I've been playing pathfinder for half a year (dnd 3.5 for two years) and while I now manage the rules quite well, there are other issues.
For example, do you have any good tips on how to handle monster abilities? I can never keep track of which monster does what, and I always seem to overlook some monster option or ability (damage resistance, spell resistance for example).
During a battle, how do you keep track of temporary effects on players and monsters? Especially when the players are not to know the durations themselves.
I use an open office spread-sheet to handle initiative and monster hp and I'm thinking of improving that one to handle temporary effects too... It does require quite a good deal of modification for that, though.
It's pretty old school, but the best way I've found for myself is to plan out what enemies I'm going to use ahead of time, and then copy/paste the special abilities into a text document from the PDF and print it out for quick reference.
Another option would be to put the monster stats on a 3x5 card, and the special abilities on there (sweeping to back if too many) and then yoink out the ones you need.
It's a pain to set up, but if you keep them in a card file you can use it later.
Do you use Miniatures for combats?
If you do we found some thing multi-colored foam sheets and cut them into squares. work up a color scheme and then slide them under the mini when effected. I would imagine for players you could have them put them ina visable place beside their sheet if you didnt use minis, more problematic behind the screen. For our group staged conditions such as fear the more of the same color equals higher stage of effect.
I see there's some good advice there. I'll probably end up relying on the write-it-down-on-a-piece-of-paper technique.
Do you use Miniatures for combats?
We use lego pieces :P
Don't know if you use a laptop at the table or have one available. If you do you should most definitely check out this program created by Kyle Olson. It is magical, in every sense of the word. He's got a conditions tracker, that counts down by rounds, all the monsters, including a monster advancer, and a HUGE set of the rules right at your fingertips. I strongly encourage you to check it out. If you don't have a laptop at the table, this program might make you want to get one. It's just that handy. I don't run any gaming session without it.
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Legos are great for tabletop RPGs...very versatile, stay put together, there are a million appropriate pieces (dragons / skeletons / wizards / knights / pirates / samurai / space police / etc)
Grab a few 2x2 bricks (not the sheets - they're practically impossible to pull off the large sheets) and stack them under your minifigs when various conditions occur.
Have a small flat sheet w/ examples on them posted on the back of your GM screen, taped to the wall, or even on the overall battlemat.
For example:
Blue means flying
Yellow means Nauseated
Black means fear effect
White means invisible
Red means bleeding
etc...
then, when you move your pieces, just move the little base icon along with the minifig, and you're all set.
as far as keeping track of monster abilities / etc...
As suggested above, if you jot down the 1st 2-3 rounds of actions for each critter in the fight, possibly with their HP/AC/Saves/Attack Line on a regular 8x11 paper (i just use an old spiral notebook), you're golden.
For example:
Orc: (3 of them in Barracks)
HP 6, AC 13, Fort 3, Ref 0, Will -1
Attack: Falchion +5 (2d4+4 15-20/x2) Javelin (2) +1 (1d6+3 Rng 30)
Ferocity: Staggered when <0hp, dies @ -12.
(bold & italics just for ease of reading on boards)
if you have more abilities for each critter, jot them down in whatever shorthand fits you best, and have at it.
The goal is to NOT have to keep referencing the book constantly, especially if you have multiple monsters/npc's in the same fight.
Orcs + Goblins + Kobolds + Wolves + Weasels can very easily become a logistical nightmare this way.
I've been playing pathfinder for half a year (dnd 3.5 for two years) and while I now manage the rules quite well, there are other issues.
For example, do you have any good tips on how to handle monster abilities? I can never keep track of which monster does what, and I always seem to overlook some monster option or ability (damage resistance, spell resistance for example).
After being a 3.5 and Pathfinder GM for about 5 years, I am still trying to figure out how to do this best.
I've tried various computer programs to help, but I always find myself going back to pencil, paper, and printouts.
When I have time what I do is copy monster/NPC information into a custom statblock. It looks slightly different than Paizo's standard statblock, with brief versions of special offensive abilities in the "offense" section and defensive abilities in the "defense" section rather than down at the bottom of the statblock where I can never find what I'm looking for under pressure of running combat.
All things that affect hit points--i.e., DR and fast healing, etc.--go after Hit Points. All things that affect AC (even conditionally) --i.e., special abilities and feats like dodge--go next to AC. And so on. Anything related grouped together, so I can see it all in the same place.
Anything I am afraid of forgetting I highlight in yellow. Anything that's conditional, I write in red (for example, a normal AC might be written in bolded black, whereas "with shield spell" might be noted in red. I add brief descriptions of anything I don't have completely memorized--spell effects, universal monster abilities, etc.
