Anyone else not too fond of the new stat block setup?

[Nifft]

It's similar to what I do -- break up defense and offense into visually separate areas, and put everything else (like ability scores) in the middle.

But it's more verbose, and I think it's a bit too verbose.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Lord Rasputin]

I can see the point of the new format, but right now, it takes up too much space on a page.

As an aside, whatever happened to the new encounter format Dungeon was trying in the middle of the Shackled City adventure path? The auras and Listen/Spot DCs were useful.

 

[Cam Banks]

As an aside, whatever happened to the new encounter format Dungeon was trying in the middle of the Shackled City adventure path? The auras and Listen/Spot DCs were useful.

I think they abandoned that format because it was just too much to add to each encounter and took up a lot of space. Although the new stat block format seems larger and longer than the old one, in many cases it isn't. For the most part, a high-level NPC in both formats is equal in size.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Garnfellow]

As an aside, whatever happened to the new encounter format Dungeon was trying in the middle of the Shackled City adventure path? The auras and Listen/Spot DCs were useful.

I don't think I ever saw that. Any idea what issues they tried this out? Any examples of this format online?

 

[James Jacobs]

I can see the point of the new format, but right now, it takes up too much space on a page.

As an aside, whatever happened to the new encounter format Dungeon was trying in the middle of the Shackled City adventure path? The auras and Listen/Spot DCs were useful.

That format actually ended up taking more room than the new stat blocks, especially for higher level adventures, where listing all the auras for magical items was taking up WAY too much real estate. They were also obnoxiously difficult and time consuming to generate (again, especially at high level). All to support one of the most minor (and arguably least fun) aspects of the game; determining what kind of auras are in the room with a detect magic doesn't really add much to the adventure.

In one of the last adventures we were going to use this format in, by cutting out this redundant minutia we actually regained about two pages, which went right back in to supporting adventure content.

As for the new stat block, it actually doesn't take up much more room than the old one did. Ironically, for larger stat blocks, they take up about the same room. They're only noticeably longer (and even then, not by much) for low-level foes. And since they're easier to read and easier to find, they're here to stay (at least as far as Dungeon is concerned).

 

[Nellisir]

I like the DMGII stat block format, with personal modifications. I rewrite generic blocks for my convenience, adding in a full hp formula, moving stats to the top of the block (I just use modifiers, and having them at the top creates a nice "trickle down" effect when I make changes), and few minor tweaks like that.

boxes for hp don't do anything, I keep a running tally of damage to a creature instead.

 

[Dykstrav]

The only mod I made to the new stat block is an 'Identification' field. This lists the relevant Knowledge category and DC to identify the critter and is listed below Languages. It's a small touch but it saves me that extra few seconds trying to remember which critters are linked to which skill.

For example, a carrion crawler would be like this:

Identification Knowledge (dungeoneering) DC 13

 

[Dark Psion]

Personaly I am not fond of the new blocks (simply put, they are not how I organize the information), but since I always make my own on seperate pages for each creature, the only problem is when there is missing information in the original.

Now the one new format I truely hate is the new way they are listing magic items. It is not till the 5th paragraph that it actually says what the item does! And appearance and activation will vary by DM, Campaign setting and personal preference.

And it really wastes space on the page, you could have included 2 to 3 times as many items in some of the recent Eberron books.

 

[DonTadow]

I was thinking about how much I hate it today. The system plays big all the skills and such, and in one swoop they nix the importance of them. What makes me hate it though is that the statblock is impossible to port in my dmgenie.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The system plays big all the skills and such, and in one swoop they nix the importance of the.

That's right, you can never have enough the.



I don't mind the format for the most part, but I use my own anyway, so whatever.