Power Cards and Embedded Macros

Hello Roll20 Wizards! Sorry to bother with this question, but I have been f-ing around trying to figure this out to no avail. I use a macro to call up four buttons, which are attack types.  My Area Attack macro below works 100% as intended when I use "test macro" or call the macro from the Macro or token bar directly. However, when I click on the macro button represented in chat created by the "Attacks" macro, it leaves out the FX.  --------------------------------------------------------- [b]This macro is called "Attacks" and brings up four buttons in chat corresponding to the four attack types in my game:[/b] [Melee Attack](!#MeleeAttack)[Ranged Attack](!#RangedAttack) [Area Attack](!#AreaAttack)[Close Attack](!#CloseAttack) -------------------------------------------------------- [b] Below is the AreaAttack Macro:[/b] !power {{ --emote|@{selected|token_name} Attacks the @{target|token_name} with an: --name|Area Attack --You Rolled A|[[ [XPND] 1d20 + ?{Area Attack Bonus?|0} [Area Attack Bonus] ]] vs **?{Which Defense?|AC|REF|WILL|FORT}**   *  now ADD or SUBTRACT any additional modifiers to the above total* --vfx_opt|@{target|token_id} nova-?{Color|acid|blood|charm|death|fire|frost|holy|magic} }} !roll20AM --audio,play,nomenu|Fireball ---------------------------- For the life of me I can figure out why it doesn't work as intended from the button.  I mean, it does ask for the Color of the Effect, but then doesn't show the effect.  If I call the macro from a token action or from the macro bar, it works as intended. Excuse my ignorance if the answer is readily apparent ;o)  any advice appreciated! Sincerey, GTH

Likely, this is due to nesting a query.  Look up queries and character substitutions, but essentially when you call a macro from a macro, the called macro gets 'pre-parsed' into the calling macro, and that process strips certain characters.  You need to use character substitutions to make the parser parse those into the needed characters.  It is a complicated issue and trips up many people.  the moment they delve into complicated nested macro fun.

Thank you, I appreciate the response, I'll have to try that again.  Since that must be it, I'll take it that I just need to be clear on substitution and try again. Have a great evening, Gil