Condition cards

[Quasqueton]

Something my group is putting together for game use:

Condition cards. An index card folded in half the long way so it stands like a low tent card. On one side of the tent is written "Panicked". On the other is written the explanation of the condition.

So when a PC is panicked, he gets the card to sit in front of him. Everyone can see he is panicked, and he can see the explanation at a glance. We'll have cards for many of the conditions - nauseated, blind, shaken, etc.

A couple of my Players are putting these together for us to have in future game sessions. Just thought I'd throw this idea out here for anyone else. I think it will be a really good idea.

Quasqueton

 

[Joshua Randall]

I've been using condition tokens - basically circles of paper roughly 2" in diameter with the condition name and abbreviated description. Whenever a PC or monster is under a condition, it gets a token placed nears its miniature. I like this because the players can look at the battle grid and see who is affected by what. But, when a lot of conditions come into play, it gets cumbersome.

 

[Insight]

One thing our group uses to great effect are similar cards, but these are for group buffs, such as bard songs, area effect spells, etc. It's very handy to have these where all the players can see them- helps in calculating attack rolls, damage, saves, etc.

 

[GlassJaw]

Great ideas, all. Anything to help with the in-game accounting is great.

 

[Chaldfont]

Now if we could just get these things to count down duration rounds automagically...

I've been looking for a better way to track effects & conditions too. My game has reached 13th level and its getting to be a real pain to track this stuff. I'm getting into situations where each player has like 4 buffs going and its easy to forget them.

I need a method that's lightweight, low overhead (I don't want to have to enter in all the character stats into a laptop!) and obvious to all players. This index card idea might just work!

 

[sjmiller]

I am doing something similar to that along with another visual aide. Since we tend to use miniatures, it is sometimes hard to know which creatures are asleep, stunned, dead, or what have you. So, I've created a set of miniature flags to stand next to figures suffering from whatever condition. I have stunned, paralyzed, asleep, dazed, blind, and a few others. We haven't had a game session yet where I can use them, but they have been working good in my "playtesting" of them.

 

[Kunimatyu]

In Living Greyhawk, there's a set of 'status ailment' cards that I see fairly often. The more diehard players and/or the ones that cause all these effects will bring a stack of 'em and whenever one happens, they'll plop it down on the table for everyone to see. Speeds up games because you don't have to look up the condition.

Alternatively, you can just know them by heart, but that's boring.

 

[shilsen]

I've done something like this before and it really helps keep track of different effects on PCs and NPCs. Something else my group has done is have small disks in different colors and place miniatures on them to identify a different status for each - invisible, hasted, etc.

 

[Rel]

I think this is a great idea. And if you want an easy way to track the durations of Conditions and Buffs, why not put some of those "marbles" (you know, the little glass stones that everybody used to use as life counters for Magic) in front of the card. Each round the player removes a marble until they are gone and then so is the card.

 

[The_Gneech]

That is too cool for words, and I'm stealing it for Saturday night's game! *YOINK!*

-The Gneech