D&D Nerdery: What's Your Status?

A number of things can happen to a stalwart hero in the course of battle. One hero is poisoned by a nasty bugger. Another knocked unconscious. A third bloody and torn. The confused cleric looks around the battlefield in an attempt to discern which pristine miniature is in which trouble.

DMs and players must track the status of both heroes and villains throughout the course of a game. There are companies who make very lovely status marker tools, such as magnetic markers that stack up under a miniature. These are great but a bit expensive, so what about status marker tools on a budget?

Poker chips may seem to be the most obvious route to cheap status marker. These chips stack nicely and come in many colors. Oh sure, the rainbow of colors exist but it is difficult to find more than about 4 different colors locally. Other options include everything from colored stones to beads pinned to the top of a miniature's head (personally, I find the idea of shoving a pin into my mini's head abhorrent). What is a cheap DM to do?

Status Marker Tools
Supplies:

Circle Cutter - Martha Stewart produces a circle cutting tool, found in the scrapbook supplies section of Wal-Mart for about $10.

Foam Board - .99 a large sheet, found at most craft stores.
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There are a number of different circle cutters available on the market thanks to the explosion of the scrapbooking craft. Hole punches are also a viable option, however if you intend to use foam board, you will likely find your hole punch will not work with the thickness of the board. A circle cutter similar to the one pictured will score foam board enough to pop out beautiful circles. Another advantage to this sort of cutter is the range of diameters one can cut. Try putting a poker chip under a huge Young White Dragon!

Foam board is thick enough to stand out when stacked under miniatures, cheap, and comes in a rainbow of colors for every player mark and status a DM could dream up or read out of a book.

It's a circle!

Cut yourself a bag of multicolored circles and you and your players will soon be able to see the conditions of the battlefield at a glance.

Example: Average sized, bloodied dwarf; large, flying dragon; huge, poisoned and bloodied, elemental.