can handle. These are built into the code and can be applied to a character or NPC either via an effect from the character sheet or Combat Tracker or by applying it from the effects button in the UI.
• Not case-sensitive.
• Effects do not stack. So, for example, if a character suffers from Blinded and Frightened they will not suffer a double disadvantage to attack rolls.

(T) = Effects can be targeted to only apply to conditions against certain opponents

Modifiers

• Format: [tag]: [dice/number] [descriptors]
• Case-sensitive
• If colon missing, assume no dice, numerical modifier or descriptors.
• Modifiers stack as long as their bonus type is blank or unique. If two modifiers have the same bonus type, only the larger value will be used.
• When applying effects from PC sheet powers, bracketed ability tags ([STR],[DEX],...) can be added to the modifier dice and numerical portion to adjust by current PC attribute modifiers. The ability tags can be set to negative ([-INT]), half ([HWIS]) or double ([2CHA]). Two additional tags for level ([LVL]) and proficiency bonus ([PRF]) are also supported. Character Classes can also be used and will evaluate to the level for that character in that class. The full name of the class all in capital letters is needed eg. [BARBARIAN], [CLERIC], [WIZARD] etc.

(D) = Dice and numbers supported for value attribute
(N) = Only numbers supported for value attribute
(-) = Neither number nor dice supported for value attribute
(T) = Effects can be targeted to only apply to modifiers against certain opponents

[range] = melee, ranged
[damage type] = acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, thunder, adamantine, bludgeoning, cold-forged iron, magic, piercing, silver, slashing
[stat] = strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, charisma
[ability] = strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, charisma
[skill] = any skill name
[condition] = Any condition as noted above except exhaustion. Note [condition] must be all lower case
* = Multiple entries of this descriptor type allowed.

Special Components

• Unique format for each tag
• Case-sensitive

A Note on IF and IFT

What both these functions do is test a condition and if it is found to be true then the next part of the statement will be carried out, otherwise it will be ignored.

Let’s take the example IF: invisible; DISSAV strength. What this is saying is that if the character on which this effect is placed is invisible then they will have disadvantage on strength saving throws otherwise nothing happens.

The difference between the two components is that IF looks at the source (i.e. the creature on which the effect is sitting) whilst IFT looks at the target of the creature on which the effect is sitting.

Not only can IF and IFT test conditions (such as poisoned, grappled, invisible, etc.) but they can also test for conditional operators. There are five of these ALIGN, SIZE, TYPE, Wounded and Bloodied. As their name suggests, the first three operators test for the alignment, size and type of a creature. Wounded tests to see if the character has any wounds and Bloodied will return true if the target has wounds greater or equal to half of their maximum hit points.

Taken together the testing components and the conditions which they can test for mean that extremely powerful effects can be set up and these are particularly apposite to magic item creation and use. Some #Examples below.

Conditional Operators

• Not case-sensitive

[alignment] = LG, LN, LE, NG, NE, CG, CN, CE, lawful, lawful good, lawful neutral, lawful evil, neutral good, neutral evil, chaotic, chaotic good, chaotic neutral, chaotic evil, good, evil
[size] = T, S, M, L, H, G, tiny, small, medium, large, huge, gargantuan
[creature type] = aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, undead, aarakocra, bullywug, demon, devil, dragonborn, dwarf, elf, gith, gnoll, gnome, goblinoid, grimlock, halfling, human, kenku, kuo-toa, kobold, lizardfolk, living construct, merfolk, orc, quaggoth, sahuagin, shapechanger, thri-kreen, titan, troglodyte, yuan-ti, yugoloth
* = Multiple entries of this descriptor type allowed.

PC Specific Notes

When applying effects from the Actions tab of the PC sheet, special tags can be inserted to provide numerical bonuses based on the PC's current attributes.

Examples

General Examples

• ATK: 2
• SAVE: 1
• DMGO: 2d6
• DMG: 1d6 cold
• RESIST: fire; RESIST: cold
• RESIST: 3 slashing, bludgeoning, piercing, !magic

PC Tag Examples

• ATK: [-DEX]
• DMG: 2d6+1 [CON]

IF and IFT Examples

Specific PC Ability/Trait Examples

• If the Duration, Target, and Expend are not called out, then the default is:
  • Duration=0 (Zero indicates effect should not expire.)
  • Targeting=Targets
  • Expend=Never

Specific Magic Item Examples

Automating Effects on NPCs

FG latches on to certain key words and phrases in traits and actions and creates effect from those words which then appear on the Combat Tracker. For users wishing to create their own NPCs the following contains guidance on how to create these effects.

