[5e] How Do I Use 5E NPC Sheet for Attack/Damage Rolls?

I am thoroughly confused by the D&D 5E NPC sheet. The character sheet is intuitive, and everything makes sense in terms of entering weapons, and setting everything up for attacks, damage, saves, ability checks, etc. But the NPC sheet is completely stripped down, and I don't understand how the macros are supposed to be programmed or used. The documentation does not really start from the ground up and truly explain this process, despite all of its sections and detail. All I see on the NPC sheet are text boxes and a macro button. So how am I supposed to configure each NPC or monster so that its attacks and damage are handled automatically? I found an old closed thread that supposedly explained how this works, but it didn't. It seemed to assume extensive knowledge as a starting point. Could someone explain this in a way that assumes that someone has no knowledge or experience with Roll20 macros and customizing sheets this way? I suppose that the same thing can be applied to class actions for character sheets. I don't get how those are supposed to be set up either. Thanks, in advance, for any help that anyone can provide.

(Moving this to the character sheets forum)

If this isn't answered within a few hours, I'll help you out Greg. I'm busy now, but tonight I'll check back and make something more in depth to hekp

Thanks, Jake!

So, basically, you select the 'Traits & Actions' page. Then click Actions. You then make sure the 'Emote', 'Attack' 'Dmg' 'Crit' are selected (green) You can add a few more if you want. But for basic Melee attacks, you type the name of the attack where it says 'name' You type in the name, click on the stuff you want it to do, then put in the stuff. If you see CLUB says its a Melee attack, with an Emote Attack Dmg and Crit Emote allows you to create some fluff text. I have @{character name} blah blah at @{target|character_name}! (AC=[[@{target|AC}]]) which kicks out Acolyte blah blah at Player1! (AC=[17]) This is so I can quickly see if an attack hits. The 'To Hit' box is where you put that necessary +modifier that all NPCs get. Acolytes get a +2 to their club swings. dmg needs to be a dice value or flat number. So d4 works. 14 works. 1520 works. Taco does not work. Dmg type isn't necessary, but you can put it in. Crit dmg for NPCs isn't additional damage (my picture is bad) it should be the actual full damage. So for acolyte it would be 2d4. The helmed horror is a better example (there were a couple changes to the Char sheet between the entries I think)

Now these 'actions' can be called by macros. These are the three that I did, though theoritically you can do more. You set these up, and then just need to remember what attack goes where. Spells are different, if they are going to be casting one a lot (like Acolyte might use Sacred Flame more than its club) I am in the camp that you should just make it an action. If its something that happens once, well then maybe just use /r 8d8 for the damage and say what the spell is. Its all up to you.

If you need more help, let me know. I might be able to walk you through something

Thank you for posting this, but there seems to be a rather big disconnect here. What character sheet are you using? I'm using the 5E character sheet, and my version for NPCs looks nothing like yours. Notice that there are no tabs for Traits & Actions, Spellbook, etc.

Haha, I feel dumb. I used the 5e Shaped sheet.

Sadly, I do not know that character sheet in regards to NPCs. Let me go look into it.

Maybe the shaped sheet has vastly greater detail and more tools for building NPCs. It certainly looks that way, and it seems that there is essentially a macro builder built into the sheet that you used. Could you confirm that this is the case? Also, if I change the sheet for my campaign, will my players have to re-create everything from scratch, or will all of their current data be carried over to the new sheet?

Okay!

The shaped sheet definitely has a different feel to it. I think your players would have to start mostly from scratch. I would make a copy of your campaign, and in the copy switch sheets and see what the damage is. As ofr the regular sheet, you simply need to type everything out So effect would be: something like:: Acolyte swings his club! [[d20+2]] | [[d20+2]] for [[d4]] Bludgeoning damage

But where do you place that information? In which box? There seems to be no box designated for macro commands. That's why it's so confusing to me. And I can't quite see the detail in your images. While I know how to build some basic macros for tokens and the bars in Roll20, I can't fathom how to configure them with the PC and NPC sheets. I'm signing off soon, but I will certainly follow up and review any further help or insights you can provide!

