D&D 5E D&D Next Q&A: 05/30/2014

[Plageman]

My guess is that the monsters and NPCs stat blocks will be consistent between Basic and Core. Obviously they won't use the optionnal rules from the DMG.

I guess that in format we'll get something akin to what had been published for the playtest and the latest "Sundering" adventures, a PDF with the needed stat blocks for the encounter but no explicit details about the creature itself. So if a bulette is an adventure and not in Basic you may get the same stat block as in the MM minus all the other informations.

 

[Ruzak]

I hope some optional stuff does get into the adventures & MM. I would like the occasional
"Tactical Module: Tail Whip can be used whenever flanked. "

 

[I'm A Banana]

I hope this is how it turns out, though I would also note that I seriously hope that they do not keep sending us to the Basic books' spell list every time an NPC has access to spells - any really relevant ones should be with his stat block.

Personally, I see a little bit of nuance possible here. If the Basic spell list is fairly limited, and the spells sufficiently complex, it would be better to just have them referenced. If we've got 100 pages of spells and they're all variations on Do X Damage, there's no reason not to have them in the statblock. At least, even for the complex spells, we should have a brief description, I think.

I'm also concerned because there is a horrifying alternative to what you propose - dual-stat-blocks, where one is for if you only have Basic, and the other is if you have the PHB (or whatever). You think it won't happen because of page count? Pretty sure most 5E products will be digital-primary, and thus have little care for page count. Just sayin'...

I don't think that fear has a lot of chance of coming to pass. Dual statblocks are a big problem for a lot of reasons, only one of which is pagecount. It's hard to earn the value in them. Just easier to make the guy using Basic rules. If enough people find a rule included in the PH or DMG useful so that everyone keeps using it, it can go into the Basic rules.

 

[kmack]

I seriously hope that they do not keep sending us to the Basic books' spell list every time an NPC has access to spells - any really relevant ones should be with his stat block.

In a recent Youtube stream they indicated that the plan is to include in the stat block relevant information for spells and abilities a DM would be likely to use in combat, so you'll be able to run the NPC from the block without having to refer to other references, but less-commonly-used stuff might be named, but not described (for example, if the character has Tenser's Floating Disc, the block would mention it but not describe its effects.) So in that way, it feels like a pretty decent compromise between the breadth of a 3E block and the "runnability" of a 4E block.