NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 6256684" data-attributes="member: 75787">Everyone knows what a fireball does ...I just realized, reading this thread, that even though I have decades of D&D play under my belt -- or maybe because of it -- that if I saw "fireball" as an ability in a stat block for a monster I would have no concise idea what it did.I am pretty sure it would be a ball. And fiery. Not sure what size ball. If the game used feet or squares, I'd guess a 20' radius, otherwise maybe it'd fill the zone or maybe 2d3 creatures in the zone? As far as damage, I'm pretty sure it does some amount of d6s, I think 5 in some systems, but maybe equal to the level of the creature? I vaguely recall 3.5 had, like, three or four ways of measuring levels, so if I had a level 16 demon, I guess it would do 16d6, or maybe I'd look up a different measure of level (do monsters get caster levels?). Oh, nearly forgot that 3.5 capped it to 10d6. Did other editions do that also? I'd also assume there is some number somewhere in the stat block that tells me what the attack roll is -- or possibly it always works and I can look up in some other book what the save for the PC is. Maybe that is based on the monster's level adding in either an int or charisma mod, depending on something else I am not sure where I look that up. Not sure that saying "fireball" is actually terribly helpful for people who are not rules experts. I think I'd prefer a simple description like "targets all creatures in a 20' radius ball; range 20; 20 reflex save; 8d6 damage" or "targets 2d3 nearby targets, +10 vs MD; 8d6 damage". Probably with some extras for special feature for the monster, so a demon might have extra text "if save failed by 5, target is panicked" or "on a natural even hit, dazes target"I play and enjoy multiple systems. Requiring I memorize even 40 spells for each system would be way too much. And a system where every monster ONLY had one of 40 spells? Too boring to play. Much better is to have generic, simple stat-block powers, to which flavor can be added for uniqueness with little cognitive load. Now for the players, they will be using the same powers all the time, so they should have a TON of description about them (AD&D's strength) or you have a TON of powers (4e's strength). As a player, I am happy to learn the details of the 5-6 powers I use a lot.</blockquote>

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