TOPIC: Gear Mat

page 17 of the Coach's Guide

Druegar wrote: page 17 of the Coach's Guide

FYI, The mat in the guide is missing a legs slot.

I wonder if we'll have new mats at GenCon, or if it makes sense to save money and use the current mats.

The 2016 guide has the new mat. It will be published later this year.

The new mats have both a leg and a figurine slot.

I think the OP meant more of a nicely printed full-size laminated mat just like used in the dungeon. If they are making new mats, maybe make a few extra and see if they would sell as a trial thing at GenCon.

The "front" (primary) side of those player mats are designed to be somewhat simplified and don't show every slot, so they purposely leave off one of the charm slots and two of the Ioun Stone slots.

At GenCon there are quite a few player who only have the tokens from their starter pack. The simplified sheet is all they need.

Many players with extensive token collections use the spreadsheet or the app and don't use the mat at all. Bless them! Many coaches give such players a bonus hit point for making life easier in the coaching room.

I don't see a lot of use of the advanced side of the mat in recent years.

Then there are the people who arrive late dump out a mass of tokens and start sorting them out. That's when I call for help from a coaching assistant.

The TD Character Generator app is way better. It does all the calculations for you and it shows you what you are allowed to equip on what character you select.

That or the excel sheet....or both.

Having your own gear mat (customized or not) will not get you through coaching any faster. Using either the app or the Excel sheet will.

Druegar wrote: Having your own gear mat (customized or not) will not get you through coaching any faster. Using either the app or the Excel sheet will.

agreed. hat mat only helps to see what you have(plus it keeps people busy while I am filling out the Coaching card)

Druegar wrote: Having your own gear mat (customized or not) will not get you through coaching any faster. Using either the app or the Excel sheet will.

And earn the eternal gratitude of your coach.

lazlo_hollyfeld1985 wrote:

Druegar wrote: Having your own gear mat (customized or not) will not get you through coaching any faster. Using either the app or the Excel sheet will.

agreed. hat mat only helps to see what you have(plus it keeps people busy while I am filling out the Coaching card)

This.

Coaches may verify you have some (or all) of the tokens on the equipment list, but then they can just copy down the numbers without doing all those calculations. Some experienced coaches can do them pretty fast, but newer coaches just can't from lack of experience, but all of them are much speedier if you put your build in the tools.

Amorgen's spreadsheet and Cranston's mobile apps have been vetted by the community and are trusted by the coaches. If you want to create a mat and use it for planning your builds to make sure you're only wearing one hat for instance, that would be cool. But, if you want to breeze through the coaching room, you'll want to take the final step of entering your build in one of the two tools mentioned.

I've handed coaches printed versions from Amorgen's (free but requires Excel and a printer), or handed over my phone with Cranston's (costs a couple of bucks and requires a smart phone/tablet), and I'll never go into the coaching room ever again without doing one or the other.