D&D 5E Monster Entries, what stuff do you want?

[Jeff Carlsen]

As a GM, there are a couple things I would find useful:

1. A table for "what are they doing". The blog d4 caltrops has been building d100 lists for this, and they're awesome.
2. For monsters that are likely to appear in groups or often in an adventure, a table of distinct features I can use to distinguish among them. These can include physical features (e.g. hair, scars, dress) or behavioral. That way, instead of orcs 1, 2, and 3, I can have the short orc, the orc with the broken tusk, and the cowardly orc.

 

[Campbell]

Lore that's actually useful (instead of just being interesting to read or find out about). How it relates to the outside world in like actionable ways. Stuff that helps bring the monster to life at the table.

 

[el-remmen]

ignore the bit about leaders and subleaders, and go with the following info: Bullywugs are typically very patriarchal, with females being relegated to reproduction and tending the young

Funny, I'd do the opposite. I would include the info on various types leaders, brutes, etc. . . and cut the stuff about patriarchy and the female bullywugs and let the gender politics be decided on a game by game or setting by setting basis. The former is potentially useful crunch, the latter is lore that doesn't really matter one way or another except for outside of combat use - which the more general the better.

 

[J.Quondam]

Okay, some will think this is silly, but...

Whenever it's not obvious, I find it helpful to have a rough pronunciation for names derived from languages other than English. It's especially nice in bestiaries containing critters from a variety of real-world mythologies, with names in languages for which the pronunciation rules change depending upon traditional transliterations.

(I say this only because, given my limited experience with Gaelic languages, I'm pretty sure what I'm hearing in my head for "Cailleach" bears little resemblance to the actual spoken word!)

 

[Faolyn]

Funny, I'd do the opposite. I would include the info on various types leaders, brutes, etc. . . and cut the stuff about patriarchy and the female bullywugs and let the gender politics be decided on a game by game or setting by setting basis. The former is potentially useful crunch, the latter is lore that doesn't really matter one way or another except for outside of combat use - which the more general the better.

Yeah, I was just adapting from the 2e stuff. I don't mind getting rid of the gender politics.

The other stuff, like how they're environmentally unfriendly, is good--because I dislike alignments and so that's an important bit of lore that would help to run them in a way that differentiates them from other creatures of the same type or who live in the same area. Although that being said, it's not that bullywugs have to be environmentally unfriendly; it's that that is the level of information I would want from a Monster Ecology section.

I don't know if referencing leaders and the like is necessary because the current trend is to have completely different statblocks for each type, whereas in 2e they were mostly like regular creatures but with more HD and occasionally better AC and weapons. So when I say I would ignore that section, I mean more about ignoring bits like "for every 30 bullywugs you get 5 subleaders," because you don't need that level of mathematical precision. You just need stats for tougher bullywugs (which currently exist, but in Ghosts of Saltmarsh) or a DM willing to do the math needed to up its Hit Dice.

 

[aco175]

I could use some help adding the monster to make encounters more balanced. If one troll is a CR5, what makes a CR7 or 10. What about 2 trolls and a pair of worgs? Just tell me that is a CR8 instead of me looking it up. This way you give some examples of other monsters that they hang out with.

 

[Umbran]

(my main thing is I think stat blocks and monster entries should be much more compact, two per page is a good thing to aim at in my view, less is more - let specific settings or adventures tell us about more specific and detailed stuff if relevant)

Stat blocks as used in an adventure should be brief, because the adventure should give me the situation and behavior information.

In a manual of monsters, through which I may be flipping for inspiration to use in my own designs, I want rather more.

 

[el-remmen]

Hey,

I don't know if referencing leaders and the like is necessary because the current trend is to have completely different statblocks for each type, whereas in 2e they were mostly like regular creatures but with more HD and occasionally better AC and weapons. So when I say I would ignore that section, I mean more about ignoring bits like "for every 30 bullywugs you get 5 subleaders," because you don't need that level of mathematical precision. You just need stats for tougher bullywugs (which currently exist, but in Ghosts of Saltmarsh) or a DM willing to do the math needed to up its Hit Dice.

Hey, if instead of two different monsters per page, we could get two to five different variations per page I'd be okay with that too.

I also think stat blocks have a lot of unnecessary repetition that could be cut while keeping clarity and leaving more room on the page.

 

[el-remmen]

In a manual of monsters, through which I may be flipping for inspiration to use in my own designs, I want rather more.

To each their own, but to me two sentences and an illustration is all the inspiration I need.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'd love it if some creatures had harvestable components, or at least a handful of ideas for them.

It doesn't have to be crunchy with rules, either. Just a little blurb or two in the description like "this creature's talons are prized by alchemists," "the meat of this fish is considered a Triton delicacy," or "the scales of this beast can be collected and fashioned into armor" would be excellent. Just a little something to get the creative juices flowing.