The Problem with Stat Blocks in D&D 5e - Solved!
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- Monster stat blocks in Dungeons & Dragons 5e are mostly full of information that game masters don't use, or at least don't need to see in EVERY stat block. Let's talk about what belongs in an RPG stat block and what doesn't! ▶️ More below! ⏬
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Okay never mind, I'd keep size, speed, and fun titles for features. My final stat block already kept stat mods and put damage in parentheses (as visual delineator), and I added LOOT! Check it out.
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Okay, this legitimately looks interesting
You say that creature subtype is not needed, but what about abilities that take that into effect, Rangers can have favored enemy (bad I know but still), Weapons can have effects that have added abilities when attacking certain types of creatures (dragon/ giant slaying as an example) or arrows of slaying as an example.
When I'm DMing, I often rewrite the statblocks of monsters in a shorthand. One of the reasons I like to end up with a single piece of a paper, with an initiative tracker on the side, and all of the monster statblocks I need for a single fight, one for each monster. I track their HP on the page as I go, and cross them off as they die. So this one sheet gives me all of the information I need to run the combat, all in the same place. If I need some specific detail that's not in the statblock that I have given myself, I'll look it up, but 95% of the time it isn't a problem.
My statblocks look something like this:
Chuul (Large)
HP 93, AC 16
+4/+0/+3/-3/+0/-3
Immune Poison
Auto-Detect Magic 120ft
2 Pincers, +1 Tentacle IF grappled
Pincer +6 (2d6+4) +grapple (escape ST 14)
Tentacle (CON 13, poison) or paralysis (1min save/turn)
@14:32 this is the most original and great idea about this I've ever seen. You are so right, I feel, that there should be room for letting intuitive rules understanding for such specific things. These sorta one little ability for specific monsters doesn't need to be so, yea, overly ruled upon. 30' to call out a command order? Has anyone seen Full Metal Jacket???
As an old grognard I happen to like having a monster's ability scores included in the statblock Bob. Graphically, it gives me a more detailed idea of this monster's capabilities are.
I guess it was just how I was raised. 😉
I think adding cool names for abilities sounds fun and adds to flavor. A GM might see "Doesn't provoke opportunity attacks" and while that's fine and dandy, just adding the one word "Crafty" can instantly make you go "ohh its because he's a tricky little sonnuvagun" and add some instant flavor for your description in game.
It also improves readability for stat blocks because you can gain a sense of what this Goblin Boss is capable of by reading 10 bolded words. Plus, they reuse names for abilities across multiple monsters so you can see "Amphibious" or "Pack Tactics" and instantly know what they're talking about
It also makes communication much easier to your players. "Hey, why can't I do an opportunity attack!?" "This goblin has Crafty, no opportunity attacks on it". After a little while using the ability, I just ignore the non-bolded text and it becomes a one-word ability - "crafty", and i've memorized what that means, with a handy little reminder if I forget
I agree here, that one word adds to the flavor, so it's worth the "cost"
I disagree with the adjective obsession. I also do not want to get in the weeds on "opportunity attacks" (as they are not a good rule, try a game without them)
but you are missing and obviously discriminating against 'non-crafty goblins'...do their lives not matter?
@@enterchannelname8981 Came here to say this. "He's crafty, so he's able to slip out from under you."
I have to say that having words in the statblock actually help reading it than having a bunch of numbers cropped together. People don't actually read letter by letter, but instead, they identify shapes. The shape of the word. Something like "ATK +2 DMG 3d6" is easier to read than "+2, 3d6", because if you have a different statblock, in case 1 says "ATK+3 DMG 1d12+3", so you can at a simple glance see the ATK and DMG, but in the second case "+3, 1d12+3" there's actually no anchoring beyonf the comma. Readability is more important in a statblock than compact information. And, because of that, for god's sake, use formatting and color coding.
That is some real Judges Guild vibe.
