3.5 Stat Blocks Kill my creativity

[Henry]

A thought just popped up: Of GM's who are reluctant to wing creature-stats at times, how many of you use the Wealth and XP charts and random Magic Items charts verbatim, rather than using your own system for these? I'm wondering if there's a correlation, because I SURE don't use any of those very often, rather instead handing out the rewards as I want the PCs to progress.

 

[gizmo33]

Oh boo hoo. Dead pc. Find a cleric and fix the boo boo.

Do you even use stats in your game? Why? And whose game has clerics handing out raise dead like lollipops? Is that your game or mine?

And how is this different from a full stated out lower leverl cr using ambush and taking out the pc. My npc will have pick the spell I think will be correct for this encounter. Which means basically all my npc cast spells like sorcerers and I just make sure the spellbook has those spells in it.

That's fine, but your DMing style would be obvious to my players and it wouldn't necessarily suit our style. Some people don't care if the DM follows anything close to the rules, and for those groups accustomed to lots of fudging, that's just fine. But if you're suggesting (per the original post in this thread) that you can solve a persons problem by advocating a different playing style, I don't think you're going to get very far with that (ie. you will convince people that already agree with you, but not have much to say of use to those of us who don't like that style).

And your question as to "how is this different" is probably a rhetorical one, but I think it's actually important to understand people's answers on this because it would possibly alert you to an important difference that you have with other folks on this. Here's my answer: one situation (the ambush) follows the rules, the other doesn't. Saying that as a DM you don't follow the rules is not convincing to those people that do. And saying that you can raise someone from the dead after they are killed by a situation where you are not following the rules is also not convincing. Again, it comes down to playing style.

As I said before, people should probably identify themselves as DMs who either try to follow the rules or don't. And if you're talking to someone on the other side of that issue, you probably won't get very far. Those who are concerned about stat blocks are probably from the former school of thought.

 

[Kelleris]

A thought just popped up: Of GM's who are reluctant to wing creature-stats at times, how many of you use the Wealth and XP charts and random Magic Items charts verbatim, rather than using your own system for these? I'm wondering if there's a correlation, because I SURE don't use any of those very often, rather instead handing out the rewards as I want the PCs to progress.

I dislike winging creature stats and i've used the random Magic Items charts twice, maybe three times since 3.0 came out. I just give what seems appropriate - to me that's much easier to improvise. I do use the wealth-by-level chart, but only for starting characters after 1st level (which I do often); I tend to disregard them after that, except as really broad ranges. XP awards I generally wing also.

I'm much more comfortable just feeling my way through story elements than faking stats, so I guess I'm the opposite of you.

 

[gizmo33]

My opinion is that, being a game, I'm not worried about miscalculations of numbers like I am miscalculations of story elements.

My confusion is that this statement, being a non-sequitur, doesn't look like a kobold.

In other words, what are you talking about? The fact that you're playing a game means that miscalculations are allowable? Perhaps your job as a trauma-room surgeon has given you some sort of perspective on the silliness of games, but I'm pretty sure that a "miscalculation" in the amount of money I should have in Monopoly would not be looked upon favorably by the other players.

To claim that a more free-wheeling style when it comes to managing your NPCs somehow follows logically from the fact that it is a game is ignoring what I think are the facts that this is a matter of preference.

I have FAR more worries interesting my players in the story at hand, or showing them a climactic battle, than I am getting every value right.

No problem. I wonder if people of that school should even use stats. Why only use them part of the time? Is it to maintain an illusion of some sort of conformity to a standard system that both the players and NPCs share in? Because if that's the case I wonder - of what use is the illusion? Does it rely on the gullibility of your players?

In addition, as posters have point out numerous times, CR values over about 7 or 8 in the Monster Manual can sometimes be SO off-base that I'd have to rig the stat block just to make them right for my group It's why I take the CR of a creature with a grain of salt, and look more at what it can do. Just as the CR is a guideline, the stat block is a "best-case" guideline too. If you know how high your players' stats go, you have a good approximation of how high your enemies stats need to go, too.

Sure, grain of salt.
There are plenty of complications in matching CR to actual challenge. Circumstances can modify the difficulty, there's no way CR can equate to challenge for every monster (eg. everyone in the party has a ring of fire resistance vs. a fire creature). That being said (and numerous times apparently) I'm not sure that the complexity means that you can continue to compound the error by playing fast and loose with the stats. Of course you can if you don't care anyway. So if I'm talking to a DM that's going to change the numbers on the fly in order to make sure that a climactic battle is exciting (and one wonders at the source of the excitement considering that the "closeness" of the battle is preordained and manipulated) then I agree, what is the point of worrying about stat blocks. Just continue to make things up like you have been. Done...and done. (Gizmo now dusts off hands and waits for everyone to start playing DnD the same way)

 

[gizmo33]

A thought just popped up: Of GM's who are reluctant to wing creature-stats at times, how many of you use the Wealth and XP charts and random Magic Items charts verbatim, rather than using your own system for these?

