"Hey, don't you remember that the dragon is dazed from my attack last round?"
"S*&#, I forgot! Now he has no more actions and has done nothing threatening to the party! SIGH!"
Do you ever experience anything like this at your table? I do...and quite often at that.
Even with markers on some of the creatures I am sometimes caught up behind my screen that I don't realize my monster has a condition upon it. I have been having a difficult time managing monsters in some of my games and I am constantly frustrated that my inability to be able to remember that my monsters have conditions on them. I am tired of this, and have come up with a sheet I use to be able to look at my monsters and know what is going to happen at the start of every round.
The Monster Tracker can help you keep track of conditions throughout the rounds. I am not a graphic designer, neither am I that good with excel, but it could probably be helpful to some who are still using pencils in the world. It would be perfect if you used a clipboard with it.
Here is what is looks like with some explanations.
In the first empty rows, you write the monsters names.
In the HP column, you would write the amount of HP for each monster in the first round. As combat ensues, during each round, there is enough room for you to make several adjustment to the monster HP, and once the round is completed, carry the remaining HP to the following line in the next round row. Follow the same procedure for the conditions column for each monster.
There is a legend at the bottom of the tracker for suggested codes to use in the conditions column. Follow these or create your own codes; whatever is comfortable for you to use.
Remember this is just amateur work. Take it for what it is worth. It has been handy to me and my only wish is to make one person's life easier as a DM.
Do you find this tracker has made your life easier? If it has, send some love this way? If there are any suggestions, I am open to those also.
Thanks for reading,
Alton.