PFRPG and 3.5E Effects
Using Effect Features in Your Game
Effects in the 3.5E ruleset can be very complex, once you decide to take advantage of all of the functionality available. Many features provided in this section can be handled manually by calculations done by the players and GM, just like sitting around the gaming table. It is recommended that you slowly add effect capabilities to your game until the comfort level of you and your players has been reached.
While effects can be entered manually, the effects system was also designed to pull the effect information directly from the ability or spell description text by parsing the words. Just provide the description text from the rulebooks directly into an ability or spell entry on the Actions tab of the character sheet, or drop the abilities and spells from your own data modules.
The effect system was built to handle 80-90% of the rules available in the game system (including automatic parsing of effects from ability and spell description text). 3.5E can be a very complex game, as it is built using exception-based game design principles. The primary focus of the effects system is to support the abilities and spells in the core rulebooks. There will be some powers and effects that will not be able to be represented in the current version of the ruleset.
Campaign Effects
In addition to the effect text field and visibility fields, the 3.5E ruleset adds an effect expenditure toggle button and duration fields. The effect text field can contain one or more modifiers or conditions that adjust rolls made by that CT actor.
Expenditure: By default, an effect is applied to all future rolls until the duration expires. The expenditure button can be toggled to Action, Roll or Singles as well. If set to Action, the effect will be applied to the next relevant action (set of rolls)(i.e. area of effect attack rolls as a set). If set to Roll, the effect will be applied to the next relevant single roll. If set to Singles, each component of the effect will be applied once when relevant, then removed. (See below for effect label components.)
Duration: The duration consists of two fields indicating a numerical value and a unit period (round, minute, hour, day). If the numerical duration is zero (or empty), then the effect does not expire.
Combat Tracker
When an effect is applied to an actor in the combat tracker, in addition to the fields added in Campaign Effects, a few additional fields have been added.
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 Text Field Features
In the 3.5E ruleset, conditions and modifiers can be embedded into the effect text field in order to modify rolls made by the actor.
Each description, condition or modifier needs to be separated by a semi-colon within the effect text field, and these are called effect components. Effect components that do not start with a modifier tag or a condition tag are treated as descriptive text only.
Conditions
Not case-sensitive.
Do not stack.
Condition | Modifiers Applied | Notes |
---|---|---|
Actions | ||
Climbing | GRANTCA |
|
Kneeling | AC: -2 melee; AC: 2 ranged |
|
Running | GRANTCA |
|
Sitting | AC: -2 melee; AC: 2 ranged |
|
Squeezing | GRANTCA; ATK:-5 |
|
Combat Advantage | ||
CA |
| (T), When attacking, actor treats defender as flat-footed. |
GRANTCA |
| (T), Actor is considered flat-footed when attacked. |
Status | ||
Blinded | AC:-2; GRANTCA; SKILL:-2 strength,dexterity; SKILL:-4 search,perception | Attacks treat defenders as if they have Total Concealment |
Cowering | AC:-2 |
|
Dazed |
|
|
Dazzled | ATK:-1; SKILL:-1 spot,search,perception |
|
Deafened |
|
|
Entangled | ATK:-2; DEX:-4 |
|
Evasion |
| Treated as having evasion. |
Exhausted | DEX:-6; STR:-6 |
|
Fascinated | SKILL:-4 spot,listen,perception |
|
Fatigued | DEX:-2; STR:-2 |
|
Frightened | ATK:-2; SAVE:-2; SKILL:-2; ABIL:-2 |
|
Grappled | GRANTCA | Combat advantage is only applied to actors who are not the source actor for the Grappled effect. |
Helpless | AC:-4 melee | Treated as having zero Dex for AC calculation |
Improved Evasion |
| Treated as having improved evasion. |
Invisible | ATK:2; CA; TCONC | (T) |
Incorporeal |
| Corporeal attacks against actor have 50% miss chance. |
Nauseated |
|
|
Panicked | ATK:-2; SAVE:-2; SKILL:-2; ABIL:-2 |
|
Paralyzed | AC:-4 melee | Treated as having zero Dex for AC calculation |
Petrified | AC:-4 melee | Treated as having zero Dex for AC calculation |
Pinned | GRANTCA, AC:-4 | In 3.5E, AC penalty excludes source actor. In PFRPG, applies to all. |
Prone | ATK:-4 melee; AC:-4 melee; AC:4 ranged |
|
Rebuked | AC:-2 |
|
Shaken | ATK:-2; SAVE:-2; SKILL:-2; ABIL:-2 |
|
Sickened | ATK:-2; DMG:-2; SAVE:-2; SKILL:-2; ABIL:-2 |
|
Slowed | ATK:-1; AC:-1; REF:-1 |
|
Stunned | AC:-2; GRANTCA |
|
Turned | AC:-2 |
|
Unconscious | AC:-4 melee | Treated as having zero Dex for AC calculation, Prone effect should be applied separately |
(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]).
