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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4031211" data-attributes="member: 2067">With this issue, I'm hoping for monsters that can function as a wicked sweet encounter, who fill a valuable role in the game world, and who my players can do more with than kick their butt and move on. 4e definitely fills the former, it looks like (with a page of fluff!) it can probably fill the middle, and my only remaining concern is on the latter, which I think Mearls just addressed quite nicely by pointing out that the DMG will have rules for players gaining monster powers (including, I presume, with monsters as allied NPC's or monsters as PCs). Part of making sure that a monster fills a valuable role in the game world is ensuring that their gear 'makes sense' for a creature of their stature and ability. Equipping them from the treasure seems to be a perfect solution, to me. Well, part of my conflict is that I don't want to take extra time to put in verisimilitude. I want it to already be there for me. It conflicts with my spontaneous DMing style if I have to take a few hours to tinker with each monster for the odd chance that the PC's raise some difficult questions. With 4e's promise of quick-and-efficient gaming, I'd hope that I wouldn't have to give up what I can do fairly quickly in 3e in giving creatures a backstory and a reason for existing. It looks like I might be trading monster design time in 3e for monster explanation time in 4e.</blockquote>