D&D 5E Wandering Monsters: Living Traps

[Cyberen]

I am not praising the actual 2e MC.
But I can't see how wotc will give me my bestiary AND an alphabetically sorted monster list many posters here strongly demand on the same dead tree book.
I am so tired of sorted lists... I can't even bother to read the revised spells in the new playtest. IMO, RPG books should fire my imagination, and editions core books have been worse with time.
Also, having a sorted MM is kind of a joke when MM2, MM3 , FF, ... are on the same shelf, however. And it's even worse for spells ! Of course, electronic tools are perfect for the job, but they rank near zero on my imagination-meter.
These issues are major for the incoming edition. I think 4e aridity played a big role in its demise, and things could get quite messy with the modular approach of Next.

 

[Zustiur]

I think alphabetical is our only real option here. Having tables at the front or back to organize by power and by locale is a great idea, but ultimately, limiting. Only an e-tool which is updated every time monsters are added can really provide the level of completeness those tables require. It doesn't need to contain the monster detail, just be able to sort by types, power, location, etc and then point you to the right book and page number. Ergo, it doesn't need to be an online-only tool, because it's only going to reference books. Hence, it doesn't need a subscription.

 

[Hussar]

As much as I'd like to see the MM broken out into themes, I think that too many people will nit pick it to DEATH. I mean, good grief, a Lycanthrope is not a disease. Diseases don't eat you. It's a critter. Disease monsters use the disease monster stat-block which means they won't have an attack per se - they should be treated with a disease track. Rot Grubs don't need an attack bonus because that means that they are only effective at certain levels. Make them a disease and they get a whole lot more useful.

But, as a compromise, having a number of GOOD INDEXES in the books is an absolute must. Break the creatures down by a number of criteria and list them that way.

Good indexes are a must for all RPG books anyway.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Alphabetical for me too, with maybe some kind of icon like the Pathfinder or Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary to denote the trap monsters etc.

Good to reminisce about the Monstrous Compendiums on here. Good idea in theory, terrible in practice. It was cool to be able to take a few sheets to a session rather than the whole book but that was back in the days before ipads etc. The fact they couldn't be properly alphabetized after the first two or three volumes was the killer though. Very hard to remember which MC a particular monster was in!

Cheers


Rich