Previews for May and Beyond is up

[sedarfaery]

Personally I'm looking forward to Drow of the Underdark. The previes just look too freakin' cool to pass the book up.

 

[Razz]

In response to the criticisms that monsters with class levels are boring, we did things a bit different in MM V. You have new hobgoblins, but they aren't necessarily hobgoblins with nothing but levels in a class. I don't have the book in front of me, but in a few cases we tried to design them more as new monsters than as NPCs. The humanoids that have class levels generally have new feats or other rules modifications to make them more than monster + class levels.

The hope is that we get the best of both worlds. DMs who want to pick up and use humanoid tribes can use the monsters as is. DMs who want new monsters get humanoids that have newly designed special abilities and feats that you can't get in other books.

A lot of people say they don't belong in Monster Manuals at all. I'm one of them. Many of us have agreed that classed monsters and new creatures need to have their own books. Monster Manuals should stay, as traditionally, as the book that brings new critters to your games. Not cluttered with classed creatures from previous Monster Manuals.

Why don't you guys consider a "Book of Adversaries" or some such, where it's thick chock full of classed monsters and keep the Monster Manuals the way they should've been?

 

[D.Shaffer]

Eh, I dont mind the inclusion of classed monsters myself. It saves me time if I need a quick monster and also gives a bit of an idea of the sort of society they might have. I wouldnt want a book with nothing BUT classed creatures, but for the common creatures it's a useful feature.

 

[Perun]

There's a few reasons to try it in the first place, and a couple more to keep doing it.

<snip>

Thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate it.

Best regards.

 

[Shade]

FWIW, I don't think there are as many entries given over to existing monsters in this book as the previous one. We might like the idea, and we see people who do like it, but we aren't ignoring complaints! At this point, we think (and hope!) there's a baby in that bathwater. If there isn't, out it goes.

I'm glad to hear it, because I really like that bathwater, and the baby is taking up valuable space for more bathwater, especially that old bathwater I used to really like in the old tub which hasn't gotten an opportunity to fill part of the new tub.

 

[Razz]

I'm glad to hear it, because I really like that bathwater, and the baby is taking up valuable space for more bathwater, especially that old bathwater I used to really like in the old tub which hasn't gotten an opportunity to fill part of the new tub.

Yeah I remember someone from either Dragon or Dungeon (can't remember who) that said he contributed monsters to it and he didn't writeup any classed creatures and he was sure there weren't going to be that many in this one.

Let's hope so!

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

In response to the criticisms that monsters with class levels are boring, we did things a bit different in MM V. You have new hobgoblins, but they aren't necessarily hobgoblins with nothing but levels in a class. I don't have the book in front of me, but in a few cases we tried to design them more as new monsters than as NPCs. The humanoids that have class levels generally have new feats or other rules modifications to make them more than monster + class levels.

The hope is that we get the best of both worlds. DMs who want to pick up and use humanoid tribes can use the monsters as is. DMs who want new monsters get humanoids that have newly designed special abilities and feats that you can't get in other books.

The monsters with class level thing bothered me less than the maps/encounter layouts. It felt like it was trying to be a monster manual, NPC gallery and adventure all in one. Cutting one of those would be welcome and make the product more focused IMO.

 

[BryonD]

I'm glad to hear it, because I really like that bathwater, and the baby is taking up valuable space for more bathwater, especially that old bathwater I used to really like in the old tub which hasn't gotten an opportunity to fill part of the new tub.

Which is why there should really be a baby book and a whole other bathwater book.

 

[Dragonbait]

Those two kuo-toa look neat... Makes me want to start buying minis again.

 

[BryonD]

Those two kuo-toa look neat... Makes me want to start buying minis again.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of ways to re-plan my current game so I can delay the upcoming kuo-toa stuff until those arrive.