New DM, Couple of Macro Questions & Stuff

Hello fellow hive mind! I was wondering about a couple of stuff, and was searching around first before posting, but I either didn't find anything, or it was old posts that only partially helped (I may ofc have missed it when searching, but... at least I tried :P). Let's begin by mentioning some base stuff first! :) I run the main build of Firefox (so no Waterfox or other stuff) Windows 10 Home Currently a Free R20 account, but will get Pro soon. Just want to set up a much non-Pro stuff as possible before I get Pro and start playing with API and DL. I got VTT Enhanced Suite like 2-3 days ago, so trying that out too. I am -not- an educated coder/programmer. The macros I use are found in posts, and then tweaked with trial and error. Oh, and even if I am going to get Pro... there would be massive bonus point if the hopefully potential solutions doesn't require Pro/API/etc, but works on Free accounts as well. So... I am okay with both Pro and Free solutions, but would prefer Free solutions first hand. :) Aight, that's hopefully what you need to know before we start digging into this. I hope, otherwise just ask. :) 1: Width of the Npc-template Easy question, but no idea if the fix is easy, hard or impossible. :P Basically, some traits or actions are pretty long and wordy, so naturally I scaled the width of the chat window, but noticed that the action box doesn't want to scale with it, which is a bit... annoying. So I wanted to know if there is a fix for that? I use the basic macro %{selected|repeating_npcaction_$1_npc_action} for this one. Any suggestion/solution here? I kinda like the design of that template as well. 2: Prompt for full Spellbook This is a trickier one, and.. as usual, I have no idea if it's possible or not, or easy/hard, and so on. The image shows 2 different things. I have a macro for saving throws which pops up that Input Value prompt where the person can choose their attribute. It also shows a macro I have for a full spell book, and in the chat box we see the result of said macro, where it pops up taking up a lot of space. What I would like, is to find out if it's possible to instead click the macro button and have a prompt pop up, just like with the Saves. So it doesn't take up a whole lot of chat-window space for the player or dm who uses it. To make it even trickier (and thus probably even more unlikely that it works), is of course that detail where the spells are sorted in spell level, and if we manage to make it a prompt, how would we deal with that? Like, maybe a prompt that has one drop down per spell level + cantrips? Or maybe a prompt that places a "dummy" selection between the levels to categories them? Sort of like this: --- Cantrips --- A spell Another spell --- 1st Level --- Pew Pew Spell Or maybe there are other suggestions that are even better? Maybe it works in general, or maybe it required API? As mentioned, I am on Free now, but I will get Pro because those API's do look very delicious. 3: Default Template, less space, non-local Okay, this one I actually -did- find some information about, but only half ways. As we can see on the image in question 2, that spell book takes up a lot of space, and it would be really nice if those pink buttons could take up less space. I did find this post from Jan 19 last year, which mentions a trick with Stylus, which I guess I have to look into. <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7129900/css-makeover-for-default-template" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7129900/css-makeover-for-default-template</a> But.. This part is where I got stuck: "If you want all your players to see a modified roll template, you will need to change the definition in the css for the sheet. I'm not even sure if you can change the default definition this way, or just the sheet dependent templates." A.k.a I would like my players who runs these macros as well to get this modification as well, without having to install and modify a bunch of stuff themselves locally. I just couldn't post about it in that post since it was locked ages ago due to the 2-month lock thing, so I'm asking here instead if someone looked into this more, and if someone managed to find a way to fix that?. :) And if someone did, could I get a rundown of how to do that? Since I'm not good enough at html/css to know what do do based on " change the definition in the css for the sheet" :) That is... if it even works of course. If not, then I guess a follow up question would be, suggestions for alternative ideas? 4: /w gm versus /w {@character_name} Okay, last question. Long wordy post I know, but.. many questions, and trying to provide as much info as I can. :) Basically, I have this Stats macro as seen in the picture, and when using it, the chat produces a useful block of PC stats, if I need to know their AC, HP, and so on. But, I also want them to be able to use it to help them keep track of several stuff, without having to open the character sheet. My issue here is the following: /w {@character_name} means that if the PC uses it, they will see it in their chat, and the DM does not, which is good, because the DM might be doing other macros and rolls at the same time. But if the DM uses it to find stuff out, they PC's will get it in their chat as well, which might interupt other PC chat stuff. /w gm however, is basically the very same, but opposite. If the dm uses it, the PC does not, but if the PC uses it, it will pop up for the DM as well. What I would like, is that both the DM and the PC can use it, but it will only show for the one who does. So if the DM clicks it, only the DM will see it, and if the PC clicks it, only the PC will see it. How would I fix that? I'm guessing there might be some kind of if-dm-do-this and if-pc-do-this kind of thing I can use, I just... have no idea what that would be, and haven't found anything when googling around. There we go... sorry for the long post, I just wanted to consolidate it into 1 post instead of 4 separate posts that I would need to keep track of with my ADHD scatterbrain. Easier to keep track on 1 single post! :P Thank you all!

