too many monsters in the world?

[rossik]

does anybody feel that sometimes, theres too many monsters avaible in the world? (any one)

i mean, you have lots of undead, lots of elemental, lots of dragon, fayre, and so on..

and the poop monster too!



dont get me wrong, i love to have options, but sometimes (for me, at least), too many options make it worse.

do they make new monsters to give players more things to kill?


opinions?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I suspect one of the main reasons they make new monsters because players get overfamiliar with the ones most commonly used.

 

[Umbran]

Having monsters available in the books does not imply they all actually exist on the land. That's just the list of options available for adventure design, so no, I don't thinks there's generally too many monsters.

 

[jdrakeh]

does anybody feel that sometimes, theres too many monsters avaible in the world? (any one)

I do. Many settings don't simply provide monsters as options (as Umbran suggests), they're explicitly portrayed as being commonplace. Look at Greyhawk. Or Forgotten Realms. Man. . . if monsters weren't commonplace, none of those adventure modules, boxed campaigns, or novels would exist. The thing is, D&D is about killing monsters by default, so it makes sense for them to be there. PCs in D&D are assumed to hunt down evil monsters and smite them. That's what they do, by default.

If you look at other game systems and settings that are less weighted toward the idea that PCs hunt down monsters and kill them, you'll find fewer monsters and more emphasis in design on aspects that the system or setting considers more important. HarnWorld is a good example here. HarnMaster 3e has monsters by default. Less than 20 different types, total. Compare that to the hundreds of pages and half dozen or so HM3 supplements dedicated to medieval politics and government.

 

[DaveMage]

There are well over 10,000 monsters that have been created for 3.x (and, of course, with templates, the number approaches infinity).

There's no way they all exist in one world...unless it's inside a Dyson Sphere.

 

[Rechan]

Thats why adventurers exist.

Also something to keep in mind is that even if they EXIST, there may not be that MANY of them. In 2e, there was a thing on the statblock that listed if a monster was common vs. rare (this dealt with random encounter tables, but still). Not to get into a heavy discussion of ecology, but there just CANNOT be that many dragons due to the need to sustain their diet. Think of largish monsters (bulettes, owlbears, etc) like a tiger; solitary, uncommon to rare, wild and dangerous.

You might, for instance, only have six Iron golems in existence. Or twelve medusa. Lizardfolk might only live in humid, warm places. Harpies might only be found in this specific area. This is at least how things worked with mythology - there was only one Minotaur, and only one Medusa.

Some monsters might be new, or very rare, because of some occurrence. For instance, Grimlocks could be the result of some town that was cursed, their inhabitants driven underground. Gargoyles might have only been created by one source, and they are only found protecting this one area.

Also, many monsters are sequestered away in planes. You might even shove Humanoid Race X into that area.

 

[jdrakeh]

There's no way they all exist in one world...unless it's inside a Dyson Sphere.

Or unless it is Aber-Toril

 

[DaveMage]

Or unless it is Aber-Toril

LOL!!!

 

[Umbran]

I do. Many settings don't simply provide monsters as options (as Umbran suggests), they're explicitly portrayed as being commonplace. Look at Greyhawk. Or Forgotten Realms. Man. . . if monsters weren't commonplace, none of those adventure modules, boxed campaigns, or novels would exist.

It isn't as if all those things actually impact a given campaign, though. Within my game, unless I state it or the PCs encounter it, it is only potential.

So, they've published a gazillion modules with monsters? Did my PCs play them? Do I make them part of the campaign history? No? Then they aren't relevant. Novels - unless I reference them as part of the canon for my game, they don't apply. And so on.

 

[Piratecat]

There are well over 10,000 monsters that have been created for 3.x (and, of course, with templates, the number approaches infinity).

There's no way they all exist in one world...unless it's inside a Dyson Sphere.

Heh. Earth has over 350,000 species of beetles alone. Only 4000 species of mammals, though.

Mind you, beetles don't generally attack a town and take a princess hostage.