Between class features, spells, feats, magic items, background features (and who knows what else) your character has quite a few options in 5E. By 3rd level, you could easily have well over 20 "cards" in your hand, in terms of things you might employ. It's easy to end up kicking yourself the day after a game, because you forgot to take that one special circumstance reaction, or to apply that one bonus. Dndbeyond does well, but it's still easy for these things to get buried in another tab, and out of sight, out of mind.
What tricks do you employ to help yourself remember all your options? E.g. I have a player that keeps all his spells on post-it-notes. Another that tracks expended ammo with toothpicks. What are your crutches?
Very extensive reading. Not only do I generally know most of the options in the books, but I also reread my character sheets regularly between sessions and think of cool ways to use everything.
But mostly I just remember that my character should have at least 1 class feature per level and that gives me a sense of when there is a gap (since every feature says it's level). Note: spellcaster getting new slot levels usually counts for them.
Very extensive reading. Not only do I generally know most of the options in the books, but I also reread my character sheets regularly between sessions and think of cool ways to use everything.
But mostly I just remember that my character should have at least 1 class feature per level and that gives me a sense of when there is a gap (since every feature says it's level). Note: spellcaster getting new slot levels usually counts for them.
Same here lol. I have a very repetitive job, so I occupy my brain by theory crafting tactics for my current characters all day. It keeps me fresh on my characters' abilities and the rules surrounding them, while also giving me time to come up with new and interesting ways to use those abilities that I might not think of on the fly.
As far as physical aids, I like to have spell cards on hand for my in-person game, but those are mostly just there so I can hand them to the DM when I cast something, since I already know the basic mechanics of whatever I'm casting and I can usually pull up the specifics quicker from my character sheet or avrae than by thumbing through a stack of cards.
I study my character sheet when it's not my turn, re-reading what spells, abilities, and magic items I have frequently, especially during combat. While the rest of the party is taking their turns in combat, I'm going through my sheet in order to plan mine.
For me it's not a matter of "remembering" what I can do: if you take good notes and pay attention to your character sheet, it's all in front of you.
At low levels it isn't a problem for me, and generally I will start a character at level 1 or 3 so it is farirly easy to remember their features. As a campaign progresses I get to know my character so I know all their features because I have used them repetitively so I only need to specifically remember their new features.
The only issue arises when a character has a feature that is only very situationally useful. I am thinking of things like a monk's timeless body . It is very unlikely that an attempt will be made to age a monk magically so if it happens it is easy to forget about the feature. Another example is a bard counter-charm which is only usefful if you know in advancea creature is likely to attempt to charm or frighten the party (in reality out of combat because in commbat there are usually much more useful things to do with your action.
I can see it being a problem for a level 20 one shot but I have only done that once and I used a character I had played up to level 18 so I knew nearly all the features.
I do however like the DnDBeyond character sheets where you can get it to list your available Actions / Bonus Actions and Reactions.
The biggest problem I have is knowing all the spells available for characters that prepare spells each morning. There are days when it would be very useful to prepare a spell like find the path but when taking a long rest you forget it is on yourt spell list / what it does.
Having come from massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG), I'm long into the habit of having a 'rotation' or list of priorities. As the party's Cleric I've got lots of spells and martial ability, as well as the responsibility of keeping party members alive by not letting enemies get too close for comfort. The main thing, above theory and crutches, is practice. I'd read D&D materials years before playing, and it counts for naff all until you're up on initiative and required to do something. The most umming and arring I do is when I play a character I'm totally unfamiliar with for a one-shot, usually a caster I've had to conjure up in a day.
One thing that I would suggest is talking to your fellow players in and out of sessions about abilities, especially when levelling up to see how you can cover each other's bases and compliment each other's playstyles. It's OK to want clarification, rulings, or suggestions to line up abilities to combo with each other.
Anyway, here's an amusing flow chart for Clerics:
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
I study my character sheet when it's not my turn, re-reading what spells, abilities, and magic items I have frequently, especially during combat. While the rest of the party is taking their turns in combat, I'm going through my sheet in order to plan mine.
Both of these. It also very much helps to have your stuff organized. It's not something I do all the time, but in the past I have made sort of a venn diagram to note all of my relevant combat actions in one side, non-combat in the other side, with a very clear middle space holding those that are often easily both.
I've also done a separate listing for damage/both/utility just for combat stuff.
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
Which is why I was being (slightly) hyperbolic, and I was referring solely to the subclass. And the base Fighter probably has the least amount of abilities to remember, but the few they have are very good.
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
Which is why I was being (slightly) hyperbolic, and I was referring solely to the subclass. And the base Fighter probably has the least amount of abilities to remember, but the few they have are very good.
This is the reason they're one of the best classes for new players, those that aren't afraid to get hit, that is.
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
Which is why I was being (slightly) hyperbolic, and I was referring solely to the subclass. And the base Fighter probably has the least amount of abilities to remember, but the few they have are very good.
