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Monster ENCyclopedia: Scarecrow
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7754626" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>One thing I find interesting about the Scarecrow, is that for most monsters covered by the ENCyclopedia, there has been a very pronounced increase in the monsters hit points and expected damage dealt per round for each successive edition so that even if the relative power of the monster is unchanged its numbers are steadily rising in absolute terms. But for the Scarecrow, the 5e version of the monster actually appears to go back to the roots of the monster, drastically reducing AC, hit point, ability score, and damage inflation. It's a relatively rare monster that has broken from that trend. Indeed, in some ways the 5e monster is relatively weaker than its 1e version, which I don't think we could say of any monster in the ENCyclopedia before this.</p><p></p><p>If you look at the 3e monster, like many monsters it's a fairly straight forward translation of the 1e stat block into the new system. Even details like the AC stay the same - 14 AC is the same in 3e as 6 AC in 1e. The only real inflation comes with adding ability scores to a creature that previously lacked them. But the 5e Scarecrow actually only has 11 AC, and reverses the upward trend in assumed strength. </p><p></p><p>I'm curious now why the 5e designer fought against the grain in this one case. I wonder if there is something about the implied setting of rural farmland that suggests or encourages viewing this as a foe geared toward low level adventures. I notice for example our own chronicler, EricHawk, prefixes scarecrow with "humble" twice, suggesting also that the concept or setting in which it appears suggests a foe suited to starting heroes of currently humble station.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7754626, member: 4937"] One thing I find interesting about the Scarecrow, is that for most monsters covered by the ENCyclopedia, there has been a very pronounced increase in the monsters hit points and expected damage dealt per round for each successive edition so that even if the relative power of the monster is unchanged its numbers are steadily rising in absolute terms. But for the Scarecrow, the 5e version of the monster actually appears to go back to the roots of the monster, drastically reducing AC, hit point, ability score, and damage inflation. It's a relatively rare monster that has broken from that trend. Indeed, in some ways the 5e monster is relatively weaker than its 1e version, which I don't think we could say of any monster in the ENCyclopedia before this. If you look at the 3e monster, like many monsters it's a fairly straight forward translation of the 1e stat block into the new system. Even details like the AC stay the same - 14 AC is the same in 3e as 6 AC in 1e. The only real inflation comes with adding ability scores to a creature that previously lacked them. But the 5e Scarecrow actually only has 11 AC, and reverses the upward trend in assumed strength. I'm curious now why the 5e designer fought against the grain in this one case. I wonder if there is something about the implied setting of rural farmland that suggests or encourages viewing this as a foe geared toward low level adventures. I notice for example our own chronicler, EricHawk, prefixes scarecrow with "humble" twice, suggesting also that the concept or setting in which it appears suggests a foe suited to starting heroes of currently humble station. [/QUOTE]
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