Why do the 4e developers refuse to add Good Aligned creatures in their monster manuals? I can tell you why.
Actually, let me tell you why. Most, but not all, players tend to play good characters. Since the MM is meant to present monsters to the players to defeat (as opposed to allies) a good aligned monster is essentially a waste of paper for them. Now, there are some people that wish to play evil characters, or groups that wish to play evil parties, but there is no conceivable reason why evil characters cannot fight evil characters. In truth, there are occasions when good PCs might fight good creatures, but such a case would be rather exceptional, and creating monsters that can be used but very rarely for a majority of players seems a misuse of resources. Essentially, the inclusion of good-aligned "monsters" in the MM either forces a lower content of actually useful monsters, or else raises the cover price. Thus, the decision is one that benefits most players, while those who would prefer it the other way can easily change the alignment of creatures as they fit, rather than rail against the injustice being done to all because they find themselves in personal disagreement with the decision.
So by more useful = more fun, you are indicating that unless the creature can be considered an adversary of the PCs, it is not a fun creature. Slaughter and killing are the most fun ways to encounter NPCs, is that it? And that was needed in game design?
I didn't see this when I first posted. The MM is a book of combat statistics. If you're not planning on fighting on killing something . . . why do you want its combat statistics?
It's a rhetorical question, although conceivably you might answer that by suggesting the creature's possible use as an ally. In this case, however, I think the stats presented in the MM are not very useful for dealing with creatures as allies, since they are written with combat encounters against the PCs in mind. For example, if the PCs wanted to ride a metallic dragon, it might be more useful to stat it as a mount than a monster.
I suppose my point is that the MM is a book full of things to fight and kill, and that's what it should be. It's called the
Monster's Manual after all, not the Allied Creature's Manual. I'm not saying that information on riding Metallic Dragons into combat against Chromatic Dragons would not be nice, but maybe it would be more at home in the PHB3 (along with information on riding Chromatic Dragons, since there are going to be Gith . . .).