Pretty much my entire game is house-ruled. I've house ruled the XP charts. Wealth and magic items are also custom - my campaign has been around since 1st edition, so I'm not really willing to change the demographics of my world just to suit 3E recommendations.

However, while a wizard in my campaign has a different number of feats than those in normal 3E - two wizards of the same level/circumstances in my campaign have exactly the same number of feats. To me, that's the relevant issue.

 

[Arnwyn]

Might I also point out that this is a message board? That the people posting need to have a computer, if only to post? It is like a telemarketer coming to the conclusion that 100% of people in the U.S. have phones, because 100% of the people he telephoned had them... We have a biased cross section of the populace here...

And might I point out that I am one of the last people you should be lecturing about the statistical relevance of internet messageboard posts?

Believe me, in my post I did not draw any unwarranted conclusions beyond what I saw posted. Is it your suggestion, then, that everyone who posts to messageboards must own a computer (reasonable) and therefore must use computer software to generate characters (questionable)? Maybe... but even that would be beyond what I was musing about.

Thus, my post was absolutely not "like a telemarketer coming to the conclusion that 100% of people in the U.S. have phones, because 100% of the people telephoned had them".

 

[barsoomcore]

Polarize disputes? Us?

Am I the only one who uses completely detailed stats when he has the time and the need, uses pretty detailed stats when he doesn't, and sometimes just completely pulls NPCs out of his posterior when the players go right off the rails or he pulls a blank the night before?

Am I the only one who spends three hours detailing NPCs whenever he feels like it, because somedays, doing up stat blocks is FUN? And somedays, drawing maps is fun, so he draws out every detail of the next encounter (and the surrounding areas besides)? And somedays, watching TV is fun so he goes into a game with nothing more than a cool idea and faith in his own improvisational abilities?

Or maybe it IS all or nothing. Maybe I'm either detailing every required stat block there could ever be, or else I'm a DM who doesn't even try to follow the rules. Maybe those are the only two choices.

But I'm not sure about that.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

And might I point out that I am one of the last people you should be lecturing about the statistical relevance of internet messageboard posts?

Believe me, in my post I did not draw any unwarranted conclusions beyond what I saw posted. Is it your suggestion, then, that everyone who posts to messageboards must own a computer (reasonable) and therefore must use computer software to generate characters (questionable)? Maybe... but even that would be beyond what I was musing about.

Thus, my post was absolutely not "like a telemarketer coming to the conclusion that 100% of people in the U.S. have phones, because 100% of the people telephoned had them".

Take a deep breath...
The only inference that I was making is that we have a limited cross section of the D&D playing populace - one that has access to computers.

I do not know about you, but since I have a computer that cost 'more than $500' (itself not true, but only barely, it cost me $475) I use it for many things, including statblocks.

The software to create statblocks is free. Am I to assume that people do not download and use freely available software? If they have a computer, and are able to link to the messageboard then it is reasonable to assume that they have access to software that is freely available on the same messageboard. Whether or not they do so is their choice, but they do have access.

Nor do you need specialized software to create statblocks, it simply means that you can do so without needing to create everything by hand. I have used wordprocessors and databases. A friend uses a C=64 and Paperclip Publisher (a computer that cost less than $200 new). Much of the software available will work on older PCs that are available for a lot less than $500.

And, given that you are the person I was replying to, you are the first person that I should make comments to. You are the one who made the remark I was commenting on.

The Auld Grump

 

[Arnwyn]

A thought just popped up: Of GM's who are reluctant to wing creature-stats at times, how many of you use the Wealth and XP charts and random Magic Items charts verbatim, rather than using your own system for these? I'm wondering if there's a correlation, because I SURE don't use any of those very often, rather instead handing out the rewards as I want the PCs to progress.

Good question, Henry, though I doubt you'll find any correlation whatsoever.

I am one who is reluctant to wing creature stats if combat is a high probability, but I certainly do not use the Wealth, XP, and random Magic Item charts verbatim at all.

 

[shilsen]

Polarize disputes? Us?

Am I the only one who uses completely detailed stats when he has the time and the need, uses pretty detailed stats when he doesn't, and sometimes just completely pulls NPCs out of his posterior when the players go right off the rails or he pulls a blank the night before?

Am I the only one who spends three hours detailing NPCs whenever he feels like it, because somedays, doing up stat blocks is FUN? And somedays, drawing maps is fun, so he draws out every detail of the next encounter (and the surrounding areas besides)? And somedays, watching TV is fun so he goes into a game with nothing more than a cool idea and faith in his own improvisational abilities?

Or maybe it IS all or nothing. Maybe I'm either detailing every required stat block there could ever be, or else I'm a DM who doesn't even try to follow the rules. Maybe those are the only two choices.

But I'm not sure about that.

Exactly the same approach here. As you so effectively indicate, there are very few of these debates where it's as much of an "all or nothing" situation as most of the posts would indicate. Very rarely are there only two choices in gaming. Except the rare few, such as whether you DM for stewardesses or don't