Hmmm . . .MM IV
The new Stat Block format may seem to some to be simplified, but when you don't want to use the default hit points and you have to look up the monster's type to figure out which dice to roll (Sorry, never did bother to memorize the stats for types) it can get really annoying. I get that I can interpret the sample encounters in order to get a general idea of what the organization of a creature, but I really liked it better in the old format. Other than that, I can't find a thing wrong with the new stat block format that isn't a direct result of my having to learn a whole new format when I'm used to the old format that I learned from the previous 12 books I've read. (Switching back and forth between the two formats promises migraines to come as well.)
That said, I need to throw my lot in with the people who like the expanded details, like the ecology sections, common tactics, societies, etc. If they redid all the monster books with this level of detail I'd rebuy them all. But I'd prefer either a better detailed/organized stat block, or the old one, please.
I was disappointed by the repettitive monsters, but I've come to expect them in all honesty. (How many books are the Githyanki in now?) The Spawn of Tiamat are mostly inspiring me to buy the Dragonlance Setting so that I can have the old Draconians back, though they are kinda neat. This many pages devoted to a couple of themes made the book a disappointment to me. Not that there weren't some cool new things in there too. There really were.
I'd like WOTC to create a "Big Book Of Advanced Humanoids", not so much so that I could buy it (I might decide to pass, actually) but so that they could get it out of their system and come up with some new monsters.
My Faves from the book: Inferno Spiders and Tomb Spiders, the Balhannoth, and the Xern.
The new Stat Block format may seem to some to be simplified, but when you don't want to use the default hit points and you have to look up the monster's type to figure out which dice to roll (Sorry, never did bother to memorize the stats for types) it can get really annoying. I get that I can interpret the sample encounters in order to get a general idea of what the organization of a creature, but I really liked it better in the old format. Other than that, I can't find a thing wrong with the new stat block format that isn't a direct result of my having to learn a whole new format when I'm used to the old format that I learned from the previous 12 books I've read. (Switching back and forth between the two formats promises migraines to come as well.)
That said, I need to throw my lot in with the people who like the expanded details, like the ecology sections, common tactics, societies, etc. If they redid all the monster books with this level of detail I'd rebuy them all. But I'd prefer either a better detailed/organized stat block, or the old one, please.
I was disappointed by the repettitive monsters, but I've come to expect them in all honesty. (How many books are the Githyanki in now?) The Spawn of Tiamat are mostly inspiring me to buy the Dragonlance Setting so that I can have the old Draconians back, though they are kinda neat. This many pages devoted to a couple of themes made the book a disappointment to me. Not that there weren't some cool new things in there too. There really were.
I'd like WOTC to create a "Big Book Of Advanced Humanoids", not so much so that I could buy it (I might decide to pass, actually) but so that they could get it out of their system and come up with some new monsters.
My Faves from the book: Inferno Spiders and Tomb Spiders, the Balhannoth, and the Xern.
