A little off topic but I always felt drow were too structued to be mostly chaotic evil. Backstabbing, sexism, and slavery as institutions gives them too many Law points.
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Playstyle/Edition neutrality: Modules in Monster Stat Blocks
- Thread starter Minigiant
- Start date
A little off topic but I always felt drow were too structued to be mostly chaotic evil. Backstabbing, sexism, and slavery as institutions gives them too many Law points.
Stormonu
Legend
Just for my own curiosity, this is from my own game system (54 Fantasy). Beyond it being for a different game, is this entry similar to what you would like to see in 5E? If not, what should be different?
ELF, DARK
Elves are peculiar creatures of the natural world. Dark elves are generally scheming and grasping creatures who have let their desires consume them.
Dark Elves are usually found in underground or treacherously overgrown areas of wilderness.
Dark Elf House Guard
Medium Humanoid (Darkness, Elf)
Str: 5♦ Dex: 5♠ Int: 5♥ Pre: 5♣
Mel: 2 Ran: 2 Mag: 3
Def: 2 (6♠S1) Res: 2 (7♣A3)
Resolve: 5♣ Wounds: 5
Vision: Lowlight Speed: Enhanced
Skills: Armor (Light) (R2) 4, Athletics (Run) (R2) 7, Deception (R2) 7, Endurance (R0) 5, Evade (R1) 3, Language (Common) (R1) 6, Language (Elvin) (R3) 8, Perception (Listen, Spot, Taste) (R1) 6, Persuasion (Intimidate) (R1) 6, Spellcraft (Arcane) (R1) 4, Stealth (R2) 7, Weapon (Blade) (R2) 4, Weapon (Crossbow) (R1) 3
Attack: Short sword A7♦/D6♦ (Crit: Ace) or Light crossbow A6♠/D5♠ (Crit: Ace; +draw card)
Heavy Strike (R1): Make a Short sword or Light crossbow attack. On a hit, deal 2 wounds + draw card for additional wound.
Defensive Stance (R2): Weapon (Blade) Diff 14, Scene; Once a scene, gain +2 bonus to Defense. Consequences:1x/scene
Spells (+4): 0th – one 1x/scene, 1st – one 1x/scene
Fortify (0th): Diff 11, Close, Instant; Target gains +1 bonus to next Endurance check.
Magic Bolt (1st): A8♠/P5♠, Medium, Instant; Target takes 1 wound + draw card for additional wound.
Dark Magic: Once per scene, may take a wound to gain +2 to Spellcraft check total or to draw an extra card for an extra success.
Devious: Once per target, make a Deception (Bluff) skill check vs. target’s Perception (Spot) skill check. This check takes no action. If dark elf wins, it may draw an additional card for an extra success.
Gear: Chain mail, Small shield, Short sword, Light crossbow, 20 bolts
Physical Traits
Dark elves tend to be either fairly short or of average human height. They are almost universally lithe, though they can be equally repulsive or beautiful. Height ranges from 4’ 6” to 5’ 10”, with females of generally equal height. Weight tends to range from 50-100 lbs.
Dark elves generally have dark skin tones, ranging from ash gray to night black. Arboreal dark elves have been noted to have chromatic hues of blue, green, violets or blacks. Hair color tends to be raven black, silver or white, with the albinos having a slightly lighter shade of hair than their skin color. A dark elves eyes can change color according to mood, though their hair does not. Eyes tend to be purple, gray or white. Those who have developed Darksight generally have red or yellow eyes.
Male dark elves are unable to grow beards or moustaches.
Challenges
Dark elves are fond of acquiring treasure and power, and will often raid other communities for slaves and goods.
In rare occasions, dark elves may consort with the seedier aspects of society, trading for slaves, poisons or other illegal or immoral goods.
Dark elves have a passionate hatred for elves, and the converse is generally true. When the two races learn of each other’s presence, it almost always ends in a bloody war. In rare cases, dark elves may use magic and other means to infiltrate high elvin society in an attempt to corrupt it from within.
Culture
Dark elves are grasping and selfish creatures who organize themselves into houses based on family alliances. These houses are generally ruled by the richest and most ruthless members, and are more often than not matriarchal in nature.