If you use inline rolls, it can be in EITHER box. The left says This is a swing of a sword! [[d20+2]] | [[d20+2]] The right says If hits, does damage [[2d4]] The [[xdy]] is what the inline roll is.

So if you simply typed: [[d20]] in the left box (the Description box) It will create a d20 roll in the output.

Thanks so much for giving a detailed working of how NPC attacks work, Jake! @Greg: The shaped sheet has a wiki now: <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/DnD5e_Shaped_Character_She" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/DnD5e_Shaped_Character_She</a>... It's coming along. It explains what is lost when switching from the other 5e sheet. Most everything is kept. Plus I have a nice NPC importer. :) I'll follow up here if there are more questions.

@ Greg If you don't feel up to changing your sheet I am more than willing to help you learn ways to make this one work for you. I set up my attack macros for my NPC's on the Standard D&D 5e sheet as such }} {{attack=[[(1d20cs&gt;20+3+?{Additional Modifiers +|0})]] }} {{attackadv= [[(1d20cs&gt;20+3+?{Additional Modifiers +|0})]] to hit [[@{target|bar2}d1]] }} {{damage= [[1d6+1]] Piercing}} {{critdamage=Additional [[1d6]] }} And call it with a token actions under Abilities like so /emas @{selected|token_name} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|NPCAction1} {{subheader2=Reach 5' • One Target}} {{emote= @{selected|token_name} is attacking @{target|token_name}...}} That uses the roll templates and puts in the attacks with crit damage as needed and whispers it to the GM. In my campaign I use the token's Bar2 attribute for the AC of the players and monsters, so this macro will ask for a target and display the AC for you. I also added a query to ask for additional modifiers, like bless or cover. You can use this macro for any NPC attack, and only need to change the attack bonus and the damage and damage type. I have a generic enemy sheet that I copy for new monsters and just change those three things. There are lots of options with the roll templates when you get comfortable with them. Good gaming. Ed

Changing the sheets is very very simple for PCs. With NPCs its also quite simple if you have access to the API.

I'm busy working today, but I wanted to pop in and say 'thank you' to everyone who has helped thus far. Later today or tonight, I'm hoping to have some time to try Jake's suggestions for the current sheet and then explore the shaped sheet further. Fortunately, I don't have a long-term campaign set up at the moment, so I'll just use the current sheets and some token macros for now. I'm just running something simple right now. But I may be able to migrate to the shaped sheet for a future long-term campaign, and I could have players set up their characters with those from the beginning.

Jake, Ed, and Mark, thanks for your help! I've finally got some macros going on my standard 5e NPC sheets. I can at least get those going. I just wish there was a drag-and-drop or check box to easily add these to the tokens. I think there's a way to do it, but I'm not sure. Soon I'll be taking a look at the shaped sheet as well, because that might be a better option in the long run.

Hi, I am new to Roll20 as well. Could someone post a screenshot of how the NPC tab multi-attack should look? Is there one macro that pulls both the attacks at the same time? I am using the basic UNshaped 5e sheet, as I have players who have never played 5e, much less on VTT.

Brice; this post here dnd-5e-sheet-uoh-user-feedback-mini-update has the info on how to create a multi-attack macro using the roll templates with Actoba's 5e character. You wold have to build it from scratch as the sheet doesn't create a macro for it. Alternately, you could make a token action that calls %{selected|NPCAction1} and %{selected|NPCAction2} if you have them set as two NPC actions. I am pretty sure you can't call the same roll twice on one macro.

