Reddit reviews Gale Force Nine GF973904 Dungeons and Dragons Arcane Spell Deck Game (230 Cards)

Definitely disagree with allowing it to influence other creatures. Played a sort of one-shot as the demons from Out of the Abyss. We had misunderstood how timestop isn't allowed to influence other creatures because we were using the spell cards and that piece isn't on the card. It ended up completely wiping out one of the demons in a single use of timestop from close to full health. It is ridiculously overpowered in my opinion if it can do that...

edit: tl;dr: Wizards aren't very newbie-friendly, in my opinion. The fighter's math doesn't check out. Lastly, if you want to go the extra mile to help her out, you can do some quality of life improvements for her (spell cards, help pick out spells, etc.).

I've noticed a few things that won't help you now, but could probably help in the future.

• Wizards are probably the least newbie-friendly class. They have a huge spell list, and they have to pick which spells to learn and prepare. It can be difficult to "fix" if you pick the "wrong" spells. (I think that most or all spells are useful, but some of them are a lot more situational than others.)
  
• Clerics and druids are a lot more forgiving while still being full casters, since they automatically learn all of their spells. All of your prepared spells can be swapped out during an extended rest.
  
  Additionally, if she's comparing herself against the fighter, I'd agree that she should feel a little underwhelming, but that's because the fighter's math doesn't add up, even for two of them.
  
  
• How on earth is the fighter doing 20-30 damage on a hit, and two or three times per round (even with a helper)? I can see that being possible if they're using a greatsword and using the GWM feat, but your wizard girlfriend should be hitting a lot more often, even if she has just 14 intelligence. That GWM accuracy penalty could be offset if the fighter is a battle master and uses the precise attack maneuver all the time, but still, 30 damage is only attainable on crits while power attacking.
  
• The 20-30 damage should also be only once per round, plus one action surge per short rest, and maybe once more as a bonus action if they kill or crit if they took the GWM feat. Neither of those extra attacks are reliable or frequent, though. If they're hitting two or three times per round, then at least one of the fighters should be dual wielding (since they only get extra attack at level 5, and you mentioned they're level 4), which should have an average damage of around 10.5 per hit. 20 damage per hit is infeasible while dual wielding, even on a crit, unless they have a flametongue or something.
  
• How is the NPC girlfriend treated? Is she an extension of the dwarf fighter, or is she her own character? Even the math for the dwarf fighter checks out, you should consider making the NPC girlfriend leave the party unless you're balancing everything for the extra character, and the extra character is not just an extension of the dwarf. If the human fighter is an independent character, then of course they'll do the majority of the damage, because they're two characters and the wizard is just one.
  
  As far as stuff you can do going forward, I do have a few recommendations.
  
  
• Advantage from flanking is a variant rule in the DMG, not something that's "core." I would not recommend using it, either, since advantage is much stronger than in previous editions, and flanking is pretty easy to achieve.
  
• If you have the money, buy some spell cards for her - they're not perfect, and a lot of the longer spell descriptions are appreviated, but they're fantastic for knowing what you have and what you can use. If you don't have the disposable cash, you could make your own, but that can be an arduous task.
  
• At the end of each extended rest (at least for a little while), you could ask her what spells she has prepared, and review it with her. If she has any big omissions (AoE damage, single target damage, anything situation-specific that her character knows about), you could point them out to her. My DM does this anyway just so that he knows what we have prepared so that he can bookmark the appropriate PHB pages for easy reference, haha.
  
• If you want to correct the non-min-maxing in a particular way, you could give her a magic item that complements her weaknesses - probably a magical wand or something that adds +1 to her spell attacks and save DCs. That wouldn't upset the balance too much, right?

D&D Next: Arcane Spell Deck 73904 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P81YZS4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zS2tybV4ERWRT
These are the arcane, and you can find the other class cards with a quick search.

Two options:

1. Free
   
   

• Make your own.
  
• Use an app. I recommend D&D 5 Spellbook Cards is you are using an Android device. You are on your own for iOS, but some others here might have some recommendations.
  
  

2. Buy premade cards:
   
   

• Elemental
  
• Bard
  
• Paladin
  
• Ranger
  
• Druid
  
• Cleric
  
• Arcane
  
  I have not yet personally bought the premade cards yet, but I have heard other mention that they don't have overlaps. In other words, if you bought say the Cleric set you would be missing any spells considered Arcane that the Cleric can learn. Even if you only want the Druid or Cleric you're probably going to need to buy 4-5 sets if you want all the skills for those two classes. In this case, it might be worth buying the two sets you want and filling in the blanks with the first option until you can afford the rest (I'm just making the assumption you don't want to drop $100 on spell cards all in one go here).

Much of the fifth edition rulebook is covered under the SRD, and therefore is open source. Spells are not. Therefore, the only materials that can legally reproduce spell descriptions are those released by Wizards. Wizards has no digital offering for 5e that includes spells.

I use the official spell cards: https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4 (they exist for non-arcane casters, as well.) You can, of course, type up or write up your own solutions as long as you don't publish them, but unfortunately there is no good answer to your question that doesn't violate the rules of the subreddit (and, you know, the law.)

Lots of links ahead, hopefully it helps ya!

I Read...
ALL THE THINGS!

I DM in the Forgotten Realms/Planescape/Spelljammer (They're all kinda linked by nature) so I spend a lot of time browsing classic Volo's Guides, Elminster's Ecologies, Dungeon/Dragon issues, and Candlekeep Forums are super handy for some quick inspiration or detail on a particular point of interest. You will find NO better FR resource than Candlekeep, even Ed Greenwood answers our questions there very regularly.

