Cheat sheets or cards to jog the memory for things we should already have memorized

[Wycen]

Our group is comprised, right now, of all casters. We have a wizard, sorcerer, cleric, druid, and summoner.

You would think that somebody would remember definitions like caster level, spell resistance and penetration, concentration checks, etc.

But we don't. I play the summoner and rarely need to worry about any of these things, plus I'm busy taking notes. The wizard player's memory is so horrible he can't remember things he was told earlier in the same session. Don't know what the sorcerer's problem is. The cleric and druid are quiet or not. The DM says look it up only if we all sit around scratching our heads wondering who's right.

Can anyone point out a file that someone else might have created for similar situations, or maybe an app since the DM and a couple players use ipads/laptops, or pdf?

It isn't a big deal, but I know sometimes we get it wrong.

[Lunchbox3000]

I wish I had something to give you. I just wanted to also chime in and say this would be kind of helpful for me as well as I am going to play a full caster soon and that is not my typical route.

[chaoseffect]

I don't have anything to give you, but I would suggest having a browser open to PFSRD, which shouldn't be hard if everyone has tablets/laptops and then you can just use the search function and have an answer in less than a minute. Or you can go there, find the info, and copy/paste it into a pdf to give to everyone.

[Dabbler]

I use spell cards from Peram's Spellbook for my players. Basically, though, they need to know what their characters can do.

[master_marshmallow]

Some of that stuff should be on the official GM Screen.

[Arni Carni]

Casters should compile a Spellbook containing all of the reference material for their class and all of the spells they know.

I did this for my 3.5 Druid, and it helped a lot. Sections on Druid class abilties, Animal Companions, a section for each Spell Level, and some general reference stuff on her skills. She was an Alchemist through her craft skills (no Alchemist class in 3.5), and spent a lot of pre-game dead time making potions for the next encounter, so there was a lot of stuff on Potion Creation feats and potion creation costs included as well.

Maybe someday I'll put together a pdf of Amy Ling Hu's Guide to Druidology.

I like the idea of Spell cards too, but it is difficult to find an adequate resource that provides all the spells you want, and only the spells you want. You could always try to make your own Spell cards. There is a lot of good deck-creation software available on the Net that didn't exist the last time I tried to go that route.

[Selgard]

I print out the entire section on whatever class I'm playing and have it in the same folder as my character sheet.

This saves me tons of searching through (or grabbing, finding pages, etc) in books and such.

"Hey is X on your spell lisT?"
"I dunno"
*flip flip flip* "nope, sorry!".

You can access (and reformat) it off the PRD and print it out- adjusting the font for what your eyes can read to make the pages smaller. (or bigger.)

For the wizard and especially the spont. casters you can do the exact same thing with their spells, all assorted by level and whatnot. No more flipping through books.

This is more troublesome for the cleric and druid, I do admit. For them I would propose just printing out the spell list from each of the books your DM allows you to use and then type/pencil in the page numbers for each spell to make it easy to find.

For frequently used spells you can attach those to your character sheet to save having to look it up in a pinch, too.

(bradded folders + paper sleeves = awesome for all of this.)

-S

[Sitri]

chaoseffect wrote:

I don't have anything to give you, but I would suggest having a browser open to PFSRD, which shouldn't be hard if everyone has tablets/laptops and then you can just use the search function and have an answer in less than a minute. Or you can go there, find the info, and copy/paste it into a pdf to give to everyone.

This is your answer. This site is awesome for quick information. On rare occasion you will find a link to a word that has more than one meaning "inquisitor class vs inquisitor third party feat" but for anything you are talking about, this site is pure gold.

[SPACEBALL12345]

Things you don't realize you need until your game slows to a crawl:

1) The rules on grapple. All of them. See the chart here for a good shorthand reference.
2) The DCs for skill checks. Not all of them, but ones like, say, using rope, climbing various surfaces, jump distances, ect.
3) Rules for counter-spelling. Somebody is going to be the cool kid that wants to try it, you should try and be the cooler kid that knows how.
4) The rules you forget the most/ will need to reference more than once. For some its what provokes an AoO. For others its the cost to copy spells from one spell book to another. Find yours and get a +1 in prepared.

Of course, if you can get your hands on a laptop/mobile device (some phones count) then searchable pdfs and a good wifi connection are all you need.
Seriously. Ctrl+F will change you.

[Tryn]

I created a two sided cheat sheet for my players (they still mixing things up) which contains:

- AoO (table copied from PFSRD)
- Actions (table copied from PFSRD)
- Special Attacks (bull rush, sunder etc. & what action needed etc).
- Spell caster checks
- basic attack & dmg calculations formular (e.g. melee attack = BAB + Str)
- AC calculation formular

Link

Also the already mentioned grappel sheet is very handy. :)

For my own spellcasters I use a spell list which I created by combining the PFSRD Class Spell-Lists (the short description) and the tabel from d20pfsrd (~ 5 Sides for full cleric spell list) and also my tablet (Spellbook App)

[Wycen]

I'm categorizing these responses into 2 categories. First those addressing the "definition" issue, like caster level and caster level check. Second, rules regarding spells and powers. I know of course they are linked and thinking about this has me wondering if it would really work unless I used a definition crib sheet on the DM's behalf when we need a reminder.

I guess I can cut and paste stuff from this link: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/glossary and add it to my own pile of paperwork, plus concentration checks and whatever.

I can't fault the casters who prepare spells for having to refresh their memory on new or obscure spells. In our last session it was Telekinesis and Dispel Magic that forced us to open the book and see how to calculate the DC for dispelling something. We haven't used it much, because of the d20 roll involved meaning it could be a wasted action in an action economy, but now sometimes it is the better choice than brute force or hoping we have a sonic screwdriver that magically does what we need at that moment.

I might be creating strife as the rules guru when sometimes it is better to just let sleeping dogs lie. Without going into excruciating detail, there has been an episode where a question about a spell came up and I asked the player to read the spell out loud. So he read the first sentence, "blah blah blah......" and read the last sentence, "...blah blah blah."

Notice the ellipsis there. What he and nobody else knows was that I knew the spell and knew that he skipped over the text that explained the actual mechanics of what it did. Now, these mechanics were not relevant to what we were trying to figure out and last session he used it again - I pointed out the way it was supposed to work and we hashed it out. But now I don't trust any rules interpretation from this player (more excruciating details I leave out that derail the conversation.)

[stuart haffenden]

The back of the pathfinder DM screen has all this info on.

[Kurt Grossman]

I like cCoreSpell. It has a nice spell cards options in addition to a good list view version for your character's spells.