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Combat is one of the 3 core mechanics in DnD and, when compared to RP and exploration, it is certainly the most rule intensive. Outside of combat, DnD is a very open world with unlimited possibilities and, while this is still somewhat true for combat, I like to picture the classic 1st Gen Pokemon Battle intro every time somebody says “roll initiative”..
The ability score you want is always likely to be better, because of optimization. You shouldn't get a +3 or higher to a single stat. Four separate +1's is less valuable (13), few builds use more than 3 stats. Bonuses to your dump stats aren't as useful as bonuses to your core abilities. Oh, if I had a favorite. Mechanically, it would probably be Human Variant, but Kor, Ghostwise Halfing, and Tabaxi get honorable mentions (because I have a special fondness for playing lucky monks). And Rock Gnomes are amazing for almost any sort of nerdy character - Wizard, Knowledge/Arcana Cleric, Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster. Sign in - Google Accounts.
Now for people that haven’t played a Pokemon game before, what I mean by this is – going into combat immediately makes a roleplaying game into a turn based game. When players go into combat in DnD 5e, they have 3 actions: a movement, a standard action and a bonus action. Every character in every situation is going to have a myriad of options and all of those options have rules tied to them. Remembering these rules (or completely forgetting them and having to look them up) can take time and the more time that is spent here increases the chance of players becoming disinterested with the encounter.
My job in this article is to make your life easier when it comes to tracking initiative and managing combat in DnD 5e. Now that we all have the Pokemon fight music playing in our head, let’s find out what the best initiative tracker is.
What Makes the Best D&D 5e Initiative Tracker?
An Initiative Tracker is something to help you keep track of who goes where in initiative. Simple right? Well, it can be but some initiative trackers are going to be better than others.
In this article, we are going to be rating our choices off the following criteria:
Cost – Pretty easy, how much does this initiative tracker cost?
Ease of Use – Again, easy. How easy is it to use the initiative tracker?
Features – This one is a bit tricky. All of these trackers are going to have different features. I will be listing which initiative trackers have which features and will be giving my personal opinion. You may weight certain features differently.
D&D 5e Initiative Tracker Options
Good Ol Pen and Paper
Since the dawn of DnD, people have been using pen and paper to track initiative. The process is simple:
- Everybody rolls initiative
- Ask the party if anyone has over 20, then between 20 and 15, 15 and 10, 10 and 5 or below 5.
- List players and NPC/Monsters in order
- ??
- Profit
Easily the simplest way to track initiative but also the most featureless.
I personally don’t like using pen and paper for tracking initiative as I don’t love the waste and tend to use my laptop for notes, books and music anyways so I like to have everything in one place.
Here are my scores of Pen and Paper:
Cost – 9/10
Maybe $5 for a notepad? You’ve gotta have some pens/pencils lying around
Ease of Use – 10/10
As easy as it comes
Features – 1/10
I mean, it’s a piece of paper, what else do you want from it?
Spreadsheet
I personally use Google Drive for everything DnD. I have spreadsheets of random encounters, wild magic surges, magical items, shop inventories, character sheets, character backstory templates, I could go on all day.
Naturally, the first place I looked after pen and paper was a Google Sheet, you can check out the template I created here:
This initiative tracker allows you to list your players and NPC/monsters, their initiative, AC, HP and any notes such as conditions or movement. I have found this awesome for a couple of reasons:
- You can keep the same tracker so you never have to retype player stats (except maybe hp)
- You never have to ask if something hits, speeding up initiative like crazy and allowing for seamless exposition
- Probably my favorite part, you can list everybody in a random order then sort by initiative order like so
With this in mind, here are my scores for the Google Sheets Initiative Tracker:
Cost – 10/10
Free
Ease of Use – 10/10
There isn’t really much technical know-how required to run this
Features – 5/10
Nothing crazy in terms of features. I like being able to sort and I like the fact that you can reuse the template to speed up having to enter PC information.
Hero Muster
Hero Muster has an Encounter builder that lets you add your PCs and NPCs, search for Monster from the Monster Manual and run an encounter based on your chosen factors.