I can honestly say case 2 is easier for my brain. Having the extra words in the way, especially all caps, throws me off. Adding some extra context here since your comment took off: My final stat block (which I failed to show in the video but is available free in the pinned comment) showed attacks like: "1 shortsword, +5 (1d6+3 piercing)". Where I think + is a good anchor and indicator of what that number is for, and paratheses are a perfect delineator for text, so why not here too. Also presence of the damage type is another clue of what those numbers are. I stand by the idea that you don't need to be game mastering for years to get this. This game is +to hit, then _d_ for damage. I think reading a couple lines of rules about how attacks work, or seeing it done in an example of play covers it.
@@BobWorldBuilder Then you are a rare specimen indeed, because pretty much all research we have points to reading by shape to be the norm.
I would go so far as to say you are so unusual that any advice you have to give is inapplicable to the greater public.
@@BobWorldBuilderDitto to what the commenter said.
As my day job, I teach physics. An equation for me is easy to understand, but my students struggle with it. Because I have more experience than they do.
Is it possible that the second version is easier for you because you might have more experience than some others? I’m also in the camp where some words (but maybe not as many (Goblinoid, leather armor, etc) aren’t necessary.
@@swordsnstones adding 8 characters to a line of text doesn't make the line of text take significantly longer to read, and as someone with multiple years of DMing, I feel that the addition of short indicators like "ATK" and "DMG" for what the numbers represent makes them a lot faster to interpret
Something Matt Coleville said in one of his Running the Game videos is that the large bits or writing, lore notes and art that takes up so much room in the Monster Manual might have another function: People might just want to read the Manual. Like, it sounds like people would get books and might not even get to use them sometimes but here’s this cool book of fantasy lore and miscellaneous stuff. Sounds weird to some, but my daughter picked up and read the monster Manual and found the descriptions of the various creatures fascinating. Kindof cuts toward whether you want a Manual that simplifies your game play in a practical sense or something that “feels” like a tome of strange beasts and beings.
Yes! My kids like playing their own 1 on 1 d&d games with each other, or 1 on 2 (they still haven't quite grasped that the DM is a player too). And after they're done, I'll see them reading over the monster manuals and just enjoying the book. It's really fun to just read for them. And I'm all here for that.
I would totally agree that lore is an important part of the Monster Manual. But does that mean it has to be in the stat block? It couldn’t it be in the description instead?
@@ClarkyClark No. The DM isn't a Player, hence the different name. Are they all playing the game? Yes. One of them is definately not a Player.
@@miked.9364 The DM is a player. You are wrong.
@@dwil0311 No. I am not. The Dm represents everything the Players react to.
What the DM says is final.
Crafty: Doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity
and
Lighting Fast: Doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity
are the same mechanically, but by naming the abilities they provide GMs insight into how the creature should play at the table. Abilities names can be very good ways to keep two creature abilities from blandly feeling samey
huh, I thought they were mostly useful when finding repeat cases of the same ability's name to save an experienced DM the hassle of re-reading a known effect. Didn't even consider the opposite (two abilities with the same effect but named differently) could also be useful in other ways. Nice point.
or the better option: take attacks of opportunity out of your RPG. Its more fun, try it
@@VegasDM yup! And you also may still keep them by turning them into a battle master fighter maneuver!
@@VegasDMsure, okay, that deals with that specific case, but the point is applicable more broadly. Bob suggested removing the names from _all_ features as unnecessary, not just those that nullify opportunity attacks.
@@DaraelDraconis Exactly, we don't need unnecessary features. All that extra gibbly gook to increase word count and sell splat books
Your point is that a skilled GM already has the lore required to interpret a more compact notation. I find that a skilled GM is equally fast at ignoring redundant data, however, that redundancy may help newer players, and don't forget that redundancy is key to clarity. As an academic exercise you may well "normalize" a stat block but for real-world use-cases you need readability, presentation, and even some extra info that might help with some "unusual utilization" of the monster: I think most people could stare a two-liner of acronyms for much longer than it takes to read a verbose description. As a rule of thumb, 20% redundancy in communication is an optimal percentage: so there is stuff that can be trimmed out but there's also a good reason why some of it should stay there.
I’d even take it a step further and say an experienced DM is precisely the one who benefits the most from a more detailed statblock. More tools to utilize. I hate condensed statblocks because they give me no inspiration in running monsters.
