Tracking Damage

[SeaJay]

How do you track damag to monsters in your game, is there a technique you've created over the years, do you use a 'battle board', something else?

 

[SteelDraco]

For figures, I use counters of various colors labeled with letters. As I'm putting them out on the battlemat, I'll write down what I put out and what each color means - ie, red are the bandit thugs, purple are the bandit spellcasters, etc. When a player attacks a critter, they tell me which figure they're going after, and I record it on a piece of paper I have in front of me.

 

[IronWolf]

By tracking damage do you mean as GM keeping an eye on hit points for each critter or a way for the players to know which critters are more wounded than others?

For tracking damage I either use a physical notepad or a note taking app on the iPad. I subtract damage, some find adding the damage up is faster math on the fly. Once the sum equals the critter's hit points it is dead. I don't use anything too complex.

For letting player's know - my group tends to focus its attacks so they know which ones are taking a beating. Otherwise I just let them know if there is a question which one is looking more beatup than another.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I keep a list on my laptop that combines the initiative count and the HPs of all the combatants. It also lets me keep track of the PCs HP that way so I can make sure they're doing it right.

 

[IronWolf]

I keep a list on my laptop that combines the initiative count and the HPs of all the combatants. It also lets me keep track of the PCs HP that way so I can make sure they're doing it right.

I always let the PCs track their own HP. I always figure I already have enough to track.

 

[Is_907]

If a player wants to know how much damage has been dealt to a monster, I tell. Most of the time, however, I just describe how badly something is hurt.
I prefer descriptive combat over crunchy-combat, but have had to adapt that, depending on the players.

For my current group (I'm not DMing now) we typically just go with descriptions, but I keep a decent running tally of damage in my head for each monster we're fighting, in case the DM forgets to describe something.


As far as the crunch behind the DM screen, I just use my scratch-pad to record HP of monsters (and players) near their initiative listing.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I always let the PCs track their own HP. I always figure I already have enough to track.

I let them track their own too, but I've dealt with cheaters before. I want to make sure that I'm aware of whether or not they actually had that one extra hit point that let them survive the enemy's attack.

 

[DragonLancer]

How do you track damag to monsters in your game, is there a technique you've created over the years, do you use a 'battle board', something else?

I just write the total damage each monster has sustained on a bit of scrap paper. I don't think you need anymore than that.

 

[Electric]

I would just keep notes on a scrap of paper personally, but I've never actually had an opportunity to do it that way. All of my games so far have been online, so I've used word documents or spreadsheets for HP tracking.

 

[Haltherrion]

Most of the time, the battle is static enough that I can number them on a pad of paper and keep track of it. If I need to, I may put a die down with a unique number of on it that cross references to my paper.

In general, though, I draw critters from a range of figures and if I need to can use the figure to help "index" to the damage, sometimes using a distinguishing figure characteristic. E.g., for three orcs, I might use a figure with an axe, a sword and a mallet. I might then put the hit points under the headings "axe", "sword", and "mallet".

In settings other than 4E (where I will just use a minion for fodder), large amounts of similar troops will just get a d20 by them for use as a damage marker that can follow them around the battlefield.

If you aren't a 4E player, the minion concept is quite portable to any system: they have the attack and defense of a typical bad guy but only one hit point. You hit them, they die. It's a little mechanical but it's so handy a concept, I make wide use of it.