DUNGEON's NEW STAT BLOCK FORMAT

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

Uhh, where is the normal attacks info? Are they only including the rage-modified attacks?

No, he left some of the statblock out. Check my next post.

 

[ThirdWizard]

No, he left some of the statblock out. Check my next post.

It's even longer???

Is that conceptually possible?

Of course. Practicality in creation as well as use. With this you need a sheet per NPC, less NPCs will be able to be statted out in official sources, and it will be more expensive per npc for them to publish. It also takes longer to create the NPCs becuase it is a more complicated statting process. Is it really worth it if you can find the attack bonus .5 seconds sooner? Actually, because I'm swapping out more pages during combat, it might increase the time it takes to find the stats.

EDIT: Is the raging strength an error in the origional? It's really bugging me.

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

This is a little bit closer to what it actually looks like on paper:


KULLEN CR3
Half-orc barbarian 3
NE Medium humanoid (orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Spot-1, Listen +5
Languages Common, Orc
-------------------------------------------------------
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10; uncanny dodge
hp 31 (3 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0
-------------------------------------------------------
Spd 40 ft.
Melee +1 greataxe +7 (1d12+5/x3)
Base Atk +3; Grp +6
Attack Options Cleave, Power Attack
Special Attack Rage 1/day
Combat Gear potion of jump, potion of cure light wounds,
potion of mage armor
-------------------------------------------------------
Abilities Str 17, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 10
SQ fast movement, illiteracy, trap sense +1,
uncanny dodge
Feats Cleave, Power Attack
Skills Intimidate +6, Jump +13, Listen +5
Possessions combat gear, +1 greataxe, 3gp
Rage (Ex): When he rages, Kullen has the following changed statistics:
..AC 9, touch 9, flat-footed 8
..hp 37 (3 HD)
..Fort +7, Will +2,
..Melee +1 greataxe +9 (1d12+8/x3)
..Grp +9
..Abilities Str 19, Con 18
..Skills Jump +15

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

Still, I'd like to see how much space it would take to describe a high level character's abilities in this format before I decide which I prefer.

On page 87, there is a Female human undead cleric (Wee Jas) 15. The stat block is two full columns.

Hower, they are really easy to read, so I think it's worth it. Besides, that character would probably have taken nearly that much space in the previous style anyway.

This style does a lot of the work for me, and I think that trading space for less work is a great trade. The easier it is to use the more fun it is to play.

 

[MichaelH]

Is the raging strength an error in the origional? It's really bugging me.

Yes, it is. The raging strength should be 21. The raging melee attack stats are correct, however.

 

[Garnfellow]

Does the new stat block format distinguish between Attack and Full Attack? (I've found that distinction pretty helpful.)

I'm not quite sure I understand just what Combat Gear is or how Attack Options differs from Special Attacks.

 

[Agamon]

On page 87, there is a Female human undead cleric (Wee Jas) 15. The stat block is two full columns.

Hower, they are really easy to read, so I think it's worth it. Besides, that character would probably have taken nearly that much space in the previous style anyway.

This style does a lot of the work for me, and I think that trading space for less work is a great trade. The easier it is to use the more fun it is to play.

Yeah, the sample here shows what it would look like for a simple NPC, which doesn't do it justice, really. The bang for your buck comes when using it for high-level NPCs, where it is very nice indeed.

 

[EricNoah]

I would guess that Combat Options are special attacks that one can choose to apply (or not apply) to improve a standard melee and ranged attack (things like Sneak Attack, Improved Grab, etc.) vs. stand-alone special powers.

I wonder if this style works best in a 3-column (magazine-style) layout vs. a 2-column or no-column layout. Since the columns are narrow anyway, it doesn't really eat up that much extra space when you break the lines more frequently.

I've got a pretty close variant of this set up in my copy of eTools now; I'll see how I like it as time goes by.

 

[Mystery Man]

I actually do like it.

 

[Agamon]

Does the new stat block format distinguish between Attack and Full Attack? (I've found that distinction pretty helpful.)

Yup.

...
Melee +1 greataxe +7 (1d12+5/x3)
Base Atk +3; Grp +6
...

Edit: Oh, wait, you mean standard attack and full attack. My bad.