Just wondered if anyone has a link to, or knows about any quality piece of software for tracking effects on PCs, and NPCs. I have an excel doc that I use, but it is rudimentary at best. It works for what I need it for, and I know the formulas to create more boxes, but I know there are people out there with a lot better knowledge both of excel, and just of computer programming in general. If anybody has any links or software they can share I'd appreciate it.
Here's my contribution: Effects Tracker
Enjoy and feel free to upgrade if you have the time and talent.
Paizo is making a Card based Condition Tracker.
I am really looking forward to these!
Those do look handy. My problem as a GM though is keeping track of how long something that has a limited number of rounds has been active. The mage in my group likes to throw out Mage Armor, and other buffs with variant durations. So, unless I take specific time to keep track of rounds (thus the excel doc), then I usually just end up fudging it and saying, "oh yeah that effect is no longer active." It makes me feel less than competent. (Of course that could just be because I am :D)
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My only gaming is done online so we use a software mapping tool, MapTool, from RPTools.net
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I'm a contributor and site admin for RPTools.net
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MT has a built-in initiative tracker that works reasonably well, but MT is not just for D&D: people use it to play Savage Worlds, GURPS, and a bunch of custom game systems as well. That means the initiative tracker has to work rather generically so tweaking it for a particular game system usually means creating some macros to provide a front-end. (Most game systems already have these macros available for download at forums.rptools.net)
In addition there are also "states" that can be applied to the tokens (a.k.a minis, a.k.a figs, a.k.a pogs) on the map. In my games we use states to denote things like Prone and Staggered, Form of the Dragon (stat changes) and Inspire Courage, and even energy resistances and damage reduction. Combined with macros to manage turning them on and off, they're pretty simple to use. (My games have the macros doing more than that: we also track HP, AC, and so on. So the macro keep all of the number crunching up to date.)
The macros don't do 100% everything yet. Some weapon configurations are difficult to track. I have a bbn/mnk/sor/dd who has unarmed strikes, bites, claws, and wings. The number of attack combinations is staggering and it's tough to manage -- even with the macros!