I've only just started setting up my first game, and I've found the learning curve to be... well, stiff. As someone with zero experience in programming I find macros incredibly confusing. I've finally got the NPC Actions working when I hit the Macro button on the character sheet, but what I want is to set those up as Token Actions. So - I've got a Skeleton, and it has two Actions: Sword and Bow. On the skeleton's turn, I want to be able to click the button to have it roll for one of those two types of attack. I set up two Abilities that called these actions as macros, ie. #Sword and #Bow and marked them as Token Actions, but they didn't seem to work. I'm sure it's something obvious that I'm missing, or maybe I'm just completely misinterpreting what the character sheet does. At all costs I want to try and keep away from the kind of black magic that Ed S. posted above. I just want to be able to select the Skeleton, click the Sword button and have it roll. Help?

Andrew, it's not black magic, just a bit of manipulation. That being said, it you have two NPC actions made up and they currently work by opening the sheet and clicking on the prepared NPC action button then you can make a Token action by calling that button in a ability macro. You said you are using the #sword and #Bow, but those would only work if you are calling&nbsp;&nbsp;macros of that name in the macro section under the settings tab. You need to call the NPCaction for the creature you have selected.&nbsp; To do that, make your skeletons' token action as such&nbsp; /emas @{selected|token_name} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|NPCAction1} The "%" calls a roll from the sheet, the "selected" will look on the sheet of the token you have selected, as long as you have a sheet attached to that token. The "NPCAction1" is the first NPC action on the sheet, you would do the same for the second action NPCAction2 and so on.&nbsp; That is how it works on the standard 5e sheet, there is a steep learning curve, but once you get the basics down it should go together smoothly from here on out.&nbsp; If you are using the 5e Shaped sheet, that uses a different roll but the set up is pretty similar. You would use %selected|repeating_actions_0_action} to call the roll for the first NPC attack action that you had set up. The second one would be repeating_action_1_action and so on.&nbsp; Once you have those made as token actions they should call the rolls you need.&nbsp; I hope that helps, no magic require. Good Gaming

Andrew G. said: I've only just started setting up my first game, and I've found the learning curve to be... well, stiff. As someone with zero experience in programming I find macros incredibly confusing. I've finally got the NPC Actions working when I hit the Macro button on the character sheet, but what I want is to set those up as Token Actions. If you want an easy route a NPC importer would make it very easy, but that requires pro. To do it manually you need to call the buttons on the token macros. For the shaped sheet that would look like so: %{NAME|repeating_actions_0_action} An example for Ancient Black Dragon: %{Ancient Black Dragon|repeating_actions_1_action} Read more at&nbsp; <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Macros" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Macros</a> Or the&nbsp; Shaped Wiki Or the&nbsp; other 5e sheet wiki

Ed S. said: Andrew, it's not black magic, just a bit of manipulation. That being said, it you have two NPC actions made up and they currently work by opening the sheet and clicking on the prepared NPC action button then you can make a Token action by calling that button in a ability macro. You said you are using the #sword and #Bow, but those would only work if you are calling&nbsp;&nbsp;macros of that name in the macro section under the settings tab. You need to call the NPCaction for the creature you have selected.&nbsp; To do that, make your skeletons' token action as such&nbsp; /emas @{selected|token_name} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|NPCAction1} The "%" calls a roll from the sheet, the "selected" will look on the sheet of the token you have selected, as long as you have a sheet attached to that token. The "NPCAction1" is the first NPC action on the sheet, you would do the same for the second action NPCAction2 and so on.&nbsp; That is how it works on the standard 5e sheet, there is a steep learning curve, but once you get the basics down it should go together smoothly from here on out.&nbsp; If you are using the 5e Shaped sheet, that uses a different roll but the set up is pretty similar. You would use %selected|repeating_actions_0_action} to call the roll for the first NPC attack action that you had set up. The second one would be repeating_action_1_action and so on.&nbsp; Once you have those made as token actions they should call the rolls you need.&nbsp; I hope that helps, no magic require. Good Gaming All programming is black magic to me. :) So, to sum up, let's see if I have this right - I have a Character named Skeleton, and that Skeleton has Actions Sword and Bow. I need to go to Macros on the Settings tab and create a macro containing: /emas @{selected|Skeleton} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|Sword} ? I'm not sure what that "/emas" is doing at the front there, and I'm also not sure why I'm calling on the Target, or even how I specify a target. Is that necessary? It looks weird to me and I don't understand what it's doing. This is why I refer to it as "black magic" - I have to trust that it works despite having no clue how. Also, I'm not sure how to make that into a Token Action. I'm not using the shaped sheet - this one is PLENTY complicated enough for me.

