Cards that "Remember" stats

I know I have some really weird requests, but please just hear me out!
In one of the games I run we have decided to move our entire inventory system into cards, because it's so easy to pick up, trade, drop, take, organize, label, etc.
But the biggest problem is that a card loses its memory as a token the second it gets picked up.
Is there any way to extend this "memory" just a little bit?
The one thing we're missing is that once we put an item in the pack, it doesn't have an ammo count, or status conditions, or a color, or a character to represent, or a million other things that it could have done on the table.
Maybe you could find a way to make cards remember these things at least until they get shuffled into the deck? I would like that a lot!

The idea of using decks as inventory sounds interesting so if it doesn't require a lot of rewriting +1.

I used cards as inventory, in a bunch of games, but i dont have stats stored on them. That is a great idea.

Wow, it sounds much simpler when you refer to it as storing stats on cards. I hope it's not too much trouble.

+1

It seems like you would have to add an option to the Deck to "Forget Stats" or some such. If that can be assumed, it sounds like this idea could make decks very powerful indeed. +1

Editted for clarity.

One alternative is to set the image you use for the card to include the stats in the image itself. More of a hassle if it's customized random equipment loot, otherwise it would work the same way you wish.

The application I'm looking forward to is items that summon characters. I'd like to:

1. Have an item in your inventory of cards.
2. Drag the item to the table.
3. "Flip" the item to release/reveal the monster contained inside.
4. The summoned token remembers its stats and is linked to a character.

I also have a real-life deck that I use in one of my games for loot (Numenera cyphers, to be specific). There are blanks that get filled out when I pull it, to keep things fresh (form, stats). It would be amazing to be able to transfer that to a roll20 deck - pull it out, assign a few stats (or, just imagine it, have preassigned defaults which can be set up like dice-roll type macros!), and give it to the character who can use their Hand as their inventory. Not even just stats (which yes, you could have multiple card images for, albeit with a lot more effort) - you could keep track of ammo or uses of limitted use spells; durability; if it gets disabled you could put an emblem on it. This could be so powerful. I love it.

I agree. One of the applications that I had in mind was to completely handle inventory via cards, so that I could drop a card on the table, give it full stats and description, and then simply allow players to pick it up.

Robert R. said:

I agree. One of the applications that I had in mind was to completely handle inventory via cards, so that I could drop a card on the table, give it full stats and description, and then simply allow players to pick it up.

But unfortunately that's a whole new system, not an addendum to the current one. To get this, they should instead create an inventory tracking system, not rework the card system to fit into this role.

I think I would understand better if I knew why tokens lose their connections when you pick them up.
it seems like keeping stats is a regular function since cards can be used this way on the table, but for some reason they go away when withdrawn.

I think cards were never intended to have stats, just when played to the table they become tokens, and it's tokens that can have stats.

Dave W. said:

Robert R. said:

I agree. One of the applications that I had in mind was to completely handle inventory via cards, so that I could drop a card on the table, give it full stats and description, and then simply allow players to pick it up.

But unfortunately that's a whole new system, not an addendum to the current one. To get this, they should instead create an inventory tracking system, not rework the card system to fit into this role.

I'm not sure that it does have to be a whole new system, really. They've already got a lot of it in place. As a programmer, I would prefer to make this system more flexible than to have 2 very similar systems. And as a GM, I don't have any difficulty wrapping my head around cards-as-inventory.

I have created an API script that does this.

https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/744974/script-inventory-extension-slash-card-token-saver

That's looks like nice work.
Hopefully, the roll20 devs will incorporate something like that for those of us who aren't Mentors.

Yes, hopefully! FYI, I wasn't trying to say that they shouldn't... they might even be able to use some of what I just did, if they decide to look into it.

I tried running this.
I set a card's bar 1 and attached to a character token.
Then I picked it up and put it back down. It forgot everything.
What am I doing wrong?