Simon Atavax
First Post
Title says it all. I'm interested in brainstorming various ways you, as DMs, have come up with to help get a grip on running the huge, magnificent 3.5 ruleset.
DMs: Share your strategies/tricks for making 3.5 more manageable
- Thread starter Simon Atavax
- Start date
roguerouge
First Post
I use modules to prevent DM burnout.
Do not over-stat out any creature, only figure out what you'll need. While the stat-block for an 11th level BBEG wizard will be a full page or more, his half-orc guards that the party cuts their way through will be very simple:
Half-Orc Fighter 2
AC xx, touch xx, ff xx
HP xx
Saves Fxx Rxx Wxx
Melee +x (1dx+x)
Ranged +x (1dx+x)
Spot, Listen
Important feats (cleave, power attack, etc)
Once you do this a few times, you can qhip out low level npcs in 30 seconds.
Then, even with the big wizard, is he really going to have time go cast all of his spells? Pre-add buffs (mage armor, etc) on to his stat-block, then don't bother to pick out cantrips, or meaningless 1st level/2nd level spells. In the very rare circumstance that you'll wish he would have known web, guess what? He now does.
The two things that are most difficult to adjudicate in the flow of combat are (IMO) turning and grappling. If nothing else, you may want to houserule in the Pathfinder changes to those two troublesome areas.
Half-Orc Fighter 2
AC xx, touch xx, ff xx
HP xx
Saves Fxx Rxx Wxx
Melee +x (1dx+x)
Ranged +x (1dx+x)
Spot, Listen
Important feats (cleave, power attack, etc)
Once you do this a few times, you can qhip out low level npcs in 30 seconds.
Then, even with the big wizard, is he really going to have time go cast all of his spells? Pre-add buffs (mage armor, etc) on to his stat-block, then don't bother to pick out cantrips, or meaningless 1st level/2nd level spells. In the very rare circumstance that you'll wish he would have known web, guess what? He now does.
The two things that are most difficult to adjudicate in the flow of combat are (IMO) turning and grappling. If nothing else, you may want to houserule in the Pathfinder changes to those two troublesome areas.
Oryan77
Adventurer
I've collected resources whenever I needed or found something I thought I'd need to help run the game smoother.
People talk about it taking too long to make NPCs? Well, a lot of great people here on ENworld took the time to go through every WotC 3e book and made an index of all the written up NPCs. So now when I need a cleric of 5th level, I just refer to the index, then look the stat block up in the book, and there I have it. Of course I don't always find the exact race & level of character that I'm looking for, but so far it's been pretty close. Overall, it has saved me lots of time from making my own NPC.
I have a quick reference rules sheet that I added to my DM screen (you can view it via the link in my sig). It covers most of the common rules and saves me time from looking it up in the book.
I have made my own 3.5 condition cards based on a style of power cards I liked that someone made for 4e. Now when a PC is paralyzed or stunned, I throw one of these cards to them so they know what their penalties are and it is right in front of their face every round. It's much faster than looking it up in the book and explaining it to them so they can write it down.
I have a nice monster index in my excel sheet that allows me to quickly look up what book a monster is in if I need to know. So I don't have to look through all the different monster manuals to find it.
I made custom NPC sheets that I use to write down NPC stats. I don't really like to keep a monster manual open while using the monster. I highlight special abilities & attacks on my stat sheet so it stands out to me. We all know how often we forget to use a special ability, so this helps remind me about it. Filling in the stat sheet also helps me study the character and get familiar with what he can do. It's like taking notes, only I'm just copying the entire thing and making the ability descriptions shorter & easier to reference in play. Also, I can use these sheets later in the campaign...they pretty much replace my monster manuals
For the players, I recently made some custom character sheets that auto-fills a lot of information. Nobody has used these yet so I'm not sure how much they help. But I'm proud of them and I think they not only work great, but they look like an original character sheet (only better).
People talk about it taking too long to make NPCs? Well, a lot of great people here on ENworld took the time to go through every WotC 3e book and made an index of all the written up NPCs. So now when I need a cleric of 5th level, I just refer to the index, then look the stat block up in the book, and there I have it. Of course I don't always find the exact race & level of character that I'm looking for, but so far it's been pretty close. Overall, it has saved me lots of time from making my own NPC.
I have a quick reference rules sheet that I added to my DM screen (you can view it via the link in my sig). It covers most of the common rules and saves me time from looking it up in the book.
I have made my own 3.5 condition cards based on a style of power cards I liked that someone made for 4e. Now when a PC is paralyzed or stunned, I throw one of these cards to them so they know what their penalties are and it is right in front of their face every round. It's much faster than looking it up in the book and explaining it to them so they can write it down.
