Any word yet on what's happening to monsters?

[Shade]

I have seen next to nothing about monsters in 4e, other than a "simplified stat block", and am curious if I missed some news.

For example, will they still keep the various types (and subtypes)?

If players are more powerful at 1st level like SW Saga, where does that leave weakling monsters like kobolds and goblins? Do they get a boost?

Any info on what the 4e Monster Manual might contain? It appears beholders, red dragons, and trolls (and probably Orcus) are still around, but beyond that any mention?

 

[KingCrab]

They did mention (in the intro video) that monsters will be more streamlined into their roles for combat. I think this will mean they'll be simplified and built around a specific purpose in combat. You'll have the ranged only monsters, tank only monsters, etc. This makes them more like the creatures in a MMORPG and a lot less suitable for story uses.

I hope this isn't the case.

 

[Razz]

They did mention (in the intro video) that monsters will be more streamlined into their roles for combat. I think this will mean they'll be simplified and built around a specific purpose in combat. You'll have the ranged only monsters, tank only monsters, etc. This makes them more like the creatures in a MMORPG and a lot less suitable for story uses.

I hope this isn't the case.

Prepare to see your iconic creatures screwed over like the beholder, rust monster, and ogre mage.

Prepare to see more "video gamey" feel to these monsters.

Prepare to see some sacred cows sacrificed sky high.

The game is turning into less realism. Creatures aren't just born into a category for PCs to slay. "Oh, it's a ranged monster! Watch out!" or "These things can tear you apart in melee!" Whatever happened to role play in 4E?

 

[loseth]

If players are more powerful at 1st level like SW Saga, where does that leave weakling monsters like kobolds and goblins? Do they get a boost?

In SW Saga, humans are weaklings who can be slaughtered by a 1st level PC in no time. It's only having a heroic class that makes any given human (including a PC) tough. Presumably, kobolds with heroic classes (fighter, cleric, etc.) would be tough, while the more numerous kobolds with some sort of generic 'warrior' class would serve as sword-fodder for 1st-level PCs (just as they would for 4th-level PCs now).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Or, if the sky DOESN'T fall, we can go back to Mike Mearls' "for fun" monster redesign columns and see that five-round monsters whose abilities are streamlined mostly makes sense, even if we don't always agree that the monsters feel like they did back in 1E.

The example given in a recent design column about the marlith's abilities being cut down from more than a dozen spells to about four that a DM actually wants to use, instead of futzing around with level 1 wizard spells, comes to mind.

And I will always be able to slap levels on a monster and make it into a mastermind. (Shhh! I even did it in 1E!) So I'm not terribly worried if, say, the ogre mage is trimmed back by default.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Prepare to see your iconic creatures screwed over like the beholder, rust monster, and ogre mage.

Prepare to see more "video gamey" feel to these monsters.

Prepare to see some sacred cows sacrificed sky high.

The game is turning into less realism. Creatures aren't just born into a category for PCs to slay. "Oh, it's a ranged monster! Watch out!" or "These things can tear you apart in melee!" Whatever happened to role play in 4E?

I'm sorry but...

Did WotC take you out back and beat the hell out of you or something?

Gods, we barely know anything and you're making blanket statements, in every thread, about what it IS like without knowing anymore than the rest of us.

 

[Maggan]

The game is turning into less realism.

I don't think that's actually possible.

/M

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

Prepare to see your iconic creatures screwed over like the beholder, rust monster, and ogre mage.

Prepare to see more "video gamey" feel to these monsters.

Prepare to see some sacred cows sacrificed sky high.

The game is turning into less realism. Creatures aren't just born into a category for PCs to slay. "Oh, it's a ranged monster! Watch out!" or "These things can tear you apart in melee!" Whatever happened to role play in 4E?

Well, who says that WotC won't at least BS a reason for these changes that actually fits what the monster is, ex: "In recent years, the (insert 'new ranged monster variant' here) has trained itself more to approach intruders from a distance, maximizing its natural dexterity and speed, while accounting for its relatively low physical strength and brittle skin."

A monster can emphasize a specific strategy to the hilt without being ALL about that strategy. It may be its best defense, or a new approach the monster has taken, or even (I would LOVE to houserule this one day if this actually is how it will go down) a new evolutionary factor after x ages have passed.

Edit: To be fair, I think he's being at least partially facetious, thanks to that last question.

 

[Wormwood]

Prepare to see your iconic creatures screwed over like the beholder, rust monster, and ogre mage.

Prepare to see more "video gamey" feel to these monsters.

Prepare to see some sacred cows sacrificed sky high.

The game is turning into less realism. Creatures aren't just born into a category for PCs to slay. "Oh, it's a ranged monster! Watch out!" or "These things can tear you apart in melee!" Whatever happened to role play in 4E?

Seriously, 8 more months of this?

I think I need a break.

 

[Wormwood]

Considering how much *better* the redesigned Ogre Mage and Rust monster are for actually playing D&D, it is my fervent hope that they remove every klunky 1e artifact from every single monster in the freakin' book.