I think the answer to #1 is that the VTT Enhanced Suite is not properly modifying the CSS to widen the NPC-Template. If you're staying with a free account and using the 5e by Roll20 Template, try using a macro like this: /w gm &amp;{template:npcaction} {{name=@{selected|npc_name}}} {{rname=Spells}} {{description=Spell Save **DC** [[@{spell_save_dc}]] Spell attacks +[[@{spell_attack_bonus}]] **Cantrips** [@{Selected|repeating_spell-cantrip_$0_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-cantrip_$0_spell) ** 1st Level | @{selected|lvl1_slots_total} spell slots** [@{Selected|repeating_spell-1_$0_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-1_$0_spell) [@{Selected|repeating_spell-1_$1_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-1_$1_spell) ** 2nd Level | @{selected|lvl2_slots_total} spell slots** [@{Selected|repeating_spell-2_$0_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-2_$0_spell) [@{Selected|repeating_spell-2_$1_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-2_$1_spell) ** 3rd Level | @{selected|lvl3_slots_total} spell slots** [@{Selected|repeating_spell-3_$0_spellname}](~Selected|repeating_spell-3_$0_spell)}} That macro will automatically input the name of the spells instead of you having to write them out by hand. But you will have to modify it for each character to only have the number of spells they know for each level. If you upgrade to Pro, an awesome script is the UniversalChatMenu, which uses this macro: !chatmenu @{selected|character_id} {template:npcaction}{{rname=@{selected|npc_name} Spells List}}{{name= Spell Save DC: **@{selected|spell_save_dc}** Spell Attack Modifier: **@{selected|spell_attack_mod}** }}{{description=CHATMENU}} --separator: | : --title:Cantrips --repeating_spell-cantrip|spellname|spell --title:1st Level | *@{selected|lvl1_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-1|spellname|spell --title:2nd Level | *@{selected|lvl2_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-2|spellname|spell --title:3rd Level | *@{selected|lvl3_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-3|spellname|spell --title:4th Level | *@{selected|lvl4_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-4|spellname|spell --title:5th Level | *@{selected|lvl5_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-5|spellname|spell --title:6th Level | *@{selected|lvl6_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-6|spellname|spell --title:7th Level | *@{selected|lvl7_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-7|spellname|spell --title:8th Level | *@{selected|lvl8_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-8|spellname|spell --title:9th Level | *@{selected|lvl9_slots_total}* Spell Slots --repeating_spell-9|spellname|spell}} This is nice because it's a single macro that will work for every character. I use stylus and it creates a layout similar to what you showed in #1.&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7209333/show-off-your-style/?pageforid=7209333#post-7209333" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7209333/show-off-your-style/?pageforid=7209333#post-7209333</a> You can use the /talktomyself features to always send those macros only to the person who sent them. <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Text_Chat#Talk_to_Myself_.28.2Ftalktomyself.29" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Text_Chat#Talk_to_Myself_.28.2Ftalktomyself.29</a>

