D&D 5E A monster stat block should always fit on one side of one page maximum (a poll)

[el-remmen]

Why should we. . .arbitrarily limit creativity?

 

[Voadam]

There's a difference between the MM write-up, which can be as long as it needs to be to include all the fluff and lore, and the in-module combat write-up which not only should fit on a single page but should ideally not take up more than two or three lines on that page!

The poll is, I think, referring to the combat write-ups.

I agree the poll is on stat blocks and not stat blocks plus lore.

You seem to have missed the fact that the post and point I was directly responding to though was specifically discussing stat blocks plus lore.

Creatures (including lore) should fit on no more than 1 page IMO. Brevity is the soul of wit, after all.

If you need more space than that, you are just being superfluous.

 

[Lanefan]

You're limiting the author by forcing them to fit a certain format. Why should we forcibly and arbitrarily limit creativity?

I don't think anyone's trying to limit creativity. Verbosity, on the other hand...

The point of a statblock is to allow a DM to find info that's most often needed Right Now, either just before or in the middle of trying to run a combat. Every extra word makes that info harder to find.

As a hypothetical, it's interesting to do a thought experiment where a single stat block for a monster fills an entire typical hardcover book. I wonder if a collaborative effort were made, one could be created?

I'm fairly certain of two things:

1 - yes, such a thing could be created; and it'd probably be a good read.
2 - daunted by the sheer immensity of the statblock, no DM would ever run that creature in a game.