Token actions for mooks.

I have read and understood :-) the "How to set up tokens properly" by Gauss, and it works great. One small problem though -- the macros I set up as Abilities on the character sheet only appear as a token action when they are Characters, not Mooks. They do appear in the macro-bar if the box is checked, but checking the Show As Token Action box does nothing (if it is a mook). Checking the Show As Token Action box works fine for Characters. Am I missing something?

It depends on the sheet you're using. A lot of sheets have a mook section, which references different attributes. For example for the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons mook sheet you might have a universal macro roll that looks like: @{selected|token_name} uses @{selected|npc_action_name1} @{selected|npc_action_description1} @{selected|npc_action_effect1}

And to be clear, when you say you understand the "How to set up tokens properly", can you verify that your tokens are representing the mook character in question?

You have a couple of options really, you can set up universal macros in the settings section and tick them as token actions but they will be available to everyone and need to be super generic or call upon attributes to personalise them... what system are you playing and exactly how are you setting up your mooks and we can probably suggest more detailed advice. The second option which is one i use for my beasties, (if you are GM which i'm assuming you are) is that i put a couple of generic attack and damage macros in my bottom bar (tick 'in bar' on the macro tab) so that i can quickly call upon my monsters primary and secondary weapon. As i use character sheets for all my monsters none of the above may apply to you but please give us more detailed info about your particular setup and someone will tell you exactly what will work for you :)

Well see, I recently found out that, instead of removing the start-up token (the original token used for the mook) from having the character sheet attached, It's actually better to un-hook the bars from their respective stats instead. That way, it still parses as "Bandit" but won't change the HP or mess with anything on the character sheet. (since when you first hook up the bars, they auto-set the values, un-hooking leaves them sit there as they were.) This allows each character sheet to have "Show as token Action" be useable, and keeps mooks still mook-like.

Thanks for the ideas. Sorry I was not more specific regarding what exactly I am playing/using. I am the DM for a D&D 5.0 campaign and we are using (I believe) the John Myles sheet. Aaron, yes, the verification I use is that I will pull a few of the "duplicate" tokens down to the board and adjust each -- if they adjust individually then I was successful setting the character up as a mook. If not, it is a discrete individual. Individual characters which I set up are fine, as I mentioned -- the buttons come up when the character is selected and all is well. I did have some "universal" macros set up (which appear at the bottom of my screen) but lately I've been getting into being descriptive as part of the macro, e.g., "The bloodthirsty owlbear heeds no pain and rends flesh with claws while biting. /roll xxx, /roll, xxx /roll damage, etc." Since it is easy to roll in the chat box I recently have been simply doing that rather than writing any macros at all. Not sure if you guys are familiar with the (most-excellent) 5.0 character sheet, but I have a feeling if I delve into what Steve K. hints at above, namely referencing attributes I can probably work around it. I still have not really figured out what exactly John Myles intended/intends with the "multi-attack" section. Not sure how it works and haven't seen any examples. Trooper, I had been "unhooking" the bars from the respective stats, but, as I mentioned, the "Show as token Action" has no effect. I'll keep experimenting... Ya gotta love this system, though. Being an "old dude" I remember playing redbox with self-made graph paper. Big difference!

So, there are basically 3 ways to have a token setup. I think what you want for your Mooks is 2 below, but what you currently have is 3 below: 1) As a Player/Unique Character: 2) As a Mook: 3) As Nothing but a Token:

Ok, so say I'm going with option 2. The power of my mooks is governed by the number grouped together. I've been tracking this with a "number" attribute that I adjust in my bars. If I'm disassociating the bars from attributes, do I need to rewrite my macros to look at the bar rather than the attribute?

Tom said: Ok, so say I'm going with option 2. The power of my mooks is governed by the number grouped together. I've been tracking this with a "number" attribute that I adjust in my bars. If I'm disassociating the bars from attributes, do I need to rewrite my macros to look at the bar rather than the attribute? You needn't disassociate all the bars. I usually have AC as one of the bars, and have that tied to the character sheet. I was just trying to provide the simplest black & white comparison for Paul's case.