Thanks for the reply Jarren K. :) 1: That might be the case, I don't really know myself. Is there a way to know if it's VTT ES or R20 that does that? So I know if I should ask the VTT ES people or here? 2: While it wasn't really what I asked for, I wanted a popup prompt instead of the chat thing, but... it does LOOK visually better than the one I had, so It's still a better option than my original one, so I will still thank you for it. I mean it IS an upgrade after all! :) But It kinda sounds like that API script has something like that, and I 100% intend to upgrade to Pro at the end of the month when I have cash again, so I'll save this one as well and will totally try it out. Thanks! :) 3: Yes? That's what the post I linked tanked about as well, but my question was how I could use that in a way so that the -other- players will get the redesign as well, without having to install Stylys themselves. I as the DM fixes it on my side, but in a way so they also reap the benefits of it, instead of it only being local to me. 4: Oh cool, didn't know about the /talktomyself command. however, it does have that weird limitation where you can't add it together with a macro, it has to be it's own separate thing, so for instance, the following does not work: /talktomyself [macro goes here] /talktomyself So in that case I'd need to have 1 button to toggle ttm, and then the macro, which... for both me, and the players suddenly results in 3 clicks instead of 1, toggle on, click macro, toggle off. And... we all know how that will end. :P People (including myself) will forget to toggle it, meaning we'll both send it open, or suddenly everything else we do is hidden because they/or i forgot to toggle it off. So if there is a way to with just 1 click toggle it on, run the specified macro, and then toggle it off again, all in the same click. THAT would be awesome! :)

Basically, if you are using VTTES, don't bring up any problems here that may be connected with that extension.&nbsp; It is a 3rd party extension, with no support from Roll20 whatsoever.&nbsp; If you think you have found a bug with Roll20, always disable VTTES for testing first before posting here.

Kraynic: Oh I'm well aware of that. But if you read the main post there is nothing there that implies whether or not I suspected VTTES to be the issue or, because I didn't. I just noticed something weird in the chatbox, and asked about that. The only place I brought up VTTES was when I mentioned installed stuff, but I suggest reading the questions again, because I literally just asked if anyone knew what the issue might be. THEN, after posting, Jarren K mentioned that #1 might be caused by VTTES, and I responded by mentioning that if it is I should probably ask them instead. So I really don't see what you're getting at here. Anyway, let's focus on #2, 3 and 4 instead now.

A popup prompt for a spellbook is going to be a long Query that will have to be custom made for every character, updated every time they level up (permanent spells) or every time they rest (prepared spells). I would highly recommend just using the chat menu as you are now. There's some spellbook macro advice in this thread, after the NPC action chat menu. Chat menus look much better with some style changes as per the Stylening thread as Jarren linked above. CSS changes for altering the output of Roll20 only work for the person running them. The only way around that is to upgrade to Pro and modify the sheet, which is a lot of work. If you're not already familiar with HTML and CSS, you will need to learn them as part of this process. It would be much simpler to get your players to install Stylus, then post the style changes you're using in the campaign's forum. Keith's inline links style will also allow the npcaction template to make better use of the chat area (question 1). I'm honestly not sure what you mean with question 4. Do you mean you want your macros to always whisper the only the person using it? If so, make a macro called WhisperSelf, available to all players. Each player has to customise this for themselves, the contents is simply: /w "character name" Safest to have a space at the end, in case it gets left out in the macro calling it. Two spaces won't hurt. They just need to put their player name or their character name in the inverted commas. GM can just put GM. Then you just start all of your chat menu macros with #WhisperSelf. They'll whisper the person using it provided they can spell their name! Is this what you meant?

