D&D 5E Physical and/or Tactile Gaming Aids, Tips, and Tricks

[pdzoch]

Inspiration dice.

Method;

The GM has a pool of "unique" d20s. When awarding inspiration, they give one to a player, who puts it in a noticeable spot (preferably a standard one). When the player uses the inspiration it gets returned to the GM. This also works for alternative inspiration granting, such as players giving it to other players.

Pretty straightforward imo, makes keeping track of it extremely easy and helps to remind everyone at the table of it's state.

I bought a set of glitter gold d20 and d6 to use as inspiration dice. I award the d20 inspiration dice for the good play. The colors really stand out on the table so players do not forget they have the dice.

I hand the bard characters the glitter gold d6s to award in accordance to their bardic inspiration feature.

What I haven't put together yet is the Fighter's Superiority Dice for the Battle Master. I will probably get glittery gold d8s for that.

 

[Shiroiken]

If you run a more social based game, I'd suggest NPC cards. I don't have a picture, but I'll describe them.

Start with a 3x5 Index Card. On the front, you have the NPC's name in marker so everyone can easily read it (or a generic description, such as "old man," "dwarf warrior," etc. for generic NPCs and for NPCs who you want to keep the name hidden). On the back, you write the NPCs name in the top left, along with background, general skills, motivations, traits, flaws, etc. When you have the NPC speak to the party, you hold up the NPC card so that you can read the back, and they read the front. They won't forget the NPC's name, and you can quickly reference notes on how to roleplay the NPC.

I've found them to be a very valuable tool. The downside is storage, and tracking all the NPCs can become quite convoluted without good organization (something I lack).

 

[happyhermit]

...
I hand the bard characters the glitter gold d6s to award in accordance to their bardic inspiration feature.
...

I have a few sets of different ones, if those pesky bards survive a few levels they want bigger dice

 

[happyhermit]

Spell cards

Method;

Still not sure what is optimal for myself. I have tried a few ways, but haven't spent much time as a player (at all). The main thing I am not quite sure about is the best way to use them to also deal with concentration, and maybe spell slots/spells cast. They are awesome for character creation/leveling, and for GMing monsters and NPCS.

The simplest thing is to just pull out all the spells that the PC has prepared or can cast that day, perhaps setting aside any rituals they have available. Not settled on the arrangement yet. The GF9 one's are made to be written on with dry erase markers which adds some possibilities but I am not exactly sure yet...

Possibilities to help keep track of concentration are; putting the card on the character sheet while in play, putting a marker on the spellcard, ?, haven't settled this. I like the idea of a visual reminder to all at the table (GM included) that a PC is concentrating both from a strategy and not forgetting to make a check point of view.

Honestly, I could use some help on this one if anybody has some cool ideas on the best way to utilize these from a player perspective. Just having the cards has helped out new players a lot, but if there are any particular ways to organize them that work I would love to know.

 

[Jester David]

If you use minis, gamemastery spell templates are handy.

 

[happyhermit]

Monster cards

Method;

Still not sure on this one either. I wish I could just BUY cards like the GF9 spell cards, seems like the dry erase marker would make even more sense here for dealing with hit points and keeping track of other info. 3x5s are good for single monsters, I think something like a 4x6 card is enough for the most important info of the majority of monsters, and allows for multiple check boxes for multiples of the same type, but something bigger isn't the end of the world either. I am guessing that the chances of something like this hitting the market is slim to none, even if spell cards do great, but I think that a professional version could be awesome.

 

[Psikerlord#]

List of at least 10 random NPC names from a website generator, to quickly use in a pinch.

I also like to get 10 perception rolls from everyone up front as I don't use passive perception.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am a huge fan of DIY when it comes to tabletop props...

I make my own DM's screens, and I use Lego to represent (N)PCs, monsters and terrain features. I have also tried to use Lego to represent weapons and magic items, but they are quite limited in what you can build at the small scale and equip directly on the "minis".

I make "spell cards", "magic items cards" and "monster cards" but they are very simple, basically just photocopies or printouts cut down to a minimal size, so they have different sizes. It would be nice to format them uniformly and print them out in colorful rigid cardboard, but the main problem is that there are many spells that just wouldn't fit to a playing card's size.

Spell cards

Method;

Still not sure what is optimal for myself. I have tried a few ways, but haven't spent much time as a player (at all). The main thing I am not quite sure about is the best way to use them to also deal with concentration, and maybe spell slots/spells cast. They are awesome for character creation/leveling, and for GMing monsters and NPCS.

The simplest thing is to just pull out all the spells that the PC has prepared or can cast that day, perhaps setting aside any rituals they have available. Not settled on the arrangement yet. The GF9 one's are made to be written on with dry erase markers which adds some possibilities but I am not exactly sure yet...

Possibilities to help keep track of concentration are; putting the card on the character sheet while in play, putting a marker on the spellcard, ?, haven't settled this. I like the idea of a visual reminder to all at the table (GM included) that a PC is concentrating both from a strategy and not forgetting to make a check point of view.

Honestly, I could use some help on this one if anybody has some cool ideas on the best way to utilize these from a player perspective. Just having the cards has helped out new players a lot, but if there are any particular ways to organize them that work I would love to know.

Here's how I think you can use spell cards in general:

- fortunately in 5e you don't prepare multiple copies of a spell, so all you need to know is which spells you can cast on a given day: the player owns a "deck" of all her known spells, picks prepared spells (add Wizard rituals), and puts them down on the table in front of her or to one side of her character sheet

- figure out a good cards arrangement on the table, the most obvious being by spell level (*but see below!)

- spell slots are a separate thing in 5e, you can keep track of available/used slots on the character sheet

- you need to keep track of (1) active spells and (2) spells you're concentrating at:
(1) put counters on the card of an active spell, if the spell has a duration of rounds then put for example as many coins / lego bricks / chess pawn pieces as number of rounds, then you remove one each round; if the spell has a longer duration then just a single marker would do
(2) since you can only concentrate on one spell at a time, have just one visible marker per player to put on that card

- at a long rest, player swaps unwanted spells with others from her deck

*If I had more time to waste, I'd love to design not only my own spell cards, but also cards for actions that the PCs can take. For instance, weapon cards (attack action) and cards for a PC's special abilities. Then a possible alternative table arrangement for the cards would be by action type i.e. action, bonus action, reaction, 1minute, 10minutes, short rest etc... This is something I've tried to design in custom character sheet, since it's useful info but missing from the official sheets.

 

[Ezequielramone]

I use a custom dm's screen because the original lack a lot of info I need. The initiative tracker from paizo is a great tool for me.
I write everything I need in the ini tracker. It has lot of space to put things like hps or status or wherever.
A piece of paper to count the xp they earn this session.

 

[Oofta]

Monster cards

Method;

Still not sure on this one either. I wish I could just BUY cards like the GF9 spell cards, seems like the dry erase marker would make even more sense here for dealing with hit points and keeping track of other info. 3x5s are good for single monsters, I think something like a 4x6 card is enough for the most important info of the majority of monsters, and allows for multiple check boxes for multiples of the same type, but something bigger isn't the end of the world either. I am guessing that the chances of something like this hitting the market is slim to none, even if spell cards do great, but I think that a professional version could be awesome.

I do my own monster cards. Four per page (8 1/2 x 11) that I then laminate with stats on one side and a picture for the players on the other.

It's a pain typing them up and I only put on info I need to run the monster, but I find them quite handy and can easily "wing" an encounter by just grabbing appropriate monsters from the card keeper.