As an experienced DM, I don't have every monster memorized, so a stat block with a *wee* bit of information helps.
I’ve got pretty heavy discalcula, having the words to split up the numbers is a *_Godsend_*
Yes! Same! Where I like the smaller Stat block for ease of use, I tried it and found my discalcula screwed me over and made it take twice as long to decipher it. Might be great for others, but I can't use it like that.
I don’t have disdracula, or undiagnosed and I too enjoy description to break up the stats.
Would your discalcula be helped more if things were colour coded? So still has fewer words but say ATK +3 in blue, and DMG 1d6 + 3 in red? I'm dyslexic and I find colour coding helps a lot but curious if the same happens with discalcula?
@@garrywilling3711 I highlight EVERYTHING
Race subtype (Goblinoid) comes into play for Ranger Favored Enemy. "Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies."
Also, size 100% comes into play (Grappling/Shoving) and it's very useful for new DM's who maybe have never seen some of these creatures before.
True but pretty specific for the ranger. I feel like by saying "my favored enemy is gnolls" the GM knows that every monster with gnoll in the name is a type of gnoll. Yes some sub-creatures don't have it right in their title, but they're pretty much always found with those default creatures.
And like I said in the video, I think GMs intuitively understand that a child sized PC couldn't grapple an adult dragon. Or it should be incredibly difficult to do so, but heck let them try if they think it would be a fun use of their turn.
@@BobWorldBuilderbut for Goblinoid, I doubt every player or DM knows Bugbears are Goblinoids.
@@BobWorldBuilder another reason for creature types lies in the magic items zone. Items previously known as "Bane" items that are particularly effective versus certain creature types exist. This implies to me that this is one of those things WotC didn't flesh out enough tbh but it IS a DM design space. Sword of Goblin-Slaying in this case.
@@BobWorldBuilder Sounds like your just assuming what rules a GM might know rather than creating stat blocks for people who might need to know the rules of the monsters it describes. Not very helpful.
@@BobWorldBuilder The argument we've had ongoing as to whether a wyvern is a dragon when it DOES specify it as one in the stat block makes me concerned (about some of our group... yes, but also maybe it's good info to include somewhere)
Insert "Why Not Both?" GIF here. My ideal monster book would have both a full-featured, detailed stat block for those edge cases where you might need some obscure bit of info, AND an abbreviated version (maybe on a separate card?) for quick reference during combat.
Yeah I think this is really what I'm going for. A stat block, and a version of that stat block that I can copy right into my notes and understand in the middle of combat.
My TTRPG separates both through a QR code that can be shared in a group chat with the other party members, it works exceptionally well having both a long detailed ‘flavored’ version in the book while having a summarized version to share with the whole table. (:
Doesn't have to be separate things, a dedicated section for combat stats separate from the descriptive or loot information. I'd also separate the rarely comes up things like Alignment, size, or (sub)type in their own section (probably in the header of the entry next to the name).
As a new DM, it would be helpful to have the information broken down into a few sections: prompts/guides for what the monster and it's armor/gear looks like, how it works mechanically, and how it behaves.
@@BobWorldBuilder I've started dming not so long ago, like a month but quickly started to hate reading thru the 5e oficial statblocks, and ended up writting simplified versions into my notes. Also this gives me a more personalized space to just drop miself notes con combat tactics, personality and encounter specifics
Goblin Boss features have names because it's not the only monster who has this feature. All goblins share "Crafty" feature in fact. That way, you can quickly glance to the name of the feature and know what it does, without reading its description. It's the same thing in Magic: The Gathering really.
True, and I think I'd agree if Crafty was the ONLY term for this feature. Someone else mentioned how "Flyby" is the same thing on other statblocks. Meaning GMs should know two terms for the same feature, when we could've just had the definition written out in a couple words.
Something MCDM does with their statblocks, as well, is offer thematic and interesting tidbits about their NPCs through things like feature names. The combat-role type is good for encounter building, and the flair in “what the thing it does is called” is to help make reading through monster stats interesting, or exciting, for DMs.
