Index Card RPG Combat Tracker
Introduction
At its simplest the Combat Tracker does what its name suggests which is to track certain aspects of combat such as number of turns and which character or NPC's turn it is. However it performs a number of other functions, not all of which are all related to combat, making it one of the most complex parts of the Fantasy Grounds software. There are two 'versions' of the Combat Tracker, the one that the player sees and the one that the game master uses.
Player's View
The Combat Tracker is set up in columns from left to right being; creature token, creature name, initiative, maximum hit points, damage taken, and faction.
NPC's may have a number after their name if there are more than one of the same type and depending on the option selected by the GM.
Creatures appear on the Combat Tracker in initiative order starting with the highest at the top.
The actor whose turn it is will have a coloured border around their whole entry and an icon will be shown on the left hand edge of the window.
Hit points are the total Hit Points that the creature has. This will only be shown for Player Characters.
For NPC's an entry will be shown next to their initiative value giving an indication of their state of health. How detailed this entry is and what colour text is used will depend on which settings the GM has chosen.
The helm icon listed down the right hand column are Red = enemy, Green = ally and Yellow = neutral.
The Combat Tracker will also show effects which are currently on any Player Characters and which have been placed on NPC's during the combat.
The round tracking box is shown on the lower right hand corner of the Combat Tracker and will increment once all creatures have completed a turn.
The player clicks on the 'next actor' button in the lower left hand corner to end her turn.
Nothing in the Combat Tracker is editable by the players.
Player's View - Combat
A player can select a target in the combat tracker by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on the target.
Multiple targets can be selected by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on each target in turn.
Targets can be deselected by holding down CTRL and clicking on an already selected target.
Players can make attack rolls by selecting a target as above and then double clicking on a STAT field on the main tab in their character sheets or by dragging the dice into the chat box.
Attack rolls can also be made by dragging the STAT dice and dropping them on the target in the Combat Tracker. This works whether the creature has been targeted as above or not.
Effort rolls can be made in the same way, either by targeting and double clicking or dragging to the chat box from the character sheet or by dragging and dropping onto the target in the Combat Tracker.
Attempts will automatically be compared to the current room target and will display success or failure based on the result of the roll, and whether the EASY or HARD buttons at the bottom of the screen were selected.
Effects (such as from spells) can be applied to targets by selecting the target and then clicking on the effect icon in the character's Main tab.
If the player selects multiple targets any subsequent attempt will apply to all of the targets.
It is recommended for a number of reasons that players get into the habit of selecting targets by CTRL clicking before rolling attempts or effort.
GM's View
The Game Master's view of the Combat Tracker contains a great deal more information that the Player's View, so we'll break it down into smaller pieces.
GM View - Basics
The GM can edit any and all information which appears on the Combat Tracker, including names, hit points, wounds, effects, actions, and everything else.
In order for Fantasy Grounds to properly automate combats and other interactions the player characters and NPCs must be placed on the combat tracker properly.
PCs can be dragged from the character portraits at the top left hand corner, or from the Character selection window (PCs tab) onto the Combat Tracker.
Individual PCs and NPCs can be deleted from the Combat Tracker by right clicking on the CT entry and selecting delete item.
NPCs can be dragged onto the Combat Tracker from the NPCs tab, or they can be populated via the 'Add encounter to Combat Tracker' button from an encounter.
Additional NPC's can be dragged into the Combat Tracker during a combat, either directly from the NPC tab or from another encounter.
A new, blank NPC can be created by right clicking on the CT and selecting 'Create Item'. (It is not recommended that new NPCs be created this way)
The icons down the right hand side of the Combat Tracker allow the GM to open the NPC or PC sheet of the creature.
The GM can also drag this icon for an NPC and drop it onto a blank part of the Combat Tracker to create an exact duplicate of the NPC.
Unlike the Player view, the GM sees the exact hit points, wounds etc for all NPCs.
The GM can target a creature by holding down CTRL and clicking on the creature's token on the left hand side of the Combat Tracker.
Multiple targets can be selected by holding down CTRL and clicking on each icon in turn.
Deselect targets by holding CTRL and clicking on an already selected target.
The arrangement of the Combat Tracker is essentially the same as the Player's view. However the GM has the following additional buttons and menus:
NPC portraits on the left have a small 'ID' button indicating whether this creature is identified or not. If this icon is red the NPC will show on the player's combat tracker as 'Unidentified Creature'. This button can be toggled between red (unidentified) and green (identified)by clicking on it. Toggling one creature will automatically change the status of all creatures that are currently on the CT that are the same as the one being toggled.
