D&D 5E Radically shrinking stat blocks

[Tonguez]

 

[Thommy H-H]

Normally we just call this thing where you write a summary of the information you're most likely to actually need during gameplay "taking notes".

 

[TiQuinn]

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On the left is the 2024 5e skeleton, marked up with my notes, and on the right is the stat block as I've rewritten it, reducing the size by at least one-third...and hopefully making it easier to read.

I've reduced the stats to just one number (instead of three). This number is effectively their saving throw bonuses, but it pulls double duty as ability scores, and as initiative. For example, a monster with Dexterity saving throw proficiency would - in this writeup - also get a Dexterity bonus equal to that (e.g. for the purposes of escaping a grapple) and a boosted initiative roll. I could probably go further and omit "initiative" entirely from the rewritten stats

I know that there's always short-hand versions of monster stats – whether in-line annotation like you'd see in an AD&D module or personalized GM notes on a monster – but I wanted to explore how actual stats could be shrunken down. I've come to believe that the weightiness of monster stats contributes to draining my energy as a GM trying to keep track of everything. This is just a simple example. The real work comes in cutting down the wordiness of 5e monsters where the language just bogs down parsing what's intended.

Anyhow, I'm curious about your thoughts. What are you doing to pare down monster stat blocks? Is stat block bloat a problem for you or do you embrace it? Are there certain ways you've seen stat blocks handled that you felt were easier to parse?

Sooooo…as I get older, I find myself expanding white space more rather than trying to pare down

The other advantage to the first stat block is that it leaves lots of room for notes and counting down HPs.

 

[Quickleaf]

Huh? No, it would have proficiency with all Strength checks, be they Athletics or any other kind of Strength check.

I don’t understand how you’re arriving at this conclusion. Saves as ability mods would functionally be giving the beholder +5 to every single check it makes with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, save Perception checks (which it already gets +10 on anyway). Thats a huge buff!

Like… any time you want the monster to make an ability check and not be proficient with it… I don’t know how to explain this further, it’s entirely self-evident to me. Especially since your layout doesn’t actually save any physical (or digital) page space by getting rid of the distinction. Maybe if it significantly shrunk the stat block it would be worth considering if the consolidation is worth the loss in ability check granularity, but both versions have the same space dedicated to showing those stats.

Ah, I see, so this could be a GM style difference.

For the cambion – IME Strength checks are very rare for me to roll for monsters. The most common will be resisting a grapple, and then... maybe there's one or two spells that involve Strength checks as opposed to Strength saves. Maybe you're encountered situations that I have not?

For the beholder – again IME how often is a monster making these ability checks? Intelligence checks? Pff, almost never roll those for monsters; the Arcana/History skills having numerical values for monsters is meaningless for me, as all I do is use the skill list as a cue for how to portray the monster. Wisdom checks that I my monsters make tend to be Insight & Perception, while Charisma checks that my monsters make tend to be Deception checks.

For ex, it's exceedingly rare for a GM to roll Charisma for a monster as a way to persuade or intimidate PCs – normal practice is for the GM to just portray the monster in a manner which suggests "persuasive" or "intimidating", and let players make up their minds. Similarly, I never see my monsters use Wisdom (Animal Handling, Medicine, or Survival) checks.

I absolutely see the value in differentiating ability mods/saves/skills for a player character. But I haven't been in a 5e game where a great diversity of monster ability/skill checks were common – instead they tend to be clustered around STR (Athletics to oppose grapple), DEX (Acrobatics to oppose grapple), DEX (Stealth), WIS (Insight or Perception), CHA (Deception).

 

[Quickleaf]

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Those are an interesting sort of half-way blend between a stat block & annotated in-line text stats.

Seems like that works well for an experienced GM comfortable with the abbreviations.

What I find interesting is what you've chosen to include – "mindless medium undead" and "role: compelled minion" – in this condensed stat block, that would NOT have been included in AD&D in-line text stats. That's what makes it more of a stat block than an annotated form.

 

[Quickleaf]

Sooooo…as I get older, I find myself expanding white space more rather than trying to pare down

The other advantage to the first stat block is that it leaves lots of room for notes and counting down HPs.

You'd enjoy more white space in a monster stat block, even if that meant the stat block itself became a half-page or three-quarters page, is that right? Or is it that you're trying to describe a balance between two dials – succinctness & white space?

 

[TiQuinn]

You'd enjoy more white space in a monster stat block, even if that meant the stat block itself became a half-page or three-quarters page, is that right? Or is it that you're trying to describe a balance between two dials – succinctness & white space?

Probably a mix. Like for my own prep, I'll retype stuff into a Notion notebook or Word doc, and then keep things a little spread out, but then remove stuff I don't need like extra spells, or the gear (as you did). So the end result is that it's not small - I just find it easier to manage when it's a bit larger, but it's also not a really long block. Usually 2 to 3 blocks per page is what I get depending on the monster.

 

[Quickleaf]

I use a reduced Stat block as well that I build in excell then I can copy and paste into publisher so I can fit dozens of monster on one page in two columns to keep them handy and not have to flip around the monster books.

This is my Skelton and Stirge as they were right next to each other.

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I could probably lose the Stat number and just go with the + or - but I'm partial to keeping them. I do saves with a slash, see below.

For casters I also add the spells in short hand. I also can just mark off the spell slots on my paper.

Please note I home brew clerics with more 1st level spell slots but they can't cast cantrip without using a spell slot (no laser clerics and no constant Guidance). That's why cantrip are not listed and the spell slots are high.

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Your skeleton layout is interesting... You've prioritized Darkvision in the upper right, and omitted CR/XP entirely. You've broken the "melee attack" from the weapons line listing shortswords and shortbows...not sure why. And you seem to list saving throws as a "slash" after the modifier.

 

[Quickleaf]

Probably a mix. Like for my own prep, I'll retype stuff into a Notion notebook or Word doc, and then keep things a little spread out, but then remove stuff I don't need like extra spells, or the gear (as you did). So the end result is that it's not small - I just find it easier to manage when it's a bit larger, but it's also not a really long block. Usually 2 to 3 blocks per page is what I get depending on the monster.

Gotcha. Yeah it's extraordinary to me how common it is to talk with GMs online (so yeah we're a subset) who rewrite monster stat blocks. There are a lot of us doing this.

 

[TiQuinn]

Gotcha. Yeah it's extraordinary to me how common it is to talk with GMs online (so yeah we're a subset) who rewrite monster stat blocks. There are a lot of us doing this.

The books and DM notes are definitely serving different masters. They're trying to find the balance between readability and conciseness for space concerns, and a lot of DMs are trying to make room for notes, and can expand the readability even more without worrying as much about the space.