D&D 5E Do you like the simplicity of 5E monsters?

[Saplatt]

5E hits the perfect sweet spot as far as I'm concerned. Brilliant design.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I do like that they haven't gone back to the 3e practice of making monsters as detailed as PCs and/or using the same rules as PCs. The stat blocks are fine, reminiscent of 1e (or B/X, I suppose, since they're shorter than 1e MM stats), but still having most of what you need to run the monster in the block (not quite everything, like you had with 4e) you do have to look up spells for monsters that have 'em, but for most monsters it's pretty good.

My chief complaint isn't that they have spells to look up, but that in the adventures themselves, they don't have the core stats listed under the respective encounter. So you're looking up monster stat blocks anyway. I much prefer the TSR way of including basic stats under each encounter.

Here's an example, using 5e's rules for my own campaign of what I'm talking about. I don't think it takes up too much space, especially if I don't have to look up a monster.

 

[Haffrung]

If you think 5e monsters are simple, take a look at the 1e monster manual sometime . If anything 5e seems to be a throwback to 2e monsterous compendium style, with a decent amount of background info and fluff to help the DM be creative in world / encounter building. There's never been much to differentiate kobolds from goblins (mechanically) but prior editions had no problem providing descriptive fluff to allow DMs to portray them differently and create memorable encounters.

Yep. Coming from a background of mainly AD&D, I like the complexity of 5E monsters.

 

[Tony Vargas]

My chief complaint isn't that they have spells to look up, but that in the adventures themselves, they don't have the core stats listed under the respective encounter. So you're looking up monster stat blocks anyway. I much prefer the TSR way of including basic stats under each encounter.

Yeah, that's something that started with the Encounters playtests - monsters were exiled to the back of the adventure. All through the run of 4e and Essentials, each encounter had the stat blocks for all the monsters right there, even if they'd been in a previous encounter. So WotC has taken the trouble to include monster stats in a convenient way, relatively recently - it wasn't just a TSR thing.

I suppose with 6-8 encounters/day instead of 4 or so, and with a lot of those encounters being very similar in HotDQ (ooh, more Kobolds & Cultists), it might seem wasteful to re-print their stats over and over?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, that's something that started with the Encounters playtests - monsters were exiled to the back of the adventure. All through the run of 4e and Essentials, each encounter had the stat blocks for all the monsters right there, even if they'd been in a previous encounter. So WotC has taken the trouble to include monster stats in a convenient way, relatively recently - it wasn't just a TSR thing.

I suppose with 6-8 encounters/day instead of 4 or so, and with a lot of those encounters being very similar in HotDQ (ooh, more Kobolds & Cultists), it might seem wasteful to re-print their stats over and over?

I meant having stat blocks right there under each encounter, so you didn't even have to flip to the back of the book. Did 4e do it that way too?

 

[Plaguescarred]

I like 5E monster statblocks a lot, its compact and handy referencing most abilities within. The only thing missing are spells description. Then it would have been perfect!

 

[RangerWickett]

If the PCs enter an open arena and fight 5 goblins, then fight a wave of 5 kobolds, then fight a wave of 5 hobgoblins, there's not that much you can do that's interesting to diversify them. I did kinda like in 4e that kobolds were hard to hit with opportunity attacks so they could flank you easily, whereas goblins could disengage when you miss them because they're cowards. Hobgoblins improved their adjacent allies' ACs because they fought in tandem.

I haven't seen the 5e MM. Are there any small traits like that?

I do wish big monsters had more 'presence' in battle. A dragon hits like a truck, and should get to shove PCs across the room, or easily bite and gnash them in his teeth (grabbing them for a few rounds). I don't want monster by monster rules in each critter's stat-block, but some guidelines for how to pull this sort of thing off would be good:

 

[ExploderWizard]

I prefer to start simple then add the complexity I already have with my 4e Monster Manuals and Pathfinder Bestiaries for special encounters.

As long as the baseline math are changed to match the 5e books, I'm not worried about balance.
HP: 5e
AC: 5e
Stats: Shifted back towards 5e numbers.
To Hit: 5e
Damage: 5e

Special abilities, defenses, and attacks - go nuts.

Wait what? You are going to creatively add to monsters from the MM? Get outta town!!

SOMEBODY GETS IT!!!

D&D has traditionally been about making up stuff and sharing it with your friends. Somewhere along the way the idea that the game designers should do all of your imagining for you became popular.

I see the MM and similar collections of monsters as a huge tub of Lego bricks that I can use to create stuff for my game. EVERY monster has the capacity to serve as a template for something unique. Boring monsters? A bucket of Lego bricks is only boring if you don't build something cool out of it.

Back during one of my old 1E campaigns trolls had become rather run of the mill. The party grew to know how to deal with them. During an adventure in a lost world type ruined city the party ran into some troll like creatures with orange skin and huge tusks. They didn't know quite what to make of them at first. When one of these "trolls" belched fire on them from 30 feet away it was quite amusing. Thus began the first encounter with fire trolls.

One my favorite features of the old 4E monster builder was how easy it was to grab a monster as a template then select from a huge menu of a la carte powers & abilities to create unique things.

 

[BryonD]

I'm definitely in the "boring as is" camp. But, as with many other elements of 5E, I don't see boring play. I see a "boring as is" foundation for building into really cool "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" variants.

As far as environment and situation complications are concerned, I don't buy that as relevant. I want BOTH cool environments and cool monsters.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I meant having stat blocks right there under each encounter, so you didn't even have to flip to the back of the book. Did 4e do it that way too?

Yep. In every Encounters module prior to the playtest, and in every Dungeon adventure I saw (which wasn't many of them, I cancelled DDI when it went on-line-only). Not sure about all other published adventures - I didn't run them, so'd only glimpse 'em now and then, but I think that was the general format. Not just compressed stats, but a complete stat block with everything you'd need to run the monster, right there in the encounter. Very convenient.