I'm about to run my first episodic campaign for a couple of friends, and I'm not sure how y'all keep your NPC and monster stats organized. Is it all in a spreadsheet? Is there a place on D&D beyond to organize it all that I just don't see? Should I just use the character builder to make important NPCs? If anyone has a good system I'm all ears.
I rank my NPC's in 3 levels Level 1, NPC is there to interact and talk with but is very unlikely to stick around and be important. These will have a couple of lines to describe appearance, info they know the NPC's may want and maybe something for flavour. But I won't bother with stats, if the player does something that needs a roll I might just fudge the modifier on the fly and then add it to the character info.
Level 2 NPC's more involved, may reappear a few times, but unlikely to get into a combat situation, I will generally sketch out a bit more of a background and detail, never more then 5-6 bullet points. I might come up with an idea for a voice, or accent. Stats wise I will note non combat stats, charisma, wisdom, intelligence and generally ignore dex, const and strength
Level 3 NPC's are enemies the party will fight, Generally as far as possible as a newbie DM I would say lift these from the monster manual or other source and then tweak based on a template.
I generally store my NPCs in my Google Docs campaign file system, usually on a spreadsheet, and then construct the combat encounters themselves using DnD beyond a session or 2 before they will be needed.
They are a bit of a hodgepodge that change depending on my mood and how much time I have lol. Basically for level 3 NPC’s I have name, description, a comments section, which may or may not be filled with hidden info. I might at this stage decide on loot or I might do that right at the last minute, then I just have columns for each attribute, any proficiencies and saving throws, then weapons, AC and hit points and any other relevant info For most again weapons I will leave until I create them in DnD beyond. In fact if I am using the stats of a creature in the manual as is then I just detail the creature and the page and that’s it. Or if I am adjusting the stats I simply note the changes (usually hit points, AC and maybe one or 2 stats).
I initially got super detailed but very quickly realised that most NPCs all you need are the bare minimum and then the rest you can play around with during the session. I have been known to tweak stats right up until that npc rolls a dice and then I am locked in.
another way I do it is using the random encounter/npc generators online. There are some really good ones that are really easy to use for knocking up an npc on the fly.
Years ago I took time to type up the monsters like this. Abjurer AC 12/15 HP 84 CR 9 VOL 209. In my notes it would be Room H3. Flameskull AC 13 HP 40 CR 4 MM 134. *4. Unless the NPC is providing Combat Support, you don't need Stats.
For online play I use dndbeyond encounter builder. at the table play I copy and paste monster stat block, pic, and a table for hit points. 1 cell for every point, and put it on the same page as the room/encounter page.
Generally, I use the Encounter builder, as I can just click on it and deliver rolls to Roll20 (or most VTTs I think now... thanks Beyond20!)... on Roll20, I use the pop-up menu to put in HP and AC on the tokens on the map. I can see the info, the players cannot... and I can quickly update info for damage without keeping extra sheets. For talking NPCs, I have whatever info I want to include about them on my adventure log in Obsidian Portal (so I can hyperlink it quickly and jump from place to place if needed ... any wiki based site will work for that.) And worst case, I keep a pad and paper nearby in case I need to write something in the heat of the moment and add it in to the flow later on.
I use DDB. I make “important” NPC as PCs because it helps me get into their heads better. (And if they’re friendlies they can just join the campaign for the encounter builder.) I use statblocks for Monsters, unimportant NPCs, and I also convert “important” enemies from Character Sheets to Statblocks for combat convenience and for the encounter tracker. I just use a word document with hyperlinks to organize my notes.
I have a spreadsheet which I put together which has the name, xp and page number for every monster, and has all the calculations built into it for encounter making, which makes it easy to say "there are 4 level 2 players, I want to have them fight goblins, how many do I need to have a medium encounter".
I did all this before reading online that the encounter calculation rules are a bit iffy, but I think having the page numbers to hand for the monsters is a very handy feature to have when working from physical books.
I have a spreadsheet which I put together which has the name, xp and page number for every monster, and has all the calculations built into it for encounter making, which makes it easy to say "there are 4 level 2 players, I want to have them fight goblins, how many do I need to have a medium encounter".
I did all this before reading online that the encounter calculation rules are a bit iffy, but I think having the page numbers to hand for the monsters is a very handy feature to have when working from physical books.
The Encounter Generator here in DnD beyond does that as well.
One is a campaign Journal for my players to add to as well as for me to dump lore they learn about a town but might forget to take note of as well as NPCs
The second Is my campaign Journal which is similar but has hyper links to all the creatures, the encounter builders, and any NPCs (which are custom content I have set up) so that I can Ctrl+f find who or what I need then hop to it.
My lap top is part of my GM screen and for travel I have tablets too. it works out whether im doing things live or I am doing an online campaign.
I also have our discord where I post the Image from a book or a map of a town just for quick ingame moments before they update the journals.