In another Defense of named traits, personally I find it extremely useful when a monster’s one trait interacts with another one. There are a few official examples that add or subtract bonus damage depending on that trait, for instance. For me though, it’s really useful in homebrewing my own monsters with more dynamic and interesting features intended than the standard 5e monster abilities. It opens up more interactions between a given monster’s abilities, and is a useful shorthand to fit that into the stats without taking up as much space. I look at feature names (especially ones used in multiple instances/statblocks) as problem-solving text, which I adore when GMing.
@@BobWorldBuilder This is a problem of the mentioned content, which is essentially printed homebrew, not DnD. "Crafty" is not a term I've ever seen in any official stat block.
Also being EXTREMELY pedantic: "Flyby" requires someone to fly. The Goblin Boss can't fly and couldn't use it. Yes even if say an owl decides to walk out of an enemies reach it would provoke an opportunity attack.
@@BobWorldBuilder Flyby is not the same flyby requires the creature to be flying so earthbind negates flyby but not crafty. This weirdly enough did come up once when I was the DM
Edit: To clarify I mean Earthbind negating flyby came up not crafty not being negated that would take a Booyahg casting fly on their boss who then got earthbinded which while not imposable is incredibly unlikely to come up but in that exceptionally weird edge case they are different features and therefore have different names.
I also think it's useful to have an evocative name on a feature for RP purposes. WHY does the goblin boss avoid opportunity attacks? It's not because they're super fast or super sturdy, it's because they're CRAFTY. You might describe how they throw some pocket sand or distract the PC before making a retreat.
I don't think Bob's poll went the way he expected
You are correct
What were the results?
A couple things rub me the wrong way with slashing the statblock so drastically. As pointed out in other comments, some of this stuff IS used. Goblinoid is used within that exact stat block. Having a name for a feature like "Crafty," while redudant when looking at the single stat block alone is FANTASTIC when it's reused on other stat blocks. Sure the extra info takes up that space, but I can just skim right over that section if I remember what "Crafty" means. For instance, I have no books in front of me, but if someone told me a creature has flyby, I could tell you that it can make an attack while moving without provoking attacks of opportunity, and it doesn't matter what monster you're using. Though in this case, flyby is totally a redundant version of crafty, but idk if MCDM uses flyby anywhere, and the normal 5e goblin boss doesn't have crafty. Also the bit about leaving range does matter, since the Sentinel feat triggers AoO, though I don't blame you for forgetting that.
The other thing I'm not a huge fan of is removing information that is hardly padding the statblock. Yeah the HP dice aren't particularly useful all the time, but they aren't adding a new line, in fact to their right there is a ton of blank space. Why remove them? Occasionally I find them useful to use when beefing up the HPs of monsters. Hell the clockwork stone defender actually does use them in it's rules.
Overall though you make some very good points. A lot of that weapon info is super redundant and the chopped down version you showed would be a good improvement. I think trimming down some of that fat that does add more lines and hide the important information is useful. I'd be curious to see what your solution would be for stat blocks that use spells. I haven't bought Flee Mortals yet, but I imagine they did something about that issue.
Edit: Technically the wording of Sentinel says you may make an attack, not that an AoO is provoked. However the Polearm Master feat does allow AoOs when someone ENTERS reach. So while it is still moving, based on the language of that and Crafty, an AoO would still proc.
First, I appreciate this comment! Cool to see that we're on the same page about weapons. I must not be seeing where they use the term goblinoid. The D&D one talks about swapping places with "goblins" (the name of the creature, not the type), and the MCDM one uses "ally". I see how some names can be useful, but in this example, having different terms for Crafty and Flyby when they both mean "never provokes opportunity attacks" seem like you can just say that instead.
Also I feel like that sweet space next to HP is the BEST place for a creatures damage resistances and immunities. 1 out of several hundred monsters actually using its HD isn't a good enough reason for me to keep it. But I will say that using HD is a good measure for comparing mosnters from different fantasy games.
Crafty would provoke AoO from characters with the Sentinel feat when entering their reach, so full text there isn’t actually redundant.