[FONT="] [/FONT]Individualism in the households is greatly quashed by loyalty to the house itself. Though individual members seek personal honor and riches at every turn, there are grave consequences for those who place their own personal agendas above those of the household – an individual who is cast out of their household is likely to fall victim to the depredations of the other houses – at the very best enslavement, and at the worst, torture and eventually a meal for the necrophages of their kind.[FONT="]
[/FONT] Ecology
Dark elves are generally found in subterranean lairs far from the sun-lit lands or in primeval forests where even elves fear to tread. They often constantly wage wars with the surrounding races for food, slaves and treasure.
Dark Elves on Amberos
Dark elves are the result of a mark of betrayal placed upon those elves, by the elvin king Ymin Greensbeech Earthlayer, and are composed of those elves that aligned themselves with Ziga, the queen of corruption, near the end of the Elvin Golden Age when they attempted to overthrow the elvin rule. The black curse still flows in the elves blood, and they have retreated into the caverns beneath the earth to bide their time until they are called to become rulers of the world above in Ziga’s name.
ELF, DARK
Elves are peculiar creatures of the natural world. Dark elves are generally scheming and grasping creatures who have let their desires consume them.
Dark Elves are usually found in underground or treacherously overgrown areas of wilderness.
Dark Elf House Guard
Medium Humanoid (Darkness, Elf)
Str: 5♦ Dex: 5♠ Int: 5♥ Pre: 5♣
Mel: 2 Ran: 2 Mag: 3
Def: 2 (6♠S1) Res: 2 (7♣A3)
Resolve: 5♣ Wounds: 5
Vision: Lowlight Speed: Enhanced
Skills: Armor (Light) (R2) 4, Athletics (Run) (R2) 7, Deception (R2) 7, Endurance (R0) 5, Evade (R1) 3, Language (Common) (R1) 6, Language (Elvin) (R3) 8, Perception (Listen, Spot, Taste) (R1) 6, Persuasion (Intimidate) (R1) 6, Spellcraft (Arcane) (R1) 4, Stealth (R2) 7, Weapon (Blade) (R2) 4, Weapon (Crossbow) (R1) 3
Attack: Short sword A7♦/D6♦ (Crit: Ace) or Light crossbow A6♠/D5♠ (Crit: Ace; +draw card)
Heavy Strike (R1): Make a Short sword or Light crossbow attack. On a hit, deal 2 wounds + draw card for additional wound.
Defensive Stance (R2): Weapon (Blade) Diff 14, Scene; Once a scene, gain +2 bonus to Defense. Consequences:1x/scene
Spells (+4): 0th – one 1x/scene, 1st – one 1x/scene
Fortify (0th): Diff 11, Close, Instant; Target gains +1 bonus to next Endurance check.
Magic Bolt (1st): A8♠/P5♠, Medium, Instant; Target takes 1 wound + draw card for additional wound.
Dark Magic: Once per scene, may take a wound to gain +2 to Spellcraft check total or to draw an extra card for an extra success.
Devious: Once per target, make a Deception (Bluff) skill check vs. target’s Perception (Spot) skill check. This check takes no action. If dark elf wins, it may draw an additional card for an extra success.
Gear: Chain mail, Small shield, Short sword, Light crossbow, 20 bolts
Physical Traits
Dark elves tend to be either fairly short or of average human height. They are almost universally lithe, though they can be equally repulsive or beautiful. Height ranges from 4’ 6” to 5’ 10”, with females of generally equal height. Weight tends to range from 50-100 lbs.
Dark elves generally have dark skin tones, ranging from ash gray to night black. Arboreal dark elves have been noted to have chromatic hues of blue, green, violets or blacks. Hair color tends to be raven black, silver or white, with the albinos having a slightly lighter shade of hair than their skin color. A dark elves eyes can change color according to mood, though their hair does not. Eyes tend to be purple, gray or white. Those who have developed Darksight generally have red or yellow eyes.
Male dark elves are unable to grow beards or moustaches.
Challenges
Dark elves are fond of acquiring treasure and power, and will often raid other communities for slaves and goods.
In rare occasions, dark elves may consort with the seedier aspects of society, trading for slaves, poisons or other illegal or immoral goods.
