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Publishing models of rpg lines: tools to design monsters vs new monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 5156109" data-attributes="member: 20741"><p>I rather think that both 3E and 4E provide for this - though 4E's is more usable. That's not because 4E is "better", but because 4E and 3E take a very different philoophical path in terms of monster generation.</p><p></p><p>3E's path seeks crunch equivalence on both sides of the DM screen. The monsters and NPCs the PCs encounter in game are designed and developed according to the same rules that the PCs use. This aspect of creature designs is taken to its ultimate conslusion in <em>Savage Species</em>. That element to 3.xx's design had a certain elegance to it, I think we must all acknowledge that.</p><p></p><p>4E, otoh, goes for the more gameist deign principle and has decoupled monsters from the crunch that is used to make PCs. Accordingly, the purpose of a 4E monster is not to be consistent with the same rules that are used to make PCs - but to fulfill a role in how a monster is to be used to challenge the players during an encounter.</p><p></p><p>Both approaches have their good and bad points - but of the two, I think it is far easier to eyeball a 4E monster of a given level than it is to eyeball a 3E one - if for no other reason than 3Es level advancement for monsters is far more detailed and time consuming given its complexity.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steel_Wind, post: 5156109, member: 20741"] I rather think that both 3E and 4E provide for this - though 4E's is more usable. That's not because 4E is "better", but because 4E and 3E take a very different philoophical path in terms of monster generation. 3E's path seeks crunch equivalence on both sides of the DM screen. The monsters and NPCs the PCs encounter in game are designed and developed according to the same rules that the PCs use. This aspect of creature designs is taken to its ultimate conslusion in [I]Savage Species[/I]. That element to 3.xx's design had a certain elegance to it, I think we must all acknowledge that. 4E, otoh, goes for the more gameist deign principle and has decoupled monsters from the crunch that is used to make PCs. Accordingly, the purpose of a 4E monster is not to be consistent with the same rules that are used to make PCs - but to fulfill a role in how a monster is to be used to challenge the players during an encounter. Both approaches have their good and bad points - but of the two, I think it is far easier to eyeball a 4E monster of a given level than it is to eyeball a 3E one - if for no other reason than 3Es level advancement for monsters is far more detailed and time consuming given its complexity. [/QUOTE]
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