Monsters not getting +Dex to initative?

I'm setting up Lost Mines of Phandelver to my liking, and I've run into something of an issue when trying to setup token actions - namely, when I roll for initative for certain mobs (goblins, wolves, but NOT goblins, ruffians, glasstaff), either via clicking or via " %{selected|npc_init}", they do not receive +DEX on their roll. Bug?

Do you have the tokens linked to a character sheet properly? Either that or your NPCs are missing their initiative_bonus Attribute for some reason. If you use the npc_init roll, the label is wrong - it says it is applying [DEX] but it is actually grabbing @{initiative_bonus} as it should, the label should be [INIT] like the player version. Generally they are the same, but not always.

I'm pretty sure they're linked properly - again, I thought I messed something up at first, but then I tried the default goblin and wolf tokens provided with the module and nope nada

When you select the Goblin token, and type @{selected|initiative_bonus} into chat, what number comes up?

Comes up 0. I see 2's for the bugbear and copied goblin I dug into the code and fixed it for.

Sounds like there's a problem with the NPC sheets. Unless for some reason they're supposed to have their initiative nerfed. One thing you could try: on the character sheet settings (the cog icon) tick the option for Dex Tiebreaker - top middle window. Now try @{selected|initiative_bonus}. Hopefully you get a number like +2.14. Now you can uncheck it and it should hopefully reset to +2. If that works, you can either do that per broken sheet, or use the mass default settings to do it to all character sheets - this is in the settings tab of the chat/journal frame, right down the bottom. Turn Dex Tiebreaker on, then off again, for all sheets. That should recalculate {initiative_bonus} on every sheet. I think. This will affect all sheet in the game, be careful using it if your campaign is actually in progress! I've got no idea why this issue would exist in such popular material. If you start a fresh game with the same module, I wonder if the problem would still be there?

Seeing as how I just recently started the module, I think that yeah, it's there normally. The dex tip is interesting though, I'll have to try it.

The defaults process is a little convoluted - first you have to change the setting in the Game Settings page prior to actually launching the game. Only then will the in-game settings "Apply default settings" button appear, giving you the option to apply the setting you just changed to all currently canvassed tokens/sheets. Kinda glad you had this problem - I'd always been too scared to actually check out the "Apply Defaults" functionality in a game with content in it, and too lazy to make a new game to test it out. Now I know!

I can also tell you that the check on, check off thing worked, forcing the game to recalculate the bonus. Score! Now if only I could figure out a way to migrate changes to AC from the sheet to the stats.

Is this for NPCs? I believe {npc_ac} is a static Attribute, unlike the player {ac} which responds to Dex & Inventory changes. What are you trying to achieve exactly? How are you inspecting your NPCs for their AC, with a token bar or with a macro? They should still have an {ac} Attribute even with the sheet switched to NPC mode. If you change either your token bar link, or macros, to grab the {ac} stat instead of {npc_ac} it will update with changes to Dex. Hopefully I haven't totally misunderstood what you're trying to do!

well, I'm making some custom monsters, and I edit in, in this case, their AC (and its explanation) on their character sheet, but their { npc_AC} and their { npcd_actype} remains unchanged when I use a taking20 macro to access it, so I have to go to their attributes, find it and change it there as well.

oh... what's the taking20 macro? sounds like it's grabbing the wrong Attribute.

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=Stats}} {{Armor Class= @{selected|npc_AC} @{selected|npcd_actype}}} {{Hit Dice= @{selected|npc_hpformula} | [[@{selected|npc_hpformula}]]}} {{Speed= @{selected|npc_speed}}} {{Senses=@{selected|npc_senses}}} I'm not ruling out the possibility that this macro I grabbed from a 3 year old video may no longer be current!     

Hmmm.... @{selected|npc_ac} should be correct (no caps, but that shouldn't matter), but the armor type should be @{selected|npc_actype} without the D. {npc_ac} should match the figure in the 3rd field on the NPC sheet, but will not match the figure on the PC sheet. If you find npc_ac in the Attributes tab and modify that, does it also modify the number on the main sheet?

Yup, modifying {npc_ac} changes on the sheet! So as long as I use {npc_actype} instead of npcd I will be fine, thanks. I wonder if d is like historical or something.