Comments on: Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover

By: Review: HS1 The Slaying Stone : My Girlfriend is a DM

Review: HS1 The Slaying Stone : My Girlfriend is a DM — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:04:50 +0000

[...] Stone also introduces the new monster stat block that is set to become the standard format after today’s release of Monster Manual 3. [...]

By: Review: HS1 The Slaying Stone « My Girlfriend is a DM

Review: HS1 The Slaying Stone « My Girlfriend is a DM — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:08:58 +0000

[...] Stone also introduces the new monster stat block that is set to become the standard format after today’s release of Monster Manual 3. [...]

By: Monster Manual 3: An Early Review — Dungeon's Master

Monster Manual 3: An Early Review — Dungeon's Master — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:02:04 +0000

[...] monster layout. We provided out first impressions in Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover (Part 1 | Part 2). Now that I’ve got the new MM3 and I’ve had the opportunity to read through it, [...]

By: yatesc

yatesc — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:23:28 +0000

Ameron -
I would actually find a tactics description (on monsters with different forms of offense, or who work really well or really poorly with other types of monsters) to be more useful than a description. My use of the MM may be atypical, though, as I virtually never use the monsters as they are. MM Gricks are stone giants, MM Oni Night Haunters are human assassins, and so forth. Ideally we’d get both, especially in the online version (where space is not at a premium).

By: Ameron

Ameron — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:16:58 +0000

@skallawag
I’m with you 100% on the monster descriptions. Sometimes it’s nice to actually describe what the PCs are seeing rather than just saying “It’s an Umber Hulk.” Describing a monster instead of calling it by name prompts the PCs to make monster knowledge checks.

@btorgin
Good point about speed. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but it makes sense.

@Mike Karkabe-Olson
Keep in mind that this is “preview” content. I suppose it might still change a little bit before final publishing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

By: Mike Karkabe-Olson

Mike Karkabe-Olson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:39:34 +0000

I agree with these points from Yatesc:
* It bugs me that the tab structure is a little wonky. Seems like Short Sword and the text below it should line up. Also, why don’t “HP” and “Alignment” line up?
* I would’ve kept all six stats on a single line of text.

By: btorgin

btorgin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:32:21 +0000

I think speed is good where it is. The left section are stats used actively in combat, all the time. The right side are items you need only at the beginning, or on occasion or for roleplay.

By: skallawag

skallawag — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:51:28 +0000

I’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of a more complex monster. “Speed” looks a bit out of place and would seem to fit better where the initiative bonus is. I’d also like to see more monster description so that a DM can better describe a monster and add more of that Role Playing flavor.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:47:28 +0000

@deadorcs
Your welcome. I had no idea this change was on the horizon until I saw the article on Wizards yesterday. I just hope they come through with updates for the Monster Builder. If it still presents monsters in the old format after the release of MM3 then we’ll be back to using the books rather than just printing out the one or two monster we need ad hoc.

@yatesc
I like your version even more than Wizards’ version. Thanks for sharing.

@Swordgleam
As I mentioned I often overlook or forget about the traits. Whenever I forget to use these abilities the PCs walk all over the monsters. I think my PCs are going to be very surprised when I actually use all the powers all the time.

By: Swordgleam

Swordgleam — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:06:33 +0000

That makes it a lot easier to pick up and run monsters at a glance, too. I’m used to reading over all potential monster stat blocks before hand, mostly to be sure I’m solid on traits. Having them right at the top will help a lot.