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<blockquote data-quote="GlassJaw" data-source="post: 5118908" data-attributes="member: 22103">Great post Ariosto - I couldn't agree more.A lot of people complain about how cumbersome it is to customize and advance monsters in 3.5. But a large part of the DM's job is identifying what he is actually going to need.&nbsp; If the orcs are just canon fodder, you don't need to know how many ranks in basketweaving they have.The Trailblazer monster book (which I'm working on now) is going to have a TON of design notes on exactly this topic.&nbsp; In fact, I have a design note tentatively called &quot;Create Only What You Need&quot;.Once again, very true.&nbsp; Just because 3.5 offers a plethora of crunch, you don't need to use it if you don't need it.&nbsp; A good example is the lycanthrope template.&nbsp; It's massive: 3 stat blocks for a single creature!&nbsp; But if you are throwing lycanthropes at your players, there's a good chance you only need their hybrid stats, at least for the minions.The Trailblazer monster book will also have a lot of what I've been calling &quot;Quick Templates&quot;.&nbsp; If you need to create something quickly, the Quick Templates are the essentials to create the feel of the monster you need.&nbsp; Will the players notice if the werewolf has a 20 or 22 Strength?&nbsp; Probably not.&nbsp; Will they notice if it has DR 10/silver, claw/claw/bite, and carries the curse of lycanthropy?&nbsp; Yup.&quot;Make it so&quot; is a good mantra.&nbsp; I also like &quot;Just Do It&quot;.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="GlassJaw, post: 5118908, member: 22103"] Great post Ariosto - I couldn't agree more. A lot of people complain about how cumbersome it is to customize and advance monsters in 3.5. But a large part of the DM's job is identifying what he is [I]actually going to need[/I]. If the orcs are just canon fodder, you don't need to know how many ranks in basketweaving they have. The Trailblazer monster book (which I'm working on now) is going to have a TON of design notes on exactly this topic. In fact, I have a design note tentatively called "Create Only What You Need". Once again, very true. Just because 3.5 offers a plethora of crunch, you don't need to use it if you don't need it. A good example is the lycanthrope template. It's massive: 3 stat blocks for a single creature! But if you are throwing lycanthropes at your players, there's a good chance you only need their hybrid stats, at least for the minions. The Trailblazer monster book will also have a lot of what I've been calling "Quick Templates". If you need to create something quickly, the Quick Templates are the essentials to create the feel of the monster you need. Will the players notice if the werewolf has a 20 or 22 Strength? Probably not. Will they notice if it has DR 10/silver, claw/claw/bite, and carries the curse of lycanthropy? Yup. "Make it so" is a good mantra. I also like "Just Do It". :D [/QUOTE]

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