D&D 5E New Spellcasting Blocks for Monsters --- Why?!

[dave2008]

No apologies needed. I was not clear enough. Others read as you did.

But for the second part. Not even to help the PCs. If they succeed, it is on their own powers, skills and inventiveness. I will not modify the story to help them. When they succeed, they know I did nothing to help them.

I will because I am human and make mistakes. If I can correct those I will. Like I said, it is something I very rarely do. I don't think the PCs should suffer for a mistake I (the DM) make.

I am also against absolutes in general when it comes to a game.

 

[Steampunkette]

Heh. I wonder what the reaction would if the stat block's spell section just said "He's freaking Vecna. He's a 20th-level Wizard that knows and can cast every spell in the PHB."

22 years ago I had an epiphany while running a D&D game at 3 in the morning surrounded by crying nerds during a 48 hours gaming session fueled by Jolt Cola and more Little Debbie than you could shake a Honey Bun at. I had spent hours meticulously crafting an emotional narrative about the party's favorite character and when it came time to pay off that narrative I "Broke the Rules" of the game.

Before that point most of my NPCs had careful stat blocks that basically made them into characters. Like full on wrote them up as PCs when they didn't fit the character blocks in the Monster Manual (As it was the only NPC-Book at the time and it would be a while before the MM2 or anything came out with more statblocks to run through)

I used an ability he "Didn't Have" because at 3am on the second day my head got a little loopy and I crossed class abilities in my brain and combined them into a new ability that didn't actually exist in 3e at the time. But it worked for what I needed, and it paid off everything beautifully.

And I was surrounded by nerds crying over a monkey-girl and vowing to BURN DOWN THE CITY that made her sad. Not only did they want to stop the BBEG, they also wanted to crush everything he stood for.

And it was at that point that I realized that big important NPCs aren't bound up by the rulebooks.

Vecna isn't a level 20 Adventuring Wizard. Vecna is -VECNA-.

Can he do everything a level 20 wizard can? Probably not, some of it is way too mundane. He's not level 20 in the Wizard class. He's level 20 in the Vecna class. And the Vecna class isn't something your players get access to. He's not bound to the same rules.

Once you accept that. Once you truly learn that NPCs don't have to follow the rules of character generation... you learn other rules they don't have to adhere to.

Will that piss off some gamist-purists? Of course! But it can make things -way- more interesting.

 

[Helldritch]

I will because I am human and make mistakes. If I can correct those I will. Like I said, it is something I very rarely do. I don't think the PCs should suffer for a mistake I (the DM) make.

I am also against absolutes in general when it comes to a game.

If I make a mistake, it will not be changed. It will mean a full stop to the game. I will apologize and we will time warp to the moment I made that mistake and restart from there.

After that, I will erase the players memories and remain the infallible DM that I am.

 

[Reynard]

If I make a mistake, it will not be changed. It will mean a full stop to the game. I will apologize and we will time warp to the moment I made that mistake and restart from there.

After that, I will erase the players memories and remain the infallible DM that I am.

I will also stop the game. I did so when running a pretty simple encounter in Deadlands not long ago because I did not realize beforehand how OP small creatures were. The players decided to play it out rather than rewind and managed to win by pure luck (as is common in SW).

 

[dave2008]

If I make a mistake, it will not be changed. It will mean a full stop to the game. I will apologize and we will time warp to the moment I made that mistake and restart from there.

I've done the reset before, but it just took everyone out of the game. So I compensate in other ways now if I have too.

 

[Hussar]

'Creativity" in this context usually means players throwing stuff at the wall hoping the DM will just give them the win. No thanks. You need a specific spell to defeat the Tarrasque (Wish), why not Vecna? Or how is it different than needing a special weapon, or need to toss the ring in the right volcano? Sometimes quests come with victory conditions.

Actually you don’t need wish in 5e.

It’s actually pretty impressive how 5e changed virtually everything from earlier editions but traditionalist gamers don’t realize it.

 

[Greg Benage]

It’s actually pretty impressive how 5e changed virtually everything from earlier editions but traditionalist gamers don’t realize it.

It's almost enough to make one wonder if "they just hate change!11!1!!" is actually a fair charge.

Almost.

 

[Reynard]

It's almost enough to make one wonder if "they just hate change!11!1!!" is actually a fair charge.

Almost.

I don't hate change. What would make you think that?

 

[Reynard]

Actually you don’t need wish in 5e.

It’s actually pretty impressive how 5e changed virtually everything from earlier editions but traditionalist gamers don’t realize it.

Fair enough. I've never used the Tarrasque in 5E for various reasons, not least because it's kind of a dumb monster.

 

[Synthil]

I mean, I also dislike change. But I started with 4E, so this is just undoing a change I hated.