Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4179456" data-attributes="member: 2067">It's entirely possible -- perhaps, preferable -- to get a system that satisfies both needs.One that is expected and balanced to be played at level 50, where some demon prince resides.Or one where the demon prince is level 30 and the balor is level 20.Wait, you mean 4e is satisfying that? Hmmm....looks like perhaps the game *does* like the world builders....This isn't a universal truth, merely a situational occurrence. It's a new edition, man, they can make level 50 palatable if they want, or they can knock down the power of a balor if they want, or whatever. They get to do what they want to do.That's all good, but if the baseline is boring or nonsensical or otherwise uninspiring, I'm not really going to want to bother modifying it when there are so many other games out there that don't have that problem, both on the table and otherwise.....I don't forsee that being any different in 4e, really. I mean, what's going to be easier after getting the PH, running a mass combat with an aerial army in mythic Greece involving triremes with magical Antlantis Lazers?, or running a party through a dungeon stocked with monsters?I think any game has this. There are certain things they define well, and if you go apart from those things, you're going to need to do a lot of work. I want to do as little work as possible, thanks. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />But does the book suggest that the succubus should be manipulating the king? Is there anything about time duplicates to suggest that the phane uses them?Is there any story behind these statblocks?I wouldn't consider myself much of a world builder, or really that pissed off. I'm disappointed that the MM won't be full of inspiring beasties to menace my nameless NPC dirt farmers with, that I'll have to do extra work to fit a succubus into my kingdom's plot, that there's nothing in the bodak that helps me bring in a story about how he was killed hunting fiends and has returned to slaughter the family he only vaguely remembers. I'm not that interested in stats. I want them to work without getting in the way, and 4e should be able to accomplish that. I don't want to have to work extra hard at crafting a basic plotline involving a monster's unusual traits, though. What I'm interested in are the story possibilities of these critters.It is something that, so far, most of the critters have sorely lacked. This makes me do extra work to create a story around them. No longer does an adventure with a phane or a succubus or a bodak practically write itself. Part of this is why I'm looking forward to the Tome of Horrors. From what Clark has mentioned, it seems much more in line with what I actually need out of a monster manual -- essentially, a book of plot hooks based on creatures, and the stats to use those creatures, a package of 200 or so mini-campaigns, where all I have to do is turn to a page with a level vaguely appropriate as we're beginning the game and I get an entire night of enjoyment handed to me.If all I knew of the 4e phane was what the 4e mm excerpt has told us, I wouldn't be able to run an adventure featuring the phane. An encounter, sure, but the encounter needs a broader context then "monster attacks you." A Monster Manual entry has, for 3 editions, given me that broader context.If 4e doesn't give it to me, it has failed for my games. I'd prefer if it didn't.</blockquote>

Verification