D&D (2024) DMG 2024: The Planes

[dave2008]

Lists are fine, but I still think there is value in grouping monsters into categories and presenting them as such. You might know the theme you want but not the exact creature. This helps solve that problem. If you already know the monster you want, even if you don't know the category you can look it upon the index or alphabetical list.

Oh I agree, i was just clarifying. I would prefer the MM be organized the "chapters" by monster type and then the individual monsters alphabetically within that chapter

 

[Hussar]

Oh I agree, i was just clarifying. I would prefer the MM be organized the "chapters" by monster type and then the individual monsters alphabetically within that chapter

Heh. Good luck with that. No Monster Manual has ever been organized that way, and even 3pp don't do that.

It makes perfect sense, really, but, since when has that gotten in the way of tradition?

 

[DrJawaPhD]

It makes perfect sense, really, but, since when has that gotten in the way of tradition?

Organizing alphabetically makes FAR more sense to me. If I had to memorize what type of monster everything is in order to find which section it is in, I'd throw that book right out

 

[Hussar]

Organizing alphabetically makes FAR more sense to me. If I had to memorize what type of monster everything is in order to find which section it is in, I'd throw that book right out

And then there's the stuff that kinda stradles the line between one type and other. Is it an X or a Y? There's lots of times that it's not exactly easy to know. Off hand, for example, I'm not entirely sure what a Rakshasa is. Is it a fiend? Pretty sure it's not a humanoid, but, it could be fey. And, with a number of critters getting re-labeled as fey or whatever, it's not like I can 100% rely on what I knew previously.

That sort of thing probably is best handled by lists - or even better by searchable tables.

I can see why having some critters grouped together, but, even back in the day, it was never completely right. After all, imps and quasits were not listed as demons or devils but given their own listings in the alphabetical order.

At the end of the day, no matter how you organize, there's going to be tradeoffs.

 

[Maxperson]

It helps anyone who doesn't know what an obscure monster is, if that monster is found under some heading other than its name.

Not that these are in the MM, but it helps anyone who doesn't know that a deathdrinker is a demon, anyone who doesn't know that a paelyrion is a devil, anyone who doesn't know that an all-devourer is an ooze, and anyone who doesn't know that a xag-ya is an elemental.

Why would you be looking them up by name then? You don't generally get the name first and then go look for the monster unless is appearing in a module you are running, in which case the module will generally let you know that the deathdrinker is a demon and the xag-ya is an elemental.

And even if you didn't know deathdrinker is a demon or the xag-ya is an elemental, once you looked up the page number for them in the index and looked at it, you would.

The change really doesn't help anyone, because we already had a way to look them up by name for those few obscure monsters.

 

[Maxperson]

My point is that you gotta know what aberration you are looking for because they aren't lumped up like devils are. If that works for aberrations, it should work for fiends.

Yes and no. Devils, demons, dragons, etc. are lumped together because they are more than just the same creature type. They are also a specific tightly themed group of monsters. Aberrations do not have that same tight theme, so they wouldn't be grouped together.

Dragons have a section, but there are dragon creature type monsters not in that section. Elementals have a section, but not all creatures of the elemental type are in it. Same with giants, skeletons and more.

 

[Maxperson]

Organizing alphabetically makes FAR more sense to me. If I had to memorize what type of monster everything is in order to find which section it is in, I'd throw that book right out

You wouldn't have to. There would be indexes for you to find where a monster is by name/

 

[Micah Sweet]

Organizing alphabetically makes FAR more sense to me. If I had to memorize what type of monster everything is in order to find which section it is in, I'd throw that book right out

So you've thrown out every previous MM I presume?

 

[DrJawaPhD]

So you've thrown out every previous MM I presume?

Um no? Which monster manual are you referring to that was organized by creature type and not alphabetically? I have no idea which book you're referring to

 

[Paul Farquhar]

When members of a group encounter an awesome dungeon

Perhaps a topic for another thread, but what makes a dungeon "awesome" rather than a series of rooms filled with monster fights?