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<blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 6385348" data-attributes="member: 12037">Story differences between monsters are the most important difference, IMO. I mean, you could say the same thing about hobgoblins and gnolls, right? What's the difference? They're both monstrous humanoids who live in the wilderness and attack innocent travelers and farmsteaders. Stat-wise, they're mundane creatures who fight with mundane weapons. But, they're different because of their law/chaos distinction. Hobgoblins are militaristic and subjugate &quot;lesser&quot; races as cannon fodder. Gnolls are barely controlled killing machines who are likely to eat their hostages on the way home, and they can barely hold a small group together due to infighting unless they have a strong leader. They occupy different archetypes, and that's the most important difference between the two in any given campaign.The difference in demons and devils might not be important to an individual campaign, just like the difference between a hobgoblin and a gnoll might not be important. But, the differences themselves are important because what the creature is is more than a stat block, its a world view and a piece of the puzzle as to how they fit into the world, and game, as a whole. Even when the differences are subtle that still great! Because, you can use those subtle differences and tiny nuances to drive home the details of the world for the PCs to encounter, and you can make the world that much more alive for the players as they play the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ThirdWizard, post: 6385348, member: 12037"] Story differences between monsters are the most important difference, IMO. I mean, you could say the same thing about hobgoblins and gnolls, right? What's the difference? They're both monstrous humanoids who live in the wilderness and attack innocent travelers and farmsteaders. Stat-wise, they're mundane creatures who fight with mundane weapons. But, they're different because of their law/chaos distinction. Hobgoblins are militaristic and subjugate "lesser" races as cannon fodder. Gnolls are barely controlled killing machines who are likely to eat their hostages on the way home, and they can barely hold a small group together due to infighting unless they have a strong leader. They occupy different archetypes, and that's the most important difference between the two in any given campaign. The difference in demons and devils might not be important to an individual campaign, just like the difference between a hobgoblin and a gnoll might not be important. But, the differences themselves are important because what the creature [i]is[/i] is more than a stat block, its a world view and a piece of the puzzle as to how they fit into the world, and game, as a whole. Even when the differences are subtle that still great! Because, you can use those subtle differences and tiny nuances to drive home the details of the world for the PCs to encounter, and you can make the world that much more alive for the players as they play the game. [/QUOTE]

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