D&D 5E New Spellcasting Blocks for Monsters --- Why?!

[CubicsRube]

You have a game coming up this week.

You haven't had time to prep for the kid. Sudden medical appointments for you, maybe your kid or significent other, and other responsibilities.

You work at least 40 hours a week. You get home tired. Maybe you do essential service and you've been screamed at all day. Maybe you are a salary position and you deal with a lot of overhead work that puts you over 40 hours a week.

So you're tired. You got chores to do. You have to eat. You have to cook. You have to clean. Now, you just want to decompress.

This is a key feature for me.

I see the dumbed down argument trotted out a lot and I think it's a bad take. I work in finance and i'm often tired. The last thing I want to do is detailed analysis, admin work or a bunch of reading. If I can get a simplified stat block with a couple of options and tactic suggestions, I'm as happy as gravy.

It's the main reason I run Shadow of the Demon Lord. The core book for example has about 30 spell schools each with about 10 spells. It's so easy to make a themed spellcaster in it and i only need to refer to the stat block and the 2 pages the spell school takes up maximum.

 

[Reynard]

Then don't have them level that fast.

If you don't want the characters to become more powerful super rapidly (and I agree with you on that) then pace things so that this doesn't happen. What I find nonsensical to have them mechanically level but pretend that narratively they didn't become more powerful, and then match this by levelling the world around them. Seems utterly pointless. Why have bigger numbers that represent nothing?

It's not so much leveling the world around them as having them discover and have to deal with the more powerful entities in the world. like a said upthread, the high level bosses are there from the beginning, but the PCs either give them a wide berth or behave entirely differently. Not that some don't "appear" when the PCs reach a certain level, but that's because the PCs have gotten their attention, or traveled to the region/plane/dungeon level where they dwell.

But really all I am talking about is it bores ME to use the same enemies, just in greater number.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Don't you have it backwards? In 5e it is narratively the same creature, it would just have a different role because of the power dynamic. In 4e, the actually change the name and abilities. It was specifically a different creature. So an orc minion =/= orce =/= orc elite. Now, you could slide a monster up and down the scale, but in practice that is not what the Monster Manuals presented.

From the 4e MM, all of these are different orcs narratively:
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i miss these stat blocks

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Rangers have been doing arrow bursts, fire arrows, sword flurries, and entangling strikes for 3 editions now. Rangers on nova mode use magic style weapon attacks like ensnaring strike, hail of thorns, and lighting arrow.

Maybe in your game, but I haven't seen it. They still fight like fighters in my experience, and use their spell slots for out of combat stuff like speaking to animals.

Adding 1d10 to attack and damage rolls is a fighter thing.

Again, not something I would say describes a "typical fighter". "Hitting things with a pointy object" is your typical fighter.

with a few special attacks.

And here is the rub. Is an attack is "special", it can't be on all the time. Which means you need to think about tracking limited uses. Which is fine if there is only one of X, but becomes a real problem when there are a large numbers of X.

But if you have particular idea about how a particular character should fight, you can create it yourself. WotC can't be expected to come up with stat blocks which cover every potential option someone can imagine.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Interesting. That's not how I interpret it it at all, but I do get that if that is how one sees it, this is a step in the wrong direction.

Is it though? Probably this is not the wrong direction but the solution.
So if they were open and just say:
this stat block just represents a typical X in a combat situation. You might assume all capabilities of a level x wizard when building your story.

So Vecna might cast any spell that you see fit and might even have access to all special magical things.

Actually I think every spell should be castable as a ritual. If you have an hour to spare, then your wizard might just cast mage armor as a ritual. Would not hurt anyone and might make a low level wizard fun.
Same goes for a higher level wizard: you need to open that door, but don't have any spare spell. Cast the fireball as a ritual and burn the door down.

Th fighter in the same time couls just break it with the axe.

 

[Minigiant]

Maybe in your game, but I haven't seen it. They still fight like fighters in my experience, and use their spell slots for out of combat stuff like speaking to animals

How classes play in nova mode and 6-8 encounter mode is very different.

If a ranger has only one fight for the day, They won't just sit on hunter mark and leave their other slots hanging.

That is when spells like lightning arrow and searing smite shine.

Again, not something I would say describes a "typical fighter". "Hitting things with a pointy object" is your typical

There are 2 Battlemaster Fighter Maneuvers that do just that.

If it were again full HP or large monster like a hunter....

And here is the rub. Is an attack is "special", it can't be on all the time. Which means you need to think about tracking limited uses. Which is fine if there is only one of X, but becomes a real problem when there are a large numbers of X.

But if you have particular idea about how a particular character should fight, you can create it yourself. WotC can't be expected to come up with stat blocks which cover every potential option someone can imagine

I would do an archer with a 1 per day lighting arrow, explosion arrow, and beastbane arrow.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How classes play in nova mode and 6-8 encounter mode is very different.

If a ranger has only one fight for the day, They won't just sit on hunter mark and leave their other slots hanging.

That is when spells like lightning arrow and searing smite shine.

It's not a "fight per day" matter. My ranger players just don't play that way. They just don't see their characters as combat spellcasters, and I have never seen lighting arrow or searing smite cast in all the years I've played 5e.

They play the archetype, not the quirks of 5e mechanics.

There are 2 Battlemaster Fighter Maneuvers that do just that.

So what? The vast majority of fighter subclasses are not battlemasters.

I would do an archer with a 1 per day lighting arrow, explosion arrow, and beastbane arrow.

So do it, you know what you want, there is nothing stopping you.

 

[Maxperson]

A magic school dropout, a lone necromancer, and a warlord's henchmage all could use the same statblock in 5e and fight exactly the same.
But you meet them at different levels.

In 4e you use different statblocks for the different levels you meet them at.

That was the point of bounded accuracy. So that you use the same statblock at more levels.

Creature, not statblock. The designers wanted the same creature to be usable across more levels, so they bounded accuracy to allow that to happen.

 

[Minigiant]

not a "fight per day" matter. My ranger players just don't play that way. They just don't see their characters as combat spellcasters, and I have never seen lighting arrow or searing smite cast in all the years I've played 5e.

Your ranger wouldn't fight like a NPC ranger because your ranger is designed for 6-8 encounters not 1.

 

[robus]

Vecna's a Big Bad, I don't see how much trouble it is to tweak your Big Bad to your liking.

This reminds me of the BB monster I created for the level 20 finale, some unholy mashup of a void dragon from Tome of Beasts, some stats from dave2008’s buffed dragons and the multi-part monster ideas from giffyglyph. I wouldn’t do it for every monster of course, but who doesn’t want their bosses to be unique and tailored to the campaign/party?