WotC Considering NPC Stat Format Change

Jester David · Mar 10, 2019

Henry said:
[MENTION=6785802]guachi[/MENTION] DID say, “his conversion”, not his 1e prep notes. If it is a 5e conversion, i’d Be interested in seeing one of his more complex liner notes for monsters (in a spoiler block if anyone is concerned with spoilers).

Take and cropping screenshots from my MM, I can fit all six statblocks into a page-and-a-half. I could probably cut-and-paste from the SRD as easily and shrink down the font to get them all on one page. That's an easy module, with so few critters.

JWilliamHarris1 · Mar 10, 2019

Non-binary means medium sized beard. Since the Basic Set we have known that male Dwarves have long beards and female Dwarves have short beards.

Reynard · Mar 10, 2019

Henry said:
Is this really still true, though? I know back when they were putting out a hardcover and a bunch of soft covers every month, this was actually true; however, with so few releases per year and all the focus on mainly adventure content, I think more people are actually PLAYING with this material, than just consuming for pleasure reading.

I'm no expert but I found Storm King's Thunder completely opaque and had a terrible time trying to run it. Dragonheist isn't much better, but that's mostly because it is a bad module.

Henry · Mar 10, 2019

Reynard said:
I'm no expert but I found Storm King's Thunder completely opaque and had a terrible time trying to run it. Dragonheist isn't much better, but that's mostly because it is a bad module.

Thing is, there are millions of people actively playing D&D currently (something like 12 to 15 million last surveys) - I really doubt the majority are just reading and not playing the released material. back when it was more like 3 to 4 million active players about 15 to 20 years ago, i could see a bunch of DMs just reading and shelving the stuff. I can't speak to Storm King's Thunder -- Out of the Abyss was pretty good, actually, as we Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, and I'm running Dragon Heist just fine right now -- admittedly, i'm putting my own spin on it, but that's how it's meant to be run.

This is not to Reynard personally, but just to the thought of collectibility -- if people really are just buying it to read and shelve it, and not give ideas or actual play time, IMO it's a terrible idea to lean into that, it would be better to improve playability and PREP USEFULNESS. As above with the car example, it's like buying a pretty oven mitt that is combustible, or buying a beautiful set of pots and pans that are not rated for cooking with. I find it just... silly, I can't help my opinion. I have NEVER knowingly bought something that looked cool that couldn't fulfill its original purpose for me. My Limited Edition Monopoly set has been played with, my vintage cast iron skillet still fries things and gets seasoned, My limited edition Art and Arcana set has been read cover to cover (and not reverently) and my Limited Edition Dice get played with on regular rotation.

Henry · Mar 10, 2019

Jester David said:
Take and cropping screenshots from my MM, I can fit all six statblocks into a page-and-a-half. I could probably cut-and-paste from the SRD as easily and shrink down the font to get them all on one page. That's an easy module, with so few critters.

Much appreciated; I'm also looking for [MENTION=6785802]guachi[/MENTION] 's input, because like him, I'm also one who finds trying to flip through three or four books while playing at the table WAAAY more trouble than it's worth, and have to go through the inconvenient step of extracting stat blocks when making prep notes for play, and wished the adventures that are sold were more ready for prep work than just one bolded word, even if additional adventure content were sacrificed, or a higher price tag were required. I'm in the minority, I know, but I like good tips to speed up table play when I can find them. A lot of the prep aids such as D&D Beyond haven't helped much (at least from the limited demos I've tried) and I always enjoy more.

Henry · Mar 10, 2019

R_Chance said:
I have a shelf full of 5E adventures (all of them except Ravnica -- no interest in that one), and haven't run any of them. I've read them though. As for cars, I saw a 2007 Shelby GT500 for sale at a local dealership 4 years ago (iirc). It had less than 30,000 miles on it. I think they drove it out and listened to the radio on weekends. Occasionally

Isn't that reminiscent of that old saying about the two happiest days for most boat owners?

Jester David · Mar 10, 2019

Henry said:
Much appreciated; I'm also looking for @guachi 's input, because like him, I'm also one who finds trying to flip through three or four books while playing at the table WAAAY more trouble than it's worth, and have to go through the inconvenient step of extracting stat blocks when making prep notes for play, and wished the adventures that are sold were more ready for prep work than just one bolded word, even if additional adventure content were sacrificed, or a higher price tag were required. I'm in the minority, I know, but I like good tips to speed up table play when I can find them. A lot of the prep aids such as D&D Beyond haven't helped much (at least from the limited demos I've tried) and I always enjoy more.

A tablet helps.

the SRD ( http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/systems-reference-document-srd ) is useful. But copying the text can be annoying as the formatting doesn't transfer when you cut-and-paste.

Both D&D Beyond and Roll20 have the SRD monsters online:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ogre
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ogre
It's easy enough to pull those up on an iPad. Or cut-and-paste them using Window's Snipping Tool then print out.

For other monsters, every smartphone is basically a scanner that fits in your pocket. Put the book in an area of bright but non-direct light and snap a pic of the monster's statblock. Crop out the rest of the page and email (or dropbox) the file to yourself. Collect the images in a Google Docs or Word document. Print. You're golden.

Personally, I tend to just use bookmarks. I did three bookmarks that are all covered in random names. I use them to mark needed pages in monster books. (Because I paid for the dead tree copy, so I want to use it.) And when I need a random NPC name, I pull out a bookmark and grab a name from that, the scratch it out.

robus · Mar 10, 2019

guachi said:
I think it has to be a thing in 5e. I mean, "gorgeous" isn't really high on the list of things necessary to run an adventure. And I find 5e adventure books terribly laid out and not at all easy to use.

So I assume WOTC's primary purpose with their adventure books isn't for people to actually run them.

Actually with Dragon Heist they really nailed it. Hard to run *and* hard to read!

robus · Mar 10, 2019

dwayne said:
Why not just have perforated cards in back with stats on them so you can remove and keep handy with all information. No need to put any thing other than name as all on card in back of adventure or book.

I would buy that accessory!

DND_Reborn · Mar 10, 2019

I sincerely hope they don't make the proposed changes. Stat blocks are meant to relay a lot of information quickly and easily with a scan and not word-by-word reading.