Do You Like Advanced Monsters and Prestige Class Examples in your Books?

[Chroma]

Just to chime in, I too like advanced monsters and, while the NPC PrC characters could be interesting, it's all the reprinted material that irritates me about them; there are literally pages wasted reprinting abilities in the Complete books. It kind of reminds me of the two lines that are wasted in every feat that says, "Fighters may take this feat as one of their bonus feats", which could've been saved by just having a [Fighter] tag for those feats. I hate feeling I'm paying for padding.

I'd like to see the PrC used in unusual ways, and not always in they way they seem to be intended... and it's also the little bit of backstory that really piques my interest.

The only advanced monsters from WotC that I've been disappointed with were the various dragons in the Draconomicon, because they didn't do anything *unusual* with them. I like their backstories, but all they take are combat feats! None with "Skill Focus: Knowledge: Arcana" or "Deceitful" or "Forge Ring" (at least none that I've found in a cursory read). Or even have a few with atypical alignments and such; they could've really shown the versitility of dragons that way. Heck, none even have character levels! That's the only thing that's disappointed me in that book.

 

[CRGreathouse]

I can sometimes appreaciate a special advanced monster, but they typically go unused.

I have never once used a sample prestige class NPC. I think they're a waste of space.

 

[the Jester]

Hmm, it's interesting- lots of dnd stuff is out there that I like but will never use, but the prc examples are things I don't like and will never use.

Wonder why this is.

On the other hand, when I got the 3.5 MM with all the advanced goodies in it, even before I knew I was gonna use some of 'em I was all about it. Love them- I really find that advanced monsters are a great way to challenge my high-level group, and there aren't exactly a ton of them out there already.

 

[reanjr]

Okay, so I'm sure many of us have noticed that the books WotC are putting out now seem to have a sample npc of every new prc. Do you guys like this? I was just mulling over adding a sample npc to a prc I posted over in house rules, but I kept wondering if this practice is lame?

Also, the 3.5 MM and the MM3 both have lots of examples of advanced versions of monsters. Do you guys like this, is it cool? Or is it lame?

Horribly lame.

I haven't found a use for a single one of these NPCs. Their background is so minimal as to be useless. The only benefit I see is to give an example of what kind of build can get into the prestige class. This could be summarized in s single line.

And I can apply a template or add some hit dice myself, thank you. These types of things are never useful to me.

If someone wants tools like this, great. But I think they should be in a seperate book (DMG II perhaps).

 

[Psion]

Their background is so minimal as to be useless.

That makes them MORE useful, AFAIAC. If the background is too specific and exhaustive, it introduces details that invariably conflict with efforts to integrate the character into the setting.

 

[Mystery Man]

Hmm, it's interesting- lots of dnd stuff is out there that I like but will never use, but the prc examples are things I don't like and will never use.

bully for you, I will.

 

[Driddle]

one more vote for the NPC-PrC-example-is-lame tally.
it's filler material. and insults one's intelligence when the same information is reprinted one page over.

 

[Psion]

one more vote for the NPC-PrC-example-is-lame tally.
it's filler material. and insults one's intelligence when the same information is reprinted one page over.

Again, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Agreed, reprinting ability descriptions from the page prior is a waste of space. But they COULD do what green ronin did in their sample templated creatures Advanced Bestiary: referred you to the page before.

 

[DaveMage]

I like both.

What I'd really like to see is a chart in all monster books (under each monster entry) that advances every monster (that doesn't advance by class levels).

The chart would show what the AC, HD, Attack bonuses, etc. are for each HD above base. Also, a recommended skill & feat progression would be nice as well.

Since my main problem (as a DM) with 3/3.5E is that character & monster advancement/creation takes so much time, I wish there were web enhancements that had an example of all levels of all classes fully stated out.

Maybe that would be a neat community project.

 

[Arnwyn]

Love the advanced monster examples.

Unsure about the PrC NPC samples. If they were space efficient (i.e. never reprinting abilities from the PHB or the PrC that's right on the page before!), I might be okay with them.