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<blockquote data-quote="Shade" data-source="post: 3677805" data-attributes="member: 287">First off, let me say that I absoultely love MMV.&nbsp;&nbsp; I think it's the best monster book since the Fiend Folio.That said, I'm not 100% on board with the new design philosopy.&nbsp;&nbsp; While some of the monsters seem nicely focused while still being versatile (the garngrath and spirrax are prime examples), others feel a bit limited.&nbsp;&nbsp; Take the malastor, for example.&nbsp; It's a CR 16 monster that really has only one ability it can use (the other is completely reactive based on taking damage).&nbsp;&nbsp; While the ability is kinda cool, it also makes it rather bland.&nbsp; It can either do the avalanche wave, or its back to claw/claw/bite.&nbsp;&nbsp; The first thing I'll be doing when I get around to using this monster is slapping on a template or two.Most of my combats go well past 5 rounds.&nbsp; At low levels, that may have been a different case, but we've been playing high to epic-level campaigns for several years now.&nbsp;&nbsp; In my experience, the more flexible monsters make for the more memorable encounters.Still, I do agree that some monsters have many unnecessary SLAs, even for outside combat.&nbsp;&nbsp; To me, though, the bigger design flaw with relying on SLAs is the poor save DCs.&nbsp; Since SLAs, like spells, don't factor in 1/2 the monster's HD like other abilities, then the characters nearly always succeed on their saving throws.&nbsp;&nbsp; Artificially inflating the Charisma seems to be the former design method to get around this, but I prefer taking an imprortant SLA and turning it into a supernatural ability, which seems to be the way some of the designers have been going.I also want to applaud the MMV design team for finally embracing the Improved Toughness feat for monsters.&nbsp;&nbsp; My biggest wish for future MMs is to really round out the feat section, implementing great-for-monster feats like Large and in Charge, Multigrab, Rending Constriction, Empower Supernatural Ability, and so on.&nbsp;&nbsp; I'd also like to see an appendix on easy mix-and-matching of abilities and how they might affect a monster.&nbsp;&nbsp; For example, how to determine the CR if adding Unholy Toughness to pre-MMIII undead.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Shade, post: 3677805, member: 287"] First off, let me say that I absoultely love MMV. I think it's the best monster book since the Fiend Folio. That said, I'm not 100% on board with the new design philosopy. While some of the monsters seem nicely focused while still being versatile (the garngrath and spirrax are prime examples), others feel a bit limited. Take the malastor, for example. It's a CR 16 monster that really has only one ability it can use (the other is completely reactive based on taking damage). While the ability is kinda cool, it also makes it rather bland. It can either do the avalanche wave, or its back to claw/claw/bite. The first thing I'll be doing when I get around to using this monster is slapping on a template or two. Most of my combats go well past 5 rounds. At low levels, that may have been a different case, but we've been playing high to epic-level campaigns for several years now. In my experience, the more flexible monsters make for the more memorable encounters. Still, I do agree that some monsters have many unnecessary SLAs, even for outside combat. To me, though, the bigger design flaw with relying on SLAs is the poor save DCs. Since SLAs, like spells, don't factor in 1/2 the monster's HD like other abilities, then the characters nearly always succeed on their saving throws. Artificially inflating the Charisma seems to be the former design method to get around this, but I prefer taking an imprortant SLA and turning it into a supernatural ability, which seems to be the way some of the designers have been going. I also want to applaud the MMV design team for finally embracing the Improved Toughness feat for monsters. My biggest wish for future MMs is to really round out the feat section, implementing great-for-monster feats like Large and in Charge, Multigrab, Rending Constriction, Empower Supernatural Ability, and so on. I'd also like to see an appendix on easy mix-and-matching of abilities and how they might affect a monster. For example, how to determine the CR if adding Unholy Toughness to pre-MMIII undead. [/QUOTE]

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