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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Garnfellow" data-source="post: 2822994" data-attributes="member: 1223">I am torn by the new format, and apparently in disagreement with many posters here.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I love the new statblock format, and I find it much more logical and vastly superior to use in a game. I also like that it mirrors the NPC statblock format, making cutting and pasting that much easier.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I like the Knowledge check results table, a la the Monsternomicon. I’m not sure I would want every monster to have one, though.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I absolutely hate the expanded ecology and society sections. H-A-T-E! I know I am a distinct minority here, but I would much rather have a brief, generic sketch of these aspects so I can then easily customize the monster to fit whatever campaign setting I’m using. A spell-wielding dragonic humanoid could fit into a lot of different settings. But what if I’m not using Tiamat? If I wanted to use this creature, say, in a Barsoom like world, most of that extra flavor text is simply wasted. And for that matter, most of that flavor text feels like filler to me -- I’m having some flashbacks to the worst of the 2nd edition monster entries. (“Giant Red Pseudo-Gimlets have two separate digestive tracts, one for digesting the leafy green material swallowed by its giraffe head, the other for processing the fleshy matter gulped down by its carnviorous cougar head. Giant Red Pseudo-Gimlets dearly love the tender young leaves of birch, alder, and maple trees, but are somewhat allergic to oak leaves. Sages speculate that this may be the result of an ancient druidic curse.”) There are a couple of cool ideas buried in the redspawn description, but I’m just not seeing 20 strong paragraphs worth of flavor text. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The description paragraph also seems pretty weak and a little presumptuous as to what the setup for the encounter will be as well as what the observing PCs will know. </li> </ul></blockquote>

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