Pathfinder 1E What Direction is Pathfinder Headed In?

[billd91]

It looks to me more like hes saying he doesn't want an atmosphere where he will be blamed when his monsters do bad things to his PCs. He can point to his book legal goblin wizard and say he's following the book so that his player's will accept the bad things as part of the game instead of as him being adversarial or being responsible for going overboard in creating opposition.

Well, who would want an atmosphere like that? But by following some pretty standard methods, you also promote an atmosphere where players feel like their experience with the game can matter as well as their PCs' experience. It can be really frustrating if there's really no understanding how or why a monster has a particular power other than the DM thought it might make for a fun encounter.

A half-dragon goblin will have various other indications he's half-dragon. A goblin sorcerer will follow the basic standard methods of casting the fireball spell (or using an item, which you'll probably see him using, thus resolving the mystery). All of these pieces of information, both leading up to the actual appearance of the fiery attack and after, can help the players understand and deal with the encounter.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think you're missing his point. It's not that the monsters aren't arbitrary as designed in the books, because anything designed according to someone's sense of creative license certainly is. The point I'm seeing is about something that otherwise fits in with the general classification, say of goblin, has some power that other goblins don't have. Roguerouge would prefer it if said creature got his additional power by following the same build rules as the PCs.

And yet, a Goblin can do things a normal Goblin can't do if you slap on templates, add class levels, or do other things with him.

The real trick is making "unusual" monsters notable as such (unless their point is not to be noted, like maybe a Doppelganger or Succubus disguising itself). There shouldn't be an average looking Goblin that suddenly breath flames and shoots fireballs. He should wear elegant robes and a wand, or sport fiery-red scales.
Not giving any hints that something is amiss and then springing a trap on the PCs is adversial DMing. Allowing them to notice that something is unusual and take precautions is fair. Sure, they might make the false conclusions sometimes, or ignore signs, but then it's their mistake, not a dirty trick of you that they couldn't hope to notice.