New Class of Placeable Items: Effects

What Feature would you like to see included within TaleSpire?
What does it look like, how does it work, how is it used. Paint us a figurative picture.

I am envisioning a new class of objects that can be placed in the scene, divided into a new tab on the library interface. The “Effects” or “FX" tab would contain a number of different categories of items, such as lights, persistent spell effects like a wall of fire or magic circles, even localized weather particle emitters that similarly to props can be placed “off grid” but unlike props do not interact in the physics system with creature minis. Essentially, a way to add placeable flare to scenes that minis can move through. It could also be useful to be able to bind these effects to a creature mini to show things like an aura effect. Effects may or may not have various GM or player side toggles like enabling or disabling their light, tweaking the intensity of their effect, possibly changing their color (either from a preset or with a color wheel) changing their size, and so on. It could also be nice to be able to make props or creatures into effects, similarly to how we can turn props into creatures… and maybe effects into creatures.

What situations would this Feature be useful?
Descriptions, examples, interactions with existing features - whatever you can think of to get your idea across!

The new functionality of effects could allow for a number of different use cases including more dynamic lighting in scenes, the ability to dynamically mark regions of a combat map for persistent area effects, illusory walls, and the capacity to more completely fill a space and have it still be navigable by player minis.

Additional Thoughts/Details

Because Effects and creature minis could occupy the same space, Effects would have to be manipulable only in Build mode, or with some key-combination override to select the effect instead of a creature mini. A possible list of Effect assets that could be nice:

• Wall of Fire

• Magic Circles

• Grease/Oil Spill

• Mad Science Devices Emitting sparks and/or fumes

• “Weird Science Fluid” (bizarre neon colored sludge pools)

• Colored Lights without a visible “source”

• Blood pools

• Localized Weather Phenomena (snow clouds, rain clouds, thunderheads)

• Smoke emitters

• Water emitters

• Illusory walls that match the tilesets (if dynamic conversion of tiles to effects is not possible)