While the UI for adding players, NPCs and Monsters is less than ideal, the end result is undeniably awesome. Being able to see all of the encounter’s members, track their conditions, add notes, and see stat sheets for each participant all on one screen is wicked. Spending the time to set up your campaign in this system is definitely worth it and you will be rewarded by seamless, fast paced initiative.
One downside about Hero Muster’s Initiative Tracker is that the information is tied to your computer and browser so if you find yourself on another computer you will not be able to access your previously inputted information. All in all, I would give Hero Muster’s Initiative Tracker:
Cost – 10/10
Free
Ease of Use – 4/10
Getting to know the system is pretty tough. Even after using it for a number of sessions I still find myself struggling to figure out the UI.
Features – 8/10
Full stat sheets for custom NPCs and monsters? Addable conditions straight from the DMG? This thing is outfitted with just about everything you can ask for
Improved Initiative
Improved Initiative’s Initiative Tracker is definitely the most refined I have seen on the market. If Hero Muster gives you just about everything you can ask for Improved Initiative gives you everything you’ve ever asked for and more.
Not only does it have all of the features that Hero Muster boasts (addable characters, custom NPCs and monsters, and all monster stats from the MM) but it actually has more and with a better UI to boot. Here are some of the things you get with Improved Initiative:
- Player View – If you are playing in front of a screen or online you can send players a link so they can see where they are in initiative
- Tweak PHB, MM and DMG Content – Using Improved Initiative you are able to easily copy spells or monsters and tweak their stats if you need certain things to fit your specific encounters
- Preplan encounters – You can plan future encounters so you can be ready to hop right into combat without breaking the flow of the game
- Apply damage – No need to do math anymore, you can apply damage or healing directly to the creature getting hit
- Roll directly in the tool – Instead of breaking out your dice and doing math, you can just click on the attack or damage roll and the tool will automatically generate the result
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Before I start to sound like a paid advertisement from Improved Initiative (I’m not, by the way), I’m going to leave it there.
The one downside is, like Hero Muster, Improved Initiative is tied to your computer and browser. To get around this you can download your account’s JSON file by going to Settings > Account > “Export your user data as JSON file”. Once you have this file, store is somewhere like Dropbox or Google Drive and when you need to use it again just go back to Settings > Account > “Replace your user data by uploading a JSON file”. Unlike Hero Muster there is an option to allow account sync by subbing to their Patreon.
Cost – 10/10 Free or 6/10 Account Sync
The system is free to use if you want to go through the process of exporting/importing data every time. If not, $1/month is certainly not bad for the awesome value this tool provides. You can also customize your player view with Custom Styles and Combatant Portrait for $5/month
Ease of Use – 6/10
While the systems UI is much easier to handle than Hero Muster there will still be a learning curve and some time you have to take to import your campaign’s information
Features – 11/10
This tool is so chock full of awesome features it is ridiculous
Closing Words
So that’s it. I’m sure there are tons of Initiative Trackers for D&D 5e out there but, based on my experience, these are the four you’re going to be using most of the time.
Hope you liked the article! If you have an Initiative Tracker that you particularly love you can leave a comment down below or shoot me an email at wizards@arcaneeye.com. If you like our content subscribe to Arcane Eye!
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In a typical campaign, characters aren’t driven mad by the horrors they face and the carnage they inflict day after day, but sometimes the stress of being an adventurer can be too much to bear. If your campaign has a strong horror theme, you might want to use madness as a way to reinforce that theme, emphasizing the extraordinarily horrific Nature of the threats the adventurers face.Going Mad
Various magical Effects can inflict madness on an otherwise stable mind. Certain Spells, such as Contact Other Plane and , can cause insanity, and you can use the madness rules here instead of the spell Effects of those Spells. Diseases, Poisons, and planar Effects such as psychic wind or the howling winds of Pandemonium can all inflict madness. Some artifacts can also break the psyche of a character who uses or becomes attuned to them.Resisting a madness-inducing effect usually requires a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw.
