How do I add macros/FX to spells/attacks?

I'm reading this thread from a year ago but I've only had the briefest interaction with macros, most of which I can't even begin to understand. If someone could walk me through this or at least help me get started I'd appreciate it.

I've set up a special FX called EldritchBlast which I want to add to my player's Eldritch Blast spell. In the linked thread they say you can add a button in the spell description to do that. I add in what I think should work:


Now pressing the Eldritch Blast spell in the journal makes the spell pop up in chat along with the button, but pressing the button only prints "#EldritchBlast" under the spell.


Some questions I have.

1. I'm doing this wrong, but in theory it should work with the button. Is there a way to do it without the button? I want my player to press the spell, be queried about advantage, and then be prompted to choose a token target, which then prints the spell's ranged attack roll and at the same time fires the FX. Or fire the FX when rolling damage. Either would be beautiful if anyone knows how.

2. I'd like to have a spell macro/FX for Fireball which first fires a missile and then has an explosion. Where do I even start on that?

3. Can I make FX fire on a parabola instead of a straight line?

4. Any other useful macros for a beginner DM? I'm trying to automate a lot of the stuff my group has to do by hand right now, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

It looks like you have a space in there. It should probably be &13;#EldritchBlast instead. Without the space.

Andrew (Halfling Gypsy) said:

It looks like you have a space in there. It should probably be &13;#EldritchBlast instead. Without the space.

You're right, there is a space. Removing doesn't actually change anything, however, it still prints #EldritchBlast in chat.

Bobsplosion said:

Andrew (Halfling Gypsy) said:

It looks like you have a space in there. It should probably be &13;#EldritchBlast instead. Without the space.

You're right, there is a space. Removing doesn't actually change anything, however, it still prints #EldritchBlast in chat.

For this to work you'll need to add a macro called "EldritchBlast" that invokes the /fx command.

Yes, from your original post, it sounds like "EldritchBlast" is the name of your saved effect, not the name of a macro. Is this the case?

For this to work you'll need to add a macro called "EldritchBlast" that invokes the /fx command.

keithcurtis said:

Yes, from your original post, it sounds like "EldritchBlast" is the name of your saved effect, not the name of a macro. Is this the case?

You're both correct, that worked, thank you. The button now spawns the projectile on the selected token, but it just stays there and fizzles for a bit before disappearing. How do I make it actually fly at something?

Using custom FX:

"angle": -1  //allows aming
"speed": 50 //sets the speed of the projectile
"speedRandom": 4 // spreads particals sligthly after a while
"lifeSpan": 20 //sets how long each partical should stay visible
"lifeSpanRandom": 2 //adding random lifetime thins the projectile out after a while

Try this:

{
    "angle": -1,
    "angleRandom": 0,
    "duration": 15,
    "emissionRate": 60000,
    "endColour": [125, 125, 125, 0],
    "endColourRandom": [0, 0, 0, 0],
    "lifeSpan": 20,
    "lifeSpanRandom": 2,
    "maxParticles": 3000,
    "size": 1,
    "sizeRandom": 0,
    "speed": 50,
    "speedRandom": 4,
    "startColour": [90, 175, 175, 0.35],
    "startColourRandom": [0, 0, 0, 0.25]
}

This will most likely shoot over your target thought.

Sadly, FX is quite limited in what can be done right now. There is no script that can move effects or shoot from one point to another (only from one point to a direction). There are some script using tokens to perform animations thought, maybe they can be used for this - didn't try it yet.

2. I'd like to have a spell macro/FX for Fireball which first fires a missile and then has an explosion. Where do I even start on that?

Make a macro similar to this:

/fx beam-fire @{selected|token_id} @{target|Destination|token_id}
/fx burst-fire @{target|Destination|token_id} @{target|Destination|token_id}

3. Can I make FX fire on a parabola instead of a straight line?

Sadly not with the scripts/commands available right now.

4. Any other useful macros for a beginner DM? I'm trying to automate a lot of the stuff my group has to do by hand right now, so any help would be appreciated.

Not necessarily macros but:
A good char sheet and knowing what can be done with it, make sure your players know that too and fill it correctly. (this will eliminate many needs for macros)

Make roll tables in advance for anything that you might need. Especially Random loot / encounters, can be used to make generate personality/ flesh out random NPCs/Locations - thought there are some websites with nice generators for that too. This will help keeping the game flow and can be used as a haystack to hide easter eggs/optional things/npcs.

Make use of the GM Layer to prepare stuff, you can add initiative for tokens there without the players being able to see it. (something I missed until recently...)