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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DwarvenDog" data-source="post: 4414286" data-attributes="member: 40792">Well, Kind of.  I'm saying that in 3E you start with a monster concept (I want a bipedal stegosaurus with four arms, that breathes fire) and after all the number-crunching is done it may not end up matching the level you want to play at.  Your example of needing more HD to cover needed feats is the exact example of this concept.  To create the monster you want, that does all the things you need it to do, it may not be playable at your PCs' level.  You need to do some tweaking...which is where the "wealth of source material" comes in.  If you need to do something, 3E has a massive library of options to allow you to do it.  You don't need whirlwind attack (and the 3 feats to get there) because instead your creature can take the feat "whirlwind tail sweep" or whatever.  In 4e, let's say you need a powerful hulking brute (minotaur wrestler) at level 12. To be an appropriate challenge, let's say his STR should be about 30 and he's a large-sized creature.  Three levels ago you designed a plodding brute of a dinosaur that had no noteworthy abilities except being massively strong.  It's a gargantuan creature with a STR of 30, appropriate for a 9th level challenge.If, as the DM, you keep the numbers behind-the-screen and just narrate the encounters as they occur, who the heck cares?BUT, if you are a numbers-transparent, simulation guy, this makes no numeric sense.  And even that's because sim-folks want the numbers to represent something more than the abstract.  That's all I'm saying. I'm acutely aware of how limited 3E's advancement rules are and I wish they could have been better developed by 3PP's.  They weren't, I'll deal.  However, the core principle of 3E in monster creation has ALWAYS been... "compare it to other monsters of similar CR."</blockquote>

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