The DMG has a table that give you monster creation stats. All their defenses/hp/attacks/damage, based on role and such.
But one thing that wasn't there was a suggestion as to the capacity of some abilities.
Take for example the Ice Archons. They can make an area burst sized 1 to 4, depending on their choice. How powerful is that? Then there are abilities which add conditions; what's the potency of Slowed vs Weakened vs Blinded vs Knocked Prone, etc.
An interesting project might be going through the MM and making a list of all the monster abilities, then boiling them down to their core mechanics, as sort've a 'grab bag' for monster creation.
Want a skirmisher? Here are some common skirmisher powers:
Adjacent allies gain combat advantage (Wolf, hyena)
Shift when (An attack against you misses; an enemy within 2 squares shifts and makes an attackk; You Charge) (Goblin, grimlock, Bog Hag)
Mobile Attack: Move at half speed and make a basic attack at any point in that movement. You do not incur OAs (Goblin Warrior, Storm Gorgon).
In addition, it might be good to go through and possibly rank them by power. The medusa's slow petrification is much more hefty than the medusa male/venomgaze basilisk's poison-based gaze attack, and so on.
I think this would be very useful. It also lets you find very obscure powers, versus very frequent ones; many ranged attackers have 'If monster misses attack, it remains hidden'. However, the Shadar-Kai witch is one of the only monsters I've seen that removes Line of Sight from a target beyond 2 squares.
But one thing that wasn't there was a suggestion as to the capacity of some abilities.
Take for example the Ice Archons. They can make an area burst sized 1 to 4, depending on their choice. How powerful is that? Then there are abilities which add conditions; what's the potency of Slowed vs Weakened vs Blinded vs Knocked Prone, etc.
An interesting project might be going through the MM and making a list of all the monster abilities, then boiling them down to their core mechanics, as sort've a 'grab bag' for monster creation.
Want a skirmisher? Here are some common skirmisher powers:
Adjacent allies gain combat advantage (Wolf, hyena)
Shift when (An attack against you misses; an enemy within 2 squares shifts and makes an attackk; You Charge) (Goblin, grimlock, Bog Hag)
Mobile Attack: Move at half speed and make a basic attack at any point in that movement. You do not incur OAs (Goblin Warrior, Storm Gorgon).
In addition, it might be good to go through and possibly rank them by power. The medusa's slow petrification is much more hefty than the medusa male/venomgaze basilisk's poison-based gaze attack, and so on.
I think this would be very useful. It also lets you find very obscure powers, versus very frequent ones; many ranged attackers have 'If monster misses attack, it remains hidden'. However, the Shadar-Kai witch is one of the only monsters I've seen that removes Line of Sight from a target beyond 2 squares.
