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Message: <blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 1575282" data-attributes="member: 16077">Regarding the 3e MM - while it had full statistics, the majority of the comments I've read and heard have been that the 3e MM was poorly laid out and that it should have just been a 3e-ization of the 1st edition MM.  As far as creating complex villains - the DM had the leeway to make them socially complex without needing to make them mechanically complex.  Now, the emphasis on making half-dragon/half-demon lycanthrope Kobold Ftr6/Clr6/[Insert Prestige Class Umpty-Squat here] rather than making them "Groob the Kobold King," a kobold who was smarter and stronger than average and chose to terrorize a human village through Mafia tactics rather than the normal "kill-and-pillage" kobolds. My point was that unless your players are willing to go along with it, you will never be able to get away with not using feats or prestige classes.  Banning specific items is one thing, but say "No prestige classes at all, no feats at all," and watch how fast your players stop playing with you...Uhh - because they are *monsters* and not PCs...Who wanted/needed robust stat blocks for monsters?  I got along just fine without them.  The fact that the Tome of Horrors was able to 3.x-ize various monsters that didn't make it into 3e MM/MM2/FF *without* having full stat blocks is proof enough that they aren't necessary.  And, as I stated before - you *don't* need mechanical complexity to make a villain complex.  It is, I would argue, more important that a villain have a *reason* for acting the way he/she/it acts rather than that they have PC levels.  As a DM, I think it is way more important to know the how and why of the way they think and act.</blockquote>

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