D&D 5E Does anybody else wish that WOTC would release paper pawns, similar to Paizo?

[steeldragons]

[MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION]'s gots ta get paid! lol.

 

[seebs]

I'd love them. 5e may eliminate the need for minis, but it doesn't take away the fact that they are fun and can add a lot of value to combats.

 

[painted_klown]

Out of interest, how much are you looking to spend on these pawns? Do you want a "complete set" of the entire MM?

If they are an official or officially licensed product with quality equal to Paizo's pawns, I would be willing to pay the equivalent cost for WOTC's version.

Yeah, the entire Monster Manual (with multiples of monsters that would be found in groups), plus packs to cover all official 5E adventures/modules, etc.

Clearly, these couldn't all be released in one giant box, but if they spread them out over X amount of boxes, I think these could be a viable source of revenue for them.

This thread already demonstrates that collectors of plastic minis aren't going to stop buying those, so they will not be cannibalizing their own product sales. Then you have guys like me who are unable, or unwilling, to buy random booster boxes only to hope they get the one they need, who would gladly toss them the funds to buy paper pawns knowing they will get exactly what they want/need.

It's a win/win IMO.

As far as making my own, I have a few issues. The cost of printer ink & supplies to do a bunch of these would cost FAR more than the cost of buying commercially made versions. The quality would not be as high and they would be inconsistent at best. Additionally, I would have to take a lot of time to make all of these myself, and to be 100% honest, I am not good at all with even the simplest arts/crafts projects...Simply put, it isn't worth the time, money, hassle, etc for me to try to produce a home brew set. Therefore, I would love to see professionally made versions.

Clearly I am in a minority here, but realistically, it doesn't matter. Either WOTC will make these or they won't, my opinion has no sway with them. I doubt they (WOTC) ever will make them, to be honest. I was just making conversation because I think they are cool and wondered what all of you thought.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I'd love them. 5e may eliminate the need for minis, but it doesn't take away the fact that they are fun and can add a lot of value to combats.

It depends. In my experience, minis can add value to combats but they can also utterly ruin the whole experience.

 

[Tormyr]

If they are an official or officially licensed product with quality equal to Paizo's pawns, I would be willing to pay the equivalent cost for WOTC's version.

Yeah, the entire Monster Manual (with multiples of monsters that would be found in groups), plus packs to cover all official 5E adventures/modules, etc.

Clearly, these couldn't all be released in one giant box, but if they spread them out over X amount of boxes, I think these could be a viable source of revenue for them.

This thread already demonstrates that collectors of plastic minis aren't going to stop buying those, so they will not be cannibalizing their own product sales. Then you have guys like me who are unable, or unwilling, to buy random booster boxes only to hope they get the one they need, who would gladly toss them the funds to buy paper pawns knowing they will get exactly what they want/need.

It's a win/win IMO.

As far as making my own, I have a few issues. The cost of printer ink & supplies to do a bunch of these would cost FAR more than the cost of buying commercially made versions. The quality would not be as high and they would be inconsistent at best. Additionally, I would have to take a lot of time to make all of these myself, and to be 100% honest, I am not good at all with even the simplest arts/crafts projects...Simply put, it isn't worth the time, money, hassle, etc for me to try to produce a home brew set. Therefore, I would love to see professionally made versions.

Clearly I am in a minority here, but realistically, it doesn't matter. Either WOTC will make these or they won't, my opinion has no sway with them. I doubt they (WOTC) ever will make them, to be honest. I was just making conversation because I think they are cool and wondered what all of you thought.

Well, after getting more input from you as to what you are looking for, I think you are definitely in the market segment for D&D Pawns, but they are most likely not coming.

If you want my opinion, I think you should get the bestiary box from Paizo. It will give you a large amount of creatures, most of which will be good fits for something in the MM. With pawns and minis, it isn't about having the perfect mini (although that is fun). Rather, it is about having a reasonable stand in. This is also what covers large groups of creatures. A DM only needs one mini that is a decent approximation. All the rest can be anything of the same size. The DM can point to the one and say, "they look like this guy."

When I started out as DM, I printed tiny pictures on 1x1 and 2x2 inch pieces of paper for tokens. During our second adventure, I borrowed minis from another DM at the store. When we started our campaign, we were running a converted adventure path, so I knew which creatures were coming. I started purchasing the minis I would need from Reaper and Ebay. After 2 months of this, I realized it would be cheaper in the long run to get a Reaper Vampire box of Ebay and found one for a reasonable amount. Now I rarely get new minis because I don't often need to do so. I generally only have a few of any one thing, so I will tell my players what everything looks like.

For your needs, I would suggest you get a Paizo Pawn box (if you don't have one already). It will cover a decent amount of the MM. Then I would suggest making the rest of the pawns as you think you will need them (i.e. you won't need the Tarrasque anytime soon). I don't know how thick Paizo pawns are, but I imagine they are somewhere between the card stock of a cereal box and the thin cardboard of a FedEx or keyboard box. My suggestion would be to find images (or scan them from the MM). Print out the ones you need, cut them out and glue stick them to the cardboard. Cut the cardboard out, paste another copy of the image on the other side and trim it. It won't look as professional as the Paizo stuff, but your players will like it because they will appreciate that you are going above and beyond the basics. Because you are only doing the ones you are missing and have a reasonable chance of encountering, you will not have a huge time investment.

Another thing would be to check the many downloadable and printable pawns available on DriveThruRPG.

Have fun!

 

[seebs]

It depends. In my experience, minis can add value to combats but they can also utterly ruin the whole experience.

Huh. I don't think I've ever seen them make things worse. What goes wrong?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Huh. I don't think I've ever seen them make things worse. What goes wrong?

Things go wrong when players start thinking in terms of moving their mini on the grid and stop thinking in terms of playing their character in the situation. In my experience, in some situations, minis can severely hinder player immersion and creativity.

 

[seebs]

Interesting. I always thought they were helpful for visualizing the situation, which helped me make choices coherently within it, but that doesn't really change how in-character I am likely to be.

 

[Stormonu]

Not really interested. I don't see it happening.

PF is not 5e. 5e does not require minis of any medium. Theatre of the Mind works just fine with no production costs.

PF doesn't *require* minis either.

However, being a kid of the 80's (Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, LNJ's D&D figures), I want minis, not paper pawns. In fact, it was the minis that were a huge part of getting me interested in D&D in the first place (we're talking back in 1E folks, especially this model kit I once had)

 

[Evenglare]

A bit of a tangent but still related. I have a lot of pawn but never use them because I can't organize them efficiently, any tips?