Creating Effects

Effect Creation pane is used to create and add an effect to a combatant. The pane contains two identical areas that can be used to create distinct effects. Notice that VCC handles effects not conditions. Effect may include a set of conditions like: “Slowed and Dazed”; Duration: “Save Ends”.

The pane looks like this (without the black and white numbers):

The meaning of the numbers in the black circles:

1 - Source

Since some durations are bound to the sources' round, selection the source is important. When a new combatant starts the round, it will be assigned as the source. You can change this if you want add an effect for some other combatant (as a result of immediate actions or opportunity attacks)

2 - Condition type selection: Any

There are two type of effect as of version 0.90, the first is the Any type. This type should be used for all effect except mark (see below). The text field besides the combo box should be used to specify the description of the effect and/or conditions. Once the effect has been added it can be edited in the Active Effects table.

3 - Beneficial check box

This check box should be used to mark effect that are beneficial to the target (such as: +2 on all attacks). This is relevant only for effect that end an the end of a turn and when a Delay happens.

4 - Condition type selection: Mark

The second type of effects that can be created is the mark. Since the target can only be marked by one combatant this type should be used when adding a mark. VCC will automatically remove the previous mark. The cant be superseded check box is used to indicate that the mark can’t is definitive. Some powers in the Martial Powers book have this property.

The duration combo box is used to determine the duration of an effect. Most of the effect durations should be self explanatory (assuming you play D&D 4E). The following durations have some special behavior:

End of source’s next turn, sustain

Effect that are sustainable should use this duration. The effect will only be sustained until the end of the next turn (of the select source, normally the acting combatant). During the next turn of the source, you must click the sustain button on the Active Effects pane.

Save End (Special)

This should be used for powers where a save ends the effect, but failing the saving throw will change the conditions in effect (like the Sleep Wizard power) (see this page for more details).

Stance

As described in the rules the effect last until the End of Encounter (that is a rest) or until a new Stance is activated.

Other

Use this for anything that does not fall in the existing durations.

As with previous version, additional information about conditions can be written in the Comments and Notes pane. This is a good option for condition like: prone and other condition that are in effect until countered.

Viewing Effects

All effects currently active on a combatant are displayed on the Active Effects pane. This will provide a quick view of the effect description, duration, and source. This pane also allows you to sustain effect and cancel effects.

As shown below:

The colors have a special meaning:

Blue

The effect is beneficial to the target, this is relevant only when the source delays a round and the effect end at the end of it's turn

Orange

The duration box column may have an orange color, this indicates that the duration has something special. Either it's sustainable, or it's a effect were failing a save will cause additional effects (like in the Sleep power)

At the bottom of this pane are two buttons:

Sustain

Clicking this button will sustain an effect, however this will only cause effect if the effect is bound to end at the End of the current Turn (duration is EoT)

Cancel Effect

Will remove the effect from the list.

As will all tracked object, you can undo actions in case an invalid command was executed.

Editing

All effect descriptions (except Mark effects) can be edited by double clicking on the description on the table in the Active Effects pane. Place the new text and press Enter. This is not supported for mark, in this case simply add a new mark.

Tracking ongoing damage and regeneration

Starting with version 1.5.0 Virtual Combat Cards can track ongoing damage and regeneration. Effect that have the proper wording will be handled on the beginning of rounds and prompt the user to input the effective amount of healing or damage to apply.

The condition text will be split into parts on the and work and the progression separators ( -> or /).

Ongoing damage

For ongoing damage the the condition must include the text ongoing followed by a number, text after this will be included in the prompt. So these condition texts will prompt the user for amount of damage to apply:

• ongoing 5
• ongoing 5 fire
• ongoing 5 fire & thunder
• ongoing 1d20
• ongoing 5 slowed
• slowed ongoing 10

All these will trigger the ongoing damage prompt. In the 1d20 case, the value suggested will be 1 hit point. Not that for effect that have two damage type you must use the ampersand (&) sign not and, or the match will skip the and word.

Regeneration

To have VCC prompt for regeneration the condition text must include the prefix regen followed by a number. So the following text will cause a prompt for regeneration:

• regen 5
• regenerate 2
• regeneration 10 while bloodied
• regeno 5 slowed
• regenarate 4 if not hit by fire or cold

Note: regenerate will always be prompted first. In some conditions this may lead to less hit point being restore. DM/User discernment is necessary in these cases.

Effect that change on failed saving throw

Some effects like Sleep and Medusa petrification start of in one condition then progress to worst conditions. To be able to handle these effects Virtual Combat Cards includes two features. First there is the Save ends (Special) duration options. Secondly starting on version 1.5.0, users can specify a set of effects that will take place on a failed save.

To do this, users must right the condition separated by either arrows (->) or slash (/). On the save prompt VCC will suggest the next condition if the save fails.

As examples:

Wizard's Sleep Spell

• slowed -> unconscious
• slowed / unconscious

On the first failed save the effect will become unconscious

Medusa's Gaze

• slowed -> immobilized -> petrified
• slowed / immobilized / petrified

On the first failed save the effect will become immobilzed -> petrified, and on a subsequent failed save it becomes petrified

Notice that the effect will still remain being prompted for change after the last condition is reached. In the case of petrification, you could simple pass the saving throw and place a note on the creatures note box.

Tips on creating effects

In line with VCC general design goals tracking effects and condition was done in a simple and generic way. While there are all types of condition and effects, some the most common ones should work well. Designing a compact and effective interface was complex, and not all cases may be easy to track. In this section we present some tips and trick that may make you life easier.

Paladin Divine Challenge

This is obviously a mark, but since the Paladin does not have to attack to sustain the mark, you can select the duration “End of source’s turn, sustain”. This way you can easily sustain the effect.

Sustainable that affect other combatant

Some powers will give a penalty or a special condition on the target and can be sustained by the source (such as Warlord’s Break the Tempo). In the current version these are challenging effect to keep track. Since the effect can be sustained only when the source is action, and you may forget to look at the target (and sustain the effect). It may be safer to place two effects:

1. On the source of the effect add a sustainable effect with the power name;
2. On the target put an effect with duration Other, indicating that it is linked to the source power

Warlock power that have Save End and Sustain

Warlocks have a set of powers that have both save end and sustain (such as Curse of the Bloody Fangs). This discussion on EN World describes a way to track these effects. The idea is to break them into:

1. On the warlock add an effect that can be sustained, and point to the target and the condition it must have (in the forum discussion: “Curse of Bloody Fangs on Target”);
2. Add an effect on the target with duration End of source’s next turn (in the forum: “Nibbled”);
3. If the warlock sustains, add a new effect with duration Save end (in the forum: “Chewed”).

This should provide the correct way to handle this. Of course you can ask for the warlock to track this, and just put the Save End portion of the effect on the tracker.