TOPIC: Range Combat Comment

raptorov wrote: Its an issue with wizard spells that slide as well.
With so few, I always tell the DM I am evoking my Bat Figurine +4 before I slide. With my inherent +8, my Elf hits the static AC 15 on a 3. My wife's wizard has a +6 range, a Hat of Intellect +2 and the Bat +4, so also hits on the 3.
I slide an 8 and the DM says "Miss".
It just takes some diligence.
But it is so high speed and chaotic, I honestly have no idea how combat DM's keep everything straight.

I cast sliding spells as well, and that can be an issue. I just straight up tell the DM, "I hit on a 1," (or whatever). right as I slide. Unfortunately, I can still miss in this case - I always slide last, so I don't knock other tokens around or get knocked around, but I slid once and landed on the monster, but in a space with no number! Bummer!

As far as this issue is concerned, I like the idea of people highlighting their primary damage source, ranged or melee, but coaches shouldn't have to do it, and I agree with Druegar that if it gets out of hand, no more.

I am compiling a list of issues to review in an attempt to improve DM training. I think this is an issue that should be addressed.

Bob Chasan wrote:

Picc wrote:

Mekra wrote: I think the Combat GMs need more breaks, especially if they are running more complicated rooms. One of the GMs on my N3 run just didn't seem to care anymore, and i know they are an experienced GM.

Or maybe changes should be looked at for combat and the amount going on, or even an assistant. I know its fasted paced and rough, but it has only gotten progressively worse in the past 5 years in my opinion.

The entire game has been growing ever more complex, and I think were close to capacity for how far it can be pushing in the constraints of the time available. Even in coaching the number of tokens with +dex/-con on something similar have made things a lot harder to manage. I imagine there are similar issues adjudicating combat with the complexity of rules around free actions etc.

As a coach, I actively encourage EVERYONE to get either the App, the Excel spreadsheet, or one of the Web based character generators. I often have a few each con that will download and input their tokens while in the Coaching room. This helps a lot but we definitely need to get the word out further about the ease of using one of the pregenerators.

Could this be added to the event email do everyone knows about it? My group just learned about the app and the free hp this year, and we have been running true dungeon since 2015

I built our rogue with -1 hit in melee and +12 missile and it still was not obvious to all the GMs, one gladly gave her max damage (yes) when he realized his mistake.

I like the idea of an arrow or highlighter so long as it isn’t crazy.

I do not like the forcing to choose range or melee for a whole run, I barely like that I can’t change tokens other than my weapons as is, who can’t change their gloves or their cape in 2 minutes that a TD round takes?

The magnet idea, I like the ranged magnet insert idea also

I've been wondering for years now if we could use the X-Box camera thing (from the blood puzzle) to help automate combat. Could still be an issue on throwing weapons. Not to mention the cost...

Davoruk wrote:

michelle kanarski wrote: I have an idea that could help with this issue going forward. Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the thrown weapon issue and doesn't help anyone using older tokens. What if the background of weapon tokens indicated whether the token was melee or ranged? Maybe a more "white" background for melee and a more "gray" background for ranged, for example. Then, the party card could be shaded to match with the melee column being white and the ranged column being gray. This would help the DMs scan more easily between the token and the party card and match stats up appropriately. Perhaps thrown weapons could have a 1/2 & 1/2 background and the player needs to announce melee or ranged. Maybe to simplify, there's a rule that thrown weapons are melee by default unless announced as ranged.
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Umm I sorta love this idea. Simple and efficient with any easy visual reference.

Only real problem I see is that none of the existing tokens will match. But I really hope TPtB seriously consider something like this.

You would think the picture of bow on the token would be a hint!!!

Xavon wrote: I've been wondering for years now if we could use the X-Box camera thing (from the blood puzzle) to help automate combat. Could still be an issue on throwing weapons. Not to mention the cost...

If the weapons had a way of being recognized via a QR code or were lit well enough for the graphics to be recognized, it is likely possible. There are a number of Magic card scanner apps out there that recognize and identify cards well enough to auto log them into a collection.

After recognizing tokens on the board, the program would then have to be able to recognize orientation for the damage wheel, plot point from the damage dot, and breakdown damage by class.

That would be where I'd start, if I were looking into automating combat.

Hawk Fingle wrote:

Xavon wrote: I've been wondering for years now if we could use the X-Box camera thing (from the blood puzzle) to help automate combat. Could still be an issue on throwing weapons. Not to mention the cost...

If the weapons had a way of being recognized via a QR code or were lit well enough for the graphics to be recognized, it is likely possible. There are a number of Magic card scanner apps out there that recognize and identify cards well enough to auto log them into a collection.

After recognizing tokens on the board, the program would then have to be able to recognize orientation for the damage wheel, plot point from the damage dot, and breakdown damage by class.

That would be where I'd start, if I were looking into automating combat.

Funny, some friends and I were just kicking around starting work on a prototype of this last week. We're planning to use opencv running on raspberry pi, since that appears to be the current hardware platform TD is using.

Based on my experience building a prototype mobile app for token recognition in the coaching room (which worked great outside TD but only got about 40% accuracy in real-world coaching room testing), Hawk is quite right about lighting being a huge issue. But, the combat tables have two things that make it better suited than the coaching room. The new light rails help provide light near the tokens, and tokens won't be in sleeves/binders that cause added glare/distortion. On the downside, the cameras will likely need to be positioned further away.

I will say that the projector we tried out in Grind provided a very nice square-shaped light source right on the combat table, even when we weren't using the projected images. If you have a camera looking at the combat table, it might be possible to put a bright but shaped light (probably a bright bulb with a square covering over it) covering the target area.

Kirk Bauer wrote: I will say that the projector we tried out in Grind provided a very nice square-shaped light source right on the combat table, even when we weren't using the projected images. If you have a camera looking at the combat table, it might be possible to put a bright but shaped light (probably a bright bulb with a square covering over it) covering the target area.

The only problem with the projector the lines for the monster was hard to tell sometimes. Other than that we loved it!