Lady Saga said: So I really don't see what you're getting at here. There have been people post bugs here before that were actually directly caused by that extension.&nbsp; I was just making very sure you were aware that the first thing to do when you suspect some sort of problem is to turn that off first. It also has a reputation of being used to bypass copyright protections, so it doesn't get the best reception in some cases (even mention of it is banned on the roll20 subreddit).&nbsp; :p

1. Width of the Template I'm not familiar with that sheet, but its pretty common for sheet rolltemplates to have their width hardcoded. You would likely need a stylus CSS tweak to override it, and then it will only be for you not the other players. 2. Chat Menu vs Prompt It is likely possible to do what you need as a prompt. The reason that people prefer chat menus has nothing to do with appearance: its about how easy it is to code. Chat Menus are simple, and you can use existing macros and abilities with them. Doing the same thing with a prompt is a nightmare of nested queries and html entity substitution (as touched on briefly here , but for a complex situation will be far more complicated than that page suggests),. You&nbsp;also can't use existing macros with them. All the code has to be buiolt specifically for the query - it wont work when not used with the query. The Chat Menu approach is really the only sane option, unless your name is Ziechael (maybe even then). 3. Fixing default template styling - for other players Unfortunately there's no way to do this without getting your players to install stylus. You are using an external program to modify roll20. If you dont like the default rolltemplate appearance, your only options are to use rolltemplate built into a character sheet (which iwll look correct for everyone), use a stylus-like solution which you';ll need your players to install themselves, or upgrade to Pro and build your own scripts or use Power cards to display templates how you want them. The last option is not easy! 4. /w gm or @{character_name} Roll20 macros do not suport any conditional tests, like "if gm do this, if player do this". You have to build such choices into your macros as queries. You can put a query at the start of the macro, like this: /w ?{Choose recipient|GM,GM|Player,"@{selected|character_name}"}&nbsp; This will give a popup letting the person choose who to send the menu to.&nbsp; You cant use @{character_name} on its own, unless the macro is stored as an Ability on a character sheet. If its a macro, you need some way of telling roll20 which character name to use. @{selected|character_name} will get the name of a character represented by the currently selected token. An alternative would be to have two versions of the macro, one for the GM and one for players. Honestly this is probably the best approach. You could have a version of the macro that does not have any whisper at the start. let's call that macro show-stats . Then add two whisper macros. The two lines below are each a separate one-line macro. /w GM #show-stats /w "@{selected|character_name} #show-stats Make the second one visible to players, as a token action: it will then be visible on-screen whenever they have their token selected.&nbsp; Make the first one not visible to anyone (its always visible to the GM), and also as a token action. It will be visible to you whenever you select a token. You will see both macros, so name them so its easy to know which is which.

Wow, I read the first post and had all kinds of things to say, but... yeah, what they all said.

Kraynic said: It also has a reputation of being used to bypass copyright protections, so it doesn't get the best reception in some cases (even mention of it is banned on the roll20 subreddit).&nbsp; :p This seems a little undeserved. There's some other software out there that very intentionally tries to circumvent things, I wouldn't tar VTTES with the same brush though. There's some functionality in there that *could* have been extended to do a whole lot of bypassing had the author wished to.

Lady Saga said: Currently a Free R20 account, but will get Pro soon. Just a note about spellbooks: when you go Pro, keithcurtis has a cool TokenActionMaker api script that does a lot of heavy lifting for building ability macros automatically, including a Spellbook with more compact chat menus that don't use the giant pink buttons. All with one api command! Once created, you can tweak as needed. A lot simpler than starting from scratch! EDIT -- The script I mentioned is designed for the D&amp;D 5E by Roll20 character sheet, so YMMV.

