Flashlight and Solid Objects

Hello everyone! First off - great thing you have got going here! Love the way it evolved since the KS campaign. Please tell me if it is possible to make a cone of lighting ? A light source directed someplace in a cone shape, as opposed to what we have by default - circle around the source. Second question would be - Is it possible to make objects (tokens) solid ? What I mean by solid is - impassible. I know that people should be sane while playing a role-playing game and don't go flying off revealing pieces of the map, but sometimes these things happen.

You can make a cone by drawing the cone yourself on the DL layer. Of course it doesn't work with tokens that needs to move since the "cone" is on another layer and can't be moved with the token. Atm tokens don't have directions and I would assume that this would have to be implemented first in order to get different shapes for the light projection other than circle. It's not possible (to my limited knowledge) to make tokens solid. It has been requested though, that walls (lines) could be made that the PCs can't cross with their tokens.

Shaped dynamic lighting is currently not available. Hopefully it is included at some point.

Val,  It is not currently possible to make a cone of lighting. Regarding making objects solid so that PCs cannot reveal peices of the map I have a couple of ways I use to prevent this. Method 1: I use Fog of War to conceal things beyond the current area. Used in this way Fog of War is a blunt tool while Dynamic Lighting is the scalpel.  Method 2: On the DL layer I place small squares at the center of each grid in areas that players are most likely to accidentally go out of a zone.  An example is in a cavern where 1/3 of the square is available but the remaining 2/3rds are on the wrong side of the DL barrier. If a player accidentally drops his token in that square it would illuminate the wrong side of the barrier. To correct this I put in a tiny light blocking square at the center of the grid-square.  - Gauss

Gauss said: Val,  It is not currently possible to make a cone of lighting. Regarding making objects solid so that PCs cannot reveal peices of the map I have a couple of ways I use to prevent this. Method 1: I use Fog of War to conceal things beyond the current area. Used in this way Fog of War is a blunt tool while Dynamic Lighting is the scalpel.  Method 2: On the DL layer I place small squares at the center of each grid in areas that players are most likely to accidentally go out of a zone.  An example is in a cavern where 1/3 of the square is available but the remaining 2/3rds are on the wrong side of the DL barrier. If a player accidentally drops his token in that square it would illuminate the wrong side of the barrier. To correct this I put in a tiny light blocking square at the center of the grid-square.  - Gauss Roger that on Flashlight issue. As for solid objects, I have a problem with method 1, since You (DM) cannot specify circle (LoS) size. It will always be square. Which would be ok, but sometimes it reveals little too little, or little too much. Method two I am using right now, but what issue I am faced right now with this method is that [door] needs to be large enough, to divide it and for it to still look like a door. Or if you make it look like a door from one side, it is completely dark from the other side. I hope this makes sense, since my native language is not English. Thanks for all the info guys!

Val, perhaps I am misunderstanding your needs.  If you have a room that is circular, you can set Dynamic Lighting so that players cannot see beyond the walls of the room. Then, to prevent players from going beyond the walls you can use Fog of War to darken the area beyond the walls. Since FoW is a square area you do not want to use it over the entire area at once. Reveal the edges with strips and then reveal the center. What will be left uncovered beyond the walls should not be that much.  If you would like help with a map I could come into your game and show you what I mean. Regarding doors you could try this:  Place a very small light source inside the door and then use a box to conceal the door with. That way it will be shown from both sides (assuming Fog of War is removed). Alternately, move the door's DL light barrier depending on what side of the door the players are on.  - Gauss

Gauss said: Val, perhaps I am misunderstanding your needs.  If you have a room that is circular, you can set Dynamic Lighting so that players cannot see beyond the walls of the room. Then, to prevent players from going beyond the walls you can use Fog of War to darken the area beyond the walls. Since FoW is a square area you do not want to use it over the entire area at once. Reveal the edges with strips and then reveal the center. What will be left uncovered beyond the walls should not be that much.  If you would like help with a map I could come into your game and show you what I mean. Regarding doors you could try this:  Place a very small light source inside the door and then use a box to conceal the door with. That way it will be shown from both sides (assuming Fog of War is removed). Alternately, move the door's DL light barrier depending on what side of the door the players are on.  - Gauss Oh shizzle! Yes! Make a door a light source with barriers around it! That is genius! Thanks for the help! Now I will have to wait for cone of light to be implemented, since Space Marines like their light sources to have a direction other than "ALL OVER THE PLACE".

Ha, rejoiced too soon. Now I need to hide all the doors in some way not be seen on the map...

Val, two methods for that. Fog of War (as I mentioned) OR leave the light source set so the players cannot see it. Then edit it when they approach the door. Personally, I would use FoW. - Gauss