Roll20 Attributes and Abilities tutorial

[Thorin]

I thought I'd throw together a little tutorial on how I'm using Roll20's Attributes and Abilities to make rolling typical rolls quicker.  So, join me if you will as I create a Sacred Flame ability for Helix.

Step 1: Switch to the Journal tab

This is simple; at the top of the chat window is a set of tabs



Step 2: Open the character Helix

Also simple; click the name of the character you're adding attributes and abilities to



Step 3: Switch to Edit mode

You are now looking at the Character dialog; click the Edit button



Step 4: Switch to the Attributes & Abilities tab

Click the Attributes & Abilities tab



Step 5: Add the Attributes "half level", "wis mod", "cha mod"

Click the Add button on the Attributes side; a new entry will appear under the Attributes header.  Click the name to change it and enter half level, then click on the text box next to it and enter 2 as the value.

Click the Add button again, this time enter wis mod as the name and 5 as the value.

Click the Add button one last time, this time enter cha mod as the name and 2 as the value.





Step 6: Add the Ability "sacred flame"

With the Attributes set up, lets create the Ability.  Click the Add button on the Abilities side; a new entry will appear under the Abilities header.  Click the pencil icon next to the name ("Untitled_Ability") to edit it.

Enter sacred-flame as the name.  Note that if you press spacebar, the space will automatically be switched to a dash.

Enter your macro string; in this case it's as follows:

/me uses Sacred Flame (at-will)
/roll 1d20+@{half level}+@{wis mod}+2 vs Ref
hit: ally I can see makes save or gains @{cha mod}+@{half level} temp hp
/roll 1d6+@{wis mod}+2 radiant

First is an emote ("/me"); I use these to start all my macros, to make it easy to find them in the chat window.  The emote has the name of the power/skill/etc, as well as if it's at-will, encounter, or daily (this helps me remember to mark off daily and encounter powers as they're used).  I specifically don't put descriptive text in the emote, because it's harder to figure out what power it is and I expect myself to use descriptive wording when describing what I'm going to do, rather than have it appear on-screen.

Second is the attack roll, including what defense (AC/Fort/Ref/Will) it targets.  Notice that I use the Attributes "half level" and "wis mod" here, but other modifiers like the enhancement bonus from my magic holy symbol or the feat bonus from Versatile Expertise I've just lumped together.  This is because I expect to have to change the "half level" and "wis mod" Attributes when I level my characters, and can do so in one place and have it affect all powers, whereas I don't expect to be changing magic holy symbols any time soon and if I do I'll have to change the actual Attribute name anyway in my Ability macro.

Third is anything that happens when I hit or miss (in this case, only something happens when I hit).

Fourth is the damage roll; note I include the damage type as a reminder.

Fifth is any effects that happen regardless if I hit or miss (in this case, there are no effects, but this is where I would list them).

When done, click the checkmark next to the Ability name to save it.





Step 7: Test the Ability "sacred flame"

Finally, lets see this in action.  Return to the Chat window, and type %; an auto-complete dropdown list is displayed.  Since this is my first Ability, it's the only one listed, but there will be more listed here when you have more.

By the way, % is used to start Abilities, # is used to start Macros, @ is used to start Attributes, when using these in other text like dice rolls.

[Melbosa]

Thx!

[Tom]

Melbosa, it's apparently possible to tie various stats (like the XP bar and such) on our character icons to attributes, is it possible to give us permissions to change that data? or can you do it for us?

[Thorin]

I'm gonna hafta work late tonight, I decided to do all my powers that require rolls as well as all my skills.  Took about 2.5 hours total.  I put in the following attributes: half level, str mod, con mod, dex mod, int mod, wis mod, cha mod.  When Helix gains 6th level, I will update half level.  When Helix gains 8th level, I'll have to update half level and possibly two of the score mods.  For the rest, all my powers stay working without having to modify anything.  w00t!

[Thorin]

Melbosa, it's apparently possible to tie various stats (like the XP bar and such) on our character icons to attributes, is it possible to give us permissions to change that data? or can you do it for us?

Just remember that there's no way to do if statements yet, so you can't do "pick this value if hp > 30, pick that value if hp <= 30".

There's a whole scripting API coming but it's only available on the dev servers at the moment (you can get access by paying them for the Mentor role, $10 a month or $99 a year).  Since it uses Javascript, that kind of math will be possible at that time.

[Melbosa]

So these are the permissions I can set, and where I would change it.  So if you can't see this drop down in the "Token Permission - 01.PNG"/"Token Permission - 02.PNG" then I would have to do it.

[Tom]

Yeah, it doesn't look like we can edit our tokens at all. At least I don't have an option to edit my token.

[Thorin]

Players don't see the options you show in the last two screenshots.  GMs only.  Otherwise we could edit other people's tokens

Hey, in the first screenshot there's a field called "In Player's Journals".  Maybe set that to specific players so we don't get each others' characters showing up?  And then change your NPCs to "Brandt" so that the rest of us don't see them?

[Melbosa]

Hey, in the first screenshot there's a field called "In Player's Journals".  Maybe set that to specific players so we don't get each others' characters showing up?  And then change your NPCs to "Brandt" so that the rest of us don't see them?

I changed the Player ones as you suggested, but all the NPCs I don't want you to see are that way.  I want you to see Captain Jarex, Rork, Captain Zip, and Kip as their Bios and party info are in there.