Monster Manual: How Much Cut?

[Atlatl Jones]

The monster stats are significantly reduced, so I suspect that accounts for it.

That will certainly help. I think they said that the monster creation rules would be in the DMG, so that would save a bunch of pages too.

 

[Alisair Longreach]

WotC also mentioned that stupid monsters like the Achareirai and the Delver got the boot.

 

[drakshasak]

actually they write in WM that they cant include every dragon in the first MM. so they'll focus on the chromatic ones in the first MM.

That is actually the first thing i hear i really dont like. I think its great they will be using more space per monster but it just seems wrong to cut the dragons. they are too iconic.

If you havent heard. every monster gets one or 2 pages in the MM. that way no monster entry starts in the middle of a page. instead they feature more versions of the same monster. like the orcs get 2 pages but they have stats for 5 different kinds of orcs.

 

[Gort]

WotC also mentioned that stupid monsters like the Achareirai and the Delver got the boot.

Oh, I didn't mind the Delver particularly, but the Achaireiraiaiaiarerairairar needed to go.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Oh, I didn't mind the Delver particularly, but the Achaireiraiaiaiarerairairar needed to go.

The Delver going made me sad, a little bit. But then, I actually never used at as a DM, but it was a shape my Shifter in an FR campaign sometimes used...

 

[The Little Raven]

That is actually the first thing i hear i really dont like. I think its great they will be using more space per monster but it just seems wrong to cut the dragons. they are too iconic.

There will be 10 kinds of dragons in the MM: 5 chromatic, 5 metallic (with brass and bronze being replaced by iron and adamantine). However, there will be more stats for chromatic, since traditionally they've been the dragon you're more likely to be fighting.

 

[Steely Dan]

We know that dragons are getting 14 pages in the new MM

This makes me sad.

 

[Sitara]

They should cut the gnomes.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I sincerely hope they go for the "core" monsters and cut the fat. MM1 is full of things you're not likely to need stats for, really. As my MM1 is hiding, I'll use the SRD for examples (which means I may name some not really in the MM1 so shhh):

Should go (can come back in later MMs or stay away):

Achaierai
Aranea
Arrowhawk
Athach
Azer (but they won't)
Belker
Chaos Beast
Chuul
Couatl
Darkmantle
Delver
Destrachan
Devourer
Digester
Dinosaurs (all)
Dire Animals (most)
Dragonne
Ethereal Filcher
Ethereal Marauder
Formians (all)
Gray Render
Howler
Kraken
Krenshar
Lammasu
Lillend
All non-werewolf lycanthropes
Magmin
Merfolk
Mohrg
Phantom Fungus (man if this thing is in 4E MM I will ritually throw the book across the room)
Phasm
Rast
Ravid
Scorpionfolk
Sea Cat
Shocker Lizard
Spider Eater
Tendriculos
Tojanida
Vargouille
Winter Wolf
Yrthak

It's not that these monsters suck, though many of them do. It's that they're either wierd or often unused (and I'm sure ENworld can produce anecdotes about all of them, but come on...), and basically represent a HUGE amount of fat that can be trimmed.

NEED to keep

Animals (most)
Vermin (most)
Swarms (some)

Need to gain

Pre-gen stats for human and demihuman bandits, pirates, etc.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I can't agree more. It seems like omitting the mundane would be in the spirit of 4E anyway, what with the supposedly streamlined NPC generation we've heard so much about. Kill the vermin!

I , on the other hand, think that it would absolutely suck if animals and vermin got cut from th 4E monster manual. No giant spiders? No giant snakes? No wolves?

Ken