Weapon Attacks

• Basic Melee Weapon Name. Melee Weapon Attack: +x to Hit [reach 5ft., one target]. Hit: x (ndn + x) <type> damage.
• Basic Ranged Weapon Name. Ranged Weapon Attack: +x to hit, [range n/n ft., one target]. Hit: x (ndn +x) <type> damage
• Two handed option Weapon Name. Melee Weapon Attack: +x to Hit [reach 5ft., one target]. Hit: x (ndn + x) <type> damage or x (ndn) <type> damage if used with two hands.
• Melee or Ranged Melee Weapon Attack: +x to Hit [reach 5ft., one target]. Hit: x (ndn + x) <type> damage or Ranged Weapon Attack: +x to hit, [range n/n ft., one target]. Hit: x (ndn +x) <type> damage
• Multiple damage types Hit: x (ndn+x) <type> damage plus x (ndn+x) <type> damage
• Other Damage Types Hit: x (ndn+x) <type>, <magic>, <adamantine>, <silver>, <cold-forged damage> damage

NOTE: More than one type of damage can be specified separated by a comma

Saving Throws

• Basic Save The target must make a DC x <ability> saving throw.
• Save for half damage The target must make a DC x <ability> saving throw, taking x (ndn+x) <type> damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
• Save against only one damage type Hit: x (ndn+x) <type> damage and the target must make a DC x <ability> saving throw taking x (ndn+x) <type> damage on a failure and half as much damage on a success one

Conditions

The parser will recognise all of the standard conditions listed in the PHB at appendix A except for exhaustion.

• Basic Condition effect the target is <condition>
• Prone condition the target is knocked prone
• Save vs condition The target must make a DC x <ability> saving throw, and on a failure the target is <condition>
• Multiple conditions The target is <condition> and <condition>
• Duration the target is <condition> until <the end of your next turn> / <for x rounds> / <for x minutes>

Damage

• Basic Damage The <NPC> takes x (ndn) <type> damage or The <NPC> takes x <type> damage
• Extra Damage The <NPC> does an extra x (ndn) <type> damage
• Ongoing Damage Hit: x(ndn+x) <type> damage and the target takes x(ndn+x) <type> damage at the start of each of its turns
• Improved Critical Adding a trait named 'Improved Critical' to an NPC will allow them to make a critical roll on a 19-20
• Superior Critical Adding a trait named 'Superior Critical' will allow an NPC to make a critical roll on an 18-20

Immunities and Resistances

These are handled by filling in the appropriate boxes in the NPC sheet. Each damage type should be entered in lower case and if more than one separated by a comma. If the resistance or immunity can be overcome by certain weapon types or by magical weapons then there is wording which can be used to create the proper effect on the CT.

• Magic Weapons [Damage Resistances/Immunities] bludgeoning, slashing and piercing from nonmagical weapons
• Magic and Other Types [Damage Resistances/Immunities] bludgeoning, slashing and piercing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered
• Other Types [Damage Resistances/Immunities] piercing from weapon attacks that aren’t adamantine

Note: Acceptable types are magic/adamantine/silvered/cold-forged

Healing

• Basic Heal The <creature name> regains ndn hit points or The <creature name> regains x hit points.
• Regeneration The <creature name> regains x hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point.
• Regeneration with prevention The <creature name> regains x hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. If the <creature name> takes <type> damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the creature’s next turn
• Regeneration with multiple prevention The <creature name> regains x hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. If the <creature name> takes <type> or <type> damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the creature’s next turn.
• Death only on zero hit points The <creature name> regains x hit points at the start of its turn. (If the <creature name> takes <type> damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the creature’s next turn). The <creature name> dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

Spellcasting

If the NPC can cast spells then you can automate the population of the actual spells into the NPC sheet. Additionally with the correct wording Fantasy Grounds will work out the attacks and spell save DCs where those are present in the spell. The trait for Spellcasting and Innate Spellcasting are given below.

