Foundry VTT Basics Part 8 - Rolling Dice (LOTS of Dice, LOTS of Ways)

[@Nitidus]

My friends want to get into D&D, and now it's my job to initially explore all this and set a first adventure up. Learning the D&D rules is one thing, handling a software like this (which I opted to get) is another. There's much work ahead of me, but without your videos, I wouldn't even have tried at all. Many thanks, good Sir!

[@EncounterLibrary]

That's so kind of you to say! I'm thrilled that it's been helpful in making it possible for you all to get into D&D. I hope that you have a blast getting started and welcome to the hobby! Please feel free to join us over in the Foundry VTT Discord as well where there's a bunch of other folks who can help with any questions you've got about D&D or Foundry :D.

[@christinaneugebauer2289]

So far I've been loving your videos, you explain clearly as you go through which is a huge relief as tech wise I am not as savvy. Tried the foundry webdemo and didn't really know what to do so didn't get a sense of anything. These help a lot more. With covid around though and my players itching to resume gaming I figured it was time to try and find something I can wrap my head around. Watching all your videos first before buying, but so far I'm not as nervous to try.

[@EncounterLibrary]

I'm so happy to hear that! If there's any questions you've got feel free to leave a comment (or reply to this one) and I'd be happy to try and help :). I totally get the antsy feeling to get back into the fray so hopefully you can get up and running soon!

[@kevindaniel1337]

Just got Foundry, and oh man, your videos are helping me learn it 10x faster.

[@ivanbreytenbach123]

Dude, thank you SO MUCH for your efforts.

[@dannykike6469]

If you decide to do some videos on specific modules, I'd love to request Combat Utility Belt. I've been trying for a while to get the concentration part to work but am failing. I enjoy the way you do your tutorial videos and can't wait for more to come out!

[@EncounterLibrary]

Noted! Combat Utility Belt is great and I think a prime candidate!

[@CSAATechArts]

I just installed Foundry VTT yesterday and started watching your videos. I really appreciate what you've put together. Suggestions ... about macros, are there macros that control graphical elements or effects on Foundry? (Not sure if there are, and if you talk about this in subsequent videos.) Also, as a DM, I find you're video very helpful in getting started. Could you put out one or two videos that streamline the aspects of Foundry that newbie players commonly deal with? And finally, as a positive feedback, I like the fact that you don't use any background music. I find that you speak clearly and that the audio quality of your videos are good; please keep this up. Cheers!

[@EncounterLibrary]

I'm glad to hear that! How do you mean macros that effect graphical elements of Foundry? I have written one that can hide a specific webcam block and there are some that can activate a torch and cause a token to emit bright light, etc. I'm not sure if that's what you mean though. I just finished a video for players today and it should be visible now :D.

[@CSAATechArts]

@@EncounterLibrary - Thanks for the quick follow up! I've shared it with my players. Cheers!

[@woeskwee1067]

#Subbed! Intrested in Macros and Audio, and literally anything else you record. Thanks for the vids...

[@EncounterLibrary]

Awesome, thank you! Audio should be coming up real soon and macros have turned out to be much less documented than originally anticipated and might be a little later than expected but I'm working on it. Thanks for watching!

[@Brian-yc4mi]

Using the BLIND GM Roll would be useful for skill checks like Stealth!!!

[@kevindaniel1337]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@noodlesnchill]

These are great :) looking forward to your Audio guide because I'm worried about my upload speed being an issue.

[@EncounterLibrary]

That's great to hear! I'm working on the audio guide today and will hopefully have it up tonight :).

[@zerodegreemoon]

I'd be interested in knowing if you can customize the functionality of using the critical roll option. Some DMs use house rules for critical hits that don't only double the dice.

[@johnnyahsome6267]

thank you soooo much for your videos.just purchased foundry, coming from roll20. this is the bomb and you are making it simple for me.Can you talk about integrating world anvil into it and also can you do a video on getting roll20 assets moved over to foundry? I have spent waaay to much on them and want them for this VTT.

[@glennriter5965]

This is awesome, but any chance you can include the various roll formats into the description so we can copy the roll we're looking for out rather than typing? Just saves us some time is all.

