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Message: <blockquote data-quote="molonel" data-source="post: 1721688" data-attributes="member: 10412">I understand your reasoning. I'm not going to argue with you. I'm just going to give you my perspective.I always custom-build monsters. The sheer, mind-boggling number of monsters in the MM who spend their feats on things like Toughness, Dodge and Alertness never fails to cheese me off. Intelligent choices and good usage of abilities is not min-maxing. If you are a multi-limbed creature, and you have spent any time defending yourself, then should have multiattack. Creatures with reach should have Combat Reflexes. Anything with a strength and any amount of experience under its belt SHOULD have abilities that reflect and enhance those strengths. Creatures which are guardians and have the skill ranks to spend WILL have good abilities in Spot and Listen.Part of my job as a DM is to provide a challenging, fun combat when the need for combat arises. I assume that NPCs will make intelligent choices in choosing their own abilities. That doesn't mean you custom-build everything to specifically counter the abilities of all the PCs, but it does mean that if a creature or an underworld PC has lived long enough to thrive and adapt in a violent world, then they probably didn't do that by burning feats on Skill Focus: Cooking, or cross-class ranks in Profession: Toilet Scrubber.And yes, I do provide encounters which sometimes counter specific abilities. Someone with Spider Climb will eventually face a place of slick, wet walls or ice, and be forced to stay on the ground. Shadowdancers will eventually face creatures with smell, or creatures with access to Dust of Appearance, or Tremorsense, or Blindsense or Blindsight. If not all encounters should be custom-built to frustrate the players, then it naturally follows that not everything should be a cakewalk, either. I'm the DM. I should have fun, too. And my players don't seem to mind facing stuff that challenges them. They revel in it.</blockquote>

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