Dark elves have a passionate hatred for elves, and the converse is generally true. When the two races learn of each other’s presence, it almost always ends in a bloody war. In rare cases, dark elves may use magic and other means to infiltrate high elvin society in an attempt to corrupt it from within.
Culture
Dark elves are grasping and selfish creatures who organize themselves into houses based on family alliances. These houses are generally ruled by the richest and most ruthless members, and are more often than not matriarchal in nature.
[FONT="] [/FONT]Individualism in the households is greatly quashed by loyalty to the house itself. Though individual members seek personal honor and riches at every turn, there are grave consequences for those who place their own personal agendas above those of the household – an individual who is cast out of their household is likely to fall victim to the depredations of the other houses – at the very best enslavement, and at the worst, torture and eventually a meal for the necrophages of their kind.[FONT="]
[/FONT] Ecology
Dark elves are generally found in subterranean lairs far from the sun-lit lands or in primeval forests where even elves fear to tread. They often constantly wage wars with the surrounding races for food, slaves and treasure.
Dark Elves on Amberos
Dark elves are the result of a mark of betrayal placed upon those elves, by the elvin king Ymin Greensbeech Earthlayer, and are composed of those elves that aligned themselves with Ziga, the queen of corruption, near the end of the Elvin Golden Age when they attempted to overthrow the elvin rule. The black curse still flows in the elves blood, and they have retreated into the caverns beneath the earth to bide their time until they are called to become rulers of the world above in Ziga’s name.
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[MENTION=54877]Crazy Jerome[/MENTION]
So how would you do spells?
[MENTION=1465]Li Shenron[/MENTION]
I like [MENTION=23094]Patryn of Elvenshae[/MENTION] would prefer all the fluff to be seperate from the stat block.If you separate the stat block, you push one aspect aside and make it presented as less important.
[MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION]
Something like that but you missed the 3rd pillar.
[MENTION=52734]Stormonu[/MENTION]
Kinda but you seperated the fluff not the stats and added no modular aspects (althoug it is a reprint from your RPG)
Here is my example of how a dryad would look.
DRYAD
Chaotic Good Medium Fey
STR 10 DEX 19 CON 11
INT 14 WIS 15 CHA 19
COMBAT
Initiative +4
HP 30
AC 14
Space/Reach 5'/5'
Speed: 30ft
Melee attack +5 dagger (1d6+4 piercing)
Ranged attack +5 dagger (1d4+4 piercing) or +5 shortbow (1d4+4 piercing)
Equipment: 2 daggers, shortbow, 20 arrows
Skills: Stealth +7
Spells (DC 12 Wisdom based): Dryads can cast each of the following spells at-will: entangle
Cold Iron Resistance: Dryads have resistance to weapon attacks not made with a cold iron weapon.
EXPLORATION
Location: Temperate Forests
Organization: Solitary or trope
Skills: Stealth +7, Escape Artist +7
Tree Dependent: Each dryad is mystically bound to a single, enormous, nonmagical oak tree and must never stray more than 300 yards from it without falling ill and dying within 4d6 hours.
Spells: Dryads can cast each of the following spells at-will: animate tree, tree shape.
INTERACTION
Languages: Common, Elven, and Sylvan
Skills: Diplomacy +7, Insight +5
Elven Veil: A dryad's features are much like a female elf’s. A dryad has advantage when disguising herself as a female elf. Usually this is done as a opposed check of the dryad's Charisma modifier.
Spells(DC 14): Dryads can cast each of the following spells at will: speak with plants.
Dryads can also cast each of the following spells once per day: charm person, sleep, suggestion.
COMBAT MODULES:
Theme: Lurker (Ambusher, Skulker, ???)
Magic Item: Vestment of the High Druid
EXPLORATION MODULES:
Trap: Camouflaged pit traps
INTERACTION MODULES:
Followers: 6 wolves
Sanity loss: 1/1d6
Magic Item: Ring f animal friendship
So how would you do spells?
[MENTION=1465]Li Shenron[/MENTION]
I like [MENTION=23094]Patryn of Elvenshae[/MENTION] would prefer all the fluff to be seperate from the stat block.If you separate the stat block, you push one aspect aside and make it presented as less important.
[MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION]
Something like that but you missed the 3rd pillar.