Spellcasting

The [NPC] is a nth-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is [ability]. The [NPC] has the following spells prepared.

Cantrips (at will): <spell name>,<spell name>

1st level (4 slots): <spell name>, <spell name>

2nd level (2 slots): <spell name>, <spell name>

Note: It is important that the wording is exactly as above including the punctuation. All spell names should be in lower case separated by a comma.

Innate Spellcasting

The <NPC>'s spellcasting ability is <ability>. It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: <spell name>, <spell name>

x/Day each: <spell name>, <spell name>

x/Day each: <spell name>, <spell name>

• Overriding automatic calculations If you want to override the automatic calculation of spell save DC's and attacks insert the following into the first line of the trait.

Spellcasting

The [NPC] is a nth-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is [ability] (+x to hit with spell attacks, Spell save DC x). The [NPC] has the following spells prepared.

Innate Spellcasting

The <NPC>'s spellcasting ability is <ability> (Spell save DC x). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

Other Traits

• Magic resistance Include a trait called 'Magic Resistance'. The NPC will then automatically rolled saves vs spells with advantage
• Magic Weapons Include a trait called 'Magic Weapons'. All damage done by the creature will automatically add the magic tag to the damage dealt
• Recharge Where a trait rolls a dice after it is used to see if it can be used again include in the trait heading <Heading> (Recharge x). A six sided dice will automatically be rolled at the start of the creatures turn and if the result equals or exceeds 'x' then the trait will be available again.
• Gnome Cunning When this trait is present the actor will have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saving throws against magic.
• Damage Threshold If this trait is present and a number is specified in the text of the trait then a DT:x effect will be created using that number. The creature or object will be immune to any damage from a single attack that is less than x. Damage equal to or above the number specified will be applied normally.

by DannieRay23 - 6 years ago show comments

Hello everyone! My Name is Dannie Ray and I’ll be here every Saturday explaining all things theorycrafting so you can better understand your characters and the game you love, lets hope you haven’t forgotten all the math you’ve learned in school because we will finally have a chance to put it to good use.

Today we are going to look at Damage in Diablo 3, where does it come from? How is it calculated? How can we maximize our damage output? How can I figure out what the best possible build for me is?

All of those questions have one thing in common, and that is that they are a lot easier to answer once you know how Damage Calculations Work, so lets get into it.

Note: Remember that percentages are actually a division by 100, 500% and plain 5 are the same thing. By the same logic One Hundred Percent equals one

Stats and DPS:

There are many stats that help your DPS in one way or another, we have some that are reflected on the character sheet DPS like: Base Stat, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Attack Speed and Min-Max Damage. We also have others that don’t, like: Elemental Damage, Specific Skill Damage, Cooldown Reduction, Resource Cost Reduction and more.

Since this is our first rodeo, we will look at a simplified version of the problem. We will analyze our DPS when we are spamming a single skill without worrying about resources and cooldowns. This means that on this article we won’t analyze the value that Cooldown Reduction and Resource Cost reduction bring to the table. (hint: It’s way more than you think)

A later guide will work on how to calculate the damage of your actual skill rotation, but for now lets master the basic Damage Formula.

The DPS Formula:

At large, the Damage formula is just a multiplication of factors. You have your base weapon damage as a factor, your base stat as a factor, a crit derived factor, a skill weapon damage % factor, a damage to elites %, a damage to all skills factor and a few more. You have to multiply all together to figure out what your damage is going to be.

Sheet DPS = Base Stat Factor *Base Damage Factor * Crit Factor * Damage Inc. by Skills Factor * Speed Factor.

Actual DPS = Sheet DPS * Skill Weapon Damage Factor (*Damage to Elites Factor).

You might not understand what all of those factors are so let us take a quick look at each of them.

The Base Stat Factor:

Perhaps the easiest one to understand, it’s your DEX, STR or INT depending on your class.

If you are a Monk and have 7000 DEX then your Base Stat Factor is 7000% or just plain 70.

A Crusader with 5430 STR, has a Base Stat Factor of 5430% or plain 54.30.

The same applies to INT classes.

The Weapon Base Damage Factor:

This is the Damage your weapon says it does, plus the min-max damage on your jewelry. As you notice from the image above, damage bonus from rubies are automatically factored into the weapon.