Madness Effects
Madness can be short-term, long-term, or indefinite. Most relatively mundane Effects impose short-term madness, which lasts for just a few minutes. More horrific Effects or cumulative Effects can result in long-term or indefinite madness.A character afflicted with short-term madness is subjected to an effect from the Short-Term Madness table for 1d10 minutes.
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A character afflicted with
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long-term madness is subjected to an effect from the Long-Term Madness table for 1d10 × 10 hours.A character afflicted with indefinite madness gains a new character flaw from the Indefinite Madness table that lasts until cured.
d100 | Effect (lasts 1d10 minutes) |
---|---|
01–20 | The character retreats into his or her mind and becomes Paralyzed. The effect ends if the character takes any damage. |
21–30 | The character becomes Incapacitated and spends the Duration screaming, laughing, or weeping. |
31–40 | The character becomes Frightened and must use his or her action and Movement each round to flee from the source of the fear. |
41–50 | The character begins babbling and is incapable of normal Speech or Spellcasting. |
51–60 | The character must use his or her action each round to Attack the nearest creature. |
61–70 | The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on Ability Checks. |
71–75 | The character does whatever anyone tells him or her to do that isn’t obviously self- destructive. |
76–80 | The character experiences an overpowering urge to eat something strange such as dirt, slime, or offal. |
81–90 | The character is Stunned. |
91–100 | The character falls Unconscious. |
d100 | Effect (lasts 1d10 × 10 hours) |
---|---|
01–10 | The character feels compelled to repeat a specific activity over and over, such as washing hands, touching things, praying, or counting coins. |
11–20 | The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on Ability Checks. |
21–30 | The character suffers extreme paranoia. The character has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma Checks. |
31–40 | The character regards something (usually the source of madness) with intense revulsion, as if affected by the antipathy effect of the Antipathy/Sympathy spell. |
41–45 | The character experiences a powerful delusion. Choose a potion. The character imagines that he or she is under its Effects. |
46–55 | The character becomes attached to a “lucky charm,” such as a person or an object, and has disadvantage on Attack rolls, Ability Checks, and Saving Throws while more than 30 feet from it. |
56–65 | The character is Blinded (25%) or Deafened (75%). |
66–75 | The character experiences uncontrollable tremors or tics, which impose disadvantage on Attack rolls, Ability Checks, and Saving Throws that involve Strength or Dexterity. |
76–85 | The character suffers from partial amnesia. The character knows who he or she is and retains Racial Traits and Class Features, but doesn’t recognize other people or remember anything that happened before the madness took effect. |
86–90 | Whenever the character takes damage, he or she must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as though he or she failed a saving throw against the Confusion spell. The Confusion effect lasts for 1 minute. |
91–95 | The character loses the ability to speak. |
96–100 | The character falls Unconscious. No amount of jostling or damage can wake the character. |
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d100 | Flaw (lasts until cured) |
---|---|
01–15 | “Being drunk keeps me sane.” |
16 - 25 | 'I keep whatever I find.' |
26–30 | “I try to become more like someone else I know—adopting his or her style of dress, mannerisms, and name.” |
31–35 | “I must bend the truth, exaggerate, or outright lie to be interesting to other people.” |
36–45 | “Achieving my goal is the only thing of interest to me, and I’ll ignore everything else to pursue it.” |
46–50 | “I find it hard to care about anything that goes on around me.” |
51–55 | “I don’t like the way people judge me all the time.” |
56–70 | “I am the smartest, wisest, strongest, fastest, and most beautiful person I know.” |
71–80 | “I am convinced that powerful enemies are hunting me, and their agents are everywhere I go. I am sure they’re watching me all the time.” |
81–85 | “There’s only one person I can trust. And only I can see this Special friend.” |
86–95 | “I can’t take anything seriously. The more serious the situation, the funnier I find it.” |
96–100 | “I’ve discovered that I really like killing people.” |
Curing Madness
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A Calm Emotions spell can suppress the Effects of madness, while a Lesser Restoration spell can rid a character of a short-term or long-term madness. Depending on the source of the madness, Remove Curse or dispel evil might also prove effective. A Greater Restoration spell or more powerful magic is required to rid a character of indefinite madness.