Good alternatives to proper miniatures?

[Neonchameleon]

There's also Arcknight stuff, but it seems just as pricey as actual minis.

I use ArcKnight a lot but not because it's pricy. I DM one of my groups at a pub and can fit an entire folder full of ArcKnight standees in my backpack.

 

[Zaukrie]

I use ArcKnight a lot but not because it's pricy. I DM one of my groups at a pub and can fit an entire folder full of ArcKnight standees in my backpack.

Huge advantage for sure.

 

[aco175]

I've also just used spare D6s.. Which is helpful. You can place them numbered side up to differentiate them. So the die with the "1" facing up is the Goblin Shaman, and "2" is the warrior who already took damage, but "3" is the one that hasn't been hit yet. etc..

I've done something similar with numbers equaling the number of hits it takes to kill the monster. If they are goblins, all with have the 1 on top and one hit will kill it. Same with 2 hit orcs and such. Generally the PCs need to be a few levels above the monster to make it work shorthand.

 

[Voadam]

I went for years with just a printer when running the Reign of Winter AP in the Pathfinder era before getting the 4e Monster Vault tokens.

I would get an image of the expected monsters/NPCs off of google searches, copy them onto a word file to fit in a 1" square and have multiple images on on one page, then cut them out to use at the table. They are 2d, lay flat, and black and white but good images of the right size, cheap, easy, and disposable. Usually 1 printout page per weekly game.

It allowed a lot of great custom images for my campaign that I would not have gotten from minis or commercial counters. American Indian centaurs of different varieties. Heat miser images for fey Summer Court agents. Etc.

I thought they looked great and they were very evocative and immersive for me and my players. They each had a mini which made instant differentiation between the PCs and NPCs/monsters easy on the mat.

 

[General_Tangent]

In the past I've used paper tokens like the old Counter Collection set that Fiery Dragon Press did, easy to print and readily disposable afterwards; or you could get a hole punch and do this: