D&D 5E My biggest gripe about 5e so far, as a DM

[Umbran]

It would make for a much cooler stat line, though:

Orc (AC 6, MV 9”, HD 1, #AT 1, D 1-6, BF Eggs Benny w/OJ)

Kormast "Eggs" Benny was a halfling thief....

 

[ExploderWizard]

I think the operative word there was 'interesting'.

The most interesting thing about an orc is going to be campaign setting dependent. Just like almost everything else in the game world.

Joe Leduc the lumberjack isn't interesting because of his stat block. He is interesting because he has seen some stuff going down in the woods lately that might make even a seasoned adventurer wish for a pair of clean underwear, and would be happy to tell the PCs all about it over a cold ale or two.

Once we define interesting as only what something or someone can do via game the mechanics our imaginations will have finally been beaten into submission.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Pretty much.

I will upgrade monsters like I always did even in 3e, bump up the HD, and attack bonus, etc, as I see fit and don't pay much attention to the rules. Monsters can freely break the rules of PC's as well, because they are monsters and often do things that shouldn't be possible.

So far looks like 5e is going to be a good edition after 3.x and 4e. Glad to be excited about D&D again.

 

[TwoSix]

Once we define interesting as only what something or someone can do via game the mechanics our imaginations will have finally been beaten into submission.

But, as always, we don't have to define things as "ONLY" anything. An imaginative description of a NPC or a setting is interesting and flavorful, absolutely. That doesn't preclude mechanics from being interesting in their own right, also! And the best monsters, to my mind, are the ones that wed an imaginative description and backstory with novel, interesting mechanics.

 

[gideonpepys]

But, as always, we don't have to define things as "ONLY" anything. An imaginative description of a NPC or a setting is interesting and flavorful, absolutely. That doesn't preclude mechanics from being interesting in their own right, also! And the best monsters, to my mind, are the ones that wed an imaginative description and backstory with novel, interesting mechanics.

This.

Otherwise, why bother to have stat blocks at all?

 

[Obryn]

They have said that you will be able to do custom monsters in a 4E "by the numbers" style. And only actual spells are listed as spells, other special abilities are just given in the text, again 4E style

Yeah, I'm still not stoked about looking up spells, even if the bad guy is an evil wizard.

 

[Thaumaturge]

It would make for a much cooler stat line, though:

Orc (AC 6, MV 9”, HD 1, #AT 1, D 1-6, BF Eggs Benny w/OJ)

Hmmm. OJ is a little overpowered for a threat at this level.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yeah, I'm still not stoked about looking up spells, even if the bad guy is an evil wizard.

It sounds like that's really the only point where they resort to entirely PC-like mechanics. In 4e, sure, a monster/NPC with spells would have them statted out (and they might be different from the PC version of the spell). 5e goes for the old-school vibe that recognizes rules as de-facto laws of physics, so a monster has a PC spell, it works like the PC spell - in which case, why re-print the whole text of the spell (which is likely to be longer than the text of a 4e power, too).

By the same token, in 4e a monster would only have relevant combat abilities statted out, since he need exist only long enough for the PCs to fight him. In 5e as in classic D&D, the idea is to include stats that matter to his backstory, place in the setting, and so forth. So if an evil spellcaster is using magic to excavate the dungeon, he'll have Move Earth or Dig prepped, even if he's not likely to use it when he kills the PCs. Rather than stat all those 'background'/flavor spells in his block, just referencing them makes sense.

It probably /would/ be a good idea, in products that don't run up against a space constraint, to put the monster/NPC's 'favorite'/combat spells, perhaps in an short summary form, in his stat block.

 

[TwoSix]

Hmmm. OJ is a little overpowered for a threat at this level.

What are the chances you'll have (citric) acid resistance at that level, anyway?

 

[Boarstorm]

Yeah, I'm still not stoked about looking up spells, even if the bad guy is an evil wizard.

Just learn the spells well enough to off-the-cuff it. Or swap out with spells you know.

But maybe that's easier for me than for most people. My mind just works that way (the memorization angle).