Miniatures

[Lord.Sorasen]

So, I'm asking this as a DnD 3.5 question, but I suppose it applies to every system that uses miniatures.

Miniatures are really expensive. More than that, I sort of feel they detract from the experience rather than add to it. Especially when you have an unusual party, I feel like having to match to miniatures can be a bit disillusioning.. I'd much rather have little chips with numbers on it, honestly.

In the past, my group has been using little trinkets around the house. Hilarious little plastic animals have worked well, and recently we were all monopoly pieces (my bard/psion was a hat). But now we have a character who's "large" and suddenly our standard sized pieces won't work any more.

Honestly, I want a whole bunch of chips with numbers on them. Blue to represent the party, red to represent enemies, green to represent allies, yellow to represent a second group of enemies antagonistic to everyone.

But whatever. My real question is if anyone has a cheaper alternative to the miniatures. I still want to use the grid, and such. I looked for poker chips of all things, but those tend to be 1.25 inches at most.

[LOTRfan]

I wouldn't color code it. Maybe for the PCs, but all the NPCs should be the same color.

[MeeposFire]

Well if you have access to all sorts of coins you can go with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Expensive start possibly but you can get it all back. You can even use heads and tails to mean different things or creatures. You can still have the party uses minins if you want though. Makes them special.

If ou have a huge creature you are more than welcome to use our groups one time stand in: 1 chipotle burrito in the aluminum foil. Talk about the chipotle golem has never stopped.

[Yora]

Most d20 games don't actually need miniatures. The only thing you really need it is for Attacks of Opportunity and to determine area of effects. But both things can also just be handwaved by the gm.
A player simply says "I step behind the troll to flank him with the fighter" or "I aim the fireball to hit as many goblins as possible without hitting an ally". And the gm really can just make up how many goblins are affected and decide spontaneously if the troll makes an attack of opportunity.

[Ravens_cry]

Print out on thin card stock cutouts with pictures either drawn or found on-line and fold into a tent shape with tabs folding toward the inside.
Put a small weight in the centre if required.

[qcbtnsrm]

Hi thee to your local craft store. They should have craft shapes (including circles and squares (with and without rounded corners) in any regular size you care to have. Here (http://www.etsy.com/listing/56179692/unfinished-wooden-circles-2-inch-pack-of)are a pack of 10 "Large" (ie 2" diameter) discs. You can paint them any color you like or put whatever symbol or mark on them very easily.

I do use miniatures, but I have found this kind of thing very handy to be able to do things like use a large dragon and toss him on a 3" x 3" base to represent a huge dragon.

[Ravens_cry]

Most d20 games don't actually need miniatures. The only thing you really need it is for Attacks of Opportunity and to determine area of effects. But both things can also just be handwaved by the gm.
A player simply says "I step behind the troll to flank him with the fighter" or "I aim the fireball to hit as many goblins as possible without hitting an ally". And the gm really can just make up how many goblins are affected and decide spontaneously if the troll makes an attack of opportunity.
Yeah a) Not helping, the OP said they want miniatures and b) Rather arbitrary, IMHO. Personally, though this is as someone who has used miniatures of almost every game I've ever played so I'm biased, I find miniatures, whether figures, cutouts, or monopoly hat's and chess pieces, help one be able to know what is happening in the battlefield at a glance. This both helps the DM and the players coordinate everything.

[Squeeck]

Something like these?

www.em4miniatures.com (http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Counters.html)

I'm pretty sure similar stuff can be found in most craft stores, as well.

[Lord.Sorasen]

Hi thee to your local craft store. They should have craft shapes (including circles and squares (with and without rounded corners) in any regular size you care to have. Here (http://www.etsy.com/listing/56179692/unfinished-wooden-circles-2-inch-pack-of)are a pack of 10 "Large" (ie 2" diameter) discs. You can paint them any color you like or put whatever symbol or mark on them very easily.

