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Things wrong with 4e: Dragons
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5891574" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>1) Don't need encounter maps when you don't require minis combat. </p><p>2) Don't need a list of prior adventurers when you've got a DMG that randomly tells you if there are remains in your dungeon room already (and, if necessary, all the NPC details for these adventurers).</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, the mimic's description gives me plenty of useful information for encountering the thing in noncombat encounters, where the party feeds the more intelligent variety, makes it friendly, and asks about what the mimic has seen around recently.</p><p></p><p>It could probably use a little bit of additional support (maybe some tidbits of typical mimic knowledge, maybe a better description of what it's "natural form" is like when it's not impersonating some object), but it's not bad at all. It's significantly more than a bunch of stat blocks, at least, and acknowledges that I might not encounter a mimic in a purely "fight it to the death" scenario. So, y'know, not perfect, but not bad.</p><p></p><p>Though really, in my ideal scenario, mimics are the kind of monster that probably works best supporting something else. They're not exactly villain material in their own right. Rather than have their own entry, they might appear as part of, say, the entry on Kuo-toa, who have a few mimics in the hallways of their caverns, adding their oozy stickiness to the kuo-toa's. You'd still find them in the Compendium under mimic, if you wanted to add them to something else, but they're a little underwhelming on their own, and they should be allowed to play the support role they were made to play originally.</p><p></p><p>Because the idea to add robust fluff to every creature is also quixotic and leads to things like the infamous BEAR LORE, or even the 4e version of the mimic, which spends a lot of words trying and not really succeeding (IMO) on making the monster cooler and edgier (adding "THE FAR REALM DID IT!" to everything doesn't help, guys). </p><p></p><p>Now, Dragons, though...a creature in the very title of your game...those, I think, you want to spend a lot of pagecount featuring and getting them right.</p><p></p><p>My ideal MM design at this point is based on "anchor creatures." Big iconic menaces like drow, dragons, orcs, mind flayers, etc., each one with a robust supporting cast (spiders, bears, mimics, etc.) that appears near the lair.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5891574, member: 2067"] 1) Don't need encounter maps when you don't require minis combat. 2) Don't need a list of prior adventurers when you've got a DMG that randomly tells you if there are remains in your dungeon room already (and, if necessary, all the NPC details for these adventurers). Meanwhile, the mimic's description gives me plenty of useful information for encountering the thing in noncombat encounters, where the party feeds the more intelligent variety, makes it friendly, and asks about what the mimic has seen around recently. It could probably use a little bit of additional support (maybe some tidbits of typical mimic knowledge, maybe a better description of what it's "natural form" is like when it's not impersonating some object), but it's not bad at all. It's significantly more than a bunch of stat blocks, at least, and acknowledges that I might not encounter a mimic in a purely "fight it to the death" scenario. So, y'know, not perfect, but not bad. Though really, in my ideal scenario, mimics are the kind of monster that probably works best supporting something else. They're not exactly villain material in their own right. Rather than have their own entry, they might appear as part of, say, the entry on Kuo-toa, who have a few mimics in the hallways of their caverns, adding their oozy stickiness to the kuo-toa's. You'd still find them in the Compendium under mimic, if you wanted to add them to something else, but they're a little underwhelming on their own, and they should be allowed to play the support role they were made to play originally. Because the idea to add robust fluff to every creature is also quixotic and leads to things like the infamous BEAR LORE, or even the 4e version of the mimic, which spends a lot of words trying and not really succeeding (IMO) on making the monster cooler and edgier (adding "THE FAR REALM DID IT!" to everything doesn't help, guys). Now, Dragons, though...a creature in the very title of your game...those, I think, you want to spend a lot of pagecount featuring and getting them right. My ideal MM design at this point is based on "anchor creatures." Big iconic menaces like drow, dragons, orcs, mind flayers, etc., each one with a robust supporting cast (spiders, bears, mimics, etc.) that appears near the lair. [/QUOTE]
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