@@BobWorldBuilder fair points! yeah I noticed after that the goblin boss does actually use “goblin” as opposed to goblinoid, which I think is a missed opportunity. Bugbears should suffer under their terrible goblin bosses too! (Ally does solve this issue, but I do kinda like it only working on goblinoids more) I do also play a lot of Pathfinder, where giants are a subsection of humanoid, so that might be affecting how I’m looking at those details.
I think the Crafty vs Flyby thing is just a problem with it being 3rd party content. The rule for it isn’t especially long, but I maintain having a keyword is useful. Though perhaps in both of those cases the keyword should be more relevant to the effect, and less to the flavour, as flyby on a goblin makes no sense but would be technically correct if you don’t want redundant terms. Another comment pointed to magic cards as an example, even if it doesn’t replace much text, having a short hand to refer to common traits saves time reading and gives a useful tool for remembering what it does. Perhaps something as simple as “no AoOs when moving” doesn’t need one, but if I’m generalising to more stat blocks then I think it should stay.
Putting resistances next to hp is a great idea I think I’d forget them way less that way, and if removing hit die is necessary to do that I’m probably on board. I wonder how much monsters with lots of resistances and immunities would struggle to fit it all in such a small space, but it does depend on how much you plan to rework the layout.
I’m not sure if the Stone Defender is the only creature that uses HD, but you’re right it’s probably an incredibly insignificant number. It might also be useful for creatures taking short rests, but I’m not sure how many DMs actually worry about that.
I suspect we probably just have different preferences on how much stat type information we like to have. I don’t mind skipping over those bits if once in a while they’ll be useful. I’ve had inspiration come from a few of those useless bits in the past.
@@BobWorldBuilder But "Goblins" Excludes bugbears and hobgoblins (By ruling which I know is not what your arguing but it does make it somewhat important is my argument.) The subtypes are there (I feel) mostly so that people can homebrew monsters that have abilities that referenced that subtype. One such ability is in Ulrant's guide to Acheron in Bargrivyek's (The goblinoid deity of duty) statblock: "Aura of Discipline. Goblinoids of Bargrivyek’s choice within 60 feet of him gain immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions. If a creature is already charmed or frightened when entering the area, Bargrivyek can sup-press the effect while the creature remains in the area. In addition, affect-ed creatures also make Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws with advantage."
@@BobWorldBuilder Ranger's Favored Enemy I think? The specific humanoid type is important there
I think it can be useful to have an ultra compact version with only the essential info you need or want to use in combat, but personally to me the monster stat block is closer to a character sheet than to a combat reference. It helps to give narrative hints or themes, to create encounter dynamics. Of course, on a Goblin that everyone knows top to bottom is less necessary. But when I'm building an encounter I often get ideas and inspirations from the hints the titles and descriptions. I don't think you should have only that stripped down version on a book with monsters. And to me, the ultra resumed version, without titles, with lots of abbreviations is more confuse, less readable, lack visual anchors, becomes kinda sterile. Probably just a thing of preference or style though.
I see where you're coming from. A beefy stat block is almost like an infographic for the monster. But I'm okay with those "narrative hints and themes" being in the lore section.
@@BobWorldBuilder Exactly! It gives a little "lore", but inserted in a fast access way, baked in the stats. But your suggestions are interesting and undoubtedly useful, pratical. Certainly there's a spectrum of possibilities. Now we gotta try them all 😅 oh, by the way, love your content.
I like the bolded Action names. They're a good reminder, when you're already familiar, so they can cut reading time. They also help in quickly finding what you're looking for instead of scanning through a big block of normal text.
Some aspects of the presentation are about helping the GM understand what this monster is. Does it not suffer opportunity attacks because it is fast?
Or flexible? Or just a very clever combatant? Remember, we aren't looking at stat blocks just when we are fighting. We look also when we are planning.
A note on CR for the Flee Mortals! boss: that book actually uses CR in a much better manner than the monster manual for planning encounters. So it's important to have in general, but I agree that it's not needed for combat.
That's good to know!
@@BobWorldBuilderDon't you think making videos critiquing a book you clearly didn't read or test properly is a bit asinine?
