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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyICE" data-source="post: 6037436" data-attributes="member: 6684526">Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir ValeStarts out by describing the Nentir Vale (after the obligatory "how to use a stat block" section that so many monster manuals have forgotten about).  The design was PERFECT for inserting monsters into your campaign.  I'll just grab a short exerpt to demonstrate:Alien entities from a dead universe, plague demons have thesame chaotic and destructive nature as demons from theAbyss deep within the Elemental Chaos. Unleashed upon thenatural world, they are a virulent irifection that spreads likewildfire through a parched forest.A ritual undertaken in ancient times released theexarchs of the demon lord of a dead universe, a universewhere the demon lord succeeded in conqueringits Abyss but also inadvertently destroyed the planesaround it. Brought to the natural world, these exarchsplanned to establish the Abyssal plague, unleash hordesof plague demons, and open the way for their demonlord to step into this existence.Heroes of the age stepped forward to disrupt theritual, and the threat of the plague demons seemedto have been dealt with. Recently, however, one of theexarchs escaped from its ancient prison, and the demonlord found a host in the natural world.Now the Abyssal plague has ignited a fever thatburns throughout the land. Plague demons of variousforms have begun to appear, threatening civilizedsettlements across the Nentir Vale. The very touch of aplague demon can pass along a debilitating disease thatcan lead to death or even transformation in rare cases.The alien disease is capable of turning humans andother natural creatures into plague demons.It's like, you read something like that, and you immediately have five ideas for a campaign involving the monsters.  What they do, what they are, how the heroes might stop the threat, all of that.  Right there.The stat blocks are unbelievable.  Reading a 2E or 3E monster stat block, in retrospect, is uninspiring, and frequently an exercise in grabbing another book (Can cast Thornwall as a Druid of the 12th level, okay, lemme go grab the book that's in, oh, can cast this other spell, lemme go look that up too).  The 4E stat block, on the other hand, perfectly captures the nature of the beast.  A simple trait that spices up combat.  A plague on their standard attack that can turn the players into a Chaos Beast if they don't cure it (And people say 4E is less lethal~) and a standardized Resistance trait for demons that represents their chaotic nature.  On top of that they have between 1-3 abilities to differentiate different strains of the beasts.  It completely changed how I looked at monster manuals.  From bestiaries I could peruse to make encounters into adventure hooks and campaign themes built around a tight package that told the players, better than my narrative "these are all part of a central theme."</blockquote>

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