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<blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 4457932" data-attributes="member: 710">I disagree due to some practical experience. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> We ran a lot published modules (in fact, I was the only one in the past few years that was still homebrewing, ending up with Iron Heroes to make my life easier). But still, everyone converted to 4E because they still found DMing easier. And this required making up new stat-blocks, not being able to re-use the handily from the module!I think the reason is that the application of the stat-block is also a lot of work - what of its several special abilities does the monster use (not all monsters are noteworthy for special abilities, but enough of them are)? What special abilities does it have in the first place (spell-like abilities usually require you to look up in the PHB to figure out what the spells do). Then applying buffs and debuffs also requires quite some work.I am not certain, but I think even to have rolling Saves for NPCs can be time-consuming or &quot;stressful&quot;, especially when we are talking about area effects. In a way, 4E basically divides each player (including the DM) in a certain &quot;passive&quot; and a &quot;active&quot; phase. You will roll most of your dice when you are active, and in your passivephase, you will mostly take notes - how much damage do you take, what conditions apply to you. Only exceptions are Immediate Actions and Opportunity Actions - and while they are not rare, they are not as common as saves.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mustrum_Ridcully, post: 4457932, member: 710"] I disagree due to some practical experience. ;) We ran a lot published modules (in fact, I was the only one in the past few years that was still homebrewing, ending up with Iron Heroes to make my life easier). But still, everyone converted to 4E because they still found DMing easier. And this required making up new stat-blocks, not being able to re-use the handily from the module! I think the reason is that the application of the stat-block is also a lot of work - what of its several special abilities does the monster use (not all monsters are noteworthy for special abilities, but enough of them are)? What special abilities does it have in the first place (spell-like abilities usually require you to look up in the PHB to figure out what the spells do). Then applying buffs and debuffs also requires quite some work. I am not certain, but I think even to have rolling Saves for NPCs can be time-consuming or "stressful", especially when we are talking about area effects. In a way, 4E basically divides each player (including the DM) in a certain "passive" and a "active" phase. You will roll most of your dice when you are active, and in your passivephase, you will mostly take notes - how much damage do you take, what conditions apply to you. Only exceptions are Immediate Actions and Opportunity Actions - and while they are not rare, they are not as common as saves. [/QUOTE]

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