[@TheBaca219]

Great video but I have an advanced question. Any idea how you would go about setting up a roll that automatically rerolls 1 on a die but keeps the rerolled result only if it is above a certain value?

[@Adamthegeek70]

Maybe I missed it but is there a way to tell it roll the formula, x times and assign them to ability scores (or at least roll them for the players to type in the sheet) ie. 4d6dl do this 6 times

[@seanv3997]

Is there a simple chat command for a to hit roll with damage? I was trying to do different attack macros. Example combining these without the two results adding: /roll 1d20+4 /roll 1d8+6

[@demonbushido]

I can't figure out how to reference a characters class level, like for a Fighter's second wind.

[@HuevoBendito]

Holy crap, I wish blind GM roll were available on Roll20. Pathfinder 2e has secret checks baked into the system and asking players for their modifiers gets old.

[@Mbeluba]

Considering all the other functionalities of foundry and that you can get beta for 5$ from patreon to try it out, just switch man.

[@FarCough145]

If you haven't made the switch yet, do it. $50 usd may seem like a lot but you only have to buy it once and if you party chips in it's not even that much, especially compared to things like dnd books

[@HuevoBendito]

@@FarCough145 I bought FVTT a few weeks after my post. I've been on hiatus for afew months, but I'm gonna run CP RED in a month or so :)

[@slakjawnotsayin5451]

I'm so confused about the Proficiency attribute. If I use @attributes.proficiency it uses a 0 no matter what. If I use @prof it will use a 2, which is what it should be if I didn't have the System Settings > Proficiency Variant set to use DMG: Dice (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12). I can't get Foundry to use these Proficiency dice rolls. It's like they added the option to Foundry, but didn't finish making it work or something? Some of the alternate character sheets I use still display the Proficiency as a 2 instead of the dice as well, so it's like they maybe just added the option so it will only display in the default sheet and doesn't actually hold the variable anywhere? If anyone knows what the deal is with this, could you please let me know. Thanks

[@DanTheYoutubeAddict]

Is there a way to roll 2d20 and not have their result added together? I am playing a divination wizard and it is a bit clunky to have to open the results when rolling my Portent ability. What I currently have is this: /roll {1d20, 1d20}. I am looking for something that will roll each d20 separately and display the results separately.

[@jinkerGM]

I don't think you mentioned it, but you can roll any number. To flip a coin /r 1d2 or a direction /r 1d360.

[@Mbeluba]

Could you put weight on those? For example for direction, make 0-90 60% likely, 90-270 30% likely and 270-360 10% likely?

[@jinkerGM]

@@Mbeluba In a roll table, but not a straight dice roll. You could roll 10d360kh1 (kh1 means to keep highest) to kinda fudge it, but a roll table would be way better.

[@jinkerGM]

I would also suggest you add the rolls you showcase in the description.

[@JBrimBloodG]

but theres no way to roll separate dice and have the results shown separately? I've looked everywhere for a simple macro to roll attack and damage at once, but it just isn't anywhere.

[@LeagueScience]

since foundry about to be release you should do a video of the best foundry add ons for beginners for the rule sets of pathfinder(1E, 2E) and D&D 5th and other rule sets if you have time and how to use the Simple Worldbuilding System

[@LeagueScience]

make a video on how to add modules from foundry VTT Community that are in github to be used in foundry, lots of people dont know how to add it and then use it

[@spikehall86]

how do you make a -x to the dice themselves and on the TL roll?

[@gopher697]

Any advice on how to incorporate the Battlemaster's maneuvers and battle dice? I had a macro in Roll20 that did the maneuvers, but couldn't figure out how to get it to track my dice usage.

[@EncounterLibrary]

There are macros in Foundry VTT as well so if you take the Roll20 macro and bring it over to the #macro-polo channel in the Foundry discord you might be able to get some help there! Feel free to post it here in a pastebin or something as well and I might be able to take a swing at it. It looks like there's quite a few battle maneuvers though so I'm not sure I'll be able to get through it. Unfortunately, since it's not content that's in the SRD I doubt it will ever be 'formally' supported by the system.

