Ran first game, many questions

So after weeks of tries we finally ran our first session as a test and although I thought I learned the interface I ran into many questions. Hopefully people can help. I didn't bother entering the player characters into roll 20, I didn't see a benefit of it, is there one? I created some tokens for the PC's but when I moved from on screen to the next they didn't come with me. After trial and error I discovered I could copy and paste them from one map to the next. Is this the only way to do that? When you create a characters say a bunch of goblins to fight can I assign it a token and drag it right from the characters screen?  Even though I created all my monster stat blocks, I had to on the fly find tokens for them. Not a big deal but I feel like there must be another way to do this. I ended up just using an outside program to manager my monsters hit points etc during combat. Again I don't see what integration roll20 provides for this. Using the turn order widget. I would have to close it and re-open it after each encounter because leaving the heroes on it but adding new monsters never worked. This was tedious having to add each hero on every encounter. In short while roll20 was easy to use I felt the days I spent doing the prep work of putting in my maps and adding all the monster stats blocks was a waste of time. I essential used roll20 just for the mpas and combat. I know I must be missing something. I'm trying to find something to use as I've reunited my old rpg group. So we have a bunch of 40 something guys playing Pathfinder for the first time and I didn't feel like I was using roll20 to the fullest.  Thanks for any advice.

Greetings, 1. I assume you mean the character sheets? If so, the benefit you do or do not derive is entirely up to you. Some use them, some do not. My group uses character sheets for attributes and abilities and then we put our main sheets on myth-weavers.com and link them to the Roll20 character sheets. Others who are willing to do the work put their entire stat blocks in the character sheet.  The only reason I worry about attributes is to link them to Tokens and to use them in Macros and Abilities (character sheet macros). Much quicker to change a few attributes then to change each Macro and Ability. 2. It is the best way yes. You can copy them as a group. Alternately, if you put the image in the players character sheet you can then pull it off of the sheet. Warning: at this time the image will be a brand new token without anything set up on it.  3. Yes, you can create a bunch of tokens in advance. My preferred method is to create one and set up all the details I need on it. Then I  copy/paste until I have enough tokens. Alternately, you can put it in an NPC character sheet and drag it from the sheet as I explained in question 2. Again, it will be a brand new token if you do this. 4. Hitpoint management is performed on the tokens themselves. When I set up the token I put in the current/maximum hitpoints and then I can just add or subtract hitpoints using the bubbles. Click on a bubble and type -10 if the creature has lost 10 hitpoints. If desired, you can let the players see the ratio of current to maximum hitpoints as a bar. I personally find this very valuable but some people use outside resources.  5. Could you explain the problem as to why it does not work? It works pretty well for me. Note: when changing maps you will need to close it and re-add players.  How I use monster stat blocks: I put them in the GM section of the token and then just refer to them as needed. Others use the Character Sheets.  Roll20 does not have much automation. Putting in things like statblocks is primarily for your reference. The lack of automation is by design. It is intended to be used with most game systems.  If you have any further questions feel free to ask. - Gauss

If you create a Character for the players under the Journal tab, they can enter stats like Hit Points for their characters and then link their tokens on each map to that Character. It will allow Roll20 to automatically update all tokens linked to that Character when any token or the sheet is altered. It also gives players a place to store relevant info on their character for easy access within Roll20. Such as equipment. Yes, the only way to move tokens between maps is to copy and paste. This is another reason why creating a Character for players under the Journal tab is good. I'm not sure what you mean by this... if you're talking about uploading an image to the Character journal page and then dragging that image onto the map, yes you can. However, this doesn't mean it'll have any of the stats for that character. That's a feature that may or may not be implemented later. Every token has three bars you can assign to various stats. Then, click on a token once to select it and three little circles should pop up above it. Simple click on one of those circles, enter a + or - value in the box that appears and you can update hit points and such that way. Turn Order is unique to each map purposefully. To add a bunch of tokens all at once, select them all and then hit CTRL + U.

