05-05-2020, 09:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-06-2020, 06:11 AM by LokiTheWanderer.)
My personal preference is Fantasy Grounds.
Pros:
More available content for Starfinder (only 3 books coded and released for PF2 so far). Update - As of yesterday, a fourth sourcebook was made available for Pathfinder 2E. Starfinder has all books except Near Space currently available for use.
Automatic answers on to hit and application of damage (provided players and GM properly apply targeting)
Lots of instructional videos on YouTube on how to use the software.
Availability of use on Windows, iOS, Linux, and Steam.
More material being added frequently.
Free to use (except for GMs)
Unity is cloud based, by default, where Classic is a direct connection by players to a GMs PC (Unity also supports this).
Ability to make games private and / or password protected.
GMs can share purchased resources with up to 15 players.
Monthly subscriptions and lifetime licenses are available.
Ability to link your Fantasy Grounds account to both your Paizo and Steam accounts.
Resources purchased at Paizo via PDF (after account link) provide a discount for purchasing the same material at Fantasy Grounds.
Purchases of source material at a Fantasy Grounds (after account link) give you the PDF on your Paizo account at no additional cost.
Bundle pricing available for some game system materials.
Players can create their characters locally ahead of time and then import them to the GMs campaign.
Cons:
Software download required.
The two versions of the software (Classic and Unity) will not permit users of the opposite version connect to games.
Not the most intuitive software to use.
Learning curve can be a little steep.
Character creation is quirky.
No way to import from HeroLab (not sure if PCGen files can be imported).
Unity is still in open Beta and has some glitches (like disconnects, server drops, etc.).
If you have a lot of resources for a campaign and try to load the campaign with all resources loaded, your campaign will not connect to the lobby server and players will be unable to connect to your game.
Cost for full license plus source materials can be a bit high, and source materials cost the same on Fantasy Grounds as they do from Paizo, so purchasing a resource on Fantasy Grounds if you already purchased a hard copy book equates to buying the book twice.
Manual entry is required if you do not purchase the source material or it is not available.
Translation of scenarios that are not yet available for purchase on Fantasy Grounds is time consuming.
On a side note, Discord voice channels also have their quirks, at times dropping audio where you have to disconnect and reconnect to get it back.
Pros:
More available content for Starfinder (only 3 books coded and released for PF2 so far). Update - As of yesterday, a fourth sourcebook was made available for Pathfinder 2E. Starfinder has all books except Near Space currently available for use.
Automatic answers on to hit and application of damage (provided players and GM properly apply targeting)
Lots of instructional videos on YouTube on how to use the software.
Availability of use on Windows, iOS, Linux, and Steam.
More material being added frequently.
Free to use (except for GMs)
Unity is cloud based, by default, where Classic is a direct connection by players to a GMs PC (Unity also supports this).
Ability to make games private and / or password protected.
GMs can share purchased resources with up to 15 players.
Monthly subscriptions and lifetime licenses are available.
Ability to link your Fantasy Grounds account to both your Paizo and Steam accounts.
Resources purchased at Paizo via PDF (after account link) provide a discount for purchasing the same material at Fantasy Grounds.
Purchases of source material at a Fantasy Grounds (after account link) give you the PDF on your Paizo account at no additional cost.
Bundle pricing available for some game system materials.
Players can create their characters locally ahead of time and then import them to the GMs campaign.
Cons:
Software download required.
The two versions of the software (Classic and Unity) will not permit users of the opposite version connect to games.
Not the most intuitive software to use.
Learning curve can be a little steep.
Character creation is quirky.
No way to import from HeroLab (not sure if PCGen files can be imported).
Unity is still in open Beta and has some glitches (like disconnects, server drops, etc.).
If you have a lot of resources for a campaign and try to load the campaign with all resources loaded, your campaign will not connect to the lobby server and players will be unable to connect to your game.
Cost for full license plus source materials can be a bit high, and source materials cost the same on Fantasy Grounds as they do from Paizo, so purchasing a resource on Fantasy Grounds if you already purchased a hard copy book equates to buying the book twice.
Manual entry is required if you do not purchase the source material or it is not available.
Translation of scenarios that are not yet available for purchase on Fantasy Grounds is time consuming.
On a side note, Discord voice channels also have their quirks, at times dropping audio where you have to disconnect and reconnect to get it back.