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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7013724" data-attributes="member: 12731">Yes, really. I don't accept your definitions - that &quot;more challenging&quot; is rote numerical increases that just increase frustration and boredom, and that &quot;more interesting&quot; requires the bits to be &quot;fiddly&quot;. There is an alternative, and that is confident self-assured monster design, where the knobs are turned just right, and where the monster is given just a few more abilities. The goal is for the monster to stand some chance of overcoming standard player tactics, to have a small chance of catching them by surprise. Also that the designer clearly understands how much AC and HP a monster needs to have given real party DPR.So - really. By making a monster &quot;more interesting&quot; you make it &quot;more challenging&quot;. All without making it &quot;fiddly&quot; to run. All without making it a slog to defeat. The key to fixing the MM isn't just wholesale doubling everybody's HP or something crude like that. Some monsters should remain fragile and/or glass cannons. But there are too many monsters that ARE big sad sacks of hp today, that would benefit immensely (both from a game perspective and a story perspective) from getting a do-over, where they're given a few tools to get out of tight spots, and where they're given the stats to actually last long enough to actually do something (especially if they're supposed to work as a &quot;boss&quot; monster).What you want in an &quot;advanced&quot; supplement is something else than Strahd showing up only to be utterly crushed within the space of two combat rounds by &quot;level-appropriate&quot; parties. That's the opposite of advanced.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 7013724, member: 12731"] Yes, really. I don't accept your definitions - that "more challenging" is rote numerical increases that just increase frustration and boredom, and that "more interesting" requires the bits to be "fiddly". There is an alternative, and that is confident self-assured monster design, where the knobs are turned just right, and where the monster is given just a few more abilities. The goal is for the monster to stand some chance of overcoming standard player tactics, to have a small chance of catching them by surprise. Also that the designer clearly understands how much AC and HP a monster needs to have given real party DPR. So - really. By making a monster "more interesting" you make it "more challenging". All without making it "fiddly" to run. All without making it a slog to defeat. The key to fixing the MM isn't just wholesale doubling everybody's HP or something crude like that. Some monsters should remain fragile and/or glass cannons. But there are too many monsters that ARE big sad sacks of hp today, that would benefit immensely (both from a game perspective and a story perspective) from getting a do-over, where they're given a few tools to get out of tight spots, and where they're given the stats to actually last long enough to actually do something (especially if they're supposed to work as a "boss" monster). What you want in an "advanced" supplement is something else than Strahd showing up only to be utterly crushed within the space of two combat rounds by "level-appropriate" parties. That's the opposite of advanced. [/QUOTE]

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