I print everything out, and I write on the sheet with pencil if anything changes (and tend to track HP on it or on the GameMastery Initiative Tracker's notes section).
The PROBLEM with this is that making custom statblocks is time consuming, because even "standard" monsters and NPCs need to be copy-pasted and reformatted into the statblock in a way that it's useful to me. I have tried to do this kind of tracking on my computer (including very recently, like the last game session) with various programs or just writing in Word, but this always seems to take more time---something doesn't load, or I hit the wrong key, and I'm also paying more attention to the laptop than the players. Ultimately, I tend to go back to printouts with the custom blocks because that's what's easiest to read and track.
I want to follow this thread because I would love to see others' ideas about how to do this as well, as I don't exactly recommend my method--I've tried lots of things, and this is just what I keep going back to because the other options seem worse.
During a battle, how do you keep track of temporary effects on players and monsters? Especially when the players are not to know the durations themselves.
THIS I can do--but it assumes using miniatures/battlegrids:
I have a 400 piece bucket of these tiles.
When someone takes on a condition, I write directly on a tile with a dry erase pen and stick the tile under or on top of the miniature. (Anything I don't want the party to know about for my creatures I just write on my printed statblock.)
In fact, we usually are okay tracking rounds, but writing the duration in rounds on the tile is a good idea too.
The ink will wash off the tile pretty easily--but I have so many I usually don't bother.
If you have a large enough battlegrid, you could also write directly on an unused portion of it anything that needs to be tracked by the group.
I use an open office spread-sheet to handle initiative and monster hp and I'm thinking of improving that one to handle temporary effects too... It does require quite a good deal of modification for that, though.
There are a few initiative trackers around--but if you've got a good one, pass it on!
The only issue with them is that the program will help YOU track conditions, but not the players.
During a battle, how do you keep track of temporary effects on players and monsters? Especially when the players are not to know the durations themselves.
I use old-school index cards to track abilities/initiative in combat. I write on the cards what I want to do with the monster, what resistance/immunity he has, hp, spells, etc. They can be pretty elaborate, so I typically do a "game plan" before combat for the trickier monsters. Things tend to slow down in those encounters when the PCs use "think outside the box" solutions, but that's to be expected. . .
Also, I let the players keep track of damage done and their own effects on monsters. I keep a separate tally of hp lost when DR/resistances are a factor, but I let them know that their attacks aren't having much effect.
I have a 2 prong system. First I use a little formatting foo to try and get all the stat blocks (with descriptions of special abilities) of the enemies in an encounter on a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 printed paper. Sometimes it spreads to two, but usually I can fenagle them on to a single sheet by messing with margins, and font size.
Next to that in front of me I have a scrap sheet where I write down the hit point totals for the individual combatants (with a separate line for each monster/npc) spaced out on the whole sheet.
As combat progresses I subjtract HP and I can mark in conditions and statuses not just with the name of the status but the details For instance something like
Goblin Priest HP 23 - shaken (-2 atks svs skls abil chks)
Goblin 1 HP 4
Goblin 2 HP 8
Goblin 3 HP -3
I use an open office spread-sheet to handle initiative and monster hp and I'm thinking of improving that one to handle temporary effects too... It does require quite a good deal of modification for that, though.
We use a similiar approach also as thing...and we use it to track duration and such...so I can tell you it works well. I did not set it up...or even know how to do that so I can't comment on how it works...but the end result maybe worth it.
I review monsters I'm not familiar with (been playing since second edition, so started third ed when it came out, and Pathfinder when it came out, so I'm familiar with most of the basics) like I'm studying for a test. If something has damage reduction I pay less attention to the number, and more to what bypasses it and if my party has that material available. Then, when I'm running the critter I have it in my mind they have DR and just need to glance quickly at the stat block to find out how much. Same theory with saves...I make a note of any particularly high save they might have, and do a mental cross reference with spells that get cast by the party a lot. And so on down the list of abilities.
The higher level things get, the more special rules you need to be familiar with, and the more complicated the monsters become. So, I would suggest you keep it low level, and slow the progression down. That way you can add in monsters a few at a time and get used to them, slowly building your way up to more and more complicated creatures/encounters.
Also, I don't like the Paizo stat blocks...so I wrote up my own. That way I'm familiar with where everything goes, because I'm the one who designed them. I would suggest either getting very familiar with how Paizo does it, or make up your own way, so you can at a glance find information durring combat.
