D&D 5E Wandering Monsters: Creepy and Crawly—Simultaneously!

[Hussar]

Oh, just to be clear, I mean that you get one or two stat blocks with clear guidelines on how to adjust those stat blocks in one direction or the other. I certainly don't mean that you get one statblock with one set of attacks, for all creatures. No, I didn't mean that at all.

But, it gets back to the donkeyhorse debates. Do we really need a separate stat block for a donkey when we have "Horse, Light"? How much hand holding do DM's need?

 

[I'm A Banana]

But, it gets back to the donkeyhorse debates. Do we really need a separate stat block for a donkey when we have "Horse, Light"? How much hand holding do DM's need?

Depends on the DM.

For me personally, all of it.

Since D&D rules are pretty much always opt-in (you can play a kind of "D&D" fine running around your backyard with sticks, or making funny voices around a table), I want a game full of more rules than I could ever possibly need. Each rule is a prop, and those props are useful, fun, interesting things that give more context and dimension to this little game of make-believe.

I want a lot of rules.

Not necessarily complex ones -- there's diminishing returns on studying fiddly bits, and a prop that is bold and eye-catching is going to do more for me than an ornate mechanism that no one in the audience can see -- but lots of 'em.

 

[Orius]

Here's a campaign idea I got from this thread:

A monastery run by a clerical order that keeps hives of giant bees to cultivate their honey. They use the honey to brew various sorts of healing potions which they either sell or provide to their church. They also use the wax produced by the giant bees to make specially concecrated candles for various rites in the church as well.

 

[steeldragons]

For a bit of clarity on my earlier comments...as [MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION] mentions, I have no problem with saving space where possible. I also have no issue with various creatures being listed under a single entry with differing stat blocks. D&D has done that since the beginning. Going to the "Cat" entry I would expect to find the info I need for: "Cat, domestic; Puma/Cougar; Lion; Tiger"...I'd even include "Lynx" and, possibly at the far end, "Smilodon." Going to a "Horse" entry I would expect, at the minimum, "Pony; Light/Riding; Heavy/Warhorse; Mule/Donkey."

What I read in the article was not that you'd go to...what?..."Winged Stinging Insect"[?] and get a stats/entries for, each, "Wasp, Bee, Hornet." He said for the wasp to "absorb the bee and hornet." That to me sounds like he said the equivalent of, "When you get your MM there will be a Wasp entry and nothing further. Just use the wasp for other stuff if you have to...close enough/I don't see a difference" while out of the other side of his mouth, "We need 7 different types of spiders with 3 to 6 size differentials...oh, and 1 scorpion."

That is what I object to.

 

[Weather Report]

Oh, just to be clear

Yes, to be clear, you seem to hate D&D, and especially that dastardly Planescape.

We get it....*yawn*

Mod Note: Your snark does not become you. Please stop. If you cannot treat folks with more respect, please hold your comments. ~Umbran

 

[Hussar]

For a bit of clarity on my earlier comments...as [MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION] mentions, I have no problem with saving space where possible. I also have no issue with various creatures being listed under a single entry with differing stat blocks. D&D has done that since the beginning. Going to the "Cat" entry I would expect to find the info I need for: "Cat, domestic; Puma/Cougar; Lion; Tiger"...I'd even include "Lynx" and, possibly at the far end, "Smilodon." Going to a "Horse" entry I would expect, at the minimum, "Pony; Light/Riding; Heavy/Warhorse; Mule/Donkey."

What I read in the article was not that you'd go to...what?..."Winged Stinging Insect"[?] and get a stats/entries for, each, "Wasp, Bee, Hornet." He said for the wasp to "absorb the bee and hornet." That to me sounds like he said the equivalent of, "When you get your MM there will be a Wasp entry and nothing further. Just use the wasp for other stuff if you have to...close enough/I don't see a difference" while out of the other side of his mouth, "We need 7 different types of spiders with 3 to 6 size differentials...oh, and 1 scorpion."

That is what I object to.

But, again, why? Why do you need 4 separate stat blocks for a horse? It's not like horses are really all that different from each other. One or two stat blocks pretty much covers everything you're honestly going to need in a horse in D&D. Once you have stats for a giant wasp, why do we need Giant Wasp +3 HP for a giant hornet? Which is effectively the only difference between the two.

I'm all for having the text for the monsters contain variations. But the mechanics? Why bother? It's needlessly padding the book. One stat block for, say, Horse, and maybe a couple of sentences on "To vary your horse, drop or raise it's strength by up to 4 points, and consider adding a HD or two for particularly big horses." There done.

 

[Hussar]

On further reflection. To me, I look at 1e D&D's dragons as a very good way of doing this. In 1ed Dragons, you had one stat block for every dragon. The dragons were divided into small/medium/huge with HD differences (typically one die either way) in the stat block. Everything else was the same. The dragons were also differentiated by age, with each age category gaining 1 hp/hd.

Short, sweet, to the point. I'm not sure if it actually works for dragons all that well, since a bit more variation might be warranted, but, certainly for something like horses, why not?

I mean, look at the 3.5 srd. The difference between light and heavy horse is 3 HP, 10 feet of movement and one die size on attacks. That's it. Yet, they both get full stat blocks. Four stat blocks if you include the warhorse version of both. Do we really need four separate stat blocks for these? A donkey might be a bit different since it's a medium instead of large creature and that makes considerable mechanical difference in 3e. But, again, wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to gloss over those differences and say that a donkey is just a light horse? They're not really that different.

 

[JamesonCourage]

I'm all for having the text for the monsters contain variations. But the mechanics? Why bother?

So the mechanics reflect the fiction.

It's needlessly padding the book.

Um, no?

One stat block for, say, Horse, and maybe a couple of sentences on "To vary your horse, drop or raise it's strength by up to 4 points, and consider adding a HD or two for particularly big horses." There done.

I'm pretty much okay with doing this and pointing out the differences. But when the difference is "paralyzes you and lays eggs in you" and "stings and bites you to death", I want that noted in the mechanics, not just "+3 HP." You know? As always, play what you like

 

[Hussar]

Fair enough JC. And, if you're going to have separate stat blocks, I think that the monsters should be significantly different enough to warrant it. Looking at the 3.5 version of Giant Bee and Giant Wasp, I'm not really seeing the need for two stat blocks here. One combined stat block could certainly do the trick here.

 

[JamesonCourage]

Fair enough JC. And, if you're going to have separate stat blocks, I think that the monsters should be significantly different enough to warrant it. Looking at the 3.5 version of Giant Bee and Giant Wasp, I'm not really seeing the need for two stat blocks here. One combined stat block could certainly do the trick here.

I'd be okay with that, as long as the differences were noted. Easy way to save space. As always, play what you like