I did something of a hybrid. I created a single generic character with macro blocks, tied to attributes. I don't have my tokens bound at all. Then I have a script that populates the HPs based on what I enter. So my !Mook Attributes: Name: Bonus Hit: Bonus DMG: Damage Dice: In triplicate. Macros that speak as, emote, attack, and roll the proper stat section if you will. Then I just select a group of tokens, and run a custom script that makes them all have individually rolled hps, etc. !hps 2d8+/-2 Is this any easier than just filling out a stat block for your toon, and dragging a token out? Meh, I don't know. It makes it easy to fill out the hit points, and you only have to fill out the combat statistics. You still have to roll any skill type checks manually.

Problem is, the number bar depreciates like hit points might as the players pick off minions. So a mob of 5 becomes 4, 3, then 2, etc. If I'm going to represent that within the token, how else do I get it to count against one group of mooks and not all the groups on the screen?

If each 'group' has the same starting number then you could set up an attribute on the character sheet to represent the number of mooks in the mob, then it would work just like hitpoints, each time a minion dropped you would just remove 1 from the count. As long as you unlinked the bar as you would for hitpoints then it would only count against one mob and one mob only. Sorry if i've misread...

Except it doesn't work like HP. In witch Hunter, and 7th Sea for that matter, the number of mooks in a group determines the number of dice the group rolls for attacks and damage. So if I disconnect the bar from the attribute, the macro never registers the depreciation. Now, if I set it up to reference the bar as opposed to the attribute, that shouldn't be the case, right. So I can set the token up, disconnect the bar from the attribute, and everything should work swimmingly from there, right?

I'm with you totally now. Yes, it sounds like your best bet would be to disconnect a 'mob size' attribute and set up your macros to reference that rather than the sheet's attribute. It will be a bit of work to begin with but should save you hours of faffing about in the future. Let us know how you get on :)

Kind of getting off topic, but you could create attributes on the Mook sheet for different groups' counts and tie the bar to that attribute for all Mooks in that group, then reference the bar in your token actions. So, you might have 3 Mook Groups, A, B, C, which leads to 3 Attributes: Group_A_Count, Group_B_Count, Group_C_Count. Each of the Mooks in group A would have bar1 reference Group_A_Count. Then dropping that on any of them drops the count. Your macros could refer to @{selected|bar1}, and so would work on whichever mook you had selected. Gets you a nice blend of utility without too much headache. Pretty much all of that except the attribute creation could be automated with the TokenMod script. Could write a script that handles that whole setup pretty easily actually. "Select group of tokens, execute command, sets all represents correctly, adds attribute with value of number of selected tokens, links bar1 to it."

*poke* No new script projects until you update GroupInit! :>

HA! But this would be EASSSSYY!

That's one helluva idea Aaron! I don't really need an API script for this. I already have all the pieces, I just need to fine tune it is all.

Aaron -- indeed I was doing #3. I won't have time to play around with it until this weekend but I see what the logic is. Thanks!

no problem!

Thanks, Aaron, all is well! For some reason I was unlinking the Character dropdown instead of the Attributes dropdown. Momentary lapse of reason. Or at least attention.

Paul M. said: I still have not really figured out what exactly John Myles intended/intends with the "multi-attack" section. Not sure how it works and haven't seen any examples. Oh noes, my real life alter ego has been exposed ;) Firstly, the NPC section of the sheet is by no means a finished/polished product. It was hastily added to the sheet and I havent had time to fully flesh it out as yet. The intent for the multiattack field is simply that whatever you enter in the multiattack field will be output with any of the NPC actions that have the multiattack setting on that row set to yes. For example. the multiattack field is set to "Claw, Claw, Bite" and you have seperate action rows for the Claw and the Bite with the multiattack field set to yes on each row. When you use the Claw or Bite macro it will include the "Claw Claw Bite" line from the multiattack field as a reminder that the attack you are using is a part of a multiattack option that this character/NPC/bad guy has.

Ahhh, that makes sense. For the record, the NPC section is excellent. If that is your "hasty" then I am looking forward to future un-hasty iterations. I've probably got a good hundred or so already. Brilliant work on the character sheets overall. If you were here in Cleveland I would buy you a beer or three. They are quite elegant and certainly useful; the game is truly more enjoyable using them. Now that they are detachable our group is pretty much in seventh heaven. Your work is well appreciated! Side note: my last name being "Moos" I must admit I'm a tad jealous of your hat (if it is, indeed, a hat).

Paul M. said: Side note: my last name being "Moos" I must admit I'm a tad jealous of your hat (if it is, indeed, a hat). Hat? I have no idea what you are talking about :P