How many times have you forgotten this or that small buff, temporary bonus, or helpful feat, racial or class feature in your games? Make it stop with Kilsek’s D&D 4e Buff Cards!
The Problem
We’ve all been there. While Weem’s D&D 4e Condition Cards are absolutely fantastic references and reminders for all the ever-present conditions in play, I found myself needing more help and visual aids for those other common game situations where we have all these cool little buffs or temporary modifiers that are harder to track and easier to miss or forget, especially between turns, as Robert Schwalb talks about in Reasonable Choices.
The Solution
And so, inspired by both Weem’s condition cards and this critical 4e gaming need, I created my own custom Buff Cards!
Let these inspire you to create your own so that you never miss a bonus or buff again! Below are examples of the ones I am using right now in two campaigns were I am fortunate enough to be a player (as I usually DM much more than I play, though 4e has changed that some, which is a nice change of pace as well as a wonderful learning and creative experience).
The first set of buff cards are for my half-orc bloodfury savage ranger in a currently paragon tier Nentir Vale campaign. The buff cards for my revenant eladrin-past-life avenger in my heroic tier Shadowfell campaign follow.
Design Notes
Note I kept the format straightforward and simple, focusing on some shorthand rules language at times, and made sure to include a list of bulleted sources for each game element at the bottom of each card. No more asking “How am I able to do that again?” about a given feature, ability or power. Now you’ll know instantly why you can do it, further enabling your visualization and in-game roleplay description of what just happened.
Also note that for these to truly be useful to you, they must be customized for each character, unlike condition cards whose rules do not change. While the basic format remains the same from character to character, you’ll still have to edit in your own particular weapon’s critical damage dice for example, as that varies.
Improvement
What do you think of my Buff Cards? Do you think they would help you or your playgroup? Are you thinking about creating and using some in your D&D 4e games? What would make it easier for you to do so in your games today? If you like these Buff Cards, let me know what questions and ideas you have to improve upon this idea and make it more accessible and easier for more D&D players to use.
Hopefully, similar to Weem’s D&D 4e Condition Cards, Kilsek’s D&D 4e Buff Cards v. 1.0 are just the beginning!
Kilsek
Nice work! Now I have to go make these up for all my players. Stuff like this should be automatically included in an official Character Builder generated character sheet. WotC take notice!
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[…] and magic items and recreate them with a bulleted format that’s more readable, similar to my D&D 4e Buff Cards. Bulleted information is simply faster and easier to comprehend, add up and execute, especially […]