I found this program that some guy made called Combat Manager here.

I put in the current Eberron encounter in it last night and it took me about an hour to figure everything out, but it seems like it will be really useful. It accepts CB files, so all PCs can be entered in that way, and if you copy monster builder files to RTF format, it accepts those. In addition, when you build an encounter, it tells you the XP of the encounter and what the challenge level is for a party of 4/5/6 characters (especially useful for campaigns like ToV and Eberron, and even the various Delves). Then, in the encounter, you can see stats, pick initiatives, "use" encounters/dailies, add conditions, add or heal HP, and add conditions that last until a specific time in the encounter. Once that time comes up, it automatically ends the condition, so you can always see what conditions are applied. Finally, it also lets you adjust a monster's HP with a drop-down that has normal, semi (1/2 HP), demi (1/4 HP), and minion. When you do that, it ALSO adjusts the XP appropriately, so you can always make sure that the PCs get the appropriate XP for their fight.

I also played around with it last night after Josh told me about it. It really is quite nifty. When you import the rick text file from monster builder (adventure tools), it also imports the text for all the powers of that monster. We practiced with Irontooth. I've been pasting images of monster stat boxes into excel so far, but combat manager is much easier.

Unfortunately, when you import a charbuilder PC file, it does not carry over the text of the powers, but just the names. However, you can enter your own text for every power. It will take a while, but is worth it. If we do this for our campaigns, anyone can easily look up each other's PC power info for better tactics anytime.

The program is only 441 kb, so it will easily fit on a usb drive, although I haven't tried running it on one yet.

Thanks. I'll have to try it out.

Neat, I'll have to try playing with it, too.

So I used the combat manager for an encounter and I don't like it. Mostly because it doesn't fit well with a play by post game. I like to be able to transfer the status and HP in the program to the post, but it is cumbersome and I pretty much have to keep track of all the stats in a separate file as well. The best part was it keeping track of effects, like immobilized, slowed, marked, etc, but zone effects are tough to incorporate, ie stinking cloud. Also, I couldn't find a way to rename the monsters - for example "Blue spider."

I'd be curious to see if other DMs have found it useful here.

I keep using it (mainly for tracking effects and powers), but I do have another file to deal with other things, still. I also like it because it tells you what powers the monsters have, which mean I don't have to open a book or a pdf file or copy it to my excel sheet. Also, I have entered the character powers (much easier for level 1 characters than level 9 characters), and so I have an easy time keeping track of those, too, without having to look up character builder files or pdfs.

I like it as well for the reasons Josh has named. However, I have not been using it most of the time since I cannot get the encounter files to function on my work computer.