D&D General Do people like re-skinning?

[Todd Roybark]

That's not Zen, though

LOL, nuance Max...it s a thing!

“Zen” is a shorthand for: “Meditative martial art“, in this context.

Zen, used this way, is less a precise term, and more an evocative, indicator of the feel and mood of the character.

Max, I don’t know your background, but given how much Zen,( in philosophy), is a means of experiencing the ineffable,
how much weight should we give to your definitional, deceleration of: “That is not Zen”?

 

[Fenris-77]

It's great for things that are supposed to be unique in the campaign world. For things that resemble organizations or populations, it's lazy and clumsy.

At need I reskin factions and move them from one setting to another without fuss or worry. I wouldn't call it lazy though. Why reinvent the wheel when there's a perfectly good target for adaptation just sitting there?

 

[Maxperson]

LOL, nuance Max...it s a thing!

Is that like, sometimes its "its" and sometimes its "it s?"

 

[RobJN]

I'm pretty sure it's required that you re-color your monster if you add hit dice, add to damage, or change a property of an attack

 

[DammitVictor]

At need I reskin factions and move them from one setting to another without fuss or worry. I wouldn't call it lazy though. Why reinvent the wheel when there's a perfectly good target for adaptation just sitting there?

Because if reskinning a major faction from a different campaign setting and moving it into the one you're using is a "perfect fit", it raises serious questions about the need for two separate campaign settings.

Reskinning things to represent wholly different thinks is never perfect and rarely good.

 

[Maxperson]

Because if reskinning a major faction from a different campaign setting and moving it into the one you're using is a "perfect fit", it raises serious questions about the need for two separate campaign settings.

Reskinning things to represent wholly different thinks is never perfect and rarely good.

I disagree. Perhaps his setting is vastly different than Planescape, but revolves a great deal around death and the undead. A reskinned Dustmen faction would be a perfect fit, where the rest of the factions would not be. Just because a reskinned Dustmen faction is a perfect fit, doesn't make his setting the same as Planescape.

 

[billd91]

I'd say I'm in the "Yes, but..." camp. I don't mind reskinning stuff, but a lot of reskinning ends up going only most of the way to the destination. I've seen conversions of stuff where a 5e monster's stat block was used in place of something in the module that didn't exist (yet) in 5e, but it missed a significant element of the original monster. All that was needed on my part was to rejigging a couple of the monster's special abilities. It had basically run up most of the field but stopped, on its own, a few yards short of the goal line.

So, moral of the story, if the purple worm's stats are a reasonable fit but it's missing a few characteristics, don't forget to add them. Don't be hung up on using the reskinned stats as is - morph them as needed to be a better adaptation.

 

[Fenris-77]

Because if reskinning a major faction from a different campaign setting and moving it into the one you're using is a "perfect fit", it raises serious questions about the need for two separate campaign settings.

I don't think it does. The fit of a particular faction into a particular design space doesn't change how different a setting might be in many other respects. An abyssal cult, for example, could just as easily appear in Ravenloft, The Realms, or Eberron, or even Dark Sun. That doesn't mean those settings are needless or interchangeable.

Reskinning things to represent wholly different thinks is never perfect and rarely good.

Well, no, that sounds like a little more than reskinning, but who knows. It all comes down to concept. The success of a reskin is all about the specific concept and the creativity of the designer. I don't think it really admits of sweeping statements like the one you made here.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

So, moral of the story, if the purple worm's stats are a reasonable fit but it's missing a few characteristics, don't forget to add them. Don't be hung up on using the reskinned stats as is - morph them as needed to be a better adaptation.

That's just building a new monster using the fine art of tweaking an old monster's stat-block. It's related, but not the same thing as refluffing. It's a solid tool too, of course, and I understand what you mean when you suggest that the next step (beyond refluffing) when it comes to monsters is to tweak the block.

 

[Fenris-77]

Just to be claer, when I use the phrase reskinning, I'm talk about potentially more than simply changing the name. Sometimes you might have to tinker with the rules a little too. If that's a definitional sticking point we should perhaps all be clear about what we all mean when we use the word.