D&D 5E It's October 1. Do you known where your spell cards are?

[Tormyr]

I decided to make my own spell cards. Mostly because it was a slow day at work (Ok, slow week), but also partially because I was worried about the reports about the spell cards referencing the PHB a lot. The spell cards I made (using Magic Set Editor) are done in a 3x5 index card size to hopefully cut down on that. However, even with that size I still have to reference the PHB occasionally.

To be completely fair, anyone who is making more than $10/hr is probably better off buying the GF9 cards due to how much time it takes to make them by hand (and type them up). The only reason I'd be interested in continuing this endeavor is to fix the concentration issue and to get more text on the card.

Can someone give me an example of a spell that shouldn't have to reference the PHB but does in the GF9 set? Some of these spells are walls of text, and I'm not sure if there is a good way to get around it.

I don't know if you saw this at the beginning of the thread, but my spell card generator can help speed up making your own spell cards by letting you focus on just getting the content down. It takes care of the formatting.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1119
They generate at a trading card size so they can go in a 3x3 plastic binder sheet.

In the past I have used the argument of not doing something unless it costs more than you make, but I realized it really only works if you are replacing working time with the task. If you are choosing to use free time to perform the task and that is how you want to spend your free time, more power to you. Additionally, since I am a DM, I need cards from all the classes, and frequently I need more than 1 copy of a card for different NPCs that I am prepping. That would get expensive fast. My 2 cp.

I didn't realize the GF9 cards reference the PHB. You mean like the spell card does not contain all the text of the spell? All the spell cards I have made just include all the text. In some cases the spells take up a couple of cards. I place cards I need in those plastic sheets, and two of those sheets with both the front and back used take care of pretty much any character.

 

[talwynor]

A poster on RPGGeek received a duplicate card pack in the Arcane set (two sets of 3rd-9th level spells, no cantrips through 2nd-level spells): I gave them the e-mail address of Chris Townley at Battlefront Games (GF9's owner), since he'd responded to my e-mail about the Concentration issue, and they got a replacement set. (https://rpggeek.com/thread/1266814/many-cards-missing-many-duplicates)

Chris's e-mail address is chris.townley@battlefront.co.nz if you want to try direct contact. Please do post back here and let us know how it goes. Best of luck!

I heard back yesterday and Chris said they were going to send a replacement set. I'll post back when they arrive but happy with the response so far. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Guyanthalas]

*snip*

In the past I have used the argument of not doing something unless it costs more than you make, but I realized it really only works if you are replacing working time with the task. If you are choosing to use free time to perform the task and that is how you want to spend your free time, more power to you. Additionally, since I am a DM, I need cards from all the classes, and frequently I need more than 1 copy of a card for different NPCs that I am prepping. That would get expensive fast. My 2 cp.

I didn't realize the GF9 cards reference the PHB. You mean like the spell card does not contain all the text of the spell? All the spell cards I have made just include all the text. In some cases the spells take up a couple of cards. I place cards I need in those plastic sheets, and two of those sheets with both the front and back used take care of pretty much any character.

Oh yeah, I totally understand the enjoyment of doing things. I wouldn't have done it in the first place if I didn't enjoy working on stuff like this. It was just a lot more work than I originally expected, and I wanted to dissuade others from taking the same path simply for the "cost savings" of the activity. We can debate economics some other time.

Some of the biggest criticisms on the cards (from the new Ratings system, which I love by the way) are about the corners (which my set doesn't fix), the lack of "concentration" and "rituals" (which I fixed), and the fact that it references the PHB for long spells, thereby defeating the purpose. I had to do that myself, even on a larger faced card, but not very frequently. That was the main reason behind my first post, because I was curious as to how people irritated with the reference expected it to be done differently.

 

[sidonunspa]

I have looked at the spell cards... and depending on what the OGL looks like for 5e I may very well do I kickstarter for my own version of spell decks..

one box.. all the cards in the PDB as well as offer "expansion boxes" of converted pathfinder spells and Arcanis d20 spells.. (which will inclide a pdf of those spells)

heck, depending on how S&S set up their OGL I may offer an expansion box of those spells as well.

and they will be on tarot size cards...

I have a basic design all ready set up... heck I may be able to fit some art on the cards IF there is room.. spells that take up the entire card will simply not have any.

motto: funcionality over design

 

[thalmin]

A complaint I had about the spell cards was there was no indication which spells required concentration. As I started to mark such on my cleric's cards last night, I realized they are are already noted. They just don't say "Concentration." I found every spell requiring concentration has the words "Up to" in the duration box, and only those spells. WRONG!
I had a real D'OH moment then. It seems no one has already mentioned this in this thread.

EDIT: I see that trystero actually did mention this up thread, but I missed his comment. And missed that there are indeed a few spells "up to" that are not concentration spells. D'OH! again.

 

[trystero]

A complaint I had about the spell cards was there was no indication which spells required concentration. As I started to mark such on my cleric's cards last night, I realized they are are already noted. They just don't say "Concentration." I found every spell requiring concentration has the words "Up to" in the duration box, and only those spells. WRONG!
I had a real D'OH moment then. It seems no one has already mentioned this in this thread.

EDIT: I see that trystero actually did mention this up thread, but I missed his comment. And missed that there are indeed a few spells "up to" that are not concentration spells. D'OH! again.

It's actually a pretty good rule of thumb: there are only a very few spells which have "up to" durations but don't require concentration. But I still wish they'd mentioned concentration on the cards, even if just as "Up to 10 minutes (C)" or something.

 

[Joe Liker]

EDIT: I see that trystero actually did mention this up thread, but I missed his comment. And missed that there are indeed a few spells "up to" that are not concentration spells. D'OH! again.

There are exactly two spells that are "up to," but not concentration. It's not a big deal. Maybe just make a note on those two cards, and you're good.

 

[thalmin]

There are exactly two spells that are "up to," but not concentration. It's not a big deal. Maybe just make a note on those two cards, and you're good.

Which 2, please?

 

[trystero]

Which 2, please?

The ones I know of are the prestidigitation and thaumaturgy cantrips, plus etherealness.

 

[Joe Liker]

The ones I know of are the prestidigitation and thaumaturgy cantrips, plus etherealness.

Sorry ... those cantrips are so similar, I often conflate them in my head.