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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Keeping track of monster abilities
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<blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 6522370" data-attributes="member: 1288"><p>So, I've been running games since I was 9. I've run every edition of D&D that had a number, as well as Basic. But I find myself with a problem in 5E I haven't had before.</p><p></p><p>I'm losing track of monster spells and similar abilities.</p><p></p><p>3E was more more complex, but I ran fewer, longer combats. 4E had everything neatly spelled out and limited. 5E, though... I <em>like</em> monsters having options. I just find myself running too many monsters to remember them.</p><p></p><p>A couple of nights ago, the party fought an arcanaloth and an ultraloth and absolutely <em>crushed</em> them. Had I remembered to use the arcanaloth's <em>dispel magic</em> to poof away the druid's summoned elemental... Well, the fight would still have been a slaughter, but the arcanaloth might have gotten an extra round out of it.</p><p></p><p>I've done the "go through the monster's spell in advance and highlight or annotate the ones you expect to use." But obviously I can't always foresee what's going to happen.</p><p></p><p>It's been a <em>long</em> time since I've asked for such basic DMing advice, but... Any of you have any experience with/pointers for dealing with this? I'm not a killer DM, but I <em>do</em> like running monsters to their fullest potential--and I feel like my grasp of tactics, and my memory for special abilities, has been getting in the way of my doing so in the new edition.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mouseferatu, post: 6522370, member: 1288"] So, I've been running games since I was 9. I've run every edition of D&D that had a number, as well as Basic. But I find myself with a problem in 5E I haven't had before. I'm losing track of monster spells and similar abilities. 3E was more more complex, but I ran fewer, longer combats. 4E had everything neatly spelled out and limited. 5E, though... I [I]like[/I] monsters having options. I just find myself running too many monsters to remember them. A couple of nights ago, the party fought an arcanaloth and an ultraloth and absolutely [I]crushed[/I] them. Had I remembered to use the arcanaloth's [I]dispel magic[/I] to poof away the druid's summoned elemental... Well, the fight would still have been a slaughter, but the arcanaloth might have gotten an extra round out of it. I've done the "go through the monster's spell in advance and highlight or annotate the ones you expect to use." But obviously I can't always foresee what's going to happen. It's been a [I]long[/I] time since I've asked for such basic DMing advice, but... Any of you have any experience with/pointers for dealing with this? I'm not a killer DM, but I [I]do[/I] like running monsters to their fullest potential--and I feel like my grasp of tactics, and my memory for special abilities, has been getting in the way of my doing so in the new edition. [/QUOTE]
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