How can I effectively cross-reference information or just learn more about the game?

[Irk]

I just noticed that dndtools had received a cease and desist letter from WotC, and while I'm not here to discuss whether that was or was not justified, I did use that site quite frequently, considering I have most every book in physical form.

However, I am not in the habit of carrying several pounds of books around with me, and I now find it very difficult to quickly find information when I don't recognize a spell or a class. I know PDFs are an option, but we probably should not really discuss those, so I was wondering how you guys manage to find things that mesh well with other things. Do you simply read through the books and take notes? Do you keep spreadsheets? Intense googling? I just would like to be able to expand my character building capacity now that I've lost what I considered to be a rather valuable asset to those efforts. Again, I am not here to discuss the legal ramifications of WotC's decision, I just want to know how you all manage to know so much without databases like that one.

[torrasque666]

I'm probably going to start keeping a "poor man's dndtools" style spread sheet. Spells will be arranged by level, then class. Feats in a similar fashion. I already use heroforge for referencing races and templates, so I'll either continue to use that, or just rip the information out(sorry heliomance)

Spells are the biggy though, and I'll start keeping a reference. Or just ask my players "Ok guys, I need to know what spells we all got. Wands, Staves and Scrolls too." and plug those in.

[JKTrickster]

Honestly, I just memorize a lot of things really easily.

Maybe I've spend too much time on this game (and I really, really have) but I can honestly remember most things off the top of my head. I'm reasonably confident in my memories, and then I just go from there.

Therefore, I only look at a book when I need to read the fine details. Like when I'm building a character.

Otherwise? Most of the stuff is actually not that hard to remember.

[RFLS]

I'm considering writing a 'big guide to everything' that lays out feats/spells/classes/etc with page references and brief descriptions got ease of use. I was originally going to do it just for me, but I'm thinking crowdsourcing it on the forums might be better. We could probably get, well, everything referenced.

[AnonymousPepper]

{Scrubbed}

[evangaline]

{Scrubbed}

[TheMooch]

The same author of dndtools.eu also wrote a free android app with OGL/SRD information in a searchable format. {Scrubbed}

[Xsatra]

{Scrubbed}

[Reshy]

{Scrubbed}

[Extra Anchovies]

<snip>

This is kind of a rules violation (copyright infringement), I'd recommend you edit it away.

[ben-zayb]

If just for referencing purposes (no non-OGL violation), it seems to me that the [REDACTED] does that.

EDIT: Removed cause I'm not 100% sure.

[Douglas]

The Mod Radiant: I was going to leave this thread open, but it seems copyright violations are inevitable.:smallsigh: