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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5964722" data-attributes="member: 22424">Oh dear.Do. Both.The adventure should almost certainly tell the DM that Bob can control winds because of that elemental thing. But it should also tell the DM that Bob is a Controller.It's like the selection of a PC's class - the player probably chose Fighter because he wants his character to be good at hitting things, and that's the appropriate class for that.(And yeah, to an extent that's circular logic. Did the player choose Fighter because he fancied playing that class, and the "hit things" come after, or did he want to "hit things" and so chose Fighter? It doesn't actually matter - the bottom line is that the player has a Fighter and he's good at "hitting things"... and his character sheet notes both.)Again, why can't they have both? The 4e MM did a really good job in presenting several different types of orcs/goblins/drow/whatever, each with different roles to reflect their place in their appropriate societies. The 4e MM went wrong in that it tended to skimp on background details, but that doesn't mean you drop the mechanical expression of the roles, it means you add the 'missing' background stuff.After all, an Ogre is not going to be any less a Brute just because the MM doesn't list him as such.For maximum utility, include both monster backstory and the monster roles.Fair enough...Ah I see. Put it in the Monster Manual, in the entries for each monster. That way, when you add more monsters, you don't have to print revised tables, and end up with wasted pages in the DMG.Or, and this is a radical thought, you could provide storytelling guidance to such DMs. Take the time to talk to them about pacing, and character motivations, and all the rest. Explain to them different types of encounters (speedbumps, overwhelming encounters, etc), how they each fit into the story and how each can be used to a different effect.The 4e DMG, to its credit, at least tried to do this. Sadly, it largely failed (IMO). But here's a suggestion: Ari Marmell has done significant work for you in the past. He also has significant credits with White Wolf's Storyteller/ing systems. Why not leverage that expertise and have him write some guidelines for you?I agree 100% with the principle of what you're trying to achieve. I'm just not 100% sure you're going about it the best way.</blockquote>

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