Remember that dual wielding hits with only one weapon at the time and alternates between them, for simplicity sake we will asume you are not dual wielding.

Base Damage Factor = Weapon Damage + Jewelry Min-Max Damage.

The Crit Factor:

You likely know where to find your crit, but I’ll leave it here anyway.

This is how Critical Strikes contribute to your average damage. Imagine you have 50% Crit Chance and 200% Crit Damage. That means half your strikes are doing normal damage and half are doing 3 times its damage.

So if your base damage is 100 and you attack twice you should on average get one normal attack for 100 damage and one critical for 300 damage. That’s 400 damage over 2 strikes, or 200 average damage. You are doing double your base damage.

To get this factor you must multiply your Crit Chance and your Crit Damage and then add 1 (100%) in other words:

Crit Factor = (Crit Chance * Crit Damage) +100%

Consider the save values presented above, if you have 50% Crit Chance and 200% Crit Damage, then:

50%*200%=100%

100%+100% = 200% = 2

Your crit factor on this scenario is 2, which means your crit stats are effectively doubling your damage.

The Skill Weapon Damage Factor:

Native Skill Weapon damage, Elemental Damage % and Specific Skill Damage % highlighted.

In the Example above, Hammer of the Ancients tells us that it does 640% weapon damage as fire. That value is it’s native Skill Weapon Damage%. This can be increased with the two magic properties highlighted abovie, +Specific Skill Damage% and +Elemental Damage%. Now, none of this is shown on your sheet DPS and it’s often overlooked because of it. In reality most of what makes or breaks a build can be found on this factor.

This is made out of three subfactors:

1. Native Skill WD Subfactor: What the skill tells you, 640% for the example above
2. Specific Skill Subfactor: 100%+Specific Skill %, 112% for the example above.
3. Elemental Damage Subfactor: 100%+Elemental Damage %, 115% for the example above.

Both the Skill Subfactor and The Elemental Damage Subfactor stack additivelly within itself, if I added a 20% Fire Damage Bracers then my elemental damage would be 100% +15%+20% = 135%.

Skill Weapon Damage Factor = Native Skill Weapon Damage % * (100% +Specific Skill %) * (100%+Elemental Damage %)

That’s 824% Weapon Damage for our Example Barbarian, that’s a 8.24 factor.

The Damage Increased by Skills Factor:

Some skills will increase your total damage by a %, Barbarian’s WotB Insanity, Monk’s Combination Strike and many others contribute to this number. In the example above I’m using Fire Ally for a 10% bonus and Unity for another 10% (5% for the Enchantress and 5% for the Fire Ally), you can observe how this stacks additively with itself.

Just like Archon mentioned on an episode of Westmarch Workshop, things tend to stack additively within their own category.

Damage Increased by Skills Factor = 100% + Damage Increased by Skills%

The Damage to Elites Factor:

This is rather simple and it only applies against elites, my monk has 15% and the factor is calculated like this:

Damage to elites factor = 100% + Damage to Elites %

My monk’s Damage to Elites Factor would then be 115% or 1.15.

The Attack Speed Factor:

923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg 1

And to close things out we have the attack speed factor. This is the one that changes this from a Damage Formula to a DPS formula. The factor that shows how fast you attack, it’s pretty easy to calculate. It is simply your weapon’s base speed multiplied by your Increased Attack Speed. Once again, things get more complicated with Dual Wielding but we can save that for a later date.

The Attack Speed Factor doesn’t really need to be calculated as your character sheet will tell you what it is exactly, you can find it as “Attacks Per Second”, that number is in fact your Attack Speed Factor.

Conclusions:

With all that out of the way, you can finally calculate the actual DPS you do when spamming a single skill. All you have to do is fill out the formulas presented above and multiply all of the factors together.

Now that we know about factors, we can see things more clearly. With a bit of practice you will be able to easily see how changing one of the stats on our gear will affect our total DPS

923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg Free

But this post is already too long so come back to Diablo.BlizzPro.com next week for an all new edition of Basic Theorycrafting where we will go indepth on how changing gear affects our factors and in turn our DPS.

DR23.

923 Int Vs 20 Cold Dmg 3