Reaching mid-levels
- Thread starter Someone
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rpgHQ
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Yea I agree preparing ahead of time and writing stat sheets up or typing it up on the computer if you use the pc at the table helps a ton.
Another thing is when you have large groups of baddies that can have various feats and skills (from classes for instance) try to make all the 'foot soldier' types witht he same feats and skills and only the leaders having different feats/skills and/or classes. This is always good when say you have 5 or more baddies with a leader type. Makes it easier to see and remember what feats/skills the 'fodder' has and allowing you to concentrate on the 'boss' baddies abilities. Less chance of getting abilities mixed up or to simply forget who has what.
However, once in awhile make a large group of baddies who are say all fighter types with a spellcasting leader or two, yet give them all different combat type feats and really prep before hand. Make sure you understand each baddies abilites and write it up in a way that is easy for oyu to 'refresh' with during the encounter at the table following the advice everyone has given so far.
This will make sure the players dont expect the 'fodder' to always be the same, and concentrate on the leaders only. They will always spend those first few rounds trying to fathom the enemies abilites.
Even when using the cookie-cutter approach you can mix it up by designating ahead of time that 'fooder' baddies #1-2 will tend to use seach and such feats/skills while 'fodder' #3-4 will try and use these feats/skills. So even though the majority of the baddies in a single encounter are basically clones, the fact that their not all using the same feats/skills/tactics will keep the players on their toes and they might not even ever realize you just threw a ton of clone 'fodder' at them.
The best advice given by the others so far though is doing up the stat sheets and making sure you list their feats and understand what each feat or feat combo can do in different situations.
Highliting or Bolding feats and special racial/class traits is something I do on my stat sheets, and listing what the feats/ability does in a minimal fashion, so I can quickly glance at the stat sheet and get back to things fast. Give each feat/ability its own line on the stat sheet and bold/highlite just the name and then in normal text list the mods/bonus/ability in the shortest form that wil help jar your memory. By using the cookie-cutter approach you also limit the number of stat sheets oyu have to dig through and can have a entry or two near the bottom saying what feats/abilities/tactics #'s 1-3, 4-6 and so on will concentrate on trying to use. And if a certain way seems to work better against the group and your feeling particulary DM-ish you can have the other baddies change to the same tactics and watch your players sweat it out
Another thing is when you have large groups of baddies that can have various feats and skills (from classes for instance) try to make all the 'foot soldier' types witht he same feats and skills and only the leaders having different feats/skills and/or classes. This is always good when say you have 5 or more baddies with a leader type. Makes it easier to see and remember what feats/skills the 'fodder' has and allowing you to concentrate on the 'boss' baddies abilities. Less chance of getting abilities mixed up or to simply forget who has what.
However, once in awhile make a large group of baddies who are say all fighter types with a spellcasting leader or two, yet give them all different combat type feats and really prep before hand. Make sure you understand each baddies abilites and write it up in a way that is easy for oyu to 'refresh' with during the encounter at the table following the advice everyone has given so far.
This will make sure the players dont expect the 'fodder' to always be the same, and concentrate on the leaders only. They will always spend those first few rounds trying to fathom the enemies abilites.
Even when using the cookie-cutter approach you can mix it up by designating ahead of time that 'fooder' baddies #1-2 will tend to use seach and such feats/skills while 'fodder' #3-4 will try and use these feats/skills. So even though the majority of the baddies in a single encounter are basically clones, the fact that their not all using the same feats/skills/tactics will keep the players on their toes and they might not even ever realize you just threw a ton of clone 'fodder' at them.
The best advice given by the others so far though is doing up the stat sheets and making sure you list their feats and understand what each feat or feat combo can do in different situations.
Highliting or Bolding feats and special racial/class traits is something I do on my stat sheets, and listing what the feats/ability does in a minimal fashion, so I can quickly glance at the stat sheet and get back to things fast. Give each feat/ability its own line on the stat sheet and bold/highlite just the name and then in normal text list the mods/bonus/ability in the shortest form that wil help jar your memory. By using the cookie-cutter approach you also limit the number of stat sheets oyu have to dig through and can have a entry or two near the bottom saying what feats/abilities/tactics #'s 1-3, 4-6 and so on will concentrate on trying to use. And if a certain way seems to work better against the group and your feeling particulary DM-ish you can have the other baddies change to the same tactics and watch your players sweat it out
I think I do what everyone else suggest as far as I type up a NPC in my own format and use that. It also makes a great sheet to keep track of hit points on and such. I ran a encounter with 3 mages of 8th level and 2 archer grunts with one undead fighter. So each wizard got his own sheet with spells they had listed with pertinent info on the spell such as range save area of effect and basic effect. I also italisized spells that would be cast pre battle. And had 2 list of spells round by round one the prep and the opther non-prep depending on how much warning they had. One was an alienest with 4 levels of summoning spells so I just chose a motif and had all his summon spells except 1st be apes/monkeys that way I statted all these out on a seperate sheet and had them at hand. That was all he ever summoned. The archers where both grunts with exact same stats. to make it all memorable I named the NPC's and thought about what they were like.
At higher levels PC's also begin to use some abilities as well. Just higlight and bold things you don't want to forget. It helps.
later
At higher levels PC's also begin to use some abilities as well. Just higlight and bold things you don't want to forget. It helps.
later
Someone
Adventurer
Well, the session ended, and I´m very satisfied with the changes I did.
I already used NPC stats, but in the WotC standard format. This time, I simply varied it somewhat. That is, instead of:
Stone giant, large giant HD XY, HP YZ, init +W, AC...., attacks, damage, special qualities, feats, skills...
This time I separated the things difficult to remeber and attached it to the relevant sections. For example, I separated attacks to write just next to them the attack related feats, in bold:
Greatclub +XX+YY, (damage) power attack, combat reflexes
Stone +ZZ+WW (damage) point blank shot, precise shot
Same for the winter wolves and the gray render, they have special attacks (trip and improved grapple/rend)
Also made a quick strategy for the orcish cleric of Gruumsh (with spells to be cast)
Also made initiative cards; simple papers with the name of each combatant that allowed me to write spells with short duration and have an easy count of remaining rounds of spells like Prayer and Improved Invisibility.
It all worked very well. So, thanks for all the help!
I already used NPC stats, but in the WotC standard format. This time, I simply varied it somewhat. That is, instead of:
Stone giant, large giant HD XY, HP YZ, init +W, AC...., attacks, damage, special qualities, feats, skills...
This time I separated the things difficult to remeber and attached it to the relevant sections. For example, I separated attacks to write just next to them the attack related feats, in bold:
Greatclub +XX+YY, (damage) power attack, combat reflexes
Stone +ZZ+WW (damage) point blank shot, precise shot
Same for the winter wolves and the gray render, they have special attacks (trip and improved grapple/rend)
Also made a quick strategy for the orcish cleric of Gruumsh (with spells to be cast)
Also made initiative cards; simple papers with the name of each combatant that allowed me to write spells with short duration and have an easy count of remaining rounds of spells like Prayer and Improved Invisibility.
It all worked very well. So, thanks for all the help!
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