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Let's talk about monster design philosophies, by way of examples.
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 8747802" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I'm realizing reading this that there are going to be competing aesthetics and that I have unstated design preferences that I didn't consider or mention.</p><p></p><p>Focusing on the case of goblins, goblins are PC race in my campaign. And even more so than normal then, I have a very strong preference that everything play by the same rules. I think this preference I inherited from 1e when monsters and characters very much didn't play by the same rules, and it sucked IMO. 3e's "everything plays by the same rules" so it doesn't matter what an NPC is conceived as, it only matters what happens in the narrative. I don't know or want to know whether an NPC is a mook, a monster, an NPC, a retainer, or what when I place them. I often am surprised by how players choose to react to scenes. I don't want a case of Schrodinger's stat block that depends on how the players treat the NPC. Moreover, I don't want goblins to have racial characteristics that they wouldn't have when PCs. If I am giving goblins "lair actions" then I feel PCs should have lair actions as well. If NPC goblins have special moves, then I feel PC goblins should have special moves, and so NPC goblins in my game are likely to have abilities that PC's could already have and are likely to be built as weaker versions of PCs. </p><p></p><p>For me, individual goblins don't need to be particularly interesting. What's more interesting is the types of goblins you might find and how they work together, especially as PC levels increase and the numbers of goblins encountered increased. Again, these preferences are probably defined by my play in 1e with its tactical wargaming roots, but typically my goblins will be a mix of skirmishers, heavy infantry, and crossbow wielders protecting support elements like clerics, witch doctors, and bards. These are likely to be built similar to human, dwarf, or elf militaries with differences defined by racial inclination and strengths. The goblins will be defined by group tactics and cunning use of terrain and less by individual prowess. At higher levels you'll likely to face off against worg mounted goblin cavalry wielding lances, flaming oil, composite shortbows and poisoned arrows and using their superior speed to avoid brutes and tempting the party to separate to chase them, at which point triple or quadruple teamed by wargs is a really bad place to be in.</p><p></p><p>All of this suggests a very different aesthetic of play compared to someone that wants to have Mob stat blocks in order to speed combat up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 8747802, member: 4937"] I'm realizing reading this that there are going to be competing aesthetics and that I have unstated design preferences that I didn't consider or mention. Focusing on the case of goblins, goblins are PC race in my campaign. And even more so than normal then, I have a very strong preference that everything play by the same rules. I think this preference I inherited from 1e when monsters and characters very much didn't play by the same rules, and it sucked IMO. 3e's "everything plays by the same rules" so it doesn't matter what an NPC is conceived as, it only matters what happens in the narrative. I don't know or want to know whether an NPC is a mook, a monster, an NPC, a retainer, or what when I place them. I often am surprised by how players choose to react to scenes. I don't want a case of Schrodinger's stat block that depends on how the players treat the NPC. Moreover, I don't want goblins to have racial characteristics that they wouldn't have when PCs. If I am giving goblins "lair actions" then I feel PCs should have lair actions as well. If NPC goblins have special moves, then I feel PC goblins should have special moves, and so NPC goblins in my game are likely to have abilities that PC's could already have and are likely to be built as weaker versions of PCs. For me, individual goblins don't need to be particularly interesting. What's more interesting is the types of goblins you might find and how they work together, especially as PC levels increase and the numbers of goblins encountered increased. Again, these preferences are probably defined by my play in 1e with its tactical wargaming roots, but typically my goblins will be a mix of skirmishers, heavy infantry, and crossbow wielders protecting support elements like clerics, witch doctors, and bards. These are likely to be built similar to human, dwarf, or elf militaries with differences defined by racial inclination and strengths. The goblins will be defined by group tactics and cunning use of terrain and less by individual prowess. At higher levels you'll likely to face off against worg mounted goblin cavalry wielding lances, flaming oil, composite shortbows and poisoned arrows and using their superior speed to avoid brutes and tempting the party to separate to chase them, at which point triple or quadruple teamed by wargs is a really bad place to be in. All of this suggests a very different aesthetic of play compared to someone that wants to have Mob stat blocks in order to speed combat up. [/QUOTE]
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