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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Jacobs" data-source="post: 2289438" data-attributes="member: 23937">The new stat block is here to stay, but you can expect some minor adjustments over the next few issues as we settle into the new format. At this point, I'd agree that the main concern is how the short stat blocks get lost in the page. We won't be putting the stat blocks into boxes (this format wreaks havoc on layout, and it's why we went to our current format for read-aloud text). Changing the color of the text is an option, but doing that risks readability. Anyway... we'll figure it out, one way or another.As for the space issues... it's true that these new stat blocks take up more space than the old ones. That was actually a major concern for me, but in the end it looks like the stat blocks'll rarely be larger than 125% the size of the old ones, and often they'll be much closer in length than that. It's a balancing act; deciding how far to go to make the adventures easier to use over how much text to cram into each one. For something as crucial and integral to the game as a stat block, the choice was simple.To answer a few specific questions...Combat Gear is any equipment that the NPC might use in combat in place of an attack. Most wands, staffs, potions, and scrolls go here, as would beads of force, most rods, and anything else you have to give up an action to use. Stuff like magic weapons, armor, ability enhancers, and defensive items go in the possessions list at the bottom, since their effects are generally factored into the statblock elsewhere already. There's a range of items that don't obviously fit into these two categories; the brooch of shielding being one of them. We'll get it figured out eventually, though.Non Combat Data: One incarnation of the stat block ommitted non-combat stuff like Brew Potion, skills like Knowledge and Craft, and the like. While this information may eventually evolve away like tails or body fur, I'm going to try to keep them in the stat blocks in Dungeon as long as I can, simply because not every encounter with every NPC is always going to be a combat encounter. Putting in all the parts lets people reverse engineer the NPC to make them fit in their campaigns, and increases their utility beyond the scope of an adventure. For example... if one of your  players anounces "I took Leadership as my feat... where's my cohort?" you can just grab an appropriate stat block from some random issue of the magazine without having to worry about what we left out.Calling out miss chances from displacement and the like is a great idea; it'll be showing up in the Armor Class line."Missing content": Stat blocks are an important part of an adventure, but not the MOST important part. That award goes to the adventure's story, or plot. It's like a knife twisting in my gut every time we're forced to cut part of an adventure's story in order to make the thing fit in the magazine. This is the primary reason we've been a lot more draconian in enforcing word counts for unsolicited adventures. It's not there to force the writer to abbreviate his work. It's there to help make sure we won't have to cut any of that work for him to make the adventure fit. Given the choice, I'd much prefer the writer of an adventure decides what stays and what goes from his words than leaving that choice to the editors.Trap Stat Blocks: Agreed. We'll probably develop a new trap stat block eventually as well. And when we do, it'll probably look similar to the creature stat blocks.Room Stat Blocks: We have no immediate plans to alter the format we use for rooms. Truth be told... a lot of people read adventures for fun, and turning every room into a stat block may make an encounter easier to run, but I have my doubts it makes the adventure easier to read. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. In any case, instituting such a drastic change at this point isn't going to happen in the magazines simply because we don't have time to re-write every adventure in the magazine. Which is what adopting this style of format would ammount to.Ability Scores: I actually prefer the concept of listing ability scores as Str +3, Dex +1, etc. I doubt this change'll make it into the magazine though.Stat Block Police: I honestly don't mind if people reverse engineer stat blocks to double or triple check the math. Reworking stat blocks is actually a great way to familiarize yourself with the rules. What DOES bother me is when someone posts a huge review of a product that lists 50 tiny little stat block errors in a product, but neglect to mention that of those 50 things the product got wrong, it got 5000 things right. If this happened on a test, that'd equate to a score of 99%. Only in the RPG industry is a score of 99% a failing score. It's weird.</blockquote>

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