Spotlight Interview on Worlds and Monsters

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Knight Otu matey!

I don't think UK is right on this one (sorry, pal ).

Thats okay dude, its your prerogative to be wrong.

...then again it could all just be wishful thinking on my part.

I'd rather expect that there are five or six age categories. For one, even with the broadening of the level range where a specific monster works, there will be gaps where a single color doesn't work. That doesn't strike me as desirable.

Not sure I agree. Jennifer stated, the younger age categories have been eliminated and the older ones consolidated. Also take into account that its been mentioned previously that the Monster Manual Dragon section is 14 pages long, features 10 dragons and FULL stats for each age category right out of the book. Are you saying there are 60 stat blocks plus illustrations plus ecologies in 14 pages...I don't think so.

Two, having more than three age categories allows it to be easier to mix dragons of various age categories in adventures, providing some variety.

This is still 'do-able' with merely three. If the Epic Tier Dragon is the solo monster, then the Paragon tier could be the Standard monster while the Heroic Tier Dragon could represent the minions. Or alternately the Paragon Tier Dragon is solo then the Heroic Tier Dragon would be a Standard monster encounter in the same adventure.

For more on this idea see the Encounter Design Flaw thread in this forum.

Three, if someone wanted to use multiple dragons in an encounter (yes, I know, solo monster), multiple age categories make it easier to provide a tier-specific challenge.

The framework of 4E's Monster Level design is such that Monsters of a given level have a longer shelf life. That is, can be encountered over a greater spread of levels. Therefore having the same dragon show up every few levels is unnecessary.

 

[Knight Otu]

Howdy Knight Otu matey!



Thats okay dude, its your prerogative to be wrong.

...then again it could all just be wishful thinking on my part.

Not sure I agree. Jennifer stated, the younger age categories have been eliminated and the older ones consolidated. Also take into account that its been mentioned previously that the Monster Manual Dragon section is 14 pages long, features 10 dragons and FULL stats for each age category right out of the book. Are you saying there are 60 stat blocks plus illustrations plus ecologies in 14 pages...I don't think so.

Well, it's not like eliminating and consolidating are fully-defined algorithms that can have only one result. Eliminating three age categories and consolidating three more into the others is a viable interpretation, I'd say.
And yes, 5 stat blocks per page is crowded, but doable. I do lean a bit further to 5 age categories (eliminating Small as a potential size category - Mustrum's post above mirrors my idea pretty much), moving things towards 4 stat blocks per page.

This is still 'do-able' with merely three. If the Epic Tier Dragon is the solo monster, then the Paragon tier could be the Standard monster while the Heroic Tier Dragon could represent the minions. Or alternately the Paragon Tier Dragon is solo then the Heroic Tier Dragon would be a Standard monster encounter in the same adventure.

For more on this idea see the Encounter Design Flaw thread in this forum.

Well, without knowing what being a minion monster entails (for all we know, a minion could always deal minimum damage except on a critical hit, where it deals normal damage), it is hard to build theories on that, though under this model, the lower-tier dragon wouldn't lose several abilities that made it a solo monster in the first place (though they may easily be ineffective against the high-tier characters).

The framework of 4E's Monster Level design is such that Monsters of a given level have a longer shelf life. That is, can be encountered over a greater spread of levels. Therefore having the same dragon show up every few levels is unnecessary.

Well, I'm aware of that design, I referenced it above. My angle here was, if there are multiple age categories, it becomes simpler to build an encounter with multiple (read two, anything more is rather unlikely) dragons without it becoming overpowering. And yes, it was the last point for a reason.