[MENTION=52734]Stormonu[/MENTION]
Kinda but you seperated the fluff not the stats and added no modular aspects (althoug it is a reprint from your RPG)
Here is my example of how a dryad would look.
DRYAD
Chaotic Good Medium Fey
STR 10 DEX 19 CON 11
INT 14 WIS 15 CHA 19
COMBAT
Initiative +4
HP 30
AC 14
Space/Reach 5'/5'
Speed: 30ft
Melee attack +5 dagger (1d6+4 piercing)
Ranged attack +5 dagger (1d4+4 piercing) or +5 shortbow (1d4+4 piercing)
Equipment: 2 daggers, shortbow, 20 arrows
Skills: Stealth +7
Spells (DC 12 Wisdom based): Dryads can cast each of the following spells at-will: entangle
Cold Iron Resistance: Dryads have resistance to weapon attacks not made with a cold iron weapon.
EXPLORATION
Location: Temperate Forests
Organization: Solitary or trope
Skills: Stealth +7, Escape Artist +7
Tree Dependent: Each dryad is mystically bound to a single, enormous, nonmagical oak tree and must never stray more than 300 yards from it without falling ill and dying within 4d6 hours.
Spells: Dryads can cast each of the following spells at-will: animate tree, tree shape.
INTERACTION
Languages: Common, Elven, and Sylvan
Skills: Diplomacy +7, Insight +5
Elven Veil: A dryad's features are much like a female elf’s. A dryad has advantage when disguising herself as a female elf. Usually this is done as a opposed check of the dryad's Charisma modifier.
Spells(DC 14): Dryads can cast each of the following spells at will: speak with plants.
Dryads can also cast each of the following spells once per day: charm person, sleep, suggestion.
COMBAT MODULES:
Theme: Lurker (Ambusher, Skulker, ???)
Magic Item: Vestment of the High Druid
EXPLORATION MODULES:
Trap: Camouflaged pit traps
INTERACTION MODULES:
Followers: 6 wolves
Sanity loss: 1/1d6
Magic Item: Ring f animal friendship
Li Shenron
Legend
Absolutely yes, instead.
Because it doesn't break up anything at all. When you're in combat, you are not going to need anything else than combat stats and guidelines, so the "flow" ends at the end of the first section. You're not going to need to read the diplomacy bonus, so if you have one statblock and one prose you're going to have to dig for the information you need buried into non-combat information you don't, and the same happens if you're trying to figure out how to use a creature in a social interaction scene, you don't want to dig out that info from the middle of a catch-all statblock and one large prose.
What I mean is, that if e.g. I have decided that the party is travelling to a Drow city for a mission requiring them to go around the city and interact with Drow characters (no fighting), I would like to open the Drow page of the MM and keep my eyes fixed on the "Interaction" paragraph, and be able to find there all I need.
Then, if a battle erupts, I switch to look at the "Combat" paragraph and once again I find there all I need...
If I have all stats first and all prose later (note: maybe for some people prose is just some fancy filler, but for me it's very useful information to keep in front of me all the time) then I constantly need to scan a lot of text to find what I need in this phase of the game in the middle of stuff I don't need now and it would be much easier to overlook some important abilities.
Then someone who doesn't want to read any prose can still see the stats in each paragraph clearly, and someone who wants a combat-game only just ignores the other two paragraphs.
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Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
No, no, no!
Until you need to make a skill check, or check what spells they can cast, or ...
But, let's be honest, here - this is something you're going to focus on at prep-time, rather than run-time, first of all, and second, how many times do you actually need to reference the text about the drow's matriarchical hierarcy?
Once or twice ... ever? In short, I don't believe that you'll need to keep scanning those paragraphs repeatedly during an encounter. Once at the beginng, sure, but after that? No.
Therefore, having them separate from the statblock should not be an issue, because it certainly does not compensate for the "damage" to the statblock's usefulness as a compact, focused data source.
Note that I called it prose, and not filler.
I think a modified 4E stat block would pronbably work best, though it'll basically give you only two options, "basic" and "advanced", where you just use the "top" of the block for basic (Name, Keywords/description/type, HP, AC, speed, basic attacks) the a fluff section while the bottom section would fill out the abilities (Fert/Reflex/Will, additional attacks, resistances and defenses).
