I remembered that I forgot!

[Oryan77]

I don't think any of us remember to use all of our characters abilities at all times. It really bugs me when I finish DMing a session and then I realize I forgot several options an NPC had at his disposal that should have come into play. Like spell resistance, DR, ect ect.

I think my current bone-headed oversight is that I keep forgetting to heal NPCs during combat. My clerics seem to forget that they can cast cure spells and be a bigger hassle against the PCs. I didn't always forget to do this...it's just been happening recently

I started highlighting important abilities in my notes. I guess I need to make another note about using cure spells!

What kind of things have you been forgetting to do lately?

 

[Wandering Star]

Dodge!!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!! I ALWAYS forget it.

 

[Oryan77]

Dodge!!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!! I ALWAYS forget it.

I actually house rule that dodge gives a +1 bonus to AC no matter who the opponent is. It seems to be more worth having the feat and I figure it into AC as a normal bonus which is also easier than keeping track of which opponent I get a +1 AC from.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

That's not a bad idea for dodge. IMO, AC needs more boosting anyway.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

In actual reply to the post: I've forgotten just about everything there is to be forgotten at one point or another. It's just too hard with large stat blocks (esp. spell casters!) and casts of thousands (ok half a dozen say). BOund to forget something. Somedays I think an assistant GM would be a good idea. ACtually I have done this before and seen it done. The assistant gets a few NPCs to run in the big fights/social scenes. Works quite well.

FOr a new game I've started in which most bad guys are gonna be classed humans I've just done up a bunch of basic stats for generic types (ie: basic thug, cunning thug, big bruiser). It may get a bit samey after a while, I dunno, but it should speed things up and make my life easier.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I forget special abilities all the time, but the worst for me are traits of types and subtypes, which aren't spelled out in most statblocks.

I once forgot to make a vampire immune to wither limb, which requires a Fort save, to which undead are immune. Wasn't in the statblock, so I completely forgot it.

 

[rgard]

I usually manage to forget some special ability for a magic item that one of the NPCs is carrying.

Once the PCs kill the NPCs and take their stuff, the players rarely if ever forget that special ability.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Piratecat]

If I gathered together all my monsters who got killed because I forgot about their spell resistance or DR, I'd... well, I'd have a whole lot of monsters.

Stupid minutiae.

 

[coyote6]

I usually (usually!) remember SR and DR (well, DR I sometimes remember a little late, but it's not too hard to add a few hp back on ), but other abilities ("Oh, dang, he could have hasted all the bad guys!") slip by quite a lot.

Breath weapons are a good one -- uh, when was it he could breathe again? Doh!

My most popular brain-o is probably the "oops, forgot to have the bad guy run away on his turn, and now he's about to die."

 

[Shallown]

I forget things all the time so I tend to type up my own bad guys just cause it helps me remember things. So here a few things I do to help

DR goes beside hit points and Sr beside Saves.

When I prep a caster I figure how many spells they have ready that will have no impact on the encounter such as spells used for sending messages or utility stuff a caster (Non adventuring type) would have ready on an average day and just leave them off. Less spells to look at and less stuff distracting me. Do the same thing for say demons or devils with butt loads of spell likes. toss the ones they wouldn't use once the get an eyeful of the party.

Also If I forget to us a magic item that would have made all the difference I tend to not hand it out then. I know this seems like cheating the players but I might sub in some gold for it. The players always wonder why the bad guy didn't use X magic item if they find it when it would have saved him. Unless I have a reason that thing dissappears.

Later