A global toggle to make all NPCs visible or Invisible to the players at the top left hand corner of the Combat Tracker.
An individual Visible/Invisible toggle for each NPC on the Combat Tracker.
An Initiative marker token which can be dragged to the left hand side beside any PC or NPC name to give that creature initiative. This should be dragged to the first person on the Tracker after initiative is rolled and before combat starts.
A menu which is discussed in more detail below.
A set of Global and individual icons which open up further information on the player characters and NPCs. These, too are discussed in more detail below.
GM View - Menu
Clicking on the menu brings up several options which allow the GM to control the following aspects of the Combat Tracker and Game mechanics.
Close this window. Closes the Combat Tracker.
Initiative -> Clear all Initiatives. As it's name suggests clears all initiatives.
Delete from Tracker -> Delete only foes. Deletes all actors marked as hostile.
Delete from Tracker -> Delete all non-friendly. Delets all actors that are not friendly.
GM View - Toggles
As mentioned above there are 4 global and individual toggles each of which open up a new section in the Combat Tracker to enable GMs to run combats and edit aspects of characters and NPCs 'on the fly'. Each of these is discussed in more detail below. It is not considered necessary or even desirable to have the Global toggle on for any of the 5 additional boxes since this takes up a good deal of additional space on the Combat Tracker.
Targets
This section shows the currently selected target(s) of the NPC or PC. The target(s) are shown as tokens and mousing over a token will reveal the target's name.
The small icon to the extreme right of this section can be used to clear all of the targets from the individual PC or NPC.
Individual targets can be removed by clicking on the target's token.
The second small icon on the right can be used to select targets by dragging and dropping the icon onto the targets.
Actions
When expanded, all of a creature's actions are listed beneath it's entry in the combat tracker. This allows the GM to use the creature in combat without requiring the NPC's sheet to be open.
NPC Actions listed in the combat tracker follow the same rules for rolling attempts and effort as the action on the NPC sheet.
Effects
Open this toggle to obtain a list of all effects currently present on the creature.
A new effect can be created by right clicking and selecting 'Add Effect'.
The 3 small buttons on the right of the effect allow the GM to control certain aspects of the effect
ACTIVE: Toggle whether the effect is active or inactive or whether to skip use of the effect this turn.
VSBL: Toggle whether the effect is visible to only the GM or to players as well. NOTE: If an effect is created in the effects panel and is set to invisible then, when placed on the PC, the effect will automatically be set to GM Only. Thus effects can be placed on the PC without the player knowing that an effect has been placed on their character. This is useful for curses and such like which the player would not be aware of.
ALL: Applies the effect to all future rolls, only the next roll, only the next action or once for each part of the effect.
The 'Duration' box shows the number of rounds that the effect has left to run. If this box shows zero the effect will remain until the GM clears the effect from the creature. (This would be the normal state for permanent effects such as a creatures immunities or resistances, or for effects that last for periods measured in hours or days rather than rounds or minutes). This value can be adjusted by the GM.
The 'Initiative to adjust on' box shows when the duration will be decremented. This box will show zero if the effect was placed on he creature when there was no initiative rolled. Again this would be the normal entry here for effects which are permanent or last for a long time. This value can be manually adjusted by the GM.
These two boxes can be used to precisely control when an effect ends on a creature.
Chunks
Open this toggle to obtain a list of all chunks that make up the NPC.
Chunks are simply listed with their name, maximum HP, and current damage taken.
The total HP and damage of an NPC with chunks is the sum of the HP and damage of all individual chunks.
When a creature with chunks suffers damage, a random chunk is selected to take the damage, based on the roll-ranges in the npc sheet.
GM View - Combat
When an NPC populates the Combat Tracker Fantasy Grounds will automatically list the creatures Actions in the action box of the Combat Tracker.
Once target(s) have been selected the GM can make attack rolls by double clicking on any STAT entry in the action section, such as STR, DEX, INT, WIS, etc.
Damage rolls are made by double clicking on any EFFORT entry in the action, such as WEAPON, MAGIC, or ULTIMATE.
All attack and damage rolls can also be made by dragging the appropriate STAT and EFFORT dice into the chat box provided a target has been selected.
Attack and Damage rolls can also be made by dragging the STAT and EFFORT dice and dropping onto a creature either in the Combat Tracker or onto it's token on a map.
