D&D 5E Spells in Stat Blocks are Terrible

[Sammael]

If you print out all the spells with full write up from the basic set that would be about 20 pages.

I know, I printed it out. But the basic rules contain a minuscule portion of the entire spell list.

We'll see how many monsters have to be reworked.

If you own Hasbro stock, you should worry more about the failure of their new Age of Extinction Transformers line, which is selling roughly 50% worse than expected. Because, unlike D&D, that line actually makes money for them.

 

[Zustiur]

I've skipped the last few pages so someone may have said this already.
If spell summary is to space consuming, give us book and page reference.

Magic Missile. PHB 296

 

[GX.Sigma]

I've skipped the last few pages so someone may have said this already.
If spell summary is to space consuming, give us book and page reference.

Magic Missile. PHB 296

I don't think that's necessary. The spell descriptions are in alphabetical order, so there's no real need for a page reference. Flipping until you get to p.296 takes about as much time as flipping until you see spells starting with M.

I'm not saying it would be totally useless, but it wouldn't make sense if space is the concern. "Fireball (PHB 284)" takes up more space than "Fireball (8d6)," and the latter is far more useful.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I... What? Who do you think wrote the OP?

yeah I didnt express myself very well. I meant I found the idea of quitting ecause of spell lists funny, not that I found you funny. it is a subtle difference, in any case, my bad, I dont mean to rub anyone the wrong way, sorry.

 

[Cyberen]

I know, I printed it out. But the basic rules contain a minuscule portion of the entire spell list.

We'll see how many monsters have to be reworked.

0 I guess.
It is a stated goal that published material does not assume any other optional material, including PHB, DMG, and MM. It means a Tyranny of Dragons caster or a MM Lich should only have Basic spells on its list. Of course, the DM is more than welcome to spice up things by swapping spells from the PHB or the Complete Broken Spellbook III. But published material only require Basic, which means 20 pages of spells to reference and eventually commit to memory. Of course, there will be blunders along the way, but I believe WotC means what they say, and will eventually expand the Basic spell list a little in order to achieve this goal.
New DMs (and we are all new DMs as far as 5e is concerned) need tactical advice on when to use Fireball, Magic Missile as a 3rd level spell, or Misty Step, rather than having the rules for these common spells being written again and again...

 

[MerricB]

0 I guess.
It is a stated goal that published material does not assume any other optional material, including PHB, DMG, and MM. It means a Tyranny of Dragons caster or a MM Lich should only have Basic spells on its list. Of course, the DM is more than welcome to spice up things by swapping spells from the PHB or the Complete Broken Spellbook III. But published material only require Basic, which means 20 pages of spells to reference and eventually commit to memory. Of course, there will be blunders along the way, but I believe WotC means what they say, and will eventually expand the Basic spell list a little in order to achieve this on when to use Fireball, Magic Missile as a 3rd level spell, or Misty Step, rather than having the rules for these common spells being written again and again...

Published adventures, certainly, but I don't think you can make the assumption that this applies to everything they publish! I would expect monsters in the Monster Manual to have access to the full spell lists in the Player's Handbook, albeit most will use basic spells to make things easier for DMs.

Of course, I may be misinterpreting what Wizards are doing.

Cheers!

 

[Sammael]

Unfortunately, WotC only sticks to the stated goals as long as the current designer lineup is in charge, which usually lasts for a couple of years (q.v. WotC annual layoffs).

As for reworking, it will be more than 0 for me, because each monster that isn't self-contained will have to be re-worked. I don't need full tactical advice on fireball after 17 years of DMing, I need capsules that don't require referencing another book. That's all.

 

[Cyberen]

Unfortunately, WotC only sticks to the stated goals as long as the current designer lineup is in charge, which usually lasts for a couple of years (q.v. WotC annual layoffs).

As for reworking, it will be more than 0 for me, because each monster that isn't self-contained will have to be re-worked. I don't need full tactical advice on fireball after 17 years of DMing, I need capsules that don't require referencing another book. That's all.

I believe their Basic Hub and Modular Spoke model is quite sound economically, as it negates the barrier to all their products. Of course, if the feedback shows that 90% of the Basic users also own the Trifecta, this model will evolve to account for this...

Personnally, after 25 years of DMing, I need full tactical advice on everything5e. The combat mini game is subtly but deeply different from previous editions, and this Fireball (with high base damage, scaling per slot and not caster level) is quite different from its ancestry. Moreover, the ecosystem of spells is very different (different spell lists, different spells, neo Vancian, Concentration Rules, saving throws progressions, enhanced mobility,...) that I would gladly follow a script during my first sessions, then take some Master class from the devs, because I would love to play this ruleset as intended, before tweaking and winging and rocking

 

[Sammael]

We're in a different boat... I am not interested in playing the game exactly as the designers intended (if there is even such a thing, I'm sure each designer has his own style and preferences), I'm interested in having easy to use tools to play the game the way my group(s) prefer.

 

[Mark CMG]

They should put out an eBook of "spell capsules" that a GM can use quickly on a tablet or to cut and paste, then print out, the ones for a game being prepped. Just the bare bones details needed for game play like damage, save, etc. It would help many GMs if that info was included in each stat block but I can understand why they wouldn't include it as some customers think it is a waste of space.