First: Thanks for all the responses folks! :) (I skipped quoting you because my reply is already too long :P) I guess the tl;dr is that I've got the answers I needed I think, and I'm very thankful for them! :) Oosh: Yeah, after reading through the responses in this post, it sure does sound like I'll stick to the chat menus. And since no one still haven't figured out a way to make the Stylus changes non-local then yes, I'll definetely go for local Stylus, and they just having my players installing it. Like "You don't have to do it, but things will look much better and less clunky, so eh, your choice". :P (I guessed that would be the case, just hoped someone had managed :P) I'll also take a look at Keith's inline links style that you linked! Many thanks! :) #4, Yes, you got it! :) Basically I have a macro called "Stats" which, if I click a token, and then that macro, it will tell me things like Health / Health Max, Speed, Carry Capacity and current carry weight, Passive Perception, Spell DC / Attack, and stuff like that. I have it at /w gm right now, but wanted the players to be able to click that as well incase they wanna keep track of their weight and stuff. But.... something literally this very second right -not- came to my mind was that... well.... They only really need the weight thing, the rest they can see in other places outside the sheet anyway.. Hah, how could I not think about that yesterday when I asked this. Brainfarts I guess... Then the solution is VERY easy... Since it's not bould to a specific character, but to "The selected token"... I can just have it on my own GM macro bar, and click them... and on their own sheet I can give them a customized /w {@character_name} with the weight and if there are other stuff they might wanna see... Oh, the solution was SO simple.. I just didn't see it. I'm also pretty sure that I wouldn't realize if I didn't get the replies I got here, so, thanks all of you folks for that! :) Kraynic : Ah! Gotcha! I guess in this case it was a typical case of my adhd/autism interpreted it in a more complainy way than you actually did write. I'm not very good at interpreting those things all the time. So my apologies if I came of as defensive and/or rude in anyway. When I re-read it now after your second post it made a lot more sense! :) Oh, and I did not know about those copyright bypass things, but that's good to know. Thou as Oosh mentioned below (and I've also seen myself on the VTT ES discord) they do get a lot of suggestions from people who want features that would clearly help piracy, and then the crew is quite literally saying "We will not do that" because of those copyright reasons. So at least they are trying to avoid it. But yeah, I can also see how it CAN be used somewhat for it, in some cases, so that's something I'll keep in mind for later for sure. I know for instance that I'm only using their url-image features for my own pictures or stuff i have bought and so on, but yeah, i can see how that feature specifically can be used in, less than stellar ways. So that's a great headup, thank you for letting me know! (Even more so about the Reddit ban thingy!) Thanks! :) GiG's : I could basically give you the same reply as I gave Oosh. x) about stylus, chat menus and the default template (which again would be stylus). So yeah, agree with everything. Will get Stylus, then check keiths post (that I linked in the mainpost) and follow instructions to learn how to use it and so on, so I can later tell my future players (well, past as well, we played in person until covid, so now we're trying to get roll20 up so we can keep playing :P) how to install it if they want it to look better. :) About #4, that's a great suggestion, and I would 100% have tried it if I didn't realize a much easier solution, which i figured out -while- writing the beginning of reply. x) Still thankful for the tips/suggestion ofc! :) Might actually try it anyway, just to learn stuff, and who knows, maybe I'll use it for another macro later! :D keithcurtis : Hah, well, yeah. I guess I can say the same to you. "What I said to the other awesome helpful comments" basically. :P Oh, and thank you for that 1-2 year old Stylus thread, I will totally go through it when I get Stylus and start fiddling around. (Sidenote, I might be new on the forums, but I've read the forums for qute some time, and you seem to pop up everywhere with either helpful tips, or even more helpful tips! So big props for you! and everyone else helpful aswell ofc, but ,yes, mad props!) :) Aight, sorry for the long post (again), that... is just how I always write, but I do always -try- to write things shorter, instead of just excusing me and then not working on it. :P But yeah. I think I have the answers I need now, and you're all very helpful, and I'm very thankful! and I'lve learned a bunch of new things, not just technical, but other useful stuff too! :) Cheers! (Oh, and I can write a bit clumsy sometimes, so if I think A, accidentally write B and you interpret it as C, eh,, well if something I say sounds weird, just ask me if that's what I actually meant, because it might just be clumsy words!) :) Thanks!