Okay, a little more thinking, a little more reading, and a little more trial and error, and I think I've got it worked out. I've discovered that if I create a Token Action that reads simply: /emas Skeleton %{selected|NPCAction1} ...then it does pretty much exactly what I want. It seems that /emas Skeleton prevents the roll from being whispered to the GM and labels the top box, which is nice. I've learned that you don't call Macros in Token Actions. You call Attributes, which in turn reference Actions on the character sheet. Whew! Now, let's see if I can extrapolate this knowledge to my Giant Rat. ...(later)... Okay, I seem to have it. Thanks a lot for your help. I just needed a little prompting to set my feet on the right path. Now to work out how those Bars work. Oh, and Initiative.

Andrew G. said: Ed S. said: Andrew, it's not black magic, just a bit of manipulation. That being said, it you have two NPC actions made up and they currently work by opening the sheet and clicking on the prepared NPC action button then you can make a Token action by calling that button in a ability macro. You said you are using the #sword and #Bow, but those would only work if you are calling&nbsp;&nbsp;macros of that name in the macro section under the settings tab. You need to call the NPCaction for the creature you have selected.&nbsp; To do that, make your skeletons' token action as such&nbsp; /emas @{selected|token_name} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|NPCAction1} The "%" calls a roll from the sheet, the "selected" will look on the sheet of the token you have selected, as long as you have a sheet attached to that token. The "NPCAction1" is the first NPC action on the sheet, you would do the same for the second action NPCAction2 and so on.&nbsp; That is how it works on the standard 5e sheet, there is a steep learning curve, but once you get the basics down it should go together smoothly from here on out.&nbsp; If you are using the 5e Shaped sheet, that uses a different roll but the set up is pretty similar. You would use %selected|repeating_actions_0_action} to call the roll for the first NPC attack action that you had set up. The second one would be repeating_action_1_action and so on.&nbsp; Once you have those made as token actions they should call the rolls you need.&nbsp; I hope that helps, no magic require. Good Gaming All programming is black magic to me. :) So, to sum up, let's see if I have this right - I have a Character named Skeleton, and that Skeleton has Actions Sword and Bow. I need to go to Macros on the Settings tab and create a macro containing: /emas @{selected|Skeleton} takes a swing at @{target|token_name} %{selected|Sword} ? I'm not sure what that "/emas" is doing at the front there, and I'm also not sure why I'm calling on the Target, or even how I specify a target. Is that necessary? It looks weird to me and I don't understand what it's doing. This is why I refer to it as "black magic" - I have to trust that it works despite having no clue how. Also, I'm not sure how to make that into a Token Action. I'm not using the shaped sheet - this one is PLENTY complicated enough for me. You are wanting to make up a token action macro for a specific character sheet for your skeleton, so this will be made on that character sheet, not in the macros section of the settings tab. &nbsp; There was no need to edit the code at all. In the simplest form just use&nbsp;%{selected|NPCAction1} exactly as written. Add an ability to the character sheet here. and in that ability type what I had above, Tthen be sure to select "Show as Token Action". So when you select &nbsp;a token that is assigned to that sheet the attacks will show up on top of the window in the token action bar.&nbsp; The important thing is to make sure your token is assigned to the sheet, so the actions show up. The full guide to default tokens may be found here: <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Linking_Tokens_to_Journals" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Linking_Tokens_to_Journals</a> . Good luck and happy gaming.

Thanks, I think I've got the hang of it now. You've been very helpful. :)

No problem, if you have any other questions don't be afraid to ask.