O.L.D. Playtest Document: Book III - Monsters (January 2015)

[Morrus]

I have just uploaded O.L.D. Playtest Document: Book III - Monsters (January 2015) to the downloads area.

This 60+ page bestiary includes a selection of monsters and templates, along with guidelines for creating your own monsters. You are very much encouraged to create and share monsters - the more monsters the better!

(The cover says Dec 2014 - I wrote this last month, though I have tweaked it a few times since!)

You can find the file here in the downloads section. Please use this thread for comments.

 

[User_Undefined]

Just a few things I noticed and am a little confused about.

Pg. 4 "LEVEL/XP: this is the number of experience points gained by a party which defeats this creature. The XP are divided among all surviving participants."
Pg. 15 "When a creature is defeated by the PCs, they divide the creature's XP value amongst themselves. Everyone who participated gets an equal share; dead participants still count towards this division."
Bolding mine. Do dead characters get XP, or just those who survive? What about those who are currently dying and haven't been stabilized?

On page 7, it says to determine a creature's XP based on the method described earlier in the chapter. The formula isn't given until page 15. This is just an issue with the layout, and will probably be fixed in the final version, but I just wanted to point it out.

The last thing is about the demon's "Always prepared" ability and purely a matter of personal taste. I will never give that ability to a creature unless it it THE final boss, and even then it'll be nerfed from what you've written. This is mostly because I really don't like the whole "it was a part of my plan" cliche and view it as lazy writing. I also don't see how a demon could have "prepared for the encounter in centuries past, often long before their enemies are even born." (pg. 20) You planned a trap for someone who may or may not be born hundreds of years from now and may or may not come into contact with you? I would call out any GM who tried that.

Traps and planning ahead are fine, but it's the time frame you give that I have issue with.

 

[Morrus]

Dead combatants get a share; thanks for spotting that!