Let’s Get Chatty!

Users asked us about building chat into the application a lot over the last year or so. Our response was always, “When we can make it better than using an external chat application, we will…” I’m happy to report we figured that out and today “Chat” is going live.

The Basics

The chat area replaces the dice roller and history. Players and GMs can type and send messages. Emojis are included. The area is now resizable and scrollable (no more overlay). There is also a dedicated tab for chat if you want to see more history without scrolling. The custom die roller moved to the lower right corner of the chat window and now includes the option to add modifiers.

Why is it better?

The dice rolls and history are interspersed with the chat messages and now have actions. Actions like applying damage and healing are enabled on the dice rolls. Just click on the total and take the appropriate action. Players can apply the actions to their character, so when your cleric casts prayer of healing, just click the total and apply. GMs get the option of selecting a target (or targets) to which the action applies.

Casting a spell also creates a chat entry with the spell name, linked so that anyone can look at the details in one click. That entry also includes the spell save type and DC. Clicking on the DC gives a option to roll the savings throw for your character or in the GMs case for whatever creature or set of creatures they have selected.

Just about anything you look up (spells, items, classes, etc.) in the campaign window, now has a button to share it to chat. This creates a chat entry with a hyperlink to allow others to view it. Want to ask a question about a spell or item, share it to chat so everyone can read it.

Both box text and image handouts are now linked to chat. Want to look at the map and then back at the handout, two clicks now accomplish that task.

Bonus Extras

When you multi-select a group of tokens, you can move them as a group.

Damage and Half Damage values for the last two damage rolls are included in the most recently used list that shows up when you click a token. So you can either apply damage this way one at a time or multi-select the tokens and use the action from the chat log.

The names of monsters and NPCs are no longer included in the player view of the die roll unless they are displayed on the map, so no more revealing the creature type by sharing GM rolls.

Several minor bug fixes like changing your account display name were included.

Learning Articles

Several learning articles that cover these new features in more depth: Chat, Text Chat, Dice Rolls, Multi-Select, Spellcasting, Apply Damage, and Sharing a link.

Wrapping Up

This is only the beginning of what we envision here, having this communication channel in the application opens a lot possibilities. Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated. We hope you enjoy the new feature.

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