True. The fighter gets literally 6 unique features: second wind, fighting style, action surge, ASI, extra attack, and indomitable. Champion only adds 3 more: improved critical, indomitable athlete, and survivor.
9 unique features across 20 levels is as simple as it gets. A bard has that many unique features by level 5 plus spells.
I regularly go through my active characters’ sheets to make sure I don’t forget what they can do. I simply keep rereading them to imprint that stuff on my memory. DDB makes it easy to focus on the Actions, Spells, Inventory and Features & Traits tabs. Basically, DDB is my crutch.
Remembering all my features is pretty easy, honestly. It's the spells where I forget and need to look at my sheet for, in regards to which I have prepped because I generally remember what they all do (in regards to the ones I actually use and prepare).
I sometimes have just crap abilities that don't matter or just wouldn't see use (like Invoke Duplicity for my Trickery cleric) and I just simply tune those out and forget about them. Since you have much less abilities than spells to remember, those are easier to burn into your brain.
My main tactic has been basically osmosis for memorization. I watched CR for a while, and so I picked up 5e's rules that way, as well as watched DnD youtubers and absorbed through them. Then I started playing and I've been a DM for 95% of the time I've been in games, and I mostly play on a oneshot server so I play with many different players who all have vastly different builds, all multiple times a week. So just through sheer practice and repetition I've just memorized most of my knowledge.
When I comes to combat I just reread my sheet when it isn't my turn and such, just so I can prep for when my initiative comes around. It's mostly when out of combat that I forget to use stuff. But I mostly follow the tried and true methods of playing this game (cast Pass without Trace when stealthing, cast spirit guardians when in combat, cast spiritual weapon on the next turn, etc) so stuff is pretty easy when you have a working strat down.
Funnily enough thanks to this thread it helped me realize that I forgot to use my damn Blessing of the Trickster in my last session with my cleric when we were stealthing! xP Thanks lol. Luckily we have more stealthing to do later as we treck back where we came from/explore for an exit (if we live, because my party decided to be suicidal and release some eldritch abomination out of a vat tank because it kept asking nicely and the party has no sense of self preservation (if I told them to not jump in a spike pit they'd just belly flop onto it to spite me lol). We're probs gonna roll intitiative immediately at the start of the next game).
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
Which is why I was being (slightly) hyperbolic, and I was referring solely to the subclass. And the base Fighter probably has the least amount of abilities to remember, but the few they have are very good.
True. The fighter gets literally 6 unique features: second wind, fighting style, action surge, ASI, extra attack, and indomitable. Champion only adds 3 more: improved critical, indomitable athlete, and survivor.
9 unique features across 20 levels is as simple as it gets. A bard has that many unique features by level 5 plus spells.
And still fighters often forget that they can push or grapple someone ;-)
As a DM, I like to take a few minutes every few sessions and ask my players to look at their Features & Traits tab. I ask if there are any abilities they haven't used or have questions about.
I also find it helpful to have players review their Inventory tabs once in a while.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Between class features, spells, feats, magic items, background features (and who knows what else) your character has quite a few options in 5E. By 3rd level, you could easily have well over 20 "cards" in your hand, in terms of things you might employ. It's easy to end up kicking yourself the day after a game, because you forgot to take that one special circumstance reaction, or to apply that one bonus. Dndbeyond does well, but it's still easy for these things to get buried in another tab, and out of sight, out of mind.
What tricks do you employ to help yourself remember all your options? E.g. I have a player that keeps all his spells on post-it-notes. Another that tracks expended ammo with toothpicks. What are your crutches?
Very extensive reading. Not only do I generally know most of the options in the books, but I also reread my character sheets regularly between sessions and think of cool ways to use everything.
But mostly I just remember that my character should have at least 1 class feature per level and that gives me a sense of when there is a gap (since every feature says it's level). Note: spellcaster getting new slot levels usually counts for them.
Same here lol. I have a very repetitive job, so I occupy my brain by theory crafting tactics for my current characters all day. It keeps me fresh on my characters' abilities and the rules surrounding them, while also giving me time to come up with new and interesting ways to use those abilities that I might not think of on the fly.
As far as physical aids, I like to have spell cards on hand for my in-person game, but those are mostly just there so I can hand them to the DM when I cast something, since I already know the basic mechanics of whatever I'm casting and I can usually pull up the specifics quicker from my character sheet or avrae than by thumbing through a stack of cards.
I study my character sheet when it's not my turn, re-reading what spells, abilities, and magic items I have frequently, especially during combat. While the rest of the party is taking their turns in combat, I'm going through my sheet in order to plan mine.
For me it's not a matter of "remembering" what I can do: if you take good notes and pay attention to your character sheet, it's all in front of you.
Not going to lie though, I still forget abilities sometimes. Like my divine sorcerer's Favored by the gods.
At low levels it isn't a problem for me, and generally I will start a character at level 1 or 3 so it is farirly easy to remember their features. As a campaign progresses I get to know my character so I know all their features because I have used them repetitively so I only need to specifically remember their new features.
