Beginner API User - Help!

I've been running a homebrewed campaign using Pathfinder 1e as my system on-and-off for the past year. Most work I have done myself, with a number of monsters/NPCs created from scratch.  I have decided to subscribe on roll20, mainly for storage space- But also to avail of some APIs. I have a six-person table, most of which are spellcasters, so some combat can become unwieldy. I have seen a number of recommendations for APIs to help with this, but I have mostly ran my game by hand, with the only automation being the PCs character sheets.  Are there any guides for setting these up from scratch? I am uncertain whether or not I'll have to work from the ground up in order to get things working. Thank you! 

It really depends on what you want to do for automation.&nbsp; To my mind, most systems are really going to run with the same basic needs. GroupInitiative allows you to do all sorts of things with initiative, including selecting all the npcs/creatures you have hidden away on the GM layer and rolling them all at once.&nbsp; You can specify tie breakers, modifiers to apply, etc.&nbsp; When you install it, there will be info on usage in the description, but it also creates a handout in-game that you can reference. TokenMod allows you to alter pretty much everything about a token.&nbsp; This is everything from hiding/revealing the nameplate to altering bar values to altering vision.&nbsp; Altering vision by way of TokenMod hasn't given me much trouble in UDL (other than field of view), but that hasn't been the case for others.&nbsp; Either way, you can still bulk apply/remove token markers, complete with numbers if desired and so on.&nbsp; Just like GroupInitiative, it creates a handout in game.&nbsp; It is large enough, you may want to pop it out and use control+F to search for specific commands. ChatSetAttr allows you to alter character sheet stats from chat.&nbsp; If you are wanting to alter things that aren't tied to a token bar, you would need this rather than TokenMod.&nbsp; Since npc sheets don't autocalculate like the pc sheets do, you can do things like lower save bonuses with this due to attribute draining affects (just as an example). I haven't messed with AddCustomTurn, but if you are running with a lot of spell casters, being able to easily and quickly add spell/effect durations to the tracker might be pretty handy.&nbsp; I think it is only available currently from the forum post: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/10212772/" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/10212772/</a> I don't like having to have sheets open all the time.&nbsp; There are a couple different scripts that can generate menus of one sort or another.&nbsp; I use Universal Chat Menu, which is also only available from the forum post: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/7474530/" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/7474530/</a> I'm not sure if it is totally up to date with what I am using now, but the macros/commands I use are posted later in that thread with the NPC menu being the most important for me when running a game: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/8931160/" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/8931160/</a> DoorKnocker is pretty handy for being able to open/close doors quickly.&nbsp; It has a lot of various things you can do with it, but I have just used the token linked to the character sheet that it generates (on the gm layer) and the door toggle token action to open/close things. The only other thing I would say is that it isn't a bad idea to create a "character" that stores macros and commands for the api.&nbsp; I store any common macro collection macros in the attributes &amp; abilities tab, and setup commands in the Bio &amp; Info tab.&nbsp; The setup commands include setting up the initiative modifier and tie-breaker for GroupInitiative, and the command to get DoorKnocker to recognize my prefered door color. Having that info stored that way makes it easily portable to other games by transmogrifier or simply copying the game.

I recommend watching all of Nick Olivo's youtube channel, hes a fellow DM who has an absolute rock solid teaching method for showing us noobs how to implement things.&nbsp; He doesn't have alot of videos but watch them all, he has a bunch of process stuff you can glean from the videos to how to make and adjust scripts and macros to use in your session.&nbsp; Almost every single script is not good right out of the box, you have to set stuff up.&nbsp; Doorknocker is probably one of the easiest to get rolling cause you could just drag out the doorknocker token to open and shut doors but what I like to do is make macros for the doorknockers commands and then set them as tokenactions the players can see.&nbsp; Tokenmod is quite possibly the most important script I've ever installed but to a new user of scripts, that thing is GIGANTIC to learn.&nbsp; You can google tips and tricks to setup but ultimately, just reading the help handout should tell you how utterly massive its capabilities are.&nbsp; If you need something done with a token...that script is the script to use.&nbsp; Even if you don't use it, install it anyway, many pro players have tokenmod commands they use on their sheets hidden away for the off chance the DM has them enabled.&nbsp; Same with chatsetattr.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Oh also one more thing of importance.&nbsp; API scripts is not the main reason to utilize a pro account.&nbsp; The single greatest feature you gain from pro is the Transmogrifier.&nbsp; Transmog is located in the last settings option at the bottom.&nbsp; Transmog basically is a lil window that lets you view 2 different games you have and drag and drop virtually everything between them.&nbsp; Almost like windows explorer in a way.&nbsp; There are so many amazing things you can do with transmog.&nbsp; You can keep your primary live session super thin and narrow with things like a landing page, marching order page, DM storage page, and the page the players were last on.&nbsp; Then make entire other sessions that are just storage for the campaign you are running.&nbsp; Seperate the creatures, the handouts, and the maps.&nbsp; Then yoink them over for prep time before session with transmogrifier, they come with dynamic lighting intact and everything.&nbsp; You can also do this live in session, if your wizard polymorphs someone and you have a custom bestiary with all custom art, then you can yoink over that cool lookin Giant Ape you made and the player gets to use it.&nbsp; This improves game performance dramatically.&nbsp; API scripts, quota, and dev access pales in comparison to the Transmogrifier imo.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This guy has a playlist of him making some APIs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/NickOlivo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/c/NickOlivo</a> I really like this because it gives you a practical demonstration of how to do specific things in the API. From there, you can start to generate some of your own ideas of things you want to do with APIs and how to code some of your own. This is also useful if you are using someone else's APIs but want to make some changes to their code. All-in-all, javascript isn't too difficult as long as you are willing to put in some work. Furthermore, Roll20 has a page describing all of the attributes of different objects and how to use them: <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/API:Objects" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/API:Objects</a>

I can’t argue with DM Eddie’s last point.&nbsp; I became a Pro subscriber in 2015 and started using the API immediately, as did one of my players, but I’ve come to use and rely on the Transmogrifier more and more. Library Games are invaluable.&nbsp; I can recommend TokenNameNumber for any game using battle maps and tokens like Pathfinder. It’s invaluable for keeping track of all those monster tokens. Every single monster in my 13th Age games is setup to number the nameplate.&nbsp;

Thank you very much for the feedback! I've gone and set up a library game as Eddie suggested and it's amazingly useful already. Nick Olivo's videos are a massive help too.&nbsp;

Cool, yeah Nick does a great job breaking things down into manageable chunks so it's less of an information firehose to the face. If you have any questions about setup or use of specific scripts, each one typically has a dedicated forum thread that will get plenty of eyes on your issue pretty quickly.