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Creating Zones

Last week, during my game, an enemy created a zone on the ground but I couldn't find any way to just create an aura on the ground without attaching it to a token. We had to resort to using the polygon tool, but it just felt clunky, slow, and inelegant, not to mention clashing with the aesthetic of the carefully created combat map. Afterwards, I started playing around with various options, checking the wiki, and doing a forum search, but I couldn't find anything about creating temporary zones without attaching them to tokens. I did, however, create a workaround by importing a fully transparent .png and importing it. When I need to create a zone on the map, I just throw down the transparent token, give it an aura of the appropriate size, and, if needed, a name (generally defining its effects). Is there a more elegant solution than this? I expected there to be some default functionality (especially since there I couldn't find a fully transparent token by default) since it's a standard effect for most PnPs, but I couldn't find it. Admittedly, I've only been messing around with the system for 2 weeks, so it's entirely possible I missed it.
1370377697
Konrad J.
Pro
API Scripter
Thats how I have done it.  Just draw the area with the drawing tool if its not moveable.  If it is then I used a token and put an aura on it.  A fully transparent token might be hard to find though. :)  I just use a marker I create.
That's probably the best solution: A small marker to which you can then attach an aura.
Konrad J. said: A fully transparent token might be hard to find though. I just uploaded a .png of 100x100 transparent pixels from gimp to create my transparent token so it wasn't explicitly hard to "find". Creating the zone with the drawing tools just felt clunky and didn't look right. Now that I know that there isn't any default functionality for it, my plan is to just use it for any zone, whether it's persistent or temporary, mobile or static. It just looks better. And, now that I know it doesn't exist explicitly, it's time for me to hit up the suggestions forums.
1370387004
Konrad J.
Pro
API Scripter
Kitru said: Konrad J. said: A fully transparent token might be hard to find though. I just uploaded a .png of 100x100 transparent pixels from gimp to create my transparent token so it wasn't explicitly hard to "find". Creating the zone with the drawing tools just felt clunky and didn't look right. Now that I know that there isn't any default functionality for it, my plan is to just use it for any zone, whether it's persistent or temporary, mobile or static. It just looks better. And, now that I know it doesn't exist explicitly, it's time for me to hit up the suggestions forums. I meant after you put it on the table and select another token how do you find the transparent token? :)  I guess as long as you put an aura on it right away you won't lose it.
1370388024
Pat S.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
I put a name on it and let it show till I was ready to place it permanently that is what I was doing. 
I never really had a problem finding it: just drag and drop it into an empty space and then highlight the entire area. Since it'll be the only thing in there, even though you don't know the explicit spot it was dropped in, you'll grab it and get to mess around with it as you see fit.
I prefer to use something appropriate as a token. You can create an aura or move it to the back then. If its an "Aura of Healing" you might take a blue orb and make an aura around that. If its an Obscuring mist you can use a piece of fog. If you're a little creative I"m sure you can find a decent representation for just about anything. Its not perfect but its simple and a little more visually satisfying than a transparen token with an aura.
This was my solution to creating a zone, using a token with aura. <a href="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/ConstantineMaat/zonemarkerexample.png" rel="nofollow">http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/ConstantineMaat/zonemarkerexample.png</a>