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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6294150" data-attributes="member: 2067">So as to avoid a wall o' text, I'm gonna try to parse down the reaction to the meat -- feel free to let me know if I'm missing a vital point here!Sure, and they also gave DMs a set of rules frameworks to generate combat stats for monsters. So why do I get dragon combat stats, and not much else? What privileges the combat stat block when there are other things so much more relevant to the feel of the thing in play? If it's worth the time-saving efficiency for the designers to whip up that stat block, why isn't it worth it for them to whip up a SC? If 5e is myopically focused on a combat encounter with the critter, it's going to disappoint me, too (however much its lair and being legendary add to that combat encounter). And yet the combat stats there are thematically coherent, internally consistent mechanics for a (specific kind of) conflict that display an understanding of genre tropes and base knowledge, enabling a DM to focus on improvising rather than on details. That's what I need from a monster entry. Combat stats are a big part of that, but they aren't all that's necessary, especially when the creatures have other elements at work. It's at a higher level than that: the 4e MM1 didn't give me support to run the kinds of dragons I want to run. Given that 2e and 3e did (though it wasn't much), I know that such a thing is not beyond the scope of a D&D MM. 4e did not, and I hope 5e does. It doesn't necessarily require a novella (though I'm a fan of non-standard monster books), but it does require more than what 4e gave me. And, heck, on certain axes, 4e gave me too much -- I don't need a handful of different lightning-based attack powers. I'm of the opinion that mechanics should enhance the narrative told in play -- that the rules and the story should be intimate. Modularity keeps that customizable and flexible, because it allows you to change one set of details for another. I'm also of the opinion that when I buy a D&D monster book, I'm getting support for running that monster in my D&D games. With dragons in 4e, this wasn't the case, since it didn't give me the support for the things I wanted to do. Those things weren't unrealistic, given that previous e's supported that just fine.</blockquote>

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