Action Cards

[jelmore]

I'm in a group of people who are mostly new to D&D, and I have been trying to think of ideas on how to help them grasp the mechanics of the game.

I wrote up a "cheat sheet" of the actions you can take during combat and when you can take them, but then I had another idea: Action Cards!

They are a set of 6 cards that you can "play" by flipping over when you're taking your actions. On the back of the cards is a reminder of when that action becomes available again. They are:

* Take one standard, move, or minor action (flip over at the start of your turn)
* Take one move or minor action (flip over at the start of your turn)
* Take one minor action (flip over at the start of your turn)
* Spend an action point to take one standard, move, or minor action (flip over at the start of your turn)
* Take one opportunity action (flip over at the start of each turn)
* Take one immediate action (flip over at the end of your turn)

Front of the cards
Backs of the Cards


A PDF is available at: http://db.tt/2u2TlQq

EDIT: I capitalized "start" and "end" on the backs of the cards to make it clearer when they are regained. I also changed the back of the opportunity action card to say "flip over at the start of every turn" as described below.

 

[SkullThrone]

You can take one opportunity action against each foe, so I'm not sure that a card works well for that...or you could untap is at the start of each enemy's turn (seems like a lot of work though).

 

[jelmore]

I'm not sure I get what you mean by "You can take one opportunity action against each foe"; I was going by this definition from page 268 of the PHB:

Once per Combatant’s Turn: You can take no more than one opportunity action on each other combatant’s turn. You can’t take an opportunity action on your own turn.

Is that not the same thing?

I could make it more clear by saying "flip over at the start of every turn" since the front says that you can't use it on your turn.

 

[moxcamel]

Yep, same thing. For example, if on an enemy's turn he provokes an opportunity attack by you, then you get to resolve your opportunity attack. If during his same turn he provokes another opportunity attack by you, you don't get another one. But you do potentially get another opportunity action at the start of the next opponent's turn.

That's why the card seems of limited use. They'd have to untap it at the beginning of every enemy's turn, remembering to leave it tapped during their turn. It's just a lot of bookkeeping.

I do like the action card idea though. I'm always looking for ways to help out newer players, and this is a fantastic aid.

 

[jelmore]

I originally came up with the idea of the four cards to be used on the player's turn. I added the immediate and opportunity action cards for the sake of completeness.

I'm looking forward to giving these a try as well.