Modifier | Value | Descriptors | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Combat | |||
INIT | (D) | [bonus] | Initiative checks |
ATK | (D) | [bonus], [range], opportunity | (T), Attack rolls |
CC | (D) | [bonus] | (T), Critical confirmation rolls |
AC | (N) | [bonus], [range], opportunity | (T), Armor class defense |
CMB | (D) | [bonus], opportunity | (T), Combat maneuver rolls |
CMD | (N) | [bonus], opportunity | (T), Combat maneuver defense |
DMG | (D) | [bonus], [range], [damage type]* | (T), Damage rolls for weapons |
DMGS | (D) | [bonus], [range], [damage type]* | (T), Damage rolls for spells |
HEAL | (D) | - | Healing rolls |
SAVE | (D) | [bonus], [save] | (T), Saving throws |
CLC | (D) |
| (T), Caster level checks |
Abilities | |||
ABIL | (D) | [bonus], [ability] | Ability checks |
STR | (N) | [bonus] | Strength modifier |
DEX | (N) | [bonus] | Dexterity modifier |
CON | (N) | [bonus] | Constitution modifier |
INT | (N) | [bonus] | Intelligence modifier |
WIS | (N) | [bonus] | Wisdom modifier |
CHA | (N) | [bonus] | Charisma modifier |
Damage | |||
DMGTYPE | (-) | [damage type]* | (T), Adds damage type to weapon damage rolls. |
DMGSTYPE | (-) | [damage type] | (T), Adds damage type to spell damage rolls. |
DMGO | (D) | [damage type]* | Damage (Ongoing) |
FHEAL | (D) | - | Fast Healing |
REGEN | (D) | [special] | Regeneration. Use and/or clause to specify damage types which can overcome regeneration. |
DR | (N) | [special], all | (T), Damage resistance. Use and/or clause to specify damage types which can overcome DR. |
IMMUNE | (-) | [damage type], all | (T), Immune to damage type. |
RESIST | (N) | [damage type], all | (T), Resistance to damage type. |
VULN | (N) | [damage type] | (T), Vulnerability to damage type. |
Situational | |||
CONC | (-) | [range]* | (T), Concealment |
TCONC | (-) | [range]* | (T), Concealment (Total) |
PCOVER | (-) | [range]* | (T), Cover (Partial) |
COVER | (-) | [range]* | (T), Cover |
SCOVER | (-) | [range]* | (T), Cover (Superior) |
Traits | |||
Construct traits | (-) | IMMUNE: nonlethal | Construct creature type. |
Swarm traits | (-) | - | Swarm creature type. Informational only. |
Undead traits | (-) | IMMUNE: nonlethal | Undead creature type. |
Misc | |||
NLVL | (N) | - | Negative levels. |
SKILL | (D) | [bonus], [skill], [ability] | Skill checks |
SPEED | (N) | [bonus] | Speed. Informational only. |
(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
[bonus] = alchemical, armor, circumstance, competence, deflection, dodge, enhancement, insight, luck, morale, natural, profane, racial, resistance, sacred, shield, size
[range] = melee, ranged
[damage type] = acid, cold, electricity, fire, sonic, force, negative, positive, adamantine, bludgeoning, cold iron, epic, magic, piercing, silver, slashing, chaotic, evil, good, lawful, nonlethal, spell
[ability name] = strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, charisma
[skill name] = any skill name
* = Multiple entries of this descriptor type allowed.
