I've spent a lot of time looking at statblocks in old editions, 5e, and third party products. Rather than keep my thoughts to myself, I've started writing up my thoughts on my blog. The first two are up right now, and I should have the next set up tomorrow. I do sell some monster stuff on DMsGuild (and hopefully, someday, drivethru) and I've been trying to figure out how I want to improve that work. Level Up has some great stuff. I like what MCDM is doing in their playtest. I miss the world building in the blocks, oddly.
In part one, I look at the first three statblocks I can find for the carrion crawler, and opine without much though to how I lay out things (irony alert). In part two, I look at the 3e and 4e Monster Vault version (I don't have access to the 4e MM one, apparently). Tomorrow, I will write up the 5e comments, including thoughts from third party companies. Alas, Level Up does not cover the carrion crawler (I thought it did), so I'll post a different monster for that look. I also hope to put up a sample of what I will likely do for my next project, we'll see.
I am surprised at the amount of fluff in the 4e Monster Vault, and wonder if that is a reaction to the lesser fluff in the MM? Not sure. It wasn't until 4th edition that all the stuff we need for combat is in the statblock. Before that, anything with a lot of words was in the fluff / writeup. As we know, 4e abandoned a bit of natural language, which you can see in the blocks.
In part one, I look at the first three statblocks I can find for the carrion crawler, and opine without much though to how I lay out things (irony alert). In part two, I look at the 3e and 4e Monster Vault version (I don't have access to the 4e MM one, apparently). Tomorrow, I will write up the 5e comments, including thoughts from third party companies. Alas, Level Up does not cover the carrion crawler (I thought it did), so I'll post a different monster for that look. I also hope to put up a sample of what I will likely do for my next project, we'll see.
I am surprised at the amount of fluff in the 4e Monster Vault, and wonder if that is a reaction to the lesser fluff in the MM? Not sure. It wasn't until 4th edition that all the stuff we need for combat is in the statblock. Before that, anything with a lot of words was in the fluff / writeup. As we know, 4e abandoned a bit of natural language, which you can see in the blocks.
DnD Statblock Evolution, Part One - Mike's Thoughts
The statblock in Dungeons and Dragons has evolved. I've been looking at statblocks for weeks, to adopt things in my products going forward.
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