Default values for attribute macros

Not all characters will have all attributes. Using @{selected|AttributeName} produces an ugly orange error message in the roller's chat window if the token doesn't have that attribute. In D&D or FATE, rolling a skill you don't actually have is a perfectly normal occurrence. While I could certainly add a script to give all characters a default 0 value for all attributes in the game upon creation, that can clutter the sheet up a bit, especially for games with lots of attributes. So, simple solution: @{<character>|<attribute>|<default>}, e.g., @{selected|Acrobatics|0}

+1

How I do it is just have one macro (actually an ability nowadays) in the form of the character not having that skill/attribute and name it appropriately eg untrained or noskill. This works as long as the roll is identical in with every skill/attribute and if it's not then you would still (even after implementing your suggestion) need to make individual macors/abilities. Which brings me to my question how would the macro in your suggestion know what the ability modifier is in D&D is you don't make an individual macro for every skill and if you do make an individual macro for every skill then wouldn't it actually be easier to just have it in the form of "...+X" where X is your default value instead of referring to a ghost attribute and giving it a default value 0? Sorry if I ask stupid questions. It's very much possible I misunderstood something.

It's possible to make a global token action macro. For example, you might define a global "Acrobatics" macro like this: /roll 1d20 + @{selected|Dex} + @{selected|Acrobatics} If you then set the macro as a Token Action, it will be shown in the token action bar for all tokens. If it's visible to all players, then it will also be available to any token a player controls. But not all of those tokens will have points in Acrobatics. Clearly if I was making an ability for a specific character this wouldn't be an issue, but for global macros and token actions we generally don't know what token will be selected ahead of time. Another way to look at it might be for a targeted ability using @{target|<thing>}. The attacker's attributes are known, but we don't know ahead of time that all creatures we might want to target have the skill used to oppose the roll.

Ok, like I presumed I misunderstood something earlier. Thanks for clearing it up for me. +1 But I personally would like more to be able to add attributes to several characters at once. You would choose the characters you want to edit in the same way (all would an option) and then you could add an attribute to them all at once with a "default" value and if someones attribute becomes something else I could just edit that character. This would of course mean that every characters attribute list would be long, very long but I personally wouldn't mind as long as the order would be the same with each character. Sorry if I highjacked your thread a bit.

I wonder if it would be just as easy to let GMs literally create an Attribute in the journal called Default and assign it a number as normal. Then this value would be used in place of any missing/absent attribute that a macro went looking for. That way you could set your own defaults, which would be very handy when creating NPCs and mooks for some game systems. It would only take slightly more work on the part of the GM. Either way, +1.

You can problematically create/modify Attributes and their values from character sheets through the API (Mentor subscription required). Macros won't let you write changes to the data (modify values) The more preptime-intensive method: When I setup campaigns, I create a Template Character Sheet with all the Attributes I'm using (I often go overboard and make an attribute for every single stat found on a D&D character sheet. but that's my compulsive nature) and fill them in with default values (10 for stats, 0 for skills, etc) and make some universal Token Actions for them like Initiative rolls to the tracker, perception checks and such. I'll Duplicate that sheet to make Player Character Sheets and let the players update the values for their character. That way when a Token Action needs to add Dex or Str or a Skill, it has a starting value to work with even if it's untrained. It also gives me an in-game way to check stats quietly instead of having 5 different windows open with everyone's mythweaver sheets or something.