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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7213695" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Yeah, that is often true, and I don't have a real issue with creating more challenging versions, or just higher level ones, etc. I mean, plot devices are always cool! One oddity, IMHO, about 4e design is that it is much more intentional than earlier editions, there's NOTHING in the rules that suggests random monsters or anything like that. So, you'd think every monster would be a plot device, right? At worst that some would be set dressing, but they'd all fit directly into some sort of overall story, as a general rule. Yet the 4e MM, even MM3 and the MV's to a great extent, are written mechanically as if monsters are exactly sort of random stand-alone obstacles. The mummy doesn't inflict a terrible curse that requires some great quest to fix, the medusa doesn't turn (very many) characters to stone and force their buddies to find a way to fix it (or just be a horrible legend that you only meet with great trepidation and after significant planning). In a way its really ODD, the monsters of AD&amp;D, a game that practically hinges on random encounters, are vastly better set up to be plot devices than those presented in a game which clearly eschews randomness and triviality in favor of plot!</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7213695, member: 82106"] Yeah, that is often true, and I don't have a real issue with creating more challenging versions, or just higher level ones, etc. I mean, plot devices are always cool! One oddity, IMHO, about 4e design is that it is much more intentional than earlier editions, there's NOTHING in the rules that suggests random monsters or anything like that. So, you'd think every monster would be a plot device, right? At worst that some would be set dressing, but they'd all fit directly into some sort of overall story, as a general rule. Yet the 4e MM, even MM3 and the MV's to a great extent, are written mechanically as if monsters are exactly sort of random stand-alone obstacles. The mummy doesn't inflict a terrible curse that requires some great quest to fix, the medusa doesn't turn (very many) characters to stone and force their buddies to find a way to fix it (or just be a horrible legend that you only meet with great trepidation and after significant planning). In a way its really ODD, the monsters of AD&D, a game that practically hinges on random encounters, are vastly better set up to be plot devices than those presented in a game which clearly eschews randomness and triviality in favor of plot! [/QUOTE]

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