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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7174571" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I suspect most of the "it seems too long" actually comes from the formatting I'm using for a spellcaster to make their spells prepared easier to read. By way of contrast, here's a simple non-spellcaster monster:</p><p></p><p><strong>Giant Scorpion.</strong> Large beast; AC 15; HP 52; Spd 40; Senses 13 blindsight 60 ft; Lang –; Saves Str +2, Dex +1, Con +2, Int -5, Wis -1, Cha -4; #Att 3 (2 claws, 1 sting) claw +4 (5 ft), 6 (1d8+2) bludgeoning and grappled (escape DC 12); sting +4 (5 ft), 7 (1d10+2) piercing and DC 12 Con (4d10/half) poison; CR 3 (700 XP); MM 327.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>These are fine details that I suspect each DM is going to have their own personal preference for. Here are my thoughts...</p><p></p><p><strong>Type</strong> is relevant mechanically for ranger favored enemy, paladin divine sense, some magic items, and some spells. It may also be relevant narratively for certain PCs or situations. Info worth having at a quick glance, especially when you start including monsters whose type might not be immediately obvious to a DM...is a hatori a beast or a monstrosity?...is a medusa a humanoid or monstrosity?...are goblins in THIS adventure actually fey?...is this monster detectable with Divine Sense or is <em>detect evil and good</em> required?...does my PC's <em>giant slayer</em> apply against an oni?</p><p></p><p><strong>Language</strong> is easily overlooked. For example, did you know giants only speak Giant and genies only speak their respective dialect of Primordial (unless using <em>tongues</em>)? Did you even know that Ignan and Aquan are mutually intelligible dialects of Primordial? Maybe you did! But I'm guessing those are the sorts of fine points that a DM could easily forget. Of course, it's a DM's prerogative to make all sentient creatures in a dungeon speak Common, but that in turn invalidates choice of language and spells like <em>comprehend languages</em> or <em>tongues</em>. In game, knowing a monster's language can be useful if they're barking combat strategies to one another – can the PCs understand? Or if a rogue tries to sneak and eavesdrop on them? Or what if this particular giant scorpion is a polymorphed mage who speaks Common?</p><p></p><p><strong>Average Damage</strong> depends. I've seen some DMs use it, I've seen some never use, and personally I tend to use it only when I'm dealing with a throw-away encounter (e.g. one sentry who gets one attack before getting dropped), damage between monsters & NPCs, and when running large numbers of monsters that I don't want to roll all those dice for. For example, "Guards (6)" I can roll damage dice for individually, but "Giant Vultures (24)", you bet I'm falling back on average damage!</p><p></p><p><strong>CR / XP</strong> is used by some DMs who like to present balanced encounters, track XP on the adventuring day, or award XP for monsters slain. Personally, I don't do that, but I understand it's a style of play and wanted to support it. Also, for a monster that appears in the Monster Manual, my abbreviated stat block is the most that would appear in an adventure I were publishing; if the DM wanted the full monster stat block / ecology info I assume he or she would go back to the Monster Manual. Hence the reference. Also, the page reference can be useful for new monsters introduced in the adventure – that way the DM can flip (hot link) right to them without having to jump back to the table of contents or index to find that monster's page / hot link.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7174571, member: 20323"] I suspect most of the "it seems too long" actually comes from the formatting I'm using for a spellcaster to make their spells prepared easier to read. By way of contrast, here's a simple non-spellcaster monster: [B]Giant Scorpion.[/B] Large beast; AC 15; HP 52; Spd 40; Senses 13 blindsight 60 ft; Lang –; Saves Str +2, Dex +1, Con +2, Int -5, Wis -1, Cha -4; #Att 3 (2 claws, 1 sting) claw +4 (5 ft), 6 (1d8+2) bludgeoning and grappled (escape DC 12); sting +4 (5 ft), 7 (1d10+2) piercing and DC 12 Con (4d10/half) poison; CR 3 (700 XP); MM 327. These are fine details that I suspect each DM is going to have their own personal preference for. Here are my thoughts... [B]Type[/B] is relevant mechanically for ranger favored enemy, paladin divine sense, some magic items, and some spells. It may also be relevant narratively for certain PCs or situations. Info worth having at a quick glance, especially when you start including monsters whose type might not be immediately obvious to a DM...is a hatori a beast or a monstrosity?...is a medusa a humanoid or monstrosity?...are goblins in THIS adventure actually fey?...is this monster detectable with Divine Sense or is [I]detect evil and good[/I] required?...does my PC's [i]giant slayer[/i] apply against an oni? [B]Language[/B] is easily overlooked. For example, did you know giants only speak Giant and genies only speak their respective dialect of Primordial (unless using [I]tongues[/I])? Did you even know that Ignan and Aquan are mutually intelligible dialects of Primordial? Maybe you did! But I'm guessing those are the sorts of fine points that a DM could easily forget. Of course, it's a DM's prerogative to make all sentient creatures in a dungeon speak Common, but that in turn invalidates choice of language and spells like [I]comprehend languages[/I] or [I]tongues[/I]. In game, knowing a monster's language can be useful if they're barking combat strategies to one another – can the PCs understand? Or if a rogue tries to sneak and eavesdrop on them? Or what if this particular giant scorpion is a polymorphed mage who speaks Common? [B]Average Damage[/B] depends. I've seen some DMs use it, I've seen some never use, and personally I tend to use it only when I'm dealing with a throw-away encounter (e.g. one sentry who gets one attack before getting dropped), damage between monsters & NPCs, and when running large numbers of monsters that I don't want to roll all those dice for. For example, "Guards (6)" I can roll damage dice for individually, but "Giant Vultures (24)", you bet I'm falling back on average damage! [B]CR / XP[/B] is used by some DMs who like to present balanced encounters, track XP on the adventuring day, or award XP for monsters slain. Personally, I don't do that, but I understand it's a style of play and wanted to support it. Also, for a monster that appears in the Monster Manual, my abbreviated stat block is the most that would appear in an adventure I were publishing; if the DM wanted the full monster stat block / ecology info I assume he or she would go back to the Monster Manual. Hence the reference. Also, the page reference can be useful for new monsters introduced in the adventure – that way the DM can flip (hot link) right to them without having to jump back to the table of contents or index to find that monster's page / hot link. [/QUOTE]
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