DUNGEON's NEW STAT BLOCK FORMAT

[Emirikol]

Anybody notice the beautiful new stat block format that Erik put into DUNGEON #124?

It's beautiful. DM's have been crying for a statblock that can be read and makes sense for a long time and DUNGEON is putting it into play. Heck it will probably be what 4th edition looks like


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 (3HD)
Fort +5; Ref +2, Will +0

etc.

 

[scourger]

That does look nice. I'll look forward to getting it.

 

[Berandor]

Nice! I'll think about updating my villain sheets.

 

[BryonD]

I agree.
I had a brief moment of "What now?", which was VERY quickly followed by "Oh, this cool thing now."

It seems really well presented.

 

[nocanes]

Anybody notice the beautiful new stat block format that Erik put into DUNGEON #124?
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All I know is that it's going into my homebrew D20 Future tonight. I think this is a combat-friendlier statblock that I need for flow anyway...

 

[EricNoah]

It's pretty cool; I like the combat options section particularly.

If they could color-code the "buffed" stats in there somehow (to match different buffing options -- green potion of bull's strength leads to green parenthetical stats for attacks; red "rage" info; etc.) that would be nifty.

Also, in the mag it would help me if the stat block section were on a slightly different color background, like a sidebar but without the border. And they could alternate colors if they're presenting 2 or 3 or more stat blocks in a row so it's easy to see where one stat block ends and another begins.

And finally, in the mag, I noticed that when they lined up a stat block and then immediately referenced a MM monster, the MM monster reference kind of gets lost -- again, either a little symbol to say "look this one up" or colored backgrounds or something might help keep that from happening.

Overall, a nice improvement.

 

[Ketjak]

Anybody notice the beautiful new stat block format that Erik put into DUNGEON #124?

It's beautiful. DM's have been crying for a statblock that can be read and makes sense for a long time and DUNGEON is putting it into play.

It comes at the cost of column-inches, though. In other words, less stuff for a friendlier stat block. Personally I think they ARE beautiful and they DO make it easier to reference for combat statistics. However, I could read the old ones.

 

[Garnfellow]

Here's another vote in favor of the new statblock format.

I understand that the Dungeon team didn't actually develop this -- WotC built this format for the DMG II (see the Stampede of Horses statblock in the DMGII preview).

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Looks good, easy to understand, with no weird flow problems.

It eats up a little exta space, but uses it well.

The Auld Grump

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Definitely easier to read, but at the expense of page space. The old statblocks didn't bother me (I actually kinda like them). I'll have to try and test this format though; if it makes my game faster, it stays.