I’ve compiled a quick ( 73s) video for how I would use Onenote to track impromptu combat, and even prepare encounters in advance so that large battles can be ready at a moment’s notice. Both the combat tracker and encounter blocks are also part of the free SRD notebook (improved for v 3.0), in case you had been wondering what those extra tables were there for.
The video doesn’t appear in the post preview, so either click the title to see it, or click on the link below to watch it directly on Youtube.
The gist of it is pretty simple. My combat tracker is a Table with columns for Initiative, Monster Name, AC, HP, Conditions, and other notes (whatever you want to toss in there). I keep this same table structure on every monster page in what I call an Encounter Block, which is pre-populated row with the monster’s information. Since both tables have the same number of columns, you can just copy the Encounter Block and paste it into the Combat Tracking Table to add it.
The monster’s name in the Encounter Block contains a convenient link back to that monster’s page / statblock. This means the combat tracker and statblocks are always one-click away from each other (and because page switching is instantaneous, this speed is perfect for running combat on the fly).
You can prepare entire encounters in advance just by getting the desired encounter blocks pasted together into the relevant room / session notes. I’d recommend spending a few seconds to role their initiative values in advance so that once combat begins you can just paste the whole group into the table and be ready to go.
You can right-click the initiative column and have Onenote sort the Table by Descending, which will instantly sort the table.
The end result? If the players enter a room with 5 goblins, 1 bugbear and 2 wolves, your tracker will be filled out and waiting on the player’s to finish rolling their own initiative.
