D&D 4E The Essential DM Tool Unique to 4E?

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

We're years into the 4th Edition and months into Essentials.

You have the critical stuff:

You have the skills.

You have the books and/or electronic tools and the DM screen.

You have dice for you and dice for players.

You have plenty of pencils and paper, maps, and tokens and minis.

You have the space and the time and the players.

Now, what's that one missing piece that makes your life so much easier at the 4E table, but is too rarely mentioned? What accessory have you spent money on that was actually worth the money?

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

I'll start:

Nothing has made my life as a DM easier and our games better than Paizo's GameMastery Combat Pad.

Yes, you can do (and hopefully are doing) all the same stuff on a sheet of paper. But this takes it to another level.

• Dry-erase makes it so nice to add and remove notes.
• Color-coded magnets make it easy to see players vs bad guys vs big bad evil guys.
• The "turn" indicator helps guarantee you'll never skip anyone ever again and that you'll accurately call out who's on deck.
• Being able to slide names to indicate important details will help make sure you don't miss conditions or triggers/delays.
• It's perfectly sized to sit behind your DM screen next to your notes, slip into the DM screen when you pack it in, and durable enough to last you years and years of play.
• It's priced just right, and it looks nice.

This was created during the heyday of 3.5 and I'm guessing most people who buy it are using it in a Pathfinder game.

But being able to jot down conditions w/ their end, move the magnet over to emphasize something has happened to that creature, and being able to erase it with a single dry-erase swipe and a nudge means tracking these things has never been easier.

I can't believe this was out of print for several years.

 

[Incenjucar]

My DM uses one of those. Personally I'd like to see one a bit bigger and more complex, maybe something that folds up neatly.

 

[Truename]

Now, what's that one missing piece that makes your life so much easier at the 4E table, but is too rarely mentioned? What accessory have you spent money on that was actually worth the money?

Condition trackers. My group uses a combination of: little plastic colored crystals and skulls (placed on the creature affected), condition tracker tokens for PCs (held by the player affected), and penciled notes (for the DM to track monsters' conditions).

We also use index cards for tracking initiative and place more plastic crystals/skulls on those to denote when effects end.

Those little plastic doodads cost me less than $10 for a lifetime supply and we use them heavily in every game.

 

[Aegeri]

I actually hand PCs condition cards that they keep on their character sheet to remind themselves what stuff they have. Monsters similarly collect them - conveniently just behind their initiative card.

As for what makes DMing great for me, it's not something at the table at all. It's entirely because the monster design rules - for the first time in ages - are actually coherent and work as I think they should. If I build a monster of X level with Y abilities, I don't have to guess how it will do in combat. It will actually perform at a consistent level. Because of this I have no fear of making monsters when I want something and it frequently produces fantastic results.

I don't think I'd be anywhere near as keen on 4E without this aspect.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I guess I'm not qualified to post in this thread as my most helpful tool didn't cost a dime : Mortaneus' Combat Tracker - now in custody of Dark Knight.

I've tried to run ma games with condition cards, condition markers and what not, but since my first game with this tool, I'm a firm believer.

 

[jbear]

Different coloured plastecine. I use this to mark different active zones or auras. With so many things to keep track of that visual reminder really helps.

 

[ragingpeanuts]

Masterplan. Doesn't cost anything, tracks combat, plotpoints, skill challenges and shows everything I need to know on the fly. I wouldn't want to dm without it anymore. And the learning curve is way lower than you'd expect at first.

I still don't understand why Wotc doesn't have their own version. Every group needs 2 things. Players and DM's. I gather DM's are in way shorter supply. They spend the most time on the game, preparing and everything. Too put it bluntly, they should make the dm's life way more easy.

Masterplan program is made by people in their spare time for free, how come wotc still hasn't something like this? If they make an actual adventure builder they could let people upload created adventures to the website of the WOTC. In that way, there are way more adventures available for everyone. Through a ratingsystem the most popular adventures can then become real adventures. Anyway, drifting off. Check out masterplan:

Masterplan

 

[Incenjucar]

You know, if they made something like MasterPlan... and then had it plug in to the VTT... and then uploaded Dungeon adventures to it... I think that would be a serious selling point for them. Not for me, since I make my own adventures and in person, but for VDMs out there it could be a serious boon.

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

Masterplan. Doesn't cost anything, tracks combat, plotpoints, skill challenges and shows everything I need to know on the fly. I wouldn't want to dm without it anymore. And the learning curve is way lower than you'd expect at first.

I hadn't heard of Masterplan before. Looks neat.

Oh, it's Windows-only. Shoot. I thought it was a web-based program at first. Doesn't work for my Mac-only world, but I'm glad I know it exists.

Masterplan looks very cool. I'd be surprised that WotC doesn't have something like this if I wasn't terribly cynical about WotC's ability to execute with regards to anything digital.