HP Tokens

[fjw70]

Thanks for the discussion everyone. It's always interesting to hear how other people handle these sorts of things. I have decided to try out the poker chip thing so I picked up this set

Amazon.com: Poker Set In Aluminum Case: Toys & Games

on the way to work today at Walgreens for $10. The system is as follows:

white = 1 hp
red = 5 hp
blue = 10 hp
green = 1 healing surge

I am going to play SW Saga tonight and will test out the new system, and assuming I like it I will roll it out to my 4e group next week. The one set should be enough (50 of each chip color), except the greens will be a little tight with a group of six that will probably be fighter heavy. But we will see.

Hmm . . . I forgot about temp HP. I will have to pickup some black chips for that.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

I'm not sure that I completely understand your system, but it sounds like ultimately it comes down to two things:

1. Use chips to represent HP and surges

2. Replace HP with "Big HP" at a 5 to 1 exchange rate. This is nothing but a decrease in granularity.

Two completely separate things. Why not just implement #1 and leave HP as is?

 

[fjw70]

I'm not sure that I completely understand your system, but it sounds like ultimately it comes down to two things:

1. Use chips to represent HP and surges

2. Replace HP with "Big HP" at a 5 to 1 exchange rate. This is nothing but a decrease in granularity.

Two completely separate things. Why not just implement #1 and leave HP as is?

If you read my latest posts then you will see that is where I ended up. I am not sure why I didn't go there first.

 

[Firebeetle]

I'm not sure that I completely understand your system, but it sounds like ultimately it comes down to two things:

1. Use chips to represent HP and surges

2. Replace HP with "Big HP" at a 5 to 1 exchange rate. This is nothing but a decrease in granularity.

Two completely separate things. Why not just implement #1 and leave HP as is?

Because the stacks of chips get too high to deal with. When 60 hp is represented by one chip per hit point, that's a lot of chips. Further, there is the number of chips you have, since they are usually sold in lots of multiple colors. You might as well color code and make the best of it.

 

[SkidAce]

I feel outside the box. All these cool ideas.

But I find it simplest to just use a piece of paper and pencil. +/- as needed.

What goal am I missing here?

 

[fjw70]

I feel outside the box. All these cool ideas.

But I find it simplest to just use a piece of paper and pencil. +/- as needed.

What goal am I missing here?

I can't speak for everyone but I started thinking of this as a way to keep my group of new gamers (my son and nephews aged 9-20) more engaged with the game. I think this will keep them more involved than me just tracking hp for them. It also let's me monitor the hp while they control the tracking (not that I think they will cheat but more that they may forget to write something down).

But beyond that initial motivation I just think it is a cool idea and look forward to trying it out.

 

[fjw70]

Ah, found the thread with the character sheet intended for use with tokens for hit points.

Here is a picture of the original sheet in use:

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Here is the thread.

Here is what it became next:

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Then this:

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And this

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Thanks for sharing those mats. I think I will use them. Having the separate area for THP solves my problem of not having a different color for them.