Do you run monsters straight from the MM?

[The_Universe]

If I'm putting the PCs up against a "monster", rather than a "character", I generally run it right out of whatever book they're found in.

I also tend to like to have themed monster campaigns, so there might be 6 months where all they're fighting is creatures with the half-dragon template, or something.

 

[francisca]

When I was running 3.5, I usually yanked them straight from the source, be it MM, ToH, etc.., with one exception: about 3/4 of the time I rolled for HP. I like the variance you get by actually rolling for HP, rather than just taking the average.

 

[Voadam]

Sometimes straight out of the srd, a quick copy and paste. It is good to have and use classics.

Sometimes straight out of another monster source unaltered, such as complete minions for a copy and paste or MMII for use at table top. I have a ton of monster books full of stuff my party has never seen that are cool.

Sometimes I advance by HD, Add class levels, bump up stats, add on templates, convert to 3.5, and/or make up stuff on the spot for use. New wierd things provide different challenges.

 

[Psion]

Not often. Frequently, I'll either spruce a create up (class levels, templates, or somesuch) or use creatures from a less familiar book.

But then, I am a more character oriented GM. To me, the big breakthrough of the MM was making the creatures more usable as the basis for characters. To me, using MM creatures as-is sacrifices much of its potential.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

I tweak everything, but only slightly.

For general encounters this is what I do.

Up Hit Points to 75% (rather than 50%). My system has the PC's at well over average hit points, this just help equalizes it.

I up some stats here and there. Again, the way I generate abilty scores leads to PC's with higher stat totals than normal. Higher stats just helps equalize things out.

I'll also occasionally flip out a feat here, or skill here,

But, I don't make a lot of heavy modifications. That I leave to the main bad guys.

 

[Arnwyn]

Straight from the MM, most of the time.