What formulas?

[TerraDave]

We know there are standard skill bonuses that go:

(3rd ed) ability bonus + 1/2 level +5 if trained.

Like SWSAGA. And that is it. Looking at the pit fiend, nothing quit matches up with this outside his skills.

 

[kennew142]

4E seems to be like a game where I will have time to consider combat strategies instead of wasting tons of time fixing up stat blocks. Thumbs up on that.

This is my hope as well. I am so tired of doing stat blocks for D&D 3.5 that I almost don't want to GM anymore. I've been GMing about once a week since 1979, so this is a big deal for me.

 

[Pinotage]

The worrisome thing about that is that a lot of DMs have basic math skills, but no artistic talent whatsoever. When they get creative, Rocks fall and everyone dies.

I was just going to post the same thing. Art is great if you have an intuitive understanding of things, but completely rubbish if you can't even draw a pencil man. While I expect most gamers are generally intelligent, I'd hate to see a system that relies on 'winging' the mechanics. That can go horribly wrong on a lot of levels. I for one, hope that 4e is more robust than 3e, which is hard to tell from the rather bland and boring Pit Fiend example we've seen recently.

Pinotage

 

[ruleslawyer]

Everything I have seen on monster creation implies that monsters will have expected ranges of certain stats, but that monster creation will be something more like it was in 1e or 2e- the dm pretty well makes 'em up. I have gotten a strong impression that the designers are trying to stay away from the complicated "edit with a fine toothed comb" type of monster creation that is fun for a numbers cruncher but sucks if you just want a quick monster.

I think that monster creation will actually be extremely consistent, which is a *vast* difference from 1e/2e. If monster level matches up with a predictable range of stats (attack bonus, expected damage per round, save bonuses, AC, movement mode, most powerful non-damaging spell ability, etc.), then that's highly consistent, far more than in 3e, and that's part of it. While 3e's monster system is extremely detailed, it by no means produces consistent results. Between the wonky effects of adding class levels to base monsters, the use of stacking templates, advancing different monster types by Hit Dice, and so on, one ends up with a bloated stat block that also, and most damningly, produces inconsistent and insufficiently predictable results with respect to monster power relative to level/CR.

IMO, a good example of simple but consistent monster design is the villain class system from Iron Heroes. You pick the type of villain you want (dreaded sorcerer, demonic brute, warleader, stealthy assassin, etc.) and the needed CR, and then just assemble the values from a table. It allows a fair bit of customization (though far, far less than for standard 3e NPC or classed/advanced/templated monster builds) while ensuring that a CR 6 demonic brute will actually *be* a CR 6 challenge even if you customize it somewhat.