GREAT to know! :D I was actually going to say "Screw waiting for cash in the end of the month, I'm going Pro today" yesterday, but just at that moment Roll20 decided to produce errors when trying to reach the subscription page. xD so typical. It is fixed now (since many many hours ago), but I have a fiend coming over for social distance hangout outside, but after that, yeah I'll go Pro today. My original plan was to "save as much time/money as possible before starting a subscription"... but eh... I realized that much of the work I'm trying to setup can be setup much easier and quicker and also better.. with API's... so.. i'm just shooting myself in the foot that way... so.. yeah.. I'll go Pro later today after my pal has gone home! But thanks for letting me know about keiths spellbook api script for TokenActionMaker, because not only did I not know about that script, I also didn't know about TokenActionMaker in general. I've heard of another API with a similar name, I think it was TokenMod or something, which is on my "API's to check out when Pro" list, so I'll add TAM to it as well, and keiths script for it. :) Thanks! David M. said: Lady Saga said: Currently a Free R20 account, but will get Pro soon. Just a note about spellbooks: when you go Pro, keithcurtis has a cool TokenActionMaker api script that does a lot of heavy lifting for building ability macros automatically, including a Spellbook with more compact chat menus that don't use the giant pink buttons. All with one api command! Once created, you can tweak as needed. A lot simpler than starting from scratch! EDIT -- The script I mentioned is designed for the D&amp;D 5E by Roll20 character sheet, so YMMV.

Yes, TokenMod is a great one. Kind of a swiss army knife for token manipulation.&nbsp;

Lady Saga said: Thanks for the reply Jarren K. :) 1: That might be the case, I don't really know myself. Is there a way to know if it's VTT ES or R20 that does that? So I know if I should ask the VTT ES people or here? 2: While it wasn't really what I asked for, I wanted a popup prompt instead of the chat thing, but... it does LOOK visually better than the one I had, so It's still a better option than my original one, so I will still thank you for it. I mean it IS an upgrade after all! :) But It kinda sounds like that API script has something like that, and I 100% intend to upgrade to Pro at the end of the month when I have cash again, so I'll save this one as well and will totally try it out. Thanks! :) 3: Yes? That's what the post I linked tanked about as well, but my question was how I could use that in a way so that the -other- players will get the redesign as well, without having to install Stylys themselves. I as the DM fixes it on my side, but in a way so they also reap the benefits of it, instead of it only being local to me. 4: Oh cool, didn't know about the /talktomyself command. however, it does have that weird limitation where you can't add it together with a macro, it has to be it's own separate thing, so for instance, the following does not work: /talktomyself [macro goes here] /talktomyself So in that case I'd need to have 1 button to toggle ttm, and then the macro, which... for both me, and the players suddenly results in 3 clicks instead of 1, toggle on, click macro, toggle off. And... we all know how that will end. :P People (including myself) will forget to toggle it, meaning we'll both send it open, or suddenly everything else we do is hidden because they/or i forgot to toggle it off. So if there is a way to with just 1 click toggle it on, run the specified macro, and then toggle it off again, all in the same click. THAT would be awesome! :) I only half read your initial post so I missed a couple details (like wanting a prompt instead of chat menu)! Now I’m on my phone so my response will probably be about as good haha. Sorry about that. 1. I think someone else already mentioned it, but if you want to troubleshoot the VTTES try turning it off and seeing if you still have the same issue. Hard to troubleshoot any more through the forums and I don’t use it myself, so perhaps VTTES people can help more.&nbsp; 2. I don’t believe there’s any way to get any other pop up prompts (like the dice roller) that aren’t natively built into Roll20.&nbsp; A Query Macro is an option but I don’t think you can put the actual dice roll command into the macro. (Queries won’t process ~ commands is my understanding). And a Query Macro would have to list every spell that the character could cast, and so you'd have a very long list, or have to navigate through several queries (one for each level) to pick the spell you want, etc.&nbsp; A Chat Menu is realistically the best option. 3. Yeah I missed your link to the Stylus extension in my rush&nbsp; what I’ve done for my players is export my Stylus add-ons so they can simply import them. So that’s at least an idea to help simplify things for them and have a chance that they’ll have the same appearance as you.&nbsp;&nbsp; 4. A Query Macro could be used for whispering to a specific person, but would require an extra click each time. /w ?{Who|[GM]|[Player 1 Name]|[Player 2 Name]| ... [Last Player Name]} ?{Message}