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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5068931" data-attributes="member: 2067">I'll say this: I don't think I would run that dragon right out of the box.Part of the issue is the buffs. This is a hassle. This is something I am fairly glad 4e ejected from the game. Those buffs change the stat-block rather dramatically when a blue dragon is actually encountered, and mean I've gotta spend quite a while looking up the exact details of those buffs, and what happens to them if the PC's dispel them, before the game. This is, to me, a big "DON'T USE IT" sign. If I were to have a blue dragon, I would completely ignore all those spells (because it is work), and as such, my PC's might have a significantly easier time than the CR would indicate. Which isn't a huge deal unless I planned on making the thing a superboss and was saddled with players like VB's who wouldn't let me beef up the thing's HP on the fly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />If I was a brand new player, I wouldn't even KNOW these things are buffs, so if I didn't do adequate prep-work, this would grind my game to a halt while I was like "OH! He would've cast these things before battle." Bad news for everyone, there. I entirely love how 4e essentially did away with long-term character enhancement, because that is a tracking nightmare. Give me a big one-off effect that is worth spending an action on, or don't waste my time fiddling with +4's. Aside from the buffs, there's a minor hassle in referencing the Sandstorm rules and other spells in the core rulebook without providing at least a shorthand there in the monster description. I'd call it at least a 50% toss-up for me ignoring THOSE abilities as well, even if they're combat-applicable. Even if I use them, I might not address the actual rules ("Oh, Blue Dragons can create and destroy water, I will just wing that"). Part of this is just information presentation. If Pathfinder adopted a division between noncombat effects and combat effects (like the 4e division between rituals and powers), the stat block could be much more useful for both using spontaneously at the table, and for developing insidious plots while using it for imagination-fuel. There's an "Offense" and a "Defense," what about a "Noncombat" section? There, you could even include information on which buffs the critter usually has casted, if for some reason you absolutely love long-term, removable bonuses like that. You could also make note of how to use the dragon's OTHER abilities -- like the illusion powers -- that make combat with a blue dragon truly distinct, though perhaps that would be more fitting in a "Tactics" entry. That last part is where I think the PF statblock makes up for almost all that noise about buffs and cross-referencing above. It's worth putting up with a lot of that, because the PF blue dragon is just cooler than the 4e blue dragon. Encountering a blue dragon (which means more than just getting into a fight with it) who can alter the weather and who is a master of deception is so much more awesome than encountering 4e's blue dragon, with it's horrible ability to, what, sometimes put its horn in you? And to chain some lightning together? Whoop-i-deeleley-do. That is not a monster that lives in the world, that is an excuse to get into a fight for some sweet, sweet XP, that is something that you just need to kill and get it over with. It might be fun to kill, but that's all it is: something to kill. Which is fine for certain styles, but it is not what I want out of my monsters.Just for fun, I'm going to retrofit 4e's Adult Blue dragon with some of the flavorful 3e/PF abilities; I'll post it here when I'm done. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/angel.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":angel:" title="Angel    :angel:" data-shortname=":angel:" /></blockquote>

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