D&D 5E (2024) Views on 24 MM/SRD monster mechanics now

[Charlaquin]

Silver weapons are a thing in the DMG same with Adamantine.
Silvered Weapons deal extra damage on crits to creatures that have shapeshifted.

I know, I just don’t like that. I don’t want silver weapons to be approximately 10% more effective against shapeshifters than normal weapons, I want them to be pretty much required to kill lycanthropes. I could take or leave the extra crit damage, but lycanthropes should regenerate every turn they don’t take damage from a silver weapon, and that regeneration should be able to get them back up from 0 HP. That’s like, the number one thing you think of when you think of werewolves: they transform when the moon is full and you can’t kill ‘em without silver.

 

[TravDoc42]

Why? Wolves kill you by getting you on the ground.

Wolves killing a person are like the Lonely Island?

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I am a big fan of a lot of the changes! I like the spellcasting for the post part (although I might've preferred they put the damage dice for certain spells like Fireball in the stat block instead of putting "Fireball (level 5 version)"), and I like the damage and effect riders on many of the attacks! Makes certain monsters feel more flavorful in combat, IMHO.

As much as I like the new stat blocks, there are enhancements that I would like, but I'm not sure if the templating would work universally.

For example, I would love for spells like Fireball to get an 8d6 (28) Fire damage note so I can just click it on the monster stat block in Maps to roll the damage, but many spells aren't that cut and dry.

 

[TravDoc42]

As much as I like the new stat blocks, there are enhancements that I would like, but I'm not sure if the templating would work universally.

For example, I would love for spells like Fireball to get an 8d6 (28) Fire damage note so I can just click it on the monster stat block in Maps to roll the damage, but many spells aren't that cut and dry.

You have a good point! Lots of spells do have additional effects than just damage, and you want the DM to know that. Just putting the damage down wound discourage that investigation and reading.

I have the feeling that part of the reason WoTC did this is that it encourages D&D Beyond usage, where you click through to see the spell, as opposed to the physical books where you have to flip to a page for it during combat. I'm still sticking with my physical copies though! No amount of convenience will be worth a switch, at least for me.

 

[Remathilis]

Silver weapons are a thing in the DMG same with Adamantine.
Silvered Weapons deal extra damage on crits to creatures that have shapeshifted.

They are now magical weapons that and not something that you buy from the PHB.

I think I get where they were going. You don't see creatures that have resistance to fire or cold unless it's from a magical source. You either resist fire or you don't. But resistance to slashing is dependent on the source of the damage and possibly the material. And it created some weird adjudication areas (does hitting someone with a magic shield count?) they are trying to stamp out. So they not treat slashing the same as fire: it doesn't care about the source, only the damage type.

I wager a similar thought process came when they considered regeneration. A troll's regeneration is stopped by acid (damage type) and fire (damage type). Silver is not a damage type. Neither is "magic". So for consistency, they only have Regen and resistance bypassed by one of the eight damage types.

I think it sucks that the game loses that little bit of flavor, especially for iconic monsters like werewolves, but apparently they felt consistently and avoiding defining what constitutes a "magic" weapon was more important.