@@BobWorldBuilder They have a whole mathematical system that justifies CR, and the "roles" of the monsters are incredibly important when you are developing a combat encounter. An encounter with a goblin Brute and 2 Skirmishers is wildly different than an encounter with a Soldier and Artillerist.
@@roderickbabilius2125 The roles are also extremely useful for figuring out how a new monster works. If I know something is a controller or a support that gives me a lense through which to analyse all its abilities and quickly figure out the inteneded behaviour and purpose of the monster.
Okay, remove CR and start making boring combat or tpk your group, because guess what, they are still a useful indicator.
Stat block only include saving throws if they differ from the ability score modifier. Leaving out ability score modifiers makes many spells hard to resolve.
As a coder, I don't like omitting stuff even if it's the default, because then you have to make an assumption and hope no one ever makes a mistake on the stat block. But I am a HUGE fan of shorthand. I'd still like the info to convey "melee weapon attack +3, targets 1 creature" ("within 5 feet" is implied by melee), but it can be a hell of a lot shorter, especially with icons and keywords.
**Shortsword:** 🔪+3 🎯: 1; 1d6+3 slash
I think the “5 feet” distinction is to make sure that it has a space for any changes. While a vast majority of melee attacks are only within 5 feet, pole-arms can extend to 10 feet, and a bugbear with a pole-arm could reach out to 15 feet. You could argue that they should only emphasize the specific cases, but I personally don’t mind there being something there for the general examples as well.
Personally symbols are horrible to parse. They have to be small because of text which reduces legibility and lots of icons just look lame to me and they are easy to misinterpret if the designers didn't do a good job of designing them. Like your example here, sword? Okay..what kind? How do I describe to players what he's holding if you haven't stated it? Shortsword or Longsword just works better and doesn't take up extra space as they don't add much more lines. Then I see +3. Is that Sword +3 or +3 to Target/Accuracy? Hard to parse. If it's +3 sword, does that include damage? Then you have Target: 1 but that could be interpreted as accuracy instead. Then 1d6+3 slashing. Slashing what? And is the +3 from the sword already included or should I add that on too? Open to so much misinterpretation.
Put in the words and it can barely be misinterpreted at all. And hardly takes up much more space. It's more difficult for people to remember fifty plus symbols for every little thing than to just say what it is. Increases cognitive load something awful in a full system and feels far more daunting for new players.
@@Jhakaro the point of symbols or icons is clarity, so someone's got to mess up pretty bad if they're unclear. A sword in this case means melee attack, whether it's a sword or axe or halberd, so that automatically tells you its not sword +3.
Words, otoh, have been famously misinterpreted since they were invented. Even the "pros" that write our laws can't express their true intent in a timeless and brief way.
12:38 I use the modifiers for monsters all the time.
Jump distance for strength, tie breaker initiative for dexterity, when I determine the DC to convince a creature to do something I'll use the highest of its Intelligence, Wisdom or occasionally Charisma. I use the scores of a monster at least once a session, and I'd argue more DMs should use them more- not less!
Absolutely agree with your point! I find it very useful to have those on hand when running monsters, especially homebrewed enemies. On the other hand, I usually abbreviate their stats as a simple bracketed list of 6 numbers without the modifiers and just do the math from there. "[16,12,10,5,8,3]" takes up a lot less space than the usual 5E stat block and I don't mind reading that condensed form in my notes. I wouldn't assume anyone else would like my method, though! 😅
I prefer the stat block to be spelled out. It just helps with ruling and is easier to read. I definitely agree about ability scores not being necessary, but the names of abilities are important. It’s nice to remember the ability “Flyby” for instance, since multiple flying creatures have it and its name comes to mind with the rules almost like a condition. In a vacuum it’s not super necessary, but it’s nice when being familiar with many other monsters.
Ability scores are important for figuring out the saving throws that aren't listed--as stat blocks only list proficient saves. It also helps with edge case rulings, and out of the box rulings when players want to do things that aren't necessarily spelled out.
@@shawnwolf5961 Like teaming up with goblins and trying to figure out their carry weight. I'm not a big fan of trying to overtly pack stat blocks. Granted I play Pathfinder 1e and never had a problem, I don't need to read a stat block in only 10 seconds to have a good game, having things more defined also helps those who are newer in my opinion rather than everything overtly compacted.