[@RichardJRussell]

A chat macro that I use for my players in Starfinder for generating starting stat values. Roll 4d6, re-roll 1s and keep the highest 3 results. The macro does this 6 times at once; when you click the result to show the breakdown, it will give you a list of all 6 results. Using rr1 instead of r1 means it will keep re-rolling 1s until they score something higher. Be aware, if you use a 3d dice roller, such as Dice So Nice, your screen is going to get real busy 🤣😜 /roll {4d6rr1kh3, 4d6rr1kh3, 4d6rr1kh3, 4d6rr1kh3, 4d6rr1kh3, 4d6rr1kh3}

[@Kapharnaum92]

Next video should be macros to finish with the core mechanics tutorial and then videos about spicing up adventures with audio.

[@greenjacketguy3759]

Is there a way to roll an attack from the character sheet without getting the little popup window that asks for advantage, normal, or disadvantage every time? I can see my players getting tired/annoyed of doing for every one of their attack, ability check, and saving throw.

[@EncounterLibrary]

Yes you can! You can hold Shift while clicking to roll normally, hold CTRL while clicking to roll with disadvantage, and hold ALT while clicking to roll with advantage :D.

[@Yandalar]

Hi, how do I roll against a dificulty? Such in, telling me if I pass a saving Throw

[@teslatrekker9496]

If you are digging for content to make, please make a GURPS system video.

[@Paprika_Blues]

Is there any data . path that is related to a character's level?

[@ravikkar]

Wait, so if you're using the default character sheet method, you have to make 5 clicks for each attack roll?

[@EncounterLibrary]

You have to click to send the attack to the chat, then you can use shortcut keys + click to roll normally or with advantage/disadvantage (shift for normal, ctrl for disadvantage, and alt for advantage I believe) and then a click for damage so you can do it in as few as three. I would like the ability to shortcut + click on an attack to do the attack and another shortcut + click to just do the damage without sending it to chat though. It would also be nice if there was an option for sending it to chat and it immediately rolls the attack/damage like Beyond20 does. I'll submit a feature request for that since it would certainly be smoother.

[@GokuKPC1]

I noticed in some of your videos that you have two tabs with the GM and a character. How do you do that. I am working on running my first campaign as a DM, your videos are awesome!

[@EncounterLibrary]

So this is actually super easy! If you're using the Foundry application all you have to do is open Chrome and type 'localhost:30000' in the URL bar while having Foundry launched. If you're using Foundry in the browser then you can open an incognito window and do the same thing. Then you can be logged in as a DM in one and a player in the other one :D.

[@Adamthegeek70]

How do you see the dice?

[@Demonancer]

Is there a way to roll multiple dice, with modifiers, but keep them seperate? Aside from just hitting up enter a bunch. One other player uses Animate Object to attack with 10 flying coins at once, so rolling 1d20+spell attack 10 times and keeping each result seperate, rather than totalling together, would be helpful It gets really crazy when his flying coins all have advantage too

[@EncounterLibrary]

There's nothing built in for that as far as I'm aware :(. If you do something like /r 10d20 though and then click on the result it will expand and show you what all of the dice rolls were and then you could quickly add the modifier in your head. It's not quite as nice of a solution but it could work! If you post in #macro-polo though someone might be able to help you make a macro that would quickly do it as well.

[@RCPorter92]

Hey. Both myself and my players are having some difficulties with translating spells from books that aren't in the standard 5e system into their characters. Example: one of my players is a Bladesong Wizard, so he uses spells from Sword Coast (now Cauldron of Everything). We're having trouble creating his spells. Could you do a video on creating spells and abilities with the built in 5e system?

[@EncounterLibrary]

Absolutely! I've been diving into this a bit more myself recently and I think it would make a good addition to the channel. I don't know in what timeframe it will happen but my mind is definitely drifting towards this kind of content. In the meantime there's some great folks in the Foundry discord that could be helpful if you don't want to wait for me!

[@bekradan458]

Great vid! If you could show me how you can create a macro/script that will roll a d20, add proficiency, add modifier(s), then check against target AC and roll damage I would be most grateful!

[@calebalbritton1504]

If you're looking for a quick answer, the folks over at the #macropolo channel in the FVTT discord would be the people to ask! discordapp.com/channels/170995199584108546/699750150674972743

[@EncounterLibrary]

This would be a very complex macro to put together because different classes use different modifiers when they're making attacks and weapons can be used in different ways (not to mention spells) so that's not something I'll be able to cover unfortunately. As Caleb said though you might be able to put something together with the help of the #MacroPolo channel!