Dan I would suggest that you go <a href="http://help.roll20.net/" rel="nofollow">http://help.roll20.net/</a> through once. Most of your questions are answered there in a very straightforward way. After that come here and ask about the things Help &amp; Docs didn't answer.

I appreciate the answers. I will check out the docs again and watch the new videos. To provide more detail on #3 above. Here is what I did, I had a 10 room pathfinder adventure. I create a character sheet for each monster type they would face. i.e. One for goblin warriors, one for skeletons etc.&nbsp; I did as suggested and put the monster stat block in the GM section for each monster. When I try and drag one from the side bar on the right onto a map I see the image drag out but when I let go it disappears. According to what was posted you're saying you can do that. As I am typing this it occurs to me that you are saying drag from the character sheet and not the journal side bar tab. Ok I just tried that and it works, less intuitive I think but it works.&nbsp;Although&nbsp;it doesn't see like you can shrink custom images.&nbsp; I guess my main issue is I like to adjust on the fly. I'll build the maps before hand and put all the monsters into the character sheets on the journal tab. I'll even build the PC sheets if it will help. &nbsp;I don't want to pre-load tokens on the map. I want to be able to read my room description and say "well it calls for 6 golbins but these guys are kick butt so lets put 2 goblins and an ogre" (assuming I have him built) It seems thanks to the above answers and my recent discovery of dragging from the sheet and not the tool bar I can do that, but with less control over the token size.

Dan, regarding the number of goblins and Ogres and whatnot. Many GMs have a map they use as a token holding area. The place any tokens they may want, copy them, and then paste them to the map they want them on. Then copy and paste to make multiples. Example: On my token map I have a Goblin, &nbsp;Ogre, Dragon etc. I copy the Goblin and Ogre, move to the map I want them to be on and paste. If I want multiple Goblins I copy the Goblin and paste it until I have enough goblins.&nbsp; I hope this helps. - Gauss

Gauss - That is a fantastic idea which I am&nbsp;embarrassed&nbsp;to not of thought of, I'll make use of that. I'm also interested to hear more about how you use&nbsp;myth-weavers.com Riley thanks for your input as well. It would be nice to just drag characters / monsters off of a bar on to the map. I like how the map tab pull down works, its a nice solution. I could envision pull downs up there for other items specific to the GM (or players) to clear screen space. For example I know my guys prefer to use the die roller that could sit up in a pull down tab. Or a pull down tab for tokens or character you have&nbsp;Favorited&nbsp;for a&nbsp;campaign&nbsp;etc.&nbsp; I appreciate the great feedback and my guys liekd it enough we're going to star trying to run the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. A lot of work for me but worth it.&nbsp;

Myth-weavers is where I keep my character sheets. I then post them into the Character Journal like this:&nbsp; Folkvarthr How to link: 1) Click the link icon that looks like a figure 8 turned sideways.&nbsp; 2) Insert the URL 3) Type in the name 4) CHECKMARK THE BOX. This is very important if you dont want people to get annoyed. :) My character sheets also contain 'quick' information that I do not want to look up on Mythweavers. Skill bonuses, memorized spells, etc. My Attributes are also filled out so I can very quickly update the macros. Example:&nbsp; If I have a macro called 'Longsword attack' it might look like this: /roll 1d20 +@BAB +@STR -@PA +1[enhancement] The attribute @BAB would have my current BAB The attribute @PA would have my current Power Attack modifier The macro called 'longsword damage' might look like this: /roll 1d8 +@STR +@PA*2 +1[enhancement] - Gauss

One more question is there a guide to dimensions for images anywhere. I know according to the game that with a map one unit is 70 pixels so I can figure that out. But is there a suggested height and width for portrait images etc?&nbsp;

There's no real suggested size for portrait images. Tokens are best in multiples of 70 px, but as long as they're square, it doesn't really matter how big or small they are except for transfer speed.