I like a lot of the suggestions you make in this video, but not the part about removing trait names. I find it really dramatic and effective to tell a player "no, you can't make an opportunity attack because this goblin is crafty!" rather than saying that it doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. It's like there's flavour in the mechanic itself and I like that.
I don't need the book to give me the 'crafty' adjective.
1. its cheesy and sounds cheesy at the table
2. the game is better without opportunity attacks
3. if you still insist on playing with opportunity attacks then just tell me it doesn't provoke, but I don't need that goofy trait name
Stat blocks are note just for combat - Yes, Combat is where they are frequently used, but what happens when your party is trying to do something else?
This is when knowing the stats of a monster can be useful.
Dance off between the bard and the satyr? Arm Wrestling contest between the Barbarian and the Bugbear? Something to act as a tie-breaker is nice...and it's RIGHT THERE.
Knowing specific equipment is useful when you have low level characters who need money and may need to steal loot.
Knowing hit dice could be QUITE useful, because while YOU haven't rolled for monster HP, sometimes some of us might do things like "This is a tougher Goblin Boss, let's give them one more HP/die"
They include all this info because a number of DM's DO use it...
Hell, there are some DM's of a more oldschool type, which presumably where Bob is coming from (given the OSR shiboleth of 'rulings not rules') who still use 'roll under stat' for fast rulings on actions for monsters like climbing, either as a replacement for or a supliment to skills.
Yeah I agree, all of those things are challenges that stats are useful for. I didn't remove names of equipment, just moved it. And adding a few HP is the same as adding an HD.
@@BobWorldBuilder You did remove them though. You removed a lot of information that would be relevent in edge cases, or in cases that are not combat related--such as alignment, which would help the DM make a ruling on how said creature will react to being spoken and socially interacted with--whether they decide to stick with that or not. A frame of reference is important, something you don't seem to understand or comprehend.
@@shawnwolf5961"which would help the DM make a ruling" lmao what? He literally said in the beginning that this approach is a rulings over rules approach, clearly showing he understands what he's doing. Not saying that it's the best approach for everyone.
I find myself jotting down something like the shadowdark stat block for most combats. I'll review the full block during prep but 90% off the time I just need AC, hp, tohit, damage, maybe a save or two, and a couple words on special features like a reaction or bonus action.
Same!
Yup. 2 versions. One that can fit on a post it, and then a long form that can have all that other stuff.
from my point of view, descriptions of monsters should primarily be tailored for beginners. those who understand will either simply ignore unnecessary information, or are already familiar with the descriptions and use only the necessary indicators. But this will help beginners not to be scared and once again repeat what they (didn’t) read.
They should be tailored to normal play. You're only going to play the game as a beginner for a little while.
@@sneakyalmond Unfortunately I have to disagree with you. I know many examples from personal experience when beginners remain beginners for years (and this is not a figure of speech). This does not make them bad players, but rather the opposite - it is important that the game attracts new players and is accessible. Including for the younger generation (greetings from a player and master 35+)
god forbid a game be tailored to the people who play it
Creature subtype does come into play. The example that instantly came to mind, the Ranger feature Favoured Enemy gives you the option to pick two races of Humanoids, so Goblinoid would come into play.
Alignment offers help to the DM with how a creature might behave, or what kind of things it might be seeking. This could be done within the description, but at the back of adventures where you just get stat blocks and no descriptions, that would then be missing, so I'd say that's why it's within the stat block.
Size comes into play for passing through spaces occupied by other creatures, if I've got a Tiny monster, I know it can pass through a Medium PC's space, but not a Small PC's space. It also factors into the Grapple rules.
With respect to the weapons. I've been running games for a few years now, and I still heavily rely on the stat block info for it. Yes I could work out the to hit bonus from the creature stats, but that would MASSIVELY slow me down. The way you're suggesting reading through the list really wouldn't work for me. Having to look at each weapon name to deduce if it's melee or ranged would add time, whereas I just quickly look for "Ranged" or "Melee" depending on what I'm trying to do, and then use the weapon name to aide my description.
