Crazy Speculation - Monster Stat Block

[MerricB]

Feats?
Feats are not - by default - in a monster's description. They *can* be added, but there is no longer a 1 feat per 3 levels relationship.

Cheers!

 

[RogueTom]

In summary, what I've seen:

-There are not multiple attacks

While I have seen evidience that there will be nothing called full round action - where does the notion there will be no multiple attacks come from?

In one of the first 4e "previews" a couple of rounds of combat with a party v. red dragon discribed I seem to remember dragon having muliple attacks

 

[MerricB]

Also, it lets you take any creature in the game and play it as a PC since (in theory) not only are they built using the same rules but they are balanced because of it.

Yeah. That one really never worked. LA anyone?

I don't think there's anything in 4e that will stop you adding class levels to a monster and having a playable character. Balance is another thing, but a monster not having feats for its levels doesn't actually affect anything.

Consider that before 3.5e, in 3e, monsters were built in completely different ways to characters depending on type. 1 feat/3 HD? It was different for each type!

Cheers!

 

[coyote6]

While I have seen evidience that there will be nothing called full round action - where does the notion there will be no multiple attacks come from?

In one of the first 4e "previews" a couple of rounds of combat with a party v. red dragon discribed I seem to remember dragon having muliple attacks

I believe what's been implied is that there won't be iterative attacks; no "you're a 12th level fighter, so that's 3 attacks in a full attack". There will be feats/powers/whatevers that let individuals get multiple attacks, however. I think somewhere there was a mention that a fighter with a longsword could make a "Rapid Attack" (or some such) and get two attacks.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Here's my take on Orky the Orc:

Orky
Level 1 Brute - Humanoid, Orc
HP: # (MDT #)
AC #, Fort #, Ref #, Will #
Move: # squares
Attack(s): +# (#d#+#)
Special Abilities: Cleave(text)
Skills: Athletics +#, "Grapple" +#, Init +#, Social -#

(Grapple, in this case, is the generic "Strength-based maneuvers" skill, and it's used to break down doors and such too)

 

[Flynn]

Ummm.... where's Orky's hit points?

Graci,
Flynn

 

[Kunimatyu]

Ummm.... where's Orky's hit points?

Graci,
Flynn

Knew I forgot something. Fixed!

 

[Baby Samurai]

I believe what's been implied is that there won't be iterative attacks; no "you're a 12th level fighter, so that's 3 attacks in a full attack". There will be feats/powers/whatevers that let individuals get multiple attacks,

True, but they have stated that the Full Attack action is going bye-bye.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Full Round action is gone.

 

[pemerton]

Being a fan of Runequest and its derivates, this aspect of 3E was one of the major selling points for me. I never liked it that monsters were treated differently from pcs.

In RQ, monsters are not generated according to the character build rules - one just looks up their stats in the creature book.

But their stats do correlate to those of PCs, in terms of their interaction with the action resolution rules (eg they have stats, skill percentages etc). And this is equally true of the various 4e statblocks mooted in this thread.

So I don't see why being a fan of RQ would put one off this aspect of 4e.

 

[Jhaelen]

In RQ, monsters are not generated according to the character build rules - one just looks up their stats in the creature book.

But their stats do correlate to those of PCs, in terms of their interaction with the action resolution rules (eg they have stats, skill percentages etc). And this is equally true of the various 4e statblocks mooted in this thread.

Well, I guess I didn't express myself clearly enough. What I meant is exactly what you stated: Monsters in 3E have stats, feats, skills, etc. exactly like the player characters. I don't really mind how the monsters are designed, as long as that stays true.

This thread just contains speculations how the 4E stat-block might look like. We don't know, how it will really look like.
What I wouldn't like to see is monsters having an optimized stat-block that no longer contains all of the 'normal' stats. They'll probably do away with HD. They might remove the attributes (str, dex, con, etc.) as well. That would be a step back, imho.

Mr. Mearls mentioned exception-based design for monsters. If that means that every monster ability is unique to a single monster it won't make using monsters any easier. Similar monsters will eventually have abilities that are 'almost' identical. If there's a monster with a 'Mighty Grapple' ability and another one with a 'Powerful Grapple' which are only different in some small detail, then that's a bad thing because you'll mix them up.

It doesn't matter if the abilities are explained in full detail along with the stat-block. In 3E once you knew how 'Improved Grapple' worked, you didn't need to look it up or read it any more. With time you could master all monster abilities. It sounds like that might become impossible in 4E.