Special Components
Examples: FAIL, AURA, ...
Unique format for each tag
Case-sensitive
Special Tag | Notes |
---|---|
IF: [condition OR conditional operator] | Ignores the remainder of the effect components within the effect label, unless the source actor has the specified condition. |
IFT: [condition OR conditional operator] | Ignores the remainder of the effect components within the effect label, unless the opposing actor has the specified condition. |
When IFT is combined with another effect then this will only work for effects with a (T) in its notes except when it is an effect in the conditions table with which IFT will not work at all.
Conditional Operators
Not case-sensitive
Operator | Notes |
---|---|
ALIGN ([alignment]) | If the creature indicated by the conditional effect has the given alignment, then this operator returns true. |
SIZE ([size]) | If the conditional effect target is of the correct size or larger/smaller based on the size greater/less than operation, then this operator returns true. |
TYPE ([creature type]*) | If the creature indicated by the conditional effect has the given creature type, then this operator returns true. |
Healthy | If the conditional effect target has no wounds, then this operator returns true. |
Wounded | If the conditional effect target has any wounds, then this operator returns true. |
Bloodied | If the conditional effect target has wounds greater than or equal to half its hit points, then this operator returns true. |
CUSTOM () | Allows for testing user created conditions. The condition to be tested is added in brackets after the custom keyword. Thus the syntax would be IF: CUSTOM (condition) or IFT: CUSTOM (condition). If the 'condition' is present on the target (for IFT) or actor (for IF) then the function will return true. The 'condition' to be tested for is applied as the custom condition name only (essentially a label), it does not include the 'custom' keyword. For example: Apply the text 'Quarry' to a target and then check with 'IFT: CUSTOM (Quarry);' |
[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] = F, D, T, S, M, L, H, G, C, fine, diminutive, tiny, small, medium, large, huge, gargantuan, colossal
[creature type] = aberration, animal, construct, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, outsider, plant, undead, vermin, air, angel, aquatic, archon, augmented, chaotic, cold, demon, devil, earth, evil, extraplanar, fire, good, incorporeal, lawful, living construct, native, psionic, shapechanger, swarm, water, dwarf, elf, gnoll, gnome, goblinoid, halfling, human, orc, reptilian
* = Multiple entries of this descriptor type allowed.
PC Specific Notes
NOTE: These tags can only be used for effects specified on the PC Actions tab of the character sheet. They will not work from the campaign effects list or combat tracker. The numerical values will be calculated when the effect is applied to the combat tracker.
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.
PC tag | Notes |
---|---|
STR | PC Strength bonus |
BAB | PC base attack bonus |
DEX | PC Dexterity bonus |
CON | PC Constitution bonus |
INT | PC Intelligence bonus |
WIS | PC Wisdom bonus |
CHA | PC Charisma bonus |
LVL | PC total level |
CL | PC caster level of the respective spell class |
H[other tag] | Half of the other tag bonus |
X[other tag] | Multiply other tag by X where X is 2-9 Adds an arbitrary number X to other tag. Works only in effects which supports a number as bonus type. Beware the space between the X and [other tag]. |
-[other tag] | Negative the other tag bonus (including half and double) |
Examples
Good
ATK: 2 sacred
SAVE: 1
DMGO: 2d6
DMG: 1d6 cold
RESIST: 5 fire; RESIST: 5 cold
Bad
RESIST: 5 fire,cold
PC Sheet
RESIST: 2 [WIS]
ATK: [-DEX]
DMG: 2d6+1 [CON]
More
Power Text | Effect Label | Other Effect Fields |
---|---|---|
+1 to next d20 roll | ATK:1; DMG:1; SKILL:1; ABIL:1; SAVE:1 | (Duration: 1)(Expend on Roll) |
+2 to your next attack and damage roll | ATK:2; DMG:2 | (Duration: 1)(Expend on Single Usage) |