5e Monster Design Sucks
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2024
- It wasn't always this way! I'm pining for 4th edition D&D where monsters were cool and flavorful, when it was EASY to throw together unique and fun encounters as a DM, and where combat was FUN to run!
Here's an example of gnolls from each edition.
5e gnoll: i.gyazo.com/04...
4e gnoll: i.gyazo.com/06...
And that's just your 'normal' gnoll! There were TONS of variants that made them even more diverse and dynamic!
Funnily enough. I found you while looking at the new monster stat blocks The Dungeon Coach just unveiled for his TTRPG. I just learned who he was a couple weeks ago and it's nice to know he's been at this and recognized. Thanks for the great video.
I loved the way 4e handled "attacks". Colville has a great video on adding cool abilities to your monsters from 4e.
Yeah I've been watching a lot of his 4e stuff lately and really got me thinking about how good it was at those 2 things (totally lacking in other areas though lol).
Always wanted to try 4th edition. I've heard it is good for inspiration
I was a huge fan for a long time. Still think it's a great game. I'm not sure I'd go back to it (for more than a little bit at least), but it's really cool and I never understood the hate it got.
I ran an impromptu game for family last night with no prep, using the starter set and I only needed 4 pieces of information from the goblin stat block to run the fight.
AC, HP, attack bonus, damage. I didn't use anything else from their stat blocks, so (unsurprisingly) I am firmly in the 4e monster design was better camp.
I don't want monsters that are built like players. I don't need the majority of the information on a monster stat block.
Just give me the bare minimum and then what cool stuff they can do!
Yeah, we need more flavorful special abilities. Also bring back the bloodied condition!
I feel all of this! I want to love 5E, but they screw the DM and the players get to have a ton of fun.
4e monsters are all about doing so much at all the time. 5e... After a certain level I just make monsters myself.
The difference in AC and HP from a 4e Gnoll to a 5e Gnoll alone are ASTRONOMICAL! What happened??
I play 5e & am trying to start DMing but the problem I keep running into is how to build balanced encounters without just making the monsters into "bags of HP" like you said. Even with circumstantial advantages and the element of surprise, something like a Giant Spider is no more dangerous than a real-world cockroach to just a small Lv3 party in 5e!
Hey! It's not surprising people are still having this problem in 2024. My solution to this was stopping using WotC monsters.
A book called Flee, Mortals! Is what has kept me playing 5e. Without it I would have stopped a while ago. It's filled with monsters that are actually fun to run and fight!
The D&D 4th Edition has Encounter Level and Experience Budgets, see page 56 of the DMG. This is the same non-sense as 5e monster and encounter building that had been going on since version 3. You are right that 5e monsters are boring compared to 4e monsters. You are right about the guidance around encounter creation from 4e being more detailed than 5e encounter design.
Monsters in 5e can be characters too so…
I think 3.5 did a decent job on monsters
5e isnt any better than making your own game. A game being fixable is like marvelling over how good a burlap sack is as clothes