[@bekradan458]

@@EncounterLibrary Thank you both. I'll try the discord channel.

[@bekradan458]

There were able to help!! The module I need is called MinorQOL. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[@mistamichal]

What to choose. Macros or modules? I want to learn both! OK...... Macros first, then modules.... :p

[@Ladyoftheroundtable]

Savage worlds has continuously exploding dice, how would you enter that? Or is brute force the option?

[@EncounterLibrary]

There's actually been a big update to dice rolling so that exploding dice works a little differently. It can let you handle continual explosions, one time explosions, and setting a max number of explosions. You can find out more about it in the release notes here: foundryvtt.com/releases/0.7.0 or in the docs here: foundryvtt.com/article/dice/. You can explode dice continually like so: /r 6d6x6 (which would result in rolling 6d6 that explode continually on a 6). To limit it to once just change 'x' to 'xo' and to limit it to a max number you can do '/roll 6d6x6=10' where '10' is the max number you want to roll. There's also options for exploding dice when its greater than or less than a number etc. Let me know if you need help with any of it!

[@drunemeton]

Another great video! I vote for macros please?

[@francescovespa]

Desperate about SSL: i created the certificate and the key, but i can't find the "options.json" file to modify inside the config directory as mentioned in FVTT guide. Can you help me?

[@EncounterLibrary]

I think so! There are a few places that Foundry stores files and it will vary based on your OS. I'm going to guess you're on Windows since its the most common but let me know if you're on a Mac or Linux. Open up file explorer and in the top bar enter '%appdata%'. That will take you to your app data 'Roaming' folder which you should see at the top. From there click back into 'AppData' and then click into 'Local'. Then 'Foundry VTT'. The 'Config' folder is there with the 'options.json' file in it.

[@francescovespa]

@@EncounterLibrary Thanks a lot i found everything i needed, but somehow something is yet to be configured: i modified the options.json file with the certification and the key but the software still doesn't recognize a/v input. What do i miss? Notes: windows 10 user, my certification is a .csr, not a .cert (don't know if it's okay)

[@francescovespa]

Update: if i modify options.json with csr and key name (already in the same config folder) foundry software doesn't even launch anymore (till i remove the key and the csr file from the config folder)

[@EncounterLibrary]

It looks like you will need a .cert file. Here's my recommendation: 1. Go to selfsignedcertificate.com and enter 'localhost' as your server name. 2. Download the two files it gives you and name them both 'localhost' 3. Put them in the 'Config' folder 4. Update the SSL Cert and SSL Key fields in 'Options.json' to be "localhost.cert" and "localhost.key" (while keeping the comma at the end of each line out of the quotes). You should be good to go from t here.

[@francescovespa]

@@EncounterLibrary bingo you are right! now it works even though when i tried a solo audio chat with a friend she could hear me but i couldn't hear her. Getting closer but still not there (thanks for the help and patience).

[@jayyadz2088]

can GM/DM manipulate dice roll of players? Example only roll below average range or high average range? hope you can answer honestly.

[@EncounterLibrary]

There's no way to do this without your players knowing. It's something you could manipulate with a module that hooked into the rolling API though. If your players *can* know it's still not really doable but you can get kind of close by using the reroll syntax from here: foundryvtt.com/article/dice/. Though you won't be able to limit to above and below a certain range. Just one or the other. Sorry I can't be more help here!

[@jayyadz2088]

@@EncounterLibrary thanks for the reply. i just can,t believe i roll four 8's,two 9's, and a 10 on a character stats on a "4d6dl" (4d6 droplow syntax), that way i wonder if DM's can manipulate player rolls. i rolled stats many times on a manual dice roll i never get this kind of stats, haha.

[@matthewalexander1211]

​@@jayyadz2088 If it helps, I developed a roll system in my campaign that seems to be very well balanced to ensure people aren't too gimped or godlike. I have my players roll a 3d6x7, and drop the lowest stat. After the omission, if a player has three stats that are either 8 or lower, or 15 or higher, they must reroll. It gets very balanced rolls but still allow for the fun character stats that are extremely low (i.e. 6 INT). At the same rate, you don't have people rolling around with +2 and +3 on all their stats.

