New ruler tools: burst and cone

It would be really great if there was the ability to use a ruler style tool that created outlines of burst and cone effects. So, as you increase the ruler length the burst and cone effect outlines change as well. Sorry this is a crude drawing I did in MS Paint real fast but it gets the idea across.  I find myself using the ruler a lot and this addition would greatly improve the experience. Instead of spinning around the point of origin trying to figure out a burst. and the cone effect would be just amazing. 

This. So much this. Every time I use a cone effect, I have to measure my distance to each target, but even then I'm not entirely sure which squares the cone occupies.

If your going to have burst and cone we will also need blast.

And/or an angle effect. The measure works, as I can figure it out with math, but for sheer convince and for those who cannot do geometry (thus I I have too) a simple degree portrail would be most  useful!

I like it, at the minute when using bursts (like channel energy) i've been adding auras to characters and then removing them just to confirm what is and isnt inside the range and this would be so much more convenient not to mention allowing you to do it for effects not targetted on a specific token.

+1 But I don't see this feature as a priority because different systems have different cones, blast radius, etc. mechanics/areas. I'm fairly certain that everyone above thought about D&D 3,5 areas but there are a lot of different systems out there and one of the biggest things about Roll20 imo is how it doesn't try to be a D&D VTT it's goal is to be a VTT. If you can play it on a physical table you can play it on Roll20. So in short +1 to this but +2 to customizable area-rulers.

+1

Because the Devs have a stated design philosophy of Roll20 being system neutral and since templates are system specific I do not see the Devs creating them. Although that does not rule out creating a variable type of template system. My suggestion is that you use an art program to make some templates. Then you can have the templates in a section of the map for the players or connect them to journal entries as tokens.  - Gauss

To all who commented that this was D&D 3.5 specific I have played all versions of D&D and would use them in some way for all of them. That being said I can not speak to many other games but I feel D&D cannot be the only one that uses this or similar systems making it too game specific for roll20. Besides you already specify game specific specs for diagonal measurement so why is this to specific when I have to set my board angles to 3.5 or 4.0 D&D.  To Alex L. will you explain the difference in blast and burst effects? I do not remember that distinction being made in the games I have played.  Perhaps just different shapes then? So a triangle with the top on the space and using the area formula as you increase the height? A circle with the center on the point you start with your length being the radius etc.

As an additional suggestion regarding our existing tools, you can use the drawing tools to make all sorts of templates.  - Gauss

I know there is a tactical game that uses those types of templates for their damage ratings. It is Legionnaire (spelling?) and their weapons use those types templates to apply the damage to the armor.  Years ago, I homebrewed the armor and weapons into Battletech. Made an interesting game.

Gauss said: As an additional suggestion regarding our existing tools, you can use the drawing tools to make all sorts of templates.  - Gauss That's what we do currently, works well for the most part.

Gauss said: As an additional suggestion regarding our existing tools, you can use the drawing tools to make all sorts of templates.  - Gauss How do you do that? Just draw them out with the polygon tool and leave them lying around on the map for later?

Peter B. said: Gauss said: As an additional suggestion regarding our existing tools, you can use the drawing tools to make all sorts of templates.  - Gauss How do you do that? Just draw them out with the polygon tool and leave them lying around on the map for later? Yes if its something your group uses a lot. for instance my group uses a lot of blast 1s so we tend to have one around.

Templates may work, if that is the suggested solution then maybe a way to save the drawing for later so you don't just have to leave them laying around all the time?

Metroknight said: I know there is a tactical game that uses those types of templates for their damage ratings. It is Legionnaire (spelling?) and their weapons use those types templates to apply the damage to the armor.  Years ago, I homebrewed the armor and weapons into Battletech. Made an interesting game. I know there are several various degrees of cones used for various effects in Warhammer40k, and I know cone is an option for a power in the HERO system.  I imagine it would be used if it were available, so +1. I'm unsure the work that would need to go into roll20 for creating it, but i think a few simple options (radius, distance, tiles or straight edge), and a rotation method like you can do with tokens would be simple enough.

I know that various editions of D&D could use those templates for the spells also. Cone of Cold, Flame jet, various dragon breaths, just to name a few off the top of my head. There are alot of other fantasy games that could use them also.

A tip!  A lot of my players have spells with set areas of effect and such.  We've created templates (some of which are pretty and artsy but some of which are just outlines.)  I've created a "character" for each of these with the preset token of their spell's effective area that they have control of by default.  I've tagged all of these "aoe", "spell" and so on so I can easily find them.  When the player uses the ability or spell, I drop it on the map and they place it exactly where they want it.  It's very quick. Sets of these kind of templates in the Marketplace would be nice for people who don't want to make their own.

David L. said: A tip!  A lot of my players have spells with set areas of effect and such.  We've created templates (some of which are pretty and artsy but some of which are just outlines.)  I've created a "character" for each of these with the preset token of their spell's effective area that they have control of by default.  I've tagged all of these "aoe", "spell" and so on so I can easily find them.  When the player uses the ability or spell, I drop it on the map and they place it exactly where they want it.  It's very quick. Sets of these kind of templates in the Marketplace would be nice for people who don't want to make their own. How are you doing that? I can't find anything in game about converting things into tokens, are you using an external drawing program?