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

[UngeheuerLich]

I want 5.5e as detailed as A5e. Good thing I have it!

See, I don't. I have just bought A5E and don't want to buy it again in 2 years.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A5E looks ver decent and well organized, and still it has a lot more levels of complexity. Ancestry, heritage, martial maneuvers. A lot of differemt spell lists.
It is very well designed. But it is not exactly beginner friendly, because it just has a lot of pages to go through.
I mean, it has "advanced" in the title, so it does exactly what is promoted.

So few RPGs are designed with this level of detail and complexity, especially lately. A5e is refreshing for several reasons.

 

[Micah Sweet]

See, I don't. I have just bought A5E and don't want to buy it again in 2 years.

Touche. A5e is all the D&D I'll ever need. I'm just sad that the IP holder of a game I've loved for decades has decided to take it in a direction opposite my preference. It is what it is, I suppose.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Which one is which?

My Int has the answer but my Wis tells me to ignore you...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Touche. A5e is all the D&D I'll ever need. I'm just sad that the IP holder of a game I've loved for decades has decided to take it in a direction opposite my preference. It is what it is, I suppose.

I think, you should look at it in a different way. 5e with the direction it took allowed the RPG sector to grow as a whole. So now other Designers can build exactly the game you want.

 

[Minigiant]

Heh, in a bit of irony, I actually used a Deathlock Mastermind in my game today. I had planned on using it for a while, so, it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. It's just a bit funny because it was held up as such a fantastic example of design.

Three round in, the Deathlock Mastermind Dimension Door's away, after attacking in the first two rounds with it's non-spell ranged blasty attack whose name i'm too lazy to look up right now. I'm just so glad that that stat block had 18 different spells on it. They were just so useful. Well, I guess that Mage Armor spell made a huge difference. So, it did cast two of its 18 spells.

Yeah, not really convinced that I needed a full spell list for something like this.

Grave Bolt

Really an undead warlock pew pewing for 2-4 rounds then teleporting away is very on-brand for a warlock monster.

Party: It's an evil warlock!
Deathlock/Warlock: Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew I'm outa here! DimensionDoor/MistyStep/Teleport

Casting real spells would ruin the fantasy.

 

[Hussar]

Touche. A5e is all the D&D I'll ever need. I'm just sad that the IP holder of a game I've loved for decades has decided to take it in a direction opposite my preference. It is what it is, I suppose.

To be really fair though, the pendulum swings back and forth. Go back to AD&D and the monsters are far, far simpler than the same monster in 2e. Compare dragons if you want to see what I mean. Heck, the fact that in the 1e MM, you got two, three or even four monsters to a page, while in 2e, it was 1. Then they became a lot more complex in 3e. Then it swung back HARD in 4e towards simplicity (and, honestly, even though I'm a huge 4e booster, even I'll admit they probably went too far) then it swung back a bit towards greater complexity with 5e, although, nowhere near the level of 3e. Now, ten years later, it's swinging back towards streamlining again.

This isn't so much anything new, but rather just the swing back and forth. I'll freely admit I'm happy that it's swinging back more my way, but, I also know that it's going to swing back the other way in a few years again.

 

[Minigiant]

In case anyone is wondering here are the generic NPC statblock names to PC class names within the PHB and MotM

Artificer
Barbarian	Berserker
Bard	Bard
Cleric	Priest, War Priest
Druid	Archdruid, Druid
Fighter	Archer, Champion, Gladiator, Knight, Swashbuckler, Veteran Warlord
Monk	Martial Arts Adept
Paladin	Blackguard
Ranger
Rogue	Assassin, Master thief, Scout, Spy
Sorcerer
Warlock	Warlock
Wizard	Archimage, Mage, Wizard

So it seems there are no generic NPC versions of some classes and few generic available names for the classes that do have them.

 

[dave2008]

Touche. A5e is all the D&D I'll ever need. I'm just sad that the IP holder of a game I've loved for decades has decided to take it in a direction opposite my preference. It is what it is, I suppose.

I can't feel to sorry for you. The IP holder has never really provided a game to my preference. However, it is really the only game I play, or want to plan, as we find it easy enough to modify to our needs. I'm mean according to you A5e provides you want you want, how can you feel to sorry? Also, as @Hussar pointed out, that is possible because of he IP holder. You think TSR, or really any other company, would have allowed A5e to exist?

 

[Minigiant]

Thinking about if, I kinda understand why there is no NPC ranger equivalent.

You know how ranger solo fights go.

The DM rolls initiative, ranger casts hunters mark on themselves, and the healer of the party takes a buttload of damage and hits 0 HP. Then the front liners engage only to blended or gatlinged down to 0 HP next turn.

Now imagine if you have that 15-20 HD NPC ranger all his spell slots so they can nova out all his concentration spells in one fight and reapply HM whenever they want.