Lets talk tokens.

Can I get some opinions on tokens? First, which do you prefer? Portraits or top down tokens? Personally, I like a portrait. I'd rather see my character's face than the top of his head.  What type of character tokens are under-represented? I'm thinking of drawing up some custom tokens, and I'd like to get a feeling for what sort of thing you'd like to see.

I also prefer portrait tokens for the most part. When I'm DMing it's useful to have an image that shows if the orc has an ax or a spear, or what have you so it's easier for the players to discern targets.

Top down tokens and portraits are not mutually exclusive. They go well together in Maptool, for exemple. <a href="http://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1480/token-portraits#post-24962" rel="nofollow">http://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1480/token-portraits#post-24962</a>

I looked through the other thread, and I agree. A token/portrait combo approach would be pretty cool.

I prefer Portrait tokens. &nbsp;A wide variety of weapons with each race would helpful. &nbsp;Stuff like maces, halberds, war hammers, slings, and etc.

I like top-down tokens because it looks more like miniatures on a battle mat. But I also liked how Maptools let you assign a portrait to a figure. I agree, it's a feature I'd like to see in Roll20.

Drohem said: I prefer Portrait tokens. &nbsp;A wide variety of weapons with each race would helpful. &nbsp;Stuff like maces, halberds, war hammers, slings, and etc. If I were drawing portrait tokens, I'd probably just do faces and not include any weapons.&nbsp;

I use portraits for PC's and important NPC's and top-down tokens for monsters and mob.

Well, yeah, you can always turn any image you want into a token.

I'd prefer two images per token. One for the token, one for the portrait. When you mouseover a token, the portrait appears.

JonathanTheBlack said: I'd prefer two images per token. One for the token, one for the portrait. When you mouseover a token, the portrait appears. To my understanding that's pretty much what Patrick C. has suggested on that other thread and this would be ideal imo but atm it's not possible.

I prefer portrait tokens... and have a few hundred of them, just so that I never have to say "Well, he looks like this, but..."

I use both, I like the looks of portrait tokens on the board and they are sometimes easier to separate visually from the background compared to overhead tokens. On the other hand, overhead tokens are a bit better for determining facing and such in combat. Having portraits pop up when mousing over overhead tokens would be great, except I mostly use my laptop when running roll20 games and screen real-estate is kind of limited on a 15" monitor.

I much &nbsp;prefer portrait tokens over topdown tokens. There's only so much detail you can show in a topdown perspective and I feel like they get 'same-y' after a while. With portrait tokens, you can convert literally any art asset into a token and make it look sharp doing so. Example:

DapperDuck said: I much &nbsp;prefer portrait tokens over topdown tokens. (. . .) Yeah, while I like top-down tokens, I'm aware of the advantages of round portrait style tokens but unfortunately Roll20 lacks of any facing indicators for them. &nbsp; Groups playing D&amp;D3-4/Pathfinder doesn't need to worry about it (at least in most cases and according to the rules), but if you are playing with other systems such as GURPS (using tactical combat, maps) a way for denoting facing is mandatory. Currently only top-down tokens are able to handle facing (by means of rotation) in a satisfactory manner under Roll20. More at this thread, including screenshots: Facing

Well, as a workaround you could always just add an arrow to the top of the token when you make it and rotate it accordingly. Another thing your players could do is simply use the drawing tool to make a dot or arrow in the direction they are facing. When they move, they can delete the drawing and make a new one once more.

Not very user-friendly, I have to agree, with Axel, that portraits tokens are almost useless now, until they can show facing. Shooting someone in the front or in the back is not the same. Sonata D. said: Having portraits pop up when mousing over overhead tokens would be great, except I mostly use my laptop when running roll20 games and screen real-estate is kind of limited on a 15" monitor. That would probably depends where the portrait pops-up and if it is used to carry information. Maptool way, it would popup in a corner of the screen, probably far away from the focus of your attention (It could even popup above the controls on the right-side, if preserving space is a priority). Alternatively, it could popup with the token information. But anyway, the portrait size is still up to you, it could even be the same size as the token, just an alternate view, with more individuality than a top down token. It doesn't have to take much more place than what appears already now. In this case, all the portrait-tokens shown above by Dapper Duck would qualify as portraits. And with a top-down to show facing, scale and situation, it seems like the best of both worlds to me. But of course all that depends on the devs. IF they have any intention to add a portrait feature to the map. HOW they intend to have it working. I don't think that any declaration has been coming about it. But I could be wrong as I have no access to the paying forum.

DapperDuck said: I much &nbsp;prefer portrait tokens over topdown tokens. There's only so much detail you can show in a topdown perspective and I feel like they get 'same-y' after a while. With portrait tokens, you can convert literally any art asset into a token and make it look sharp doing so. Example: Great tokens, especially like the sniper one haha. Yeah I have to agree with portrait tokens I always just go by the rule of bottom is facing forward. I'm currently gming my first game and I can easily take a picture of a race or a person and put it in token form. I can't do this with top down tokens.

DapperDuck said: Well, as a workaround you could always just add an arrow to the top of the token when you make it and rotate it accordingly. Part of my earlier point was that these workarounds were discussed at the linked thread above, including screenshots: Facing, &nbsp; <a href="http://app.roll20.net/forum/post/830/facing#post-8655" rel="nofollow">http://app.roll20.net/forum/post/830/facing#post-8655</a> I can assure you that they don't work at all for me :) Rotating portrait style tokens, even with a fixed point-arrow-sign as facing indicator, usually results into a visual mess: DapperDuck said: Another thing your players could do is simply use the drawing tool to make a dot or arrow in the direction they are facing. When they move, they can delete the drawing and make a new one once more. Although this would be, in practice, too cumbersome to do, and very difficult to coordinate in actual games. If denoting facing would be just an occasional need, "fine", but there are RPGs in which facing is changing at least once each turn. Using the Drawing Tools for that purpose would involve a lot of work and messy results.&nbsp; Roll20 could handle this with elegancy and simplicity, instead! Patrick C. said: Not very user-friendly, I have to agree, with Axel, that portraits tokens are almost useless now, until they can show facing. Shooting someone in the front or in the back is not the same. Exactly. By the way, Patrick, I still know nothing about plans on implementing character portraits . . . Now, perhaps there is some hint in the subscriber podcasts.

It took all of ten minutes to make three brand new tokens with facing arrows in gimp and to be honest, I don't think it turns into a visual mess. Then you have topdown tokens, but I don't like those to begin with, so... And barebones, players drawing their own facing on token and deleting when necessary. Crude, but it works . Work arounds are just that: something suboptimal that you deal with until a better solution presents itself. If none of these options are satisfactory to you, then Roll20 in its current state is not for you.

DapperDuck said: Crude, but it works . It works but it's crude.&nbsp; If none of these options are satisfactory to you, then Roll20 in its current state is not for you. And I'll decide myself what is for me or not, thanks.

DapperDuck said: It took all of ten minutes to make three brand new tokens with facing arrows in gimp and to be honest, I don't think it turns into a visual mess. It's enough messy for me, but thanks. DapperDuck said: If none of these options are satisfactory to you, then Roll20 in its current state is not for you. What? If Roll20 doesn't support round portrait-style tokens, I'll keep using top-down ones while waiting for a facing feature. Also. check Patrick C.'s answer to your point here. It's a good one!

Going along with drawing facing arrows, you could also draw a facing arrow, and group it with the token it is attached to, thereby preventing you from having to delete and redraw every few turns.