"So what's the deal with power cards?"

[Rel]

The power cards that print with the character sheet from the Character Builder are great because they have the attack and damage bonus already on the card. The generic cards that you'll be able to purchase from Wizards seems relatively less useful to me.

However it does seem that my players are moving away from using them as cards per se and simply leaving the sheet intact and instead putting a token on the Encounter and Daily powers that are used up.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I make my own with index cards. There's more than enough room for the description of the power and the damage equations.

For the rogue, I have up to 3 weapons on there (rapier, dagger, shuriken) with the damage, range, Sneak Attack modifiers, and crit stuff, so I don't do things like forget to add in the +2d6 when I crit.

Plus, as others have said, it helps me know what I have available. For powers with a duration, like Beacon of Hope, those go on my character sheet to remind me until they go out.

Brad

 

[keterys]

The power cards don't seem to be that helpful for me, personally, but I'm fine using them if they're around.

Oh my god, some players I know... I'd beg some of them to start using cards, and I'd weep if some stopped.

But, some people know all their powers, can write down anything they need, remember anything else, speedily respond, etc... and others can't remember their attack or damage bonus - even if it basically never changes. Different folks need different props and there's no harm in variety.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I love the power cards for many reasons...two of which I will list here...

1. It has the entire text of the power in a handy-to-read format along with little boxes where I can change the values as I level up and gain equipment. I never look in the PHB for anything having to do with powers.

2. We only play 4 or so hours a week. In between sessions we just leave our things on the table. When I come back the next week I can see (by looking at my discard pile) what powers I have already used up last week. I could do the same by marking a sheet or checking things off a list but the cards do the same job more visually.

DS

 

[MarkB]

The power cards that print with the character sheet from the Character Builder are great because they have the attack and damage bonus already on the card. The generic cards that you'll be able to purchase from Wizards seems relatively less useful to me.

I use the Power Card Generator from Dragons Lair] to put together cards for my characters, but I leave the numbers blank and write them on in pencil. That way, I can easily update them as my character levels or changes equipment.

I still use a character sheet, but find it almost entirely superfluous, usually keeping my dice bowl on top of it and only recording damage and referring to skill bonuses. If I could get all the important information compacted into two or three cards, I'd do away with the sheet altogether.

I do like the versions the Character Builder creates, but I find that you have to police them carefully and be ready to annotate - they often tend to leave out important little things, like under what circumstances you can use a particular power.

 

[KarinsDad]

Our group just had an Email discussion on this today.

I too like the cards, but at 7th level, my Wizard had about 20 cards: 9 level, 1 racial, 6 class (4 cantrips and 2 bonus utility), and ~4 items. Even without being a Wizard, that's still 14 powers = 14 cards.

At level 20, that would be about 25 cards for a non-power intensive class, ~35 for a power intensive class like a Wizard.

That's too many for me to control effectively.

I saw a lot of card searching in our previous campaign. And, I heard quite a few comments from several players that they just plain forgot some option that they had when we BS after a session. I suspect it is too many cards as people get towards paragon levels for some people. So, I am going to use a descriptive list (or pictorial table). And, I can have an Excel spreadsheet auto-calculate changes as my PC levels.

And I can hand the list to the DM if necessary. Not quite as convenient as handing him a card, but still not too bad.


I think cards were nice at first level when we all started playing and they became part of the community culture, but I don't think they are the most effective solution. For one thing, they tend to hide options because not everyone lays all of their cards out at all times such that they can quickly glance at all of their choices. For those who do, it probably takes up quite a bit of table space, especially for old timers like me who need larger fonts, hence, non-tiny cards.

 

[fba827]

I know people that like power cards, so WotC does have an audience for it. Whether or not that audience likes the product or prefers their own is a different question.

And they also have lots of utility value (already mentioned in this thread) that sheets don't have.

My personally, I tried a sheet for one PC and cards for another PC. I definetly prefered the sheet - the cards were just "too much" for me to flip through. I am a "scan for it" rather than tacticle person. So it just didn't suit my style.
I ended up taking more time with the cards to find stuff (plus I had to obsessively count my cards over and over because I was worried I may have dropped/lost one, then again, I also check my keys at least every 15 minutes to make sure I didn't drop them... so obviously, I have issues that go far beyond power cards).


But, yeah, cards have a purpose. Are the WotC ones going to be as good as, or better, of a product/tool than what people have been using up until now? That's entirely a matter of personal opinion and sense of value.

 

[FdL]

I like them. It's useful to have the powers as individual objects to browse through and flip and sort. Of course, they're great for reference and not having to look up everything in the book.

In all, I don't think they have a negative impact on the game, or that they inherently have something bad on them for people not to like it. In fact, even though 4e's modular nature lends itself better for it, I think having some sort of card aids for spells or whatnot can be totally used in 3.5. It's a very practical idea.

It's cool to have some with other things than powers too, like states or feats, and they're even good for monsters for DMs.

Plus you can have them look good and neat.

I can see that people don't get used to them or think they are "alien" to D&D and fear they'll make their game more like M:TG. But well...

 

[Hypersmurf]

So, I am going to use a descriptive list (or pictorial table).

I think once my hand of cards begins to get unwieldy, I'll probably have a list with brief notes of what the powers do, but I'll retain the cards with the full text and precalculated modifiers. So I can pick the power I want from the list, and then quickly riffle through the deck to find the card. It also means that I can glance at a pile of 'expended' cards to know which powers aren't available.

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

I think once my hand of cards begins to get unwieldy, I'll probably have a list with brief notes of what the powers do, but I'll retain the cards with the full text and precalculated modifiers. So I can pick the power I want from the list, and then quickly riffle through the deck to find the card. It also means that I can glance at a pile of 'expended' cards to know which powers aren't available.

That's a pretty good suggestion.

Thanks Hyp.