I also use tabs all over the damn place, it makes my books look like a hedgehog sometimes but it also helps with rapid flipping around mid encounter.

Encounter cards.

I use 3x5 index cards that I just hand write on usually with quick HP, AC, Init, gear information. I have pre-printed versions I made for the most common of common creatures like Orcs, Slimes etc.
I set these all aside in one spot.

Minis

I spend all the cash collecting books so I kinda neglected minis...for 27 years. Sad, right? Anyway I printed out a shit ton of pages from the ever useful Pathfinder Pawns sets and I (tediously) cut them out by hand, double sided two sheets, tape all 4 edges, and use binder clips to stand them up. Viola! Long lasting cheap as dirt minis with a diversity higher than you can usually buy in 3d form. I pop em into clips as I can usually predict encounters ahead of time, even as an improv DM.

MAPS!

I'm a digital hoarder, I have ~2000 battlemaps from everywhere I have collected. Thus I probably have something for almost any situation that will pop up. Worse case, I just tweak my descriptions to resemble the map available. I also use Virtual Battlemap on STEAM to make my own 3d animated maps but time constraints limit the time I can actually spend on this. Also, again as an improv DM it's pointless to make a crap ton of maps myself ahead of time because of how gameplay actually works. Here are a couple shots I made myself though.
These are projected on the table via ceiling mount projector.

For obvious places that we visit a lot I have city maps (like Suzail) made up with a key on the other side. Since I run these places A LOT I made them pretty high quality but still on the cheap. This helps me remember where things are, places etc etc which is important in multi-year campaigns. You can make cool PC versions also that will hold up well being passed around the gaming table for months if you use good photo paper!

Dungeons? Make a DM copy and scrawl any noted you need like this. 5e book maps are HORRIBLE, tiny and stuck in a book so take them out like this so you again have an easy to grab fast reference for YOU. That example is from an early crawl the group did several months back with my notes on it.


SPELLS

I use the retail D&D spell cards usually, but also supplement them with various iOS and Android apps because there are quite a few new spells in the game that are not printed yet in a new set. I make little spell books for the casters ahead of time. It's really only useful spells, not ALL spells. It's not like that Kobold Necromancer is going to live long enough to use half of them anyway.

NAMES

I created, using various generators I like, lists of NPC names in dual columns. Here you can see my actual probably-drank-to-much mid game notes! Each sheet is color coded. RED Human, BROWN dwarf, ELF green etc. I did this for every common NPC race. So instead of having to create a name on the damn spot I can just grab the sheet, look at "Oh Male Elf...hummm OH this works!" and pop it out. Then I write on the sheet who now owns that name. It helps organize all the NPC's for my frail memory and speeds up npc creation table side drastically in those sudden improv situations where the PC's decide to go bug some random NPC for muffins or something.




ETC

Anything beyond that is highly variable session to session. That depends on the group/situation...a personal oddity that my players noted is how I go into way to much detail describing the flavor and texture of every beer they ever order in game. Thats because i'm an admitted beer snob. To help my beer-love I utilize a printed chapter (because I don't use my original copy at the table, it's to old) from Auras Whole Realms that can be transplanted into ANY GAME! It's a good 15 pages or so of just beer, wine, mead, ale, and liquor with cool names and descriptions and history. It's a minor thing but it helps with those sudden PC questions like "What's on the menu?" that might suprise you.

Some abilities you can use turn-after-turn.

Some abilities you can use once every 5e Short Rest, or once every 3e encounter.

Some abilities you can use once every 5e Long Rest, or once every 3e "8-hour rest".

If this is your definition of "variable cooldowns", 4e was not significantly different from its successor nor its predecessor.

I mean, 5e also has spell cards anyway.

Unless...

Here. Good luck finding them in stores near you, because the holidays wiped out the stock. They used to be available for Amazon Prime, but even those are gone.

Very high quality, not too expensive, each class has a unique style to them, and it should greatly reduce the need for every player having a laptop in front of them.

Most anywhere you'd buy the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide, I would think. Your local game shop, Amazon.com...

For example:

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467255825&sr=8-1&keywords=d%26d+spell+cards

They've got a pack of cards with each spell for each of the spell types--Arcane, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, etc. They also make cards with spells for Cleric Domains, for racial abilities, and for some other special abilities too.

I play a sorcerer as well, and love it.

As far as real-life purchases, other than a PHB, I find spell cards extremely helpful, though they are by no means required.

You can find the main Arcane set here (will cover you if you decide to play a Warlock or Wizard in the future as well), and a few additional spells here (you can probably live without these).

For some reason those links are showing insane prices, so I'm just including them for the pictures. You should be able to get the arcane set for $20 or less, and the archetypes set for less than $10 at your FLGS.

Metal dice. They are so satisfying to roll. Spellcards, if he doesn't already have them.

http://norsefoundry.com/product-category/7-piece-rpg-metal-dice-set/

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4

If you're looking to spend money.

If not, I had seen templates from other people that you could print on your own. The main one hardcodex.ru seems down? You could try searching to find an up-to-date, active one? I think you may not find all the spells, as they would be under copyright, except the SRD ones, available here for one.

There are probably options for most editions. Here is an example of spell cards for wizards/warlock and sorcerers. The same company makes cards for all casting classes I believe.

You could just buy them on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4

The manufacturer, Gale Force 9, makes a bunch of different sets. Arcane, cleric, druid...