Hey

Like many of you, I spend considerable time and expense on organising my collection. All my cards are in sleeves, then re-sleeved and sorted inside a binder in order of OL cards, rewards, hero classes etc etc.

The one issue I have with this are the monster classes. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to organise my monster cards into classes so as to find them more quickly during quests? Is there a pattern that I am missing?

Cheers

Alphabetical order in a card box works for me. But I believe that someone made a sheet that grouped the monster by traits which you could print out for easy reference.

The trouble with monster traits is that each monster has 2, so you need to have a way search by either trait (first or second). Alphabetical seems like a simpler idea.

Alphabetical order is good for the OCD but it's the trait organisation that I want to crack and I totally agree that each Monster having two makes it very hard.

Someone must have a system for it that matches with the way quests asks for specific traits, example, if the mountain trait is required it is likely that the wilderness trait will be also etc.

This is where excel excels! (Sorry) I've been working on an "All in One" that allows you to filter heroes, agents, and monsters. Very time consuming for someone who has a new addition to the family, so it's put on hold. I can send it if you're interested via pm email address.

Edit: the AiO tracks and filters traits, so you can grab cards alphabetically afterwards.

I usually just flip the entire deck of monster cards over, and (looking at the back) pull out all the cards that match the current scenario. Then I pick up that set and pick whichever one I feel like using.

4 hours ago, Silidus said:

I usually just flip the entire deck of monster cards over, and (looking at the back) pull out all the cards that match the current scenario. Then I pick up that set and pick whichever one I feel like using.

That sounds time consuming.

You could also use the monster information on www.d2etracker.com. There are lots of filters (even besides traits).

And if you use it to track your campaign it will even tell you exactly what monsters you can use when you start a new quest (doesn't help RtL players though)

This is what I was talking about. Of course, this has been made some time ago and is not up to date at all but you get the idea:p

Descent2ndEdition_Monster_Traits.pdf

Edit: There is also this document from Any2cards which places the monsters in alphabetical order with the traits and monster stats next to it. It is harder to navigate and if you know the monsters stats more or less by heart it is somewhat less useful in my opinion. But if you are new or don't have the greatest memory it might help a lot!

Edit2: An updated sheet might be a good addition to the Reference Project that is going on. If you are already printing 50 pages two or three more won't hurt:)

I, like InfinityBlack14, I'm using excel, with formulas to filter and sort based on what I need, so I have all the data in front of me to compare
One sheet for each type monsters, heroes, lieutenants, quests, ... with all the data

Silidus , that's what I am doing now but it takes sooooo long, especially as all of mine are kept in plastic wallets inside a binder.

Ceasarsalad101 , I tried to open that but it says I don't have permission.

DerDelphi , I've been on that site before but couldn't get what I required out of it.

I will message Infinityblack14 although I think excel will help more 'in game' than for a storage solution. I want to be able to go straight to a group of Monsters that are compatible for that quest rather than sifting through each card.

Maybe the way ahead is to simply put them in the order of their first trait and treat the second trait as sub categories.

1 hour ago, chrisdove said:

Silidus , that's what I am doing now but it takes sooooo long, especially as all of mine are kept in plastic wallets inside a binder.

Ceasarsalad101 , I tried to open that but it says I don't have permission.

DerDelphi , I've been on that site before but couldn't get what I required out of it.

I will message Infinityblack14 although I think excel will help more 'in game' than for a storage solution. I want to be able to go straight to a group of Monsters that are compatible for that quest rather than sifting through each card.

Maybe the way ahead is to simply put them in the order of their first trait and treat the second trait as sub categories.

Thanks for trying out my tracker! It works best for monster selection for a quest and as a reference for what builds can be made for heroes. If anyone else is interested, I'd like feedback on this first attempt.

The problem with trying to group them in a binder is that there is significant overlap between the monsters traits, and each quest allows for any one of 3, so its not really even possible to store them in a binder by quest availability, unless you are willing to have more than one copy of each card.

You could proxy cards in the binder, maybe put the real cards under their first trait and a proxy for the second. so then you can just pull out the 3 binder pages for a given quest.

Sort them alphabetically.

Then use an application showing you the selection valid for the encounter, make your choice and then grab the cards.

You can use a list-based excel sheet, although that won't be necessarily reflect all open group selection rules (some are complex). You can also use web-based tools like Atom's campaign tracker. Or you can do like me and build your own program.

Yeah, It's what I do (sorting them alpabetically). To be clear, here is where you can access the monsters available per quest on my tracker:

When you start a quest, before doing the travel steps, you can press the "View Quest (or rumor) Info"

There you will get an alphabetical dropdown for the monsters available for a quest. :

The links (Encounter 1, Encounter 2,..) will even take you to a customized version of my monster characteristics page (http://d2etracker.com/stats_monster_attributes.php) with the monsters limited to those available for that encounter.

Then you can either pick the ones you want by looking at that page, or just get the cards based on the dropdown and look at the actual cards

Hope that helps.

Mine is in alphabetical, and I can't see problem.

I personnaly uses a special classing system

Since I use often agents and plot decks, my monster are from the most monsters to the less one and the from the smallest to the biggest

So, there it is

Kobolds (better group to summon agent since you keep master monsters)

Reanimates (another good option since you keep 1 master monster)

Fire imps ( same than before)

(theses are not good for agents)
Zombies
Cave spiders
Skeleton archers
Bandits
Goblin archers
Shades
Lava beattles
Changelings
Volucrix reavers
Beastman
Harpy
Ferrox
Razorwings
Sorcerers
Goblin witchers
Flesh moulders
Dark priests
Rat swarm
Barghests
Hellhounds

(worst for agent)
Medusa
The dispossessed
Wraith
Hybrid sentinels
Crow hags
Broodwalkers
Carrion drakes
Bone horrors
Plague worms
Shambling colossus
Naga
Chaos beasts
Bane spiders
Blood ape
Wendigo

(if playing Queen Ariad or Gargan Mirklace, best option if reinforcement are avalaible)
Iron bounds
Dark minotaurs
Marrow priests
Deep elves
Manticores
Trolls
Merriods
Arachyuras
Infernal hulks
Giants
Golems
Ettins
Demon lords
Ogres
Elementals
Ice Wyrms
Crypts dragons
Shadow dragons