The only issue arises when a character has a feature that is only very situationally useful. I am thinking of things like a monk's timeless body . It is very unlikely that an attempt will be made to age a monk magically so if it happens it is easy to forget about the feature. Another example is a bard counter-charm which is only usefful if you know in advancea creature is likely to attempt to charm or frighten the party (in reality out of combat because in commbat there are usually much more useful things to do with your action.
I can see it being a problem for a level 20 one shot but I have only done that once and I used a character I had played up to level 18 so I knew nearly all the features.
I do however like the DnDBeyond character sheets where you can get it to list your available Actions / Bonus Actions and Reactions.
The biggest problem I have is knowing all the spells available for characters that prepare spells each morning. There are days when it would be very useful to prepare a spell like find the path but when taking a long rest you forget it is on yourt spell list / what it does.
Having come from massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG), I'm long into the habit of having a 'rotation' or list of priorities. As the party's Cleric I've got lots of spells and martial ability, as well as the responsibility of keeping party members alive by not letting enemies get too close for comfort. The main thing, above theory and crutches, is practice. I'd read D&D materials years before playing, and it counts for naff all until you're up on initiative and required to do something. The most umming and arring I do is when I play a character I'm totally unfamiliar with for a one-shot, usually a caster I've had to conjure up in a day.
One thing that I would suggest is talking to your fellow players in and out of sessions about abilities, especially when levelling up to see how you can cover each other's bases and compliment each other's playstyles. It's OK to want clarification, rulings, or suggestions to line up abilities to combo with each other.
Anyway, here's an amusing flow chart for Clerics:
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
Both of these. It also very much helps to have your stuff organized. It's not something I do all the time, but in the past I have made sort of a venn diagram to note all of my relevant combat actions in one side, non-combat in the other side, with a very clear middle space holding those that are often easily both.
I've also done a separate listing for damage/both/utility just for combat stuff.
Play a Champion. They can't do💩
That isnt true. They are still fighters, so they have second wind, action surge, and indomitable to keep track of. Plus feats.
Other than that, if you ever wanted to play a fighter with the subclass of fighter, this is your go to. Don't forget about improved crit, the rest is all automatic (except some fighting styles).
Which is why I was being (slightly) hyperbolic, and I was referring solely to the subclass. And the base Fighter probably has the least amount of abilities to remember, but the few they have are very good.
This is the reason they're one of the best classes for new players, those that aren't afraid to get hit, that is.
True. The fighter gets literally 6 unique features: second wind, fighting style, action surge, ASI, extra attack, and indomitable. Champion only adds 3 more: improved critical, indomitable athlete, and survivor.
9 unique features across 20 levels is as simple as it gets. A bard has that many unique features by level 5 plus spells.
I regularly go through my active characters’ sheets to make sure I don’t forget what they can do. I simply keep rereading them to imprint that stuff on my memory. DDB makes it easy to focus on the Actions, Spells, Inventory and Features & Traits tabs. Basically, DDB is my crutch.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Remembering all my features is pretty easy, honestly. It's the spells where I forget and need to look at my sheet for, in regards to which I have prepped because I generally remember what they all do (in regards to the ones I actually use and prepare).
I sometimes have just crap abilities that don't matter or just wouldn't see use (like Invoke Duplicity for my Trickery cleric) and I just simply tune those out and forget about them. Since you have much less abilities than spells to remember, those are easier to burn into your brain.
My main tactic has been basically osmosis for memorization. I watched CR for a while, and so I picked up 5e's rules that way, as well as watched DnD youtubers and absorbed through them. Then I started playing and I've been a DM for 95% of the time I've been in games, and I mostly play on a oneshot server so I play with many different players who all have vastly different builds, all multiple times a week. So just through sheer practice and repetition I've just memorized most of my knowledge.
When I comes to combat I just reread my sheet when it isn't my turn and such, just so I can prep for when my initiative comes around. It's mostly when out of combat that I forget to use stuff. But I mostly follow the tried and true methods of playing this game (cast Pass without Trace when stealthing, cast spirit guardians when in combat, cast spiritual weapon on the next turn, etc) so stuff is pretty easy when you have a working strat down.
Funnily enough thanks to this thread it helped me realize that I forgot to use my damn Blessing of the Trickster in my last session with my cleric when we were stealthing! xP Thanks lol. Luckily we have more stealthing to do later as we treck back where we came from/explore for an exit (if we live, because my party decided to be suicidal and release some eldritch abomination out of a vat tank because it kept asking nicely and the party has no sense of self preservation (if I told them to not jump in a spike pit they'd just belly flop onto it to spite me lol). We're probs gonna roll intitiative immediately at the start of the next game).
Er ek geng, þat er í þeim skóm er ek valda.
UwU
And still fighters often forget that they can push or grapple someone ;-)
As a DM, I like to take a few minutes every few sessions and ask my players to look at their Features & Traits tab. I ask if there are any abilities they haven't used or have questions about.
I also find it helpful to have players review their Inventory tabs once in a while.