MM II Identity Parade

[Kobold Avenger]

So a Human Noble is 5th level, but an Insane one is 23rd...

What can an Insane Noble do? Stomp all over buildings and breath fire?

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Just from them specificially using the term Insane, and Far Realm having a large impact in 4e. I am imagining a Noble who has made dealings with the Far Realm/been corrupted by them.

 

[Shemeska]

II'm not advocating for 2e style habitat/ecology entries

I sure would . It's something that's been largely lacking for more than an edition now. The pendulum swung towards more crunch at the expense of in-depth flavor in 3e, and with 4e it swung even further in that direction (to an absurd degree IMO).

I want monsters that inspire me to use them, that give me ideas, and give new players and new DMs motivation and details to spur their imagination. I don't want a book of dry stats that gives me little to no reason to bother looking at it twice.

 

[Dannager]

I sure would . It's something that's been largely lacking for more than an edition now. The pendulum swung towards more crunch at the expense of in-depth flavor in 3e, and with 4e it swung even further in that direction (to an absurd degree IMO).

I want monsters that inspire me to use them, that give me ideas, and give new players and new DMs motivation and details to spur their imagination. I don't want a book of dry stats that gives me little to no reason to bother looking at it twice.

Given that plenty of people find the current layout of 4th Edition monster supplements completely acceptable (myself included), it sounds like 4th Edition probably just isn't your game.

So, whatever you end up playing, enjoy! Me, I'm perfectly content with not wasting precious page space on fluff that probably will not get a second glance when it could instead hold useful monster information that will help me create interesting encounters involving compelling foes. It's a lot easier coming up with solid fluff than it is coming up with solid mechanics, and it's a lot easier to integrate mechanics into your campaign than it is to integrate fluff. Given the choice between the two, I'd much prefer that the professionals focus on the mechanics part.

 

[Dire Bare]

Fell Taints

[DIRTY MIND]Those sound terrifying![/DIRTY MIND]

 

[I'm A Banana]

I want monsters that inspire me to use them, that give me ideas, and give new players and new DMs motivation and details to spur their imagination. I don't want a book of dry stats that gives me little to no reason to bother looking at it twice.

We can totally do that without giving me 150 words of space that is wasted.

Given the choice between the two, I'd much prefer that the professionals focus on the mechanics part.

It's a good thing that this isn't a binary solution, so that you shouldn't have to choose between two extremes. I mean, given the choice between being set on fire and being drowned, I would instead choose to be well-hydrated and warm.

I like a monster book that I can actually use, and thus the 4e MM's total lack of non-stat info and the 2e MM's expansive detail on the mating lives of rot grubs are useless, because I don't want to fight everything all the time, and I don't care about the exact length of a male grue's snout in springtime, either.

It's not necessarily "more fluff" as much as it is "different types of encounters." Combat is all well and good, but my game contains more than just combat. Especially when things like sphinxes and gold dragons and coatl are involved.

 

[Rechan]

I see a lot of monsters from various Dragon Mags/Adventures in there, too.

Also, very few fey. It surprises me too that they're going out of their way to make NPCs of the new races: Half-Orcs and Devas and suchlike.

Looks like they're rounding out the Archons, too.

However, this has made me pre-order the book. Hells yeah.

 

[Tuerny]

Yeah, I really wanted to see more fey, particularly since one of my campaigns will be set there for awhile.

 

[RefinedBean]

You know, things that aren't statvomit? Things that encourage me to do more than kill the beast? Things that show me how to use them in a game, rather than just in a combat?

I found a link to something that might be up your alley, [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Masters-Guide/dp/0786948809/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241904264&sr=8-1"]check it out[/ame]!

It's by a pretty small company, though, but they give hints and tips as to how to throw pretty much any creature into a fun campaign.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I found a link to something that might be up your alley, check it outcheck it out !

It's by a pretty small company, though, but they give hints and tips as to how to throw pretty much any creature into a fun campaign.

Too generic, really. Why is it that I can have over 500 variations on combat, but only 12 variations when not killing things?