MM II Identity Parade

[Nifft]

DM: A Xzqyx Approaches!
PCs: We run!

If words like that had any chance of making it into the official Scrabble dictionary, that would cinch my vote.

Cheers, -- N

 

[AllisterH]

To this day, I still can't pronounce xilacholoi (Hell, I can't even spell it---the flying manta ray evil creature).

I'll take Sphinx Mystery and compound words ANYTIME.

At least I can pronounce the bloody name....

 

[Hereticus]

Where are the elementals?

I want pure, standard elementals.

 

[Nymrohd]

How can you tell how much damage they deal just by their names?

That's a neat trick.

But not really the lesson I was talking about anyway (it's easy enough to kill PC's with MM1 critters, if that's what you want to do).

Ehm the previews of MM2 have been coming for weeks. We know a lot of monsters from MM2 and they seem to be doing higher damage, have more actions and less hp. Pretty much everything people commented on as issues of MM1 monsters has been adressed to some point on previewed monsters.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ehm the previews of MM2 have been coming for weeks. We know a lot of monsters from MM2 and they seem to be doing higher damage, have more actions and less hp. Pretty much everything people commented on as issues of MM1 monsters has been adressed to some point on previewed monsters.

Those are all keen things but, again, not really the lesson I was talking about.

Any preview show how the new sphinx actually challenges PC's with riddles? Or how the gold dragon can function as an ally or a patron for a party? Or how much neogi slavers are selling their chattel for? Or how what traps and pranks a copper dragon's lair might have? Or Skill Challenge (shudder) ratings for trying to talk a Silver Dragon out of his recent treasure acquisition?

You know, things that aren't statvomit? Things that encourage me to do more than kill the beast? Things that show me how to use them in a game, rather than just in a combat?

Because otherwise, my fear of them not learning the lesson from the MM1 still stands. I hope they do have stuff like that, but I'm worried they won't, and, however they address the grind, I'll still end up with 200 pages of boring numbers if they don't learn that lesson.

I'm excited to see some neat monsters in the MM2, and there's a lot of potential for giving me something that's not just stats, and I hope they follow through with that potential.

 

[Inyssius]

I don't like your point enough to think about it any further (LA LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING), but I'm pretty sure that when you say something...

How can you tell how much damage they deal just by their names?

That's a neat trick.

...it becomes a thing that you're talking about, whether you want that to be the topic at hand or not.

 

[Derren]

I wonder if WotC will errata the whole MM1 (guess not), or if there will be a noticeable split between MM1 and MM2 monsters, up to the point where nearly no one will use MM1 monsters any more as they are simply too grind heavy.

 

[AllisterH]

I wonder if WotC will errata the whole MM1 (guess not), or if there will be a noticeable split between MM1 and MM2 monsters, up to the point where nearly no one will use MM1 monsters any more as they are simply too grind heavy.

The elite and the normal monsters in the MM are fine and the MM2 doesn't change the HP for them at all. Personally, I'm worried about the lack of HP. My group has gotten better and more familiar with both teamwork and the rules and those so called high HP solos get munched pretty damn quick.

 

[Quickleaf]

Any preview show how the new sphinx actually challenges PC's with riddles? Or how the gold dragon can function as an ally or a patron for a party? Or how much neogi slavers are selling their chattel for? Or how what traps and pranks a copper dragon's lair might have? Or Skill Challenge (shudder) ratings for trying to talk a Silver Dragon out of his recent treasure acquisition?

You know, things that aren't statvomit? Things that encourage me to do more than kill the beast? Things that show me how to use them in a game, rather than just in a combat? (snipped for brevity, not relevance)

I couldn't agree more. In order to breathe life into the monsters it takes a lot of my own work, consulting 3rd party works likes Paizo's Classic Monsters Revisited, and a healthy dose of falling back on older edition material/memories. I feel sorry for new D&D players who want to use monsters in a non-combat capacity or to spice up their combat encounters - it feels like swimming upstream against the 4e tide.

I'm not advocating for 2e style habitat/ecology entries, but something more along the lines of what Kamikaze Midget describes with an extra page per monster with role-playing goodness.

Personally, I'd like it if there were less "fringe" monsters (kruthik I'm looking at you) to make more room for non-combat text.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I couldn't agree more. In order to breathe life into the monsters it takes a lot of my own work, consulting 3rd party works likes Paizo's Classic Monsters Revisited, and a healthy dose of falling back on older edition material/memories. I feel sorry for new D&D players who want to use monsters in a non-combat capacity or to spice up their combat encounters - it feels like swimming upstream against the 4e tide.

I'm not advocating for 2e style habitat/ecology entries, but something more along the lines of what Kamikaze Midget describes with an extra page per monster with role-playing goodness.

Aaron!

You and me find a publisher, and we can write this thing.

I'd love to add a "big book of encounters" to 4e. There's plenty of open design space for it.