D&D 5E One-Stop Stat Blocks for D&D 5th Edition

Frylock · Oct 31, 2015

Celtavian said:
Nice. This is something I like. It makes it easier to copy and paste a stat block into a word document for modification.

I have a mixed of 5E. I do enjoy the simplicity of the combat system. At the same time the game is too easy and takes a lot of modification when you add in magic items and feats to make it challenging. The fights don't feel very epic, though I do like that fights are more entertaining to narrate. The classes lack robust and diverse abilities that are truly useful compared to a game like Pathfinder. It feels like you do the same thing a lot of the time because there are a small, select group of things that are useful and everything else is taken only as a style choice. There a ton of obvious less effective choices, but they made it in the book. I don't feel compelled to buy books as I did in previous editions. I'm not even sure I'm going to pick up the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It doesn't look like a very interesting book. The new archetypes don't seem compelling. The new material seems more fluffy than useful. I'm sure one of my friends will pick it up so I can take a look. Even the modules have been underwhelming prior to Out of the Abyss. Even that module has some parts where I'm left scratching my head as to what the module designers think is a challenge for a group. I wonder if they play test this stuff with inexperienced players that don't work as a group.

Thanks for the comment. My personal opinion, FWIW, is that 5e is a fantastic system -- AD&D cleaned up by decades of gaming evolution -- but at points, poorly implemented. Still, it's a fun system and worth a look to every gamer.

Celtavian · Oct 31, 2015

Jeff Carlsen said:
To an extent, this is probably exactly what they do. 5E is not built around expert players looking for tactical challenges like, say, 4E was. Which is fine. It's just important to know that if that's what you are looking for.

How long does it take to gain that kind of experience? If the game isn't challenging, how will that affect long-term playability? Seems strange to me not to build the game with the idea making it challenging in mind.

Jeff Carlsen · Oct 31, 2015

Celtavian said:
How long does it take to gain that kind of experience? If the game isn't challenging, how will that affect long-term playability? Seems strange to me not to build the game with the idea making it challenging in mind.

You are reminding of the great Combat as Sport vs Combat as War thread from a couple years back. Many players don't approach combat in D&D as a game you get good at. They will go to great lengths to avoid taking part in combat that is an actual challenge.

mflayermonk · Oct 31, 2015

Thank you. This is especially useful for things like the cult fanatic, druid, priest and mage.

CapnZapp · Oct 31, 2015

No, I didn't stop reading after the first sentence, Frylock.

I stopped reading after "In quite a few cases" and "for example".

Since changing MM entries is kind of a big deal, I directly went to this thread to ask you to provide a comprehensive list of the changes you have made.

In my opinion, changing the MM makes it less useful. Some people might appreciate you spicing up your giants, but I consider it homebrewing.

A list of changes would make it easy for me to judge whether your changes are superficial enough for me to use your document. But it would have to be complete. In contrast, just getting some cases and some examples isn't helpful if there are more changes, which your language strongly indicated.

Honestly, I'm confused. You don't want to complete the MM for reasons. But you say you can't be taken down by a C&D. So why not make your document a true one-stop destination, by faithfully reproducing all MM monsters with their powers as written, only changed the way you must have changed them in order to get away with it (I confess I haven't looked closely enough to understand what and how).

But anyway. Nothing to be done. It's your doc!

Good luck,
Zapp

CapnZapp · Oct 31, 2015

Celtavian, I am not quite getting your... discontent (in this thread and various others).

You seem to be a pretty seasoned DM. Why do you focus on your... dissatisfaction(?) with the printed difficulty levels.

For an experienced DM like you it should be easy to tailor the difficulty level to your party's expectations?

I mean, this has been true for D&D in every edition. It's not like I am seriously considering having a combat with three goblins (or whatever they call a "medium" fight).

If you have analytic players like I do, and you seem to, then you will always have to double or triple the opposition or you could as well skip the entire fight.

But that's not exclusive to this edition.

What is new is feats and magic items. Use them and the curve warps decisively.

But 5E is still a dream compared to 4E which had a lot of wonkiness and where fights took forever. And it is a dream compared to 3E where high-level fights became an utter joke, where the side with Scry & Teleport always wins. Where high-level NPCs are walking goodie boxes just for the taking. Except they take hours to stat up.

The truth is that AD&D-d20-5E-style D&D has never been more balanced. Even if it is still way unbalanced for your group, or mine.

I mean, if the players steamroll a Balor, it's easy to give them one each. Not so easy now, huh?

And obviously you chuck the CR system, right?

Cheers

mflayermonk · Oct 31, 2015

CapnZapp said:
So why not make your document a true one-stop destination, by faithfully reproducing all MM monsters with their powers as written, only changed the way you must have changed them in order to get away with it (I confess I haven't looked closely enough to understand what and how).

If you have an encounter with 5 sharks, you won't use this. The MM is perfectly fine. If you have 5 Sharks and a fishman priest is when you can use this.

I did something similar myself with index cards of the monster and their spell abilities where I just kept notes on the spellcasting abilities and kept the index cards in a box for when I used that monster. The index cards also make fine bookmarks. The main purpose was to keep me from breaking atmosphere and pacing by flipping around multiple books wondering what the range on lightning bolt is or how many targets can I effect with water breathing.

Frylock · Oct 31, 2015

CapnZapp said:
Since changing MM entries is kind of a big deal, I directly went to this thread to ask you to provide a comprehensive list of the changes you have made. [\QUOTE]

This is the first time you've actually asked that. Not a bad idea, though. I'll do that.

CapnZapp said:

Honestly, I'm confused. You don't want to complete the MM for reasons. But you say you can't be taken down by a C&D. So why not make your document a true one-stop destination, by faithfully reproducing all MM monsters with their powers as written, only changed the way you must have changed them in order to get away with it (I confess I haven't looked closely enough to understand what and how).

But anyway. Nothing to be done. It's your doc!

Good luck,
Zapp

Click to expand...

Just because you have a right to do something doesn't mean you should. Free speech comes to mind. There are a lot of things we can legally say but don't because it wouldn't be "the right thing to do." In fact, try to say them here, and ENWorld will replace them with smiley faces.

I also find in interesting that, in this and many other contexts throughout the years, everyone feels comfortable making demands for people to do a lot of work free of charge, but when they're provided the means to do the work themselves, they seem to ignore it. As I stated, I'll be posting an MS Word version of this doc. Why don't you pick up the mantle and complete the Monster Manual? Or at least why don't you revert my changes (once I make it clear what I changed)?

Or not. If this doc isn't of value to you, that's fine. I can't please everyone. If you don't have time, I certainly understand. I appreciate criticism, though, as I want to make reasonable changes the public demands. However, my time is limited (something you don't seem to appreciate for some odd reason), and severely damaging the market for WotC's Monster Manual is not something I'm willing to do. Call me sentimental, but I appreciate what they've done in the industry.