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Why A GM Can Never Have Too Many Bestiaries
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7690675" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>The big problem I have with Bestiaries, is that they have a very low value per page because it never seems like I use more than a page or two of anything beyond "Monster Manual 1". Most remind me very much of the original Fiend Folio - flashes of complete brilliance but also pages and pages of stupidity. Occasionally I buy Bestiaries on an impulse, but I almost always regret it when I really start thinking about how many of those 'creative' monsters I might actually use in the next 30 years.</p><p></p><p>So in general, I tend to make do with improvising monsters as needed.</p><p></p><p>The core of any monster worth buying or stealing is its unique mechanic or unique composition of mechanics that together produce something unique (a "mechanical chord"?). Too often what I see is highly original flavor to the monster, but nothing original mechanically. The monster also needs to have a viable ecological niche in the world, albeit one that can be supernatural, that isn't necessarily met by something else. For example, a new humanoid has value only in a world where that humanoid is going to play a major role and is essentially replacing some other more familiar humanoid for a particular reason or which has a very sci-fi Star Wars cantina feel to it. New dragons are almost useless at this point, but something like a flying ooze or intelligent plant represents fairly new territory.</p><p></p><p>Ideal designs for a monster also have a degree of level invariance, so that they aren't too lethal to challenge low level characters, but still represent some threat when in numbers or advanced for high level characters. Unless you are playing Call of Cthulhu one shots, you can pretty much throw in the trash any bestiary written by someone who was dead set on impressing the players. </p><p></p><p>Ideally, monsters are also very interactive. So for example, a Bodak is a terrible monster, since it just represents random death and doesn't offer very much in the way of interplay.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7690675, member: 4937"] The big problem I have with Bestiaries, is that they have a very low value per page because it never seems like I use more than a page or two of anything beyond "Monster Manual 1". Most remind me very much of the original Fiend Folio - flashes of complete brilliance but also pages and pages of stupidity. Occasionally I buy Bestiaries on an impulse, but I almost always regret it when I really start thinking about how many of those 'creative' monsters I might actually use in the next 30 years. So in general, I tend to make do with improvising monsters as needed. The core of any monster worth buying or stealing is its unique mechanic or unique composition of mechanics that together produce something unique (a "mechanical chord"?). Too often what I see is highly original flavor to the monster, but nothing original mechanically. The monster also needs to have a viable ecological niche in the world, albeit one that can be supernatural, that isn't necessarily met by something else. For example, a new humanoid has value only in a world where that humanoid is going to play a major role and is essentially replacing some other more familiar humanoid for a particular reason or which has a very sci-fi Star Wars cantina feel to it. New dragons are almost useless at this point, but something like a flying ooze or intelligent plant represents fairly new territory. Ideal designs for a monster also have a degree of level invariance, so that they aren't too lethal to challenge low level characters, but still represent some threat when in numbers or advanced for high level characters. Unless you are playing Call of Cthulhu one shots, you can pretty much throw in the trash any bestiary written by someone who was dead set on impressing the players. Ideally, monsters are also very interactive. So for example, a Bodak is a terrible monster, since it just represents random death and doesn't offer very much in the way of interplay. [/QUOTE]
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