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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6390621" data-attributes="member: 42582">When I look at the kobold entry, I see half-a-column of mostly bland mechanics (incuding 4 lines plus spacing to tell me that it stabs somewhat feebly with a dagger and hurls stones with a sling). I think the most rooky GM could come up with that sort of thing after a session or two, and if that is all the MM is offering, mechanics-wise, then why bother? Just provide the flavour text and a reference to some generic &quot;small humanoid&quot; stats.The interesting mechanical features of a kobold are its pack tactics and its sunlight sensitivity. This is the sort of thing that professional designers can come up with. I read the posters that I agreed with asking for more along these lines. I agree with them: if the Monster Manual is going to be built around mechanical stats, I prefer them to be interesting.(This is why, of the MM entries I've seen previewed, the one that I think is best, and with the exception of its spellcasting a manifest improvement on what has gone before, is the sphinx. I am likely to adapt it, or at least elements of it, to my 4e game.)Conversely, if the point of monsters is flavour and not mechanics, than why have a half-column of stats at all? The game could just use &quot;monster dice&quot; along the lines of Tunnels &amp; Trolls - this speeds up combat and makes the non-combat story/exploration elements even more prominent.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6390621, member: 42582"] When I look at the kobold entry, I see half-a-column of mostly bland mechanics (incuding 4 lines plus spacing to tell me that it stabs somewhat feebly with a dagger and hurls stones with a sling). I think the most rooky GM could come up with that sort of thing after a session or two, and if that is all the MM is offering, mechanics-wise, then why bother? Just provide the flavour text and a reference to some generic "small humanoid" stats. The interesting mechanical features of a kobold are its pack tactics and its sunlight sensitivity. This is the sort of thing that professional designers can come up with. I read the posters that I agreed with asking for more along these lines. I agree with them: if the Monster Manual is going to be built around mechanical stats, I prefer them to be interesting. (This is why, of the MM entries I've seen previewed, the one that I think is best, and with the exception of its spellcasting a manifest improvement on what has gone before, is the sphinx. I am likely to adapt it, or at least elements of it, to my 4e game.) Conversely, if the point of monsters is flavour and not mechanics, than why have a half-column of stats at all? The game could just use "monster dice" along the lines of Tunnels & Trolls - this speeds up combat and makes the non-combat story/exploration elements even more prominent. [/QUOTE]

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