Utils Special FX

Animated Particle Effects

Animated particle effects are built in to Roll20 and are available to all games with a Pro-subscribed GM. They allow you to create flashy animations for spells or attacks. They appear for a couple seconds and look roughly like this, though the exact appearance depends on the type and color that you choose. Some effects are centered on a token of your choosing, and some move in a direction which you are prompted to draw on the map. NOTE FOR NEWBS: Chat commands never include line breaks or "enters." Anything that is formatted like this is code or a chat command. If something is formatted like $EXAMPLE, that means you should replace it with something else that is specified, without using all caps or including the dollar sign. So, if your name is John Smith and you need to type some code $NAME some code where $NAME is your name, you would type some code John Smith some code. Manual Activation You can manually activate any particle effect by typing /fx $TYPE-$COLOR in the chat, where $TYPE is one of the effect types and $COLOR is one of the effect colors.If you want it to center on your token, put @{selected|token_id} at the end off the command. If you want it to center on another token, put @{target|token_id} after the command. If you want it to go from your token to another token, put @{selected|token_id} @{target|token_id} after the command (this last one only works for line-based types, like the beam.)] Automatic Activation For Spells (super easy) Adding particle effects to your spells with the shaped sheet is simple. Go into editing mode and click the little gear icon next to the spell to edit it. Then, check the box next to "Spell effects", and then input the effect type and effect color you want in the respective fields. For the "Points of Origin" field, choose Source → Target if you want the effect to move from you to the target; choose Target if you want the effect to appear over the target; choose Source if you want the effect to appear over you; and choose Target → Source if you want the effect to move from the target to you. For Non-Spells (intermediate) This method will create a clickable button that will trigger the effect, underneath your attack or utility when you send an attack or utility macro to the chat by clicking the name on the sheet. Go to the "Attributes & Abilities" tab and create an ability, with the chat command for your desired effect in it (like the manual activation method above.) Then in the attack's "Freetext" field, type ($LABEL) where $LABEL is what you want to call it and $ABILITY_NAME is the name of the ability you created.

Sometimes you can also just directly type the command into the "Freeform" field if you want it to trigger automatically when you click the attack. For some reason this has variable success however. AOE Effects

AOE effects are a feature provided by an API script. It allows you to place tokens on the map to represent spell effects that remain for some amount of time and/or may move around, unlike the animated particle effects. Examples of spells where this might be useful are Bigby's Hand, Grease, Watery Sphere, etc. They look like this. Manual Activation You can activate AOE effects in three ways (ordered here from most to least easy): AOE Menu Button (super easy) Click the AOE button in the Token Action bar to bring up the AOE menu in chat. This will allow you to browse and choose from all the AOE FXavailable to you. When you have found one you like, click one of the three buttons to the right side of the effect to apply it. Each button applies the effect in a different manner: ✎ (Path) allows you to apply the spell effect where you have drawn a line on the map. This is best for things like walls. For this to work, you have to have drawn a line and have it selected before clicking the button. All circular spell effects use the line as a radius, not a diameter, so keep that in mind. ➙ (Ray) allows you to draw the spell effect from the selected token to a target token. ✸ (Burst) allows you to center the spell effect on a targeted token. Radius is in feet. Chat Commands (for masochists and nerds) You can also apply AOE FX via the chat. The syntax is as follows, where $EFFECT_NAME is the name of the effect you want and $RADIUS is the desired radius in feet. Path: !areasOfEffectApplyEffectAtPath $EFFEECTNAME Ray: !areasOfEffectApplyEffectBetweenTokens @{selected|token_id} @{target|token_id} $EFFECT_NAME Burst: !areasOfEffectApplyEffectAtToken @{target|token_id} $RADIUS $EFFECT_NAME Automatic Activation Semi-Automatic (Intermediate) This method will create a button under your spell when you send a spell macro to the chat, which you can then click to create the effect. Go to the "Attributes and Abilities" tab and create an attribute with the chat command (like above) for your desired AOE effect. Then, in the "Freetext" of the spell you want to attach the effect to, type $LABEL where $LABEL is what you want to call it and $ABILITY_NAME is the name of the ability you created. Fully Automatic (Advanced) This method will automatically cause the effect to appear when you cast a particular spell. You will use the Custom Roll Listener to listen for when the macro for your desired spell is output to the chat, which will trigger your AOE effect. First, create an ability with your effect like for the semi-automatic activation. Then, type the following in the chat, where $NAME is what you want to call the listener, $TEXT_TO_MATCH is the text (usually the name) from the spell you want the listener to listen for, and $ABILITY_NAME is the name of the ability you created in the previous step. !crl \create,name=$NAME,template=5e-shaped,text=$TEXT_TO_MATCH,\%{selected|$ABILITY_NAME} (Notably, you could do something similar to fully automate the Particle Effects for non-spell macros.) Movement and Deletion You can move any AOE effect by selecting it and dragging it around like a regular token.You can delete any AOE effect by selecting it and hitting the delete or backspace key.