D&D General Do people like re-skinning?

[Maxperson]

This is exactly what I'm talking about, when I say it's bad practice. You're too lazy to figure out the right stats for this monster, so you just do whatever is easy for you, with the justification that the players won't find out.

Until you can prove the objectively "right stats" for a war ogre, you have no good basis for that statement.

 

[Asisreo]

This is exactly what I'm talking about, when I say it's bad practice. You're too lazy to figure out the right stats for this monster, so you just do whatever is easy for you, with the justification that the players won't find out.

The DM is the eyes and ears of the players. They're supposed to be able to trust you. This sort of behavior is a betrayal of that trust.

That's quite a harsh take. I personally enjoy homebrewing so it's rare for me to simply reskin a monster and call it something else, but I'm sure it's useful for on-the-fly improvised monsters you weren't expecting to have to fight or you weren't done balancing the monster but the players made a preemptive journey to it's lair.

Plus, I don't think I'd distrust a DM if their fire-breathing kobolds were just wyrmlings re-skinned. At least we don't have to put the game on hold while the DM looks through the DMG and does the CR calculations while we wait 30 mins to an hour

 

[The Crimson Binome]

That's quite a harsh take. I personally enjoy homebrewing so it's rare for me to simply reskin a monster and call it something else, but I'm sure it's useful for on-the-fly improvised monsters you weren't expecting to have to fight or you weren't done balancing the monster but the players made a preemptive journey to it's lair.

Honestly, I don't feel quite as strongly about this as I may come across, but it's still weird to me that nobody in this thread would even see the problem with it.

I mean, the DM should know the rules well enough that they can come up with the right stats for something with a few minutes on a scratch pad. It's not like the stats for a monster in the book are any better than what a DM can come up with in that time. In fact, the stats in the book are obviously less appropriate, since they were never intended to represent this new monster that you just invented. There's nothing wrong with homebrewing new content, and homebrewing a new description onto an existing stat block is not any less of a homebrew than coming up with accurate stats for the new thing you just invented.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

There's nothing wrong with homebrewing new content, and homebrewing a new description onto an existing stat block is not any less of a homebrew than coming up with accurate stats for the new thing you just invented.

I think the assumption, correct or not, is that the stat-blocks as-is are playtested and balanced.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I think the assumption, correct or not, is that the stat-blocks as-is are playtested and balanced.

Yes, for whatever reason, people have it in their heads that the stat blocks in the book are of higher quality than whatever they can come up with for themselves, which is completely missing the entire point of this edition.

 

[Maxperson]

Yes, for whatever reason, people have it in their heads that the stat blocks in the book are of higher quality than whatever they can come up with for themselves, which is completely missing the entire point of this edition.

Or maybe the Hill Giant profile perfectly fits a War Ogre. A bit stronger and hardier than a normal ogre. The mental stats are in line. Can throw rocks like I imagine a War Ogre would be able to. From where I sit, it makes perfect sense and there is no need to re-invent the wheel.

If you're going to accuse people of laziness and using the "wrong stat block," you need to back that up with objective evidence to support you.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Yes, for whatever reason, people have it in their heads that the stat blocks in the book are of higher quality than whatever they can come up with for themselves, which is completely missing the entire point of this edition.

Does that really miss the point, though? The very first advice in the Creating Monsters section of the DMG is to just use an existing statblock, and mod it:

The first question you should ask yourself is: Can I use statistics that already exist?

 

[prabe]

If you're going to accuse people of laziness and using the "wrong stat block," you need to back that up with objective evidence to support you.

I'll admit that I'm lazy as hell. That doesn't mean anyone else (let alone everyone else) is.

 

[Maxperson]

I'll admit that I'm lazy as hell. That doesn't mean anyone else (let alone everyone else) is.

I'm just very "efficient." I can't stand to do more work than I have to, but I don't shy away from figuring out the least amount of work to get the job done right.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I'm just very "efficient." I can't stand to do more work than I have to, but I don't shy away from figuring out the least amount of work to get the job done right.

Work smarter not harder?