D&D 5E DM: overwhelmed with creatures

[Tormyr]

Post-It notes on the MM page works well.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Got it. I thought when you wrote:



that you didn't ask all of the time.

I find the players VERY proactive in reminding me just how much damage the monsters have taken when they are keeping count on the damage.

Also by looking at the HP ranges for monsters in the DMG CRing table, it lets you know how much wiggle room the HP total for a monster has.

 

[Henry]

I use init cards for PCs and monsters also, but I dont keep track of monster hit points on the cards, i use a separate page, and count up from 0 damage, like many people in the thread. Works pretty well actually - hardest part is getting the cards in th right order at start of combat, and after that it's pretty quick and easy.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

I use 102×152 index cards for the monsters stats. I foldback-clip these to the top of the screen.

I keep track of HP and status effects on scrap paper. I write a summary of the monsters across the top and do HP down the page.

If I am using miniatures then I will try to pick different miniatures. For example if there are four goblins in the combat then I'll pick, say, a goblin with a spear, a goblin with a sword, a goblin with a cleaver and a goblin with an axe. On my piece of paper I'll write "GS", "GSw", "GC" and "GA".

If I'm not using miniatures then I'll write something about their rough position. For example, "GN", "GS", "GE" and "GW". Or maybe which PC they are attacking.

At the end of the combat the scrap paper gets crumpled up and thrown in my bag for recycling at home.

 

[KarinsDad]

For initiative, we have a magnetic board with reusable magnetic name tags that can be seen from across the table with a red arrow pointing to current PC/NPC name. Every player there can see when their initiative is getting close. We found that this is better than index cards where the information is hidden (or someone has to say "Hey Fred, you're next").

 

[KarinsDad]

Also by looking at the HP ranges for monsters in the DMG CRing table, it lets you know how much wiggle room the HP total for a monster has.

What does this sentence mean? Doesn't the DM already know how many hit points each monster has, or is this a way for players to metagame know ahead of time a rough estimate of monster hit points?

 

[miniaturehoarder]

What does this sentence mean? Doesn't the DM already know how many hit points each monster has, or is this a way for players to metagame know ahead of time a rough estimate of monster hit points?

Neither. The person looking in the DMG would be the DM, the table lets them know how much wiggle room the monster's HP total would have for the purpose of adjusting said monster's HP prior to deployment while still falling within the general parameters of it's CR tier.

Because when you get down to it, while the MM expresses monster HP as a dice range with a default average, the CR mechanics are more based on the actual HP.

 

[KarinsDad]

Neither. The person looking in the DMG would be the DM, the table lets them know how much wiggle room the monster's HP total would have for the purpose of adjusting said monster's HP prior to deployment while still falling within the general parameters of it's CR tier.

Why would he do this unless he was creating his own monster and wouldn't he do that ahead of time, not during a game?

Doesn't the MM already tell him exactly how many hit points a given monster has? Doesn't the DM already know the exact number?

I'm not understanding your point as to when or why this would be done, especially at the gaming table.

 

[EvanNave55]

Why would he do this unless he was creating his own monster and wouldn't he do that ahead of time, not during a game?

Doesn't the MM already tell him exactly how many hit points a given monster has? Doesn't the DM already know the exact number?

I'm not understanding your point as to when or why this would be done, especially at the gaming table.

I think what he is talking about is that while the MM states an exact number for each monster that is the average hitpoints it would have based on it's hit-dice. So looking at the hit-dice you can see the min. and max. hit-points it could have and keep in mind that range for the "wiggle room."

 

[KarinsDad]

I think what he is talking about is that while the MM states an exact number for each monster that is the average hitpoints it would have based on it's hit-dice. So looking at the hit-dice you can see the min. and max. hit-points it could have and keep in mind that range for the "wiggle room."

What wiggle room?

If the DM already knows that the monster has 30 hit points, why does he need to know that it has hit points in the range of 25 to 35?