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Hi all,
I'm about to run my first episodic campaign for a couple of friends, and I'm not sure how y'all keep your NPC and monster stats organized. Is it all in a spreadsheet? Is there a place on D&D beyond to organize it all that I just don't see? Should I just use the character builder to make important NPCs? If anyone has a good system I'm all ears.
Cheers,
Morwen
I rank my NPC's in 3 levels
Level 1, NPC is there to interact and talk with but is very unlikely to stick around and be important. These will have a couple of lines to describe appearance, info they know the NPC's may want and maybe something for flavour. But I won't bother with stats, if the player does something that needs a roll I might just fudge the modifier on the fly and then add it to the character info.
Level 2 NPC's more involved, may reappear a few times, but unlikely to get into a combat situation, I will generally sketch out a bit more of a background and detail, never more then 5-6 bullet points. I might come up with an idea for a voice, or accent. Stats wise I will note non combat stats, charisma, wisdom, intelligence and generally ignore dex, const and strength
Level 3 NPC's are enemies the party will fight, Generally as far as possible as a newbie DM I would say lift these from the monster manual or other source and then tweak based on a template.
I generally store my NPCs in my Google Docs campaign file system, usually on a spreadsheet, and then construct the combat encounters themselves using DnD beyond a session or 2 before they will be needed.
Thanks this is super helpful! Can I ask what either of your Google docs spreadsheet looks like? I'd be curious to see a screenshot but no pressure!
They are a bit of a hodgepodge that change depending on my mood and how much time I have lol. Basically for level 3 NPC’s I have name, description, a comments section, which may or may not be filled with hidden info. I might at this stage decide on loot or I might do that right at the last minute, then I just have columns for each attribute, any proficiencies and saving throws, then weapons, AC and hit points and any other relevant info For most again weapons I will leave until I create them in DnD beyond. In fact if I am using the stats of a creature in the manual as is then I just detail the creature and the page and that’s it. Or if I am adjusting the stats I simply note the changes (usually hit points, AC and maybe one or 2 stats).
I initially got super detailed but very quickly realised that most NPCs all you need are the bare minimum and then the rest you can play around with during the session. I have been known to tweak stats right up until that npc rolls a dice and then I am locked in.
another way I do it is using the random encounter/npc generators online. There are some really good ones that are really easy to use for knocking up an npc on the fly.
Years ago I took time to type up the monsters like this. Abjurer AC 12/15 HP 84 CR 9 VOL 209. In my notes it would be Room H3. Flameskull AC 13 HP 40 CR 4 MM 134. *4. Unless the NPC is providing Combat Support, you don't need Stats.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
For online play I use dndbeyond encounter builder. at the table play I copy and paste monster stat block, pic, and a table for hit points. 1 cell for every point, and put it on the same page as the room/encounter page.
Generally, I use the Encounter builder, as I can just click on it and deliver rolls to Roll20 (or most VTTs I think now... thanks Beyond20!)... on Roll20, I use the pop-up menu to put in HP and AC on the tokens on the map. I can see the info, the players cannot... and I can quickly update info for damage without keeping extra sheets. For talking NPCs, I have whatever info I want to include about them on my adventure log in Obsidian Portal (so I can hyperlink it quickly and jump from place to place if needed ... any wiki based site will work for that.) And worst case, I keep a pad and paper nearby in case I need to write something in the heat of the moment and add it in to the flow later on.
I use DDB. I make “important” NPC as PCs because it helps me get into their heads better. (And if they’re friendlies they can just join the campaign for the encounter builder.) I use statblocks for Monsters, unimportant NPCs, and I also convert “important” enemies from Character Sheets to Statblocks for combat convenience and for the encounter tracker. I just use a word document with hyperlinks to organize my notes.
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I have a spreadsheet which I put together which has the name, xp and page number for every monster, and has all the calculations built into it for encounter making, which makes it easy to say "there are 4 level 2 players, I want to have them fight goblins, how many do I need to have a medium encounter".
I did all this before reading online that the encounter calculation rules are a bit iffy, but I think having the page numbers to hand for the monsters is a very handy feature to have when working from physical books.
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The Encounter Generator here in DnD beyond does that as well.
Imma say, keeping them on index cards can be very good, and just having monster HP written on a piece of paper works great.
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I have two Google Docs
One is a campaign Journal for my players to add to as well as for me to dump lore they learn about a town but might forget to take note of as well as NPCs
The second Is my campaign Journal which is similar but has hyper links to all the creatures, the encounter builders, and any NPCs (which are custom content I have set up) so that I can Ctrl+f find who or what I need then hop to it.
My lap top is part of my GM screen and for travel I have tablets too. it works out whether im doing things live or I am doing an online campaign.
I also have our discord where I post the Image from a book or a map of a town just for quick ingame moments before they update the journals.