Ydars
Explorer
This is a strange thread...............
Some people seem to worry that monster stats in 4E will be arbitary! I suspect they will be since this is a game and in a game, everything is arbitary (i.e. there will almost certainly be some underlying math or system for creating monsters in 4E but the purpose of creating monsters is merely to challenge the party in a game. Therefore the system is deliberately and arbitarily set up solely to create a workable game).
3.5E monster generation was totally arbitary; it just followed the same rules as for PCs. Why this is a good thing has always evaded me because it meant you had to slavishly follow these rules in longwinded fashion just because WoTC never let us DMs in on the underlying math. 3.5E monsters creation was HORRIBLE and complete nonsense. I loved many of the monsters but I don't think I ever created any of my own because it was such a nightmare. WHY would monsters choose to follow careers as if they were humans? It makes NO SENSE. NPC/Monster creation was such a complete chore in 3.3E that it made the game much less fun for the DM.
My great hope for 4E is that is removes this horrible burden from the DM and makes monster generation mechanics explicit and simple. That way, we DMs can prepare a few surprises for players who know how to get around everything you throw at them because they are DMs themselves. This very fact has always lessened the game for me when I play rather than DM.
Some people seem to worry that monster stats in 4E will be arbitary! I suspect they will be since this is a game and in a game, everything is arbitary (i.e. there will almost certainly be some underlying math or system for creating monsters in 4E but the purpose of creating monsters is merely to challenge the party in a game. Therefore the system is deliberately and arbitarily set up solely to create a workable game).
3.5E monster generation was totally arbitary; it just followed the same rules as for PCs. Why this is a good thing has always evaded me because it meant you had to slavishly follow these rules in longwinded fashion just because WoTC never let us DMs in on the underlying math. 3.5E monsters creation was HORRIBLE and complete nonsense. I loved many of the monsters but I don't think I ever created any of my own because it was such a nightmare. WHY would monsters choose to follow careers as if they were humans? It makes NO SENSE. NPC/Monster creation was such a complete chore in 3.3E that it made the game much less fun for the DM.
My great hope for 4E is that is removes this horrible burden from the DM and makes monster generation mechanics explicit and simple. That way, we DMs can prepare a few surprises for players who know how to get around everything you throw at them because they are DMs themselves. This very fact has always lessened the game for me when I play rather than DM.