[@ryandornan8698]

Is there any way to roll offline and manually enter the dice? my players like rolling actual dice, as do i.

[@EncounterLibrary]

Yes! My players actually prefer rolling their own dice as well so I can relate. If they roll their own dice they can just type the result into chat like so "/roll 38". You should still be able to use the chat card to do things like apply damage etc. that way as well.

[@ryandornan8698]

@@EncounterLibrary I appreciate the reply. I stayed up all night last night learning the program and getting my scenes setup. We're about to kick things off in 15 minutes. It's a new era for my group. Thanks again.

[@EncounterLibrary]

@@ryandornan8698 That's so awesome, I hope it went well! Every time somebody tells me these videos helped them get their DnD game running I love it.

[@TookyG]

...was that map made in dungeon fog?

[@TookyG]

Dungeondraft. Answered my own question.

[@umartdagnir]

It's annoying how Foundry hides the dice that were rolled by default, and it's not even in the settings to change that, you need a module. I want to see the dice I've rolled.

[@alzathoth]

what happened to the dice animations for rolling?

[@EncounterLibrary]

The dice animations come from a module (Dice So Nice) that didn't exist when I made this video originally :). They definitely still work though!

[@Dani_Cano]

Are 3d dice available?

[@EncounterLibrary]

Yes they are! Through the 'Dice So Nice' module which is amazing. Each player can customize their dice, the speed at which they roll, animation effects etc. I would highly recommend it!

[@jdhbeph]

I'm not satisfied unless it actually animates the fireball.

[@EncounterLibrary]

You actually can apply animated spell templates to spells so with the right webm you could have a fully animated fireball :).

[@jdhbeph]

@@EncounterLibrary Wow, I was just kidding. That's awesome!

[@coolio3267]

DICE!!

[@Zarconus8]

Macros next. I haven't seen a video for this at all on this system.

[@Zarconus8]

By the way does this system have 3d dice? I didn't see that in the last video.

[@EncounterLibrary]

Hey, unfortunately there aren't 3D dice. There's some work on a community made module to supply them but since it's fan-made there's no real deadline for when it will be ready. Quite a few people have been asking about it though so hopefully soon!

[@viciousinjustice]

Macros please, including the aforementioned torch macro.

[@tigerland277]

Players love critical rolls. To be honest clicking every time you roll to check if it is critical 1 or 20 is not cool. It should highlight number below roll, this total total, with color, too.

[@EncounterLibrary]

I get what you mean entirely. There is functionality when using Beyond20 to roll where it will highlight green if you rolled the max number on a die and red if you rolled the lowest. It may be worth pulling out that functionality and applying it to the default dice messages. I'll try and raise that as a feature request, and I would encourage you to do so in the Foundry discord as well!

[@lychg8]

Hmmm... Little suspicious how many duplicates were rolled. Two 16s, then two 7s, then two 16s, a 2, then another 16, then two 11s, then two 19s. That seems indicative of a bad RNG formula, where "runs" are common, despite the fact that averaging 1000 rolls of 1d20 average out to 10.5. Unfortunately, most virtual dice rollers suffer from this. I wish there was a [better] way around it. With maptools, I just wrote in a script to roll 100 d20s between every roll, that way any "runs" are eliminated.

[@EncounterLibrary]

It certainly is odd how that can happen sometimes. Just as an experiment I rolled 100d20 at once and expanded the chat card to see the results and it seems like there's not a lot of repeated rolls there. Here's a screenshot of it: i.imgur.com/bomqKZf.png

[@jaygarrick3984]

These videos are great, but this one makes me think you can't beat actual dice.

[@cives]

It's a pity that you only cover DnD system and rolls. There's a whole world out there outside 5e. You could label your videos as only explaining 5e, to avoid misdirection. Apart from that, they are excellent... if I was interested in 5e. 😂

[@stoneybologni89]

This doesn't work anymore, your system is so broken I can't even roll a simple d6 in your software, and it's not only embarrassing but laughable. At least RPG sessions and Owlbear Rodeo let you roll dice!