I do use miniatures, but I have found this kind of thing very handy to be able to do things like use a large dragon and toss him on a 3" x 3" base to represent a huge dragon.

This is beautiful, and I think I'll do it, in fact. Thank you so much for the help ^^

[daxos232]

My group and I use minis, but we also like to use beer bottle caps. Buy your beer, keep the caps and its cheaper than buying figures. My guys a StrongBow cap. They fit perfectly on a standard battlemat too.

[Tyndmyr]

Yeah a) Not helping, the OP said they want miniatures and b) Rather arbitrary, IMHO. Personally, though this is as someone who has used miniatures of almost every game I've ever played so I'm biased, I find miniatures, whether figures, cutouts, or monopoly hat's and chess pieces, help one be able to know what is happening in the battlefield at a glance. This both helps the DM and the players coordinate everything.

This. You may not need minis for simple combats, such as with one opponent, or where all the enemies are neatly clustered together, but many fights are more complex than that. Hallways, rooms, mingled enemies and friendlies. Visualization is aided a lot by a map there, and when you have people.

So, use glass tokens or the like. Shot glasses work quite well for large creatures. I like using minis where possible, but nobody has enough for everything, so generically sized objects for medium, large and huge are great.

[Lord.Sorasen]

I should state things better: I don't really dislike miniatures. Mostly I don't want to use them because:

1. I find them a bit too expensive
2. I find they can be harder to keep track of (which one was the dire badger again? Oh, right, the goblin archer. And then that second one was the bear I think?) which ultimately for me detracts from the fight. I think simple "red chip with a number on it" would just be easier for me. Particularly since we have a character who plans to use expansion a lot. I'd like to be able to size his chip up without a miniature with a brand new shape all together.
3. I feel if you're too far away from your miniature (for instance, a halfling being represented by a wolf), there's some detatchment: and if you're too close everyone starts imagining your character like your piece (as people imagine book characters to look just like the actors who play them in the movie). I'd rather have as little resemblance as possible, and simple wooden circles seem to do that nicely.

However, I do want to use the grid system because:
1. For what it's worth, I'm distance challenged - if someone tells me something's 50 feet away, I honestly have no idea what that means. So the grid helps me visualize.
2. Smoother: less arguments about who was closer, etc. We have characters of varying speeds, characters who use cone attacks, etc etc, so it gets complicated without a grid.
3. I like the tactical aspect of it.

With that in mind, guys, give Yora some slack. I appreciate out of the box answers as well, honestly, and it did help clarify exactly what I meant.

[Mike_G]

The easiest way to track everyone is to use paper cutouts with the creature name or picture on them, plus a number if they are one of a horde of goblins, so you can keep track of who's been damaged, slowed, etc.

I've been playing since 1980, so a few minis picked up here and there have turned into quite the collection, so I usually have what I need.

If you don't have minis, pennies are fine, anything is fine. Today, with decent scanners and printers available to most people, you can just scan or download monster or PC artwork and print out a sheet of counters that exactly match your needs.

[WeLoveFireballs]

If you happen to collect coins then this is your use for em! Especially euros and quarters as there are tons of different designs on'em.

[Runestar]

Those "Mighty Max" figurines sure came in handy. I am glad I held on to them, especially the giant scorpion, red dragon and warmonger. :smallsmile:

[dsmiles]

Dice. Lots and lots of dice.

Small Monsters = d4s
Medium Monsters = d6s, or d8s, or d10s
Large Monsters = Big d6s, or d12s, or d20s
Huge Monsters = Ginormous d6s
Anything bigger, and I'm in trouble

[Beelzebub1111]

I use them for dungeons and boss fights. Otherwise I'll just use my graph paper notebook to keep track of everybody, until I can keep better track of combat in my head.

[Elric VIII]

Try this (http://avaxhome.ws/graphics/other_materials/miguel11110.html). It's a set of printable cutouts that represent D&D characters/monsters. There is bound to be something out of the 400+ choices.