D&D (2024) Its till just me or is the 2024 MM heavily infused by more 4e influences?

[Corinnguard]

I never saw any reason to change the art design at all.

Exactly, why mess with draconic perfection? They had the same design since 3e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Exactly, why mess with draconic perfection? They had the same design since 3e.

Worked for me. This reminds me of comic book artists coming into a long-running title and insisted on "putting their own stamp" on things when the existing style work well as it is. Writers do it too.

 

[AlViking]

I never saw any reason to change the art design at all.

We should go back to the old school gold dragon from 1e? The design has changed back and forth over editions.

 

[Corinnguard]

We should go back to the old school gold dragon from 1e? The design has changed back and forth over editions.
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I think what @Micah Sweet meant is that there was no reason to change their design that had been around since 3e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

We should go back to the old school gold dragon from 1e? The design has changed back and forth over editions.
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I would have been perfectly fine with that, but as @Corinnguard said, the design has been consistent from 3e until now.

I'm not a fan of change for changes sake, and that's how I see this. And since I don't care too much about art anyway, all this seems like a distraction to me anyway.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

It really hit me when I just made a 2024 fighter with a greatsword and saw Graze. That's definitely some 4e stuff right there

 

[jasper]

First off the variants of creatures, it's not just Goblins, it's Goblin Minions & Goblin Hexers. It's not just Empyreans it's Empyrean Iotas (with the choice of fiend or celestial), it's not just Owlbears, but the Primeval Owlbears as well, etc..., that was very much a 4e thing.

They are also bringing bloodied back.

Increasing focus on high CR epic monsters.

More different powers.

They are bringing minions back at least in some form.

I probably missed some other examples.

the Monster Job is just a programming trick.
Goblin Guard , Goblin warrior, Goblin mage
Kobold guard, kobold warrior, Kobold Mage allows the ease of filtering.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Here's one of the things I loved best about the 4e design. Monsters are less generic. You can have a standard Hill Giant doing all the normal Hill Giant things one would expect. But you also have alternatives ready to drop in for support, theme, and variety, without having to do the extra work yourself.

The variation can be felt on the table where the action takes place during rounds of combat. Note that all are the same level, but each has a different role that does not need to be explained with tactics or pre-scripted actions. Facing six Hill Giants in almost any other edition was pretty dull if they lined up doing the same thing. Encounter 3 regulars, 2 hunters, and a shaman with some dire wolves... there's bound to be a lot more interesting things happening than "giant 1 takes a swing with a club, giant 2 swings with an axe, etc.".

There is also the matter of convenience from having unique or alternative versions of the same monster, and not just for the sake of variety. If one had an idea to design a different kind of Hill Giant for reasons, you have solid examples to work with and refer to. There is such a thing as too much, but certain creatures (especially humanoids and those based in strongly themed cultures) should have more than just "standard" and "boss" variants.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

As a miniatures enthusiast I prefer dragons to have more or less the same appearance aside from color, that way I can paint any dragon figure as any color dragon and it will fit.

 

[CreamCloud0]

In traditional D&D, Humanoid monsters started out with a base set of stats. Then you'd tack on PC class levels (!) to make them more powerful.

This inherently made the Humanoid monster's upgrade feel like it was part of the world - it was casting spells that the PCs cast and recognize, it was doing moves that PCs did (or could do), etc. A goblin rogue backstabbed like a PC did, a goblin fighter got extra attacks like a PC fighters.

Now, a problem develops in that the "ideal" PC is full of bells and whistles for a single human being to spend time tweaking. The player also tweaks the PC between fights and sessions, and PCs last for a long time. Monsters, on the other hand, are "ideally" often run by the half dozen or more by a DM, and rarely survive an encounter.

This means that the detail level of a PC should be higher, to keep the player entertained, while the detail level of a foe of a PC should be lower.

i feel like there is potential in the idea of repurposing/utilising the sidekick classes for monster's class levels, like, here are these classes that are designed to imitate the classes but streamlined and simplified.