GRZ 34 - Monster Roles Interview (Has new art, and various stat-boxes)

[MindWanderer]

Have they renamed all the dinosaurs so that they're not so obviously "real world" creatures? The macetail behemoth is quite clearly an ankylosaurus (Mike, I mean Chris, even said as much) and the pic they showed also had a stegosaurus in it. I wonder what it will be called?

I'm putting my money on "bladeback behemoth."

 

[Rechan]

Yeah. My first thought was: "What happened to having shorter statblocks?" But the mind flayer is the exception not the rule so it's ok. Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere, possibly W&M, that much of the mind flayer's statblock is conditional. That is, not everything on the statblock is stuff it can use straight off the bat. Some things can only be used if the mind flayer is sucking brains or whatever.

Yes; the Mindflayer has to hit you with a tentacle. Then either it eats your brain, or turns you into a thrall. I imagine both of those require a bit of explainin' to do as to what effects they have.

 

[LFK]

Yeah. My first thought was: "What happened to having shorter statblocks?" But the mind flayer is the exception not the rule so it's ok. Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere, possibly W&M, that much of the mind flayer's statblock is conditional. That is, not everything on the statblock is stuff it can use straight off the bat. Some things can only be used if the mind flayer is sucking brains or whatever.

So far everything we've seen has taken between 1/4 and 1/2 a column, so I don't think there's going to be very many going beyond that without justification or just a general "well, they're mindflayers so it's okay" from the audience.

And, yeah, W&W page 80, the sidebar on Mindflayers talks about the nesting abilities.

 

[Cirex]

Dryad, charisma 13, strength 19.

Tomboy dryad?

 

[Propagandroid]

"Good at drawing aggro?"

Nobody outside WoW knows what that means.

 

[Rechan]

"Good at drawing aggro?"

Nobody outside WoW knows what that means.

I KNEW someone was going to complain about that as soon as it left his lips.

Protip: We don't have a emote because it's considered rude.

 

[Korgoth]

I'm glad that the Mind Flayer has a robust statblock; I like shorter statblocks in general but the Mind Flayer is an old favorite and deserves to have bonus special effects.

 

[Fiendish Dire Weasel]

"Good at drawing aggro?"

Nobody outside WoW knows what that means.

a) That term was in use before WoW.

b) Considering literally millions of people have played WoW, odds are a fair amount of the audience will understand the refference.

 

[Rechan]

I'm glad that the Mind Flayer has a robust statblock; I like shorter statblocks in general but the Mind Flayer is an old favorite and deserves to have bonus special effects.

Bet you a dollar the Beholder also has a hefty statblock.

 

[pukunui]

"Good at drawing aggro?"

Nobody outside WoW knows what that means.

I am happy to say that I have never played WoW--and I have no intention of ever playing it or any other MMO for that matter--yet I seem to have absolutely no trouble whatsoever finding meaning in the term "drawing aggro".

Besides, even if I wasn't able to figure it out for myself, my google-fu is strong ...