D&D 3.5 Quick Macros - Universal Per-Character Macros

So I'm asking the community because I'm relatively new to Roll20. I have a campaign that I'm doing that requires rolling on about 20 NPCs per turn (yes obnoxious... not the point). I was wondering if it was possible to set up a quick macro so that instead of having to pull up the character page to get to a skill check (say Spot checks), I could set up something in the quick macros that would work by clicking on a token. Basically I want to see if I can make a "Spot" quick macro so that the individual token I click gets their spot mod+bonuses and I don't have to pull up each individual character. Thanks, Rhaokoth

1) Is it the same list of NPCs doing the SAME skill check all the time? If so, then you just write one for it. 2) Is it the same list of NPCs but NOT the same skill check all the time? You probably need to write it in an API to make it happen. 3) Not the same list of NPCs and NOT the same skill checks? Get an API or you'll go mad.

Again the point is that I have sheets made up for all 20 of the NPCs but I'd REALLY rather not have to pop each one open every turn to do spot checks and little things like that. If this weren't basically a house of horrors thing and every person didn't need to independently roll it wouldn't be an issue and I'd just do a blanket roll for the idiots, but basically everyone is different, everyone has their own bonuses, etc etc... I was just hoping to be able to use the quick macros to make an easy way to click on a sheet-linked character icon and have it produce an appropriate skill check (Spot, Search etc.) based off that clicked characters own stats and the tied to ability. Ideally I'd make a "Spot" a "Search" and a "Listen" quick button where I could click "Spot" and it would pull from that sheet of whatever icon was targeted. This way I would be able to shorten time for my players between rounds. Edit: *sigh* Sorry for the repetition on my explanation, I've just been trying for like 5 hours now to no avail. Thank you for any help I can get guys. Rhaokoth

When I have a problem like that I just put all the rolls for separate NPCs in one macro called, for example, "Spot" /w gm Jim Spot [[1d20+1]] Bob Spot [[1d20-5]] Carl Spot [[1d20+2]] and so on Is it elegant? Nope. But it works.

You can absolutely do that! I can't give you the exact macro without knowing which sheet you're using, but it should look something like [[@{selected|spot}]] Edit: If you roll the spot check off of the sheet and then go to the chat window and press the up arrow, you can copy and paste the text that comes up into your macro. Replace the character's name with "selected" and you've got a generic macro that works for the token you have selected on the map.

Shane W. said: Again the point is that I have sheets made up for all 20 of the NPCs but I'd REALLY rather not have to pop each one open every turn to do spot checks and little things like that. If this weren't basically a house of horrors thing and every person didn't need to independently roll it wouldn't be an issue and I'd just do a blanket roll for the idiots, but basically everyone is different, everyone has their own bonuses, etc etc... I was just hoping to be able to use the quick macros to make an easy way to click on a sheet-linked character icon and have it produce an appropriate skill check (Spot, Search etc.) based off that clicked characters own stats and the tied to ability. Ideally I'd make a "Spot" a "Search" and a "Listen" quick button where I could click "Spot" and it would pull from that sheet of whatever icon was targeted. This way I would be able to shorten time for my players between rounds. Edit: *sigh* Sorry for the repetition on my explanation, I've just been trying for like 5 hours now to no avail. Thank you for any help I can get guys. Rhaokoth What I am trying to get at is... Do you want one Macro to cover up to 20 at once (any tokens), for any kind of save? Do you want one Macro to cover Jim, Larry, Curly, Davis, Isaac for a (select save here)? Do you want one Macro to cover Jim, Larry, Curly, Davis, Isaac for a Constitution Save? as you go down that list the ease of doing it in a Macro gets much much easier... the first one is basically API country and you need The Aaron. Second one isn't hard but you need to know how the saves are coded because they can scramble your Macro. Third one is easy and you can hard code the whole thing.

Shane W. said: Ideally I'd make a "Spot" a "Search" and a "Listen" quick button where I could click "Spot" and it would pull from that sheet of whatever icon was targeted. This way I would be able to shorten time for my players between rounds. In its simplest form you could set up a macro and put it in your quick bar (tick the box next to the macro name in the collection tab) with something similar to the below: /w gm @{target|character_name} does a ?{What|Spot,spot check: [[ 1d20 + @{target|spot} ]]|Listen,listen check: [[ 1d20 + @{target|listen} ]]|etc etc} You could then run that as many times as you need and choose a different target each time. 

Ziechael -- That was pretty much exactly what I needed. I can modify the skills from there so that I can make it just one button per skill (but now I also have reference on making a multi-skill drop down too), but thank you that's going to make my life MUCH easier. Rhao Edit: *Shakes your hand profusely* THANK YOU!!!!! And now I'll have the coding lines down for the next time and the next game. *sigh* so glad this came in before my game this week *cheers*. +10k EXP Ziechael!

You are very welcome, and now I have enough xp to finally get my 9th level in moderating! Time to go pick a feat from the endless splat books :) Just remember that whatever you think might make your game better; someone has likely already gone through the pain of making it work so never fear asking, the forums are full of super helpful and kind folk... and if the impossible happens and you come up with something new and innovative which has never been done before... well the community will help make that dream come true too! Warning: Writing macros is a slippery slope, ware ye the nested queries... many have failed to return from their adventures to the depths of a layered macro query, the rewards however, are great (and the  wiki is a great starting point). Happy rolling!