Breaking my Monster Manual NDA? Gotta share my joy...

[Pbartender]

3. Full utilization of racial traits not made. The aranea has a level adjustment of +4 but no racial stats listed...

...As for the racial traits, that's kind of irrelevant to me. I am not warm to the idea of monsters as PCs. I think there is a difference between listing a level adjustment (suitable for defining the ECL of cohorts and such) and providing the full "XXX as Characters" info. Some monsters, I reason, are ok as cohorts but not as characters.

You'll need the level adjustment in order to determine how long it takes a cohort-creature to gain a level of advancement by character class. The aranea, for example, with a +4 level adjustment, is going to need 5th level XP to gain its 1st level of sorcerer (or what have ya).

Again, this isn't terribly important to me.

Now, to me, racial adjustments for all creatures would be something really useful. Not so much to allow them as PCs, but to use them to build varied NPCs. Occasionally it'd be nice, for example, to have important monsters or NPCs that didn't necessarily have the same average ability scores as all the other monsters of the same type.

It was one of the things I liked best about the Star Wars Alien Anthology... They has racial adjustments listed for nearly every species in the book.

What sort of information was included in the "[INSET MONSTER] as Characters" sections?

 

[seankreynolds]

{8. The Level Equivilence is not the same as the CR and every time I saw it, it was higher. i.e. a CR of +2 from a template wasn't a +2 to Level but maybe a +3 or +4.}

Well, since CR and LA/ECL aren't the same thing and don't measure the same thing, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Destil]

What's the big deal about level adjustments? As long as racial bonus feats are listed as such it's typically very easy to stat a monster as a PC race (subtract 10 or 11 from stats, add any racial special abilities/qualities). Sure, it's a bit of a pain with monsters that have more than 1 HD *you need to figure BAB, feats, saves & skills), but really I don't see the need for this.

 

[Alzrius]

Now, to me, racial adjustments for all creatures would be something really useful. Not so much to allow them as PCs, but to use them to build varied NPCs. Occasionally it'd be nice, for example, to have important monsters or NPCs that didn't necessarily have the same average ability scores as all the other monsters of the same type.

It was one of the things I liked best about the Star Wars Alien Anthology... They has racial adjustments listed for nearly every species in the book.

Savage Species tossed out an incredibly simple answer for this though, which I expect will hold true here also, even if it wasn't explicitly spelled out: when configuring a monster's racial traits, subtract either 10 or 11 from the ability scores, whichever gives you an even-numbered result. That's the monster's ability bonus.

The only pitfall I can see here is if monsters got 1 ability point for ever four hit dice and/or levels, but they might not even have been built that way to begin with, so that might not be a real concern.

 

[Pbartender]

Savage Species tossed out an incredibly simple answer for this though, which I expect will hold true here also, even if it wasn't explicitly spelled out: when configuring a monster's racial traits, subtract either 10 or 11 from the ability scores, whichever gives you an even-numbered result. That's the monster's ability bonus.

The only pitfall I can see here is if monsters got 1 ability point for ever four hit dice and/or levels, but they might not even have been built that way to begin with, so that might not be a real concern.

That a very good point... One I hadn't really thought of.

It just seems that for the line or two of space it would take up, it would be a very useful convenience to add. But hey... That's just me.

 

[beta-ray]

1. Not all art is new. Layout is pretty similiar too.

I don't see why this is even an issue. This is v3.5 (a revision?), not v4

 

[Knight Otu]

Savage Species tossed out an incredibly simple answer for this though, which I expect will hold true here also, even if it wasn't explicitly spelled out: when configuring a monster's racial traits, subtract either 10 or 11 from the ability scores, whichever gives you an even-numbered result. That's the monster's ability bonus.

I think I don't spill a secret if I say that this had already been said in the old DMG. I would be very surprised not to see it in one of the revised books.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Do stat blocks still occasionally spill over from one page to the next, or is more like FF where at least the stats (and whenever possible the descriptions of the abilities too) are always all visible at the same time? I found FF a significant step up despite looking much the same at first glance.

I thought this was what was actually promised -- not one monster per page, but at least no stat block split across pages. The question is, did they deliver?

 

[Knight Otu]

...not one monster per page, but at least no stat block split across pages. The question is, did they deliver?

They promised a minimum of split stat blocks. I think Andy Collins said that they didn't fully make it. However, I'm also curious if it has improved.

 

[Zappo]

Awwww! Only four monsters in the whole book have a tactic section? Damn!

Yeah, it's better than 3.0, but still... it had the potential to be a great idea, but this way a lot of that potential is wasted.