I have a nice monster index in my excel sheet that allows me to quickly look up what book a monster is in if I need to know. So I don't have to look through all the different monster manuals to find it.
I made custom NPC sheets that I use to write down NPC stats. I don't really like to keep a monster manual open while using the monster. I highlight special abilities & attacks on my stat sheet so it stands out to me. We all know how often we forget to use a special ability, so this helps remind me about it. Filling in the stat sheet also helps me study the character and get familiar with what he can do. It's like taking notes, only I'm just copying the entire thing and making the ability descriptions shorter & easier to reference in play. Also, I can use these sheets later in the campaign...they pretty much replace my monster manuals
For the players, I recently made some custom character sheets that auto-fills a lot of information. Nobody has used these yet so I'm not sure how much they help. But I'm proud of them and I think they not only work great, but they look like an original character sheet (only better).
Olli
First Post
Play loose and fast, don´t use grapple as written, simple statblocks for unimportant NPCS and strip the implied playerentitlement from the rules!!!!
Get rid of Buffspells!
Granted, we play a low-middlemagic game and perhaps that helps a lot, but i have never had a problem to wing a whole 3e session or convert an old module with this as a guideline.
Olli
Get rid of Buffspells!
Granted, we play a low-middlemagic game and perhaps that helps a lot, but i have never had a problem to wing a whole 3e session or convert an old module with this as a guideline.
Olli
Voadam
Legend
I don't sweat NPC skill points. If I need them I'll assign them on the spot.
I use d20srd.org for a lot of referencing.
I have a lot of pdfs, printing off just the page for the monster I plan to use keeps it a lot more manageable at the table, particularly if I plan to use monsters from different sourcebooks. Plus you can highlight things like DR on a printout without ruining your books.
"All right then, your delaying. Let me know when you decide and you can jump in then. Next."
"That's my ruling, we're not debating or discussing it anymore right now. We can talk about it after the combat/game."
Keep in mind that keeping the game moving and fun can be more important than getting every rule exactly right by the book.
I like using modules.
I try to avoid using things I consider less fun or house ruling them. Ability drains generally turn into ability damage, save or die I house ruled to save or dying, I dislike having PCs regularly incapacitated for a whole fight so I like the 3.5 hold person save each round to shake it off and want to extend it to other effects.
Use resources like the NPC wiki for stats instead of creating from scratch.
PC equipment out of whack? Rust monsters, Druids with warp wood and rusting grasp, tons of monsters with improved sunder.
I go with spontaneous divine caster option from Unearthed arcana (clerics and druids cast and know like sorcerers) so that I don't have to consider impacts of every divine spell for visimilitude, just the ones I want to be there. (I.E. why don't we ask the local priest to do X).
I use d20srd.org for a lot of referencing.
I have a lot of pdfs, printing off just the page for the monster I plan to use keeps it a lot more manageable at the table, particularly if I plan to use monsters from different sourcebooks. Plus you can highlight things like DR on a printout without ruining your books.
"All right then, your delaying. Let me know when you decide and you can jump in then. Next."
"That's my ruling, we're not debating or discussing it anymore right now. We can talk about it after the combat/game."
Keep in mind that keeping the game moving and fun can be more important than getting every rule exactly right by the book.
I like using modules.
I try to avoid using things I consider less fun or house ruling them. Ability drains generally turn into ability damage, save or die I house ruled to save or dying, I dislike having PCs regularly incapacitated for a whole fight so I like the 3.5 hold person save each round to shake it off and want to extend it to other effects.
Use resources like the NPC wiki for stats instead of creating from scratch.
PC equipment out of whack? Rust monsters, Druids with warp wood and rusting grasp, tons of monsters with improved sunder.
I go with spontaneous divine caster option from Unearthed arcana (clerics and druids cast and know like sorcerers) so that I don't have to consider impacts of every divine spell for visimilitude, just the ones I want to be there. (I.E. why don't we ask the local priest to do X).
kitsune9
Adventurer
Pubished modules, copy and paste monsters from SRD into my own written adventures, copy and paste NPC stats blocks, Internet resources such as monster generator and NPC generator, Heroforge, and Dundjinni.
Since I've converted over to Pathfinder, I'll be on the lookout for all "pathfindery" things as above.
Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
As with all games that require a facilitator, focus primarily on presentation and the prep that goes mostly toward that end.
Here's a thread recently begun that focuses on presentation -
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/264032-presentations-your-game.html
Here's a thread recently begun that focuses on presentation -
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/264032-presentations-your-game.html
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