Saying the "To Hit" isn't needed because we know the rules, I VERY heavily cannot agree with. I very much rely on the phrase "To Hit" in order to quickly pick out the modifier when I'm glancing at the stat block.
Melee by default absolutely does not mean 5ft by default. There are multiple melee weapons that have reach, and so have a range of 10ft.
HP isn't rounded because it's the result of the average dice rolls plus con mod, so that's just a nonsense statement to make.
30ft is absolutely not the default movement speed. Of the first 30 creatures within the Monster Manual, only 10 of them have a speed of 30ft.
Saves and proficiencies being listed is only where there is one that ISN'T directly tied to the stat modifiers. I frequently have to make wisdom saves against spells, and every single time I've had to use the WIS modifier listed, as there has been no specific save listed.
Languages going in the lore section, I reference my point above about alignment. If I'm running from an adventure book, there is no lore section to get the languages from, and so they HAVE to go in the stat block.
Things have names to make for easy reading and quick reference.
By and large I find your videos very helpful and informative. But here, if I were given a stat block as you'd present one, it would slow my games a lot, and it would see combat slowed to a crawl. It would take me much MUCH longer to figure out each attack and action, as I'd be having to read through entire sections to find the info I need, instead of just quickly referencing easy to find keywords that I rely on.
Yep, exactly. I've been watching this channel, but some of them--like this one--reeks with the arrogance of someone who thinks they are right, the only way is there way, and everyone else is doing it wrong. It's why I haven't subbed yet, and this video only proves my correct here. There is a reason stat blocks have the information they do, and you just highlighted it. Not to mention the blatant statement of facts that are not backed up by anything other than "trust me bro, only 15% of DMs use XP bro."
@@shawnwolf5961 I can tell you haven't played or DM'd many D&D games
13:40 Polearm Master provokes opportunity attacks when a creature ENTERS your reach
Yep, and there's a couple other features as well that does this. Stuff like this is why I'm not subscribed, tbh.
That is largely the problem with most of his removals - the nuance is in the details.
It is like with the scores; there are attacks in the game that remove random amounts of the scores, which means that have a 13 instead of a 12 when you remove 3 means you go from a +1 mod to a +0 mod instead of to a -1 mod.
@@RJWhitmore there are no problems with any of his removals! You must try the game both ways to decide.
All those extra adjectives and BS don't make things more fun
I immediately said "well, now you just invalidated half of polearm master" when Bob removed the wording. With how I run the game, I do not like this at all. I also run a fair bit of homebrew, so I tend to change statblocks to make them more interesting, and that usually involves more text so I remember not only what it does but how it does it.
TL;DR: I, for once, find myself very much in near complete disagreement with Bob here.
@@probablythedm1669 I think feats in general (especially pole arm mster) make already overpowered PC's even more overpowered in 5E.
But I do understand that some want to play a super hero game and that suits the purpose.
Either way I find simple statblocks easier to run at the table overall and allows me to concentrate on other things while DM-ing
Naming features is a good idea. so when you see "Crafty" on a monster you don't have to read the rest. It also helps to give/hint info to players "this monster looks very crafty"
If you do your own stat block, I'd advice you to keep the *bolded* names of abilities. It makes them easier to find, remember and refer back to when needed.
Armor type matters for the heat metal spell, or for when you need to modify stuff (unarmored prisoner, etc)
Also if the players want to take the enemies armour, unless the DM rules that enemy armour is always too damaged to be used or just doesn't fit the character
What's useful really depends on the kind of game you play and the kind of players you have. For example, monster alignment ... I've had players ask in the middle of a fight .. "is this creature evil?" They wanted to try and reason with it ... and suddenly the creature's alignment helped me to determine whether or not the party could even attempt what they were trying to do. Chaotic Evil? .. yeah, probably can't reason with it. Neutral Evil? ... Sure, give it a try! Of course, every DM has just made up alignments and motivations on the spot and that's fine, but when you're 4 hours into a session and your brain is fried ... sometimes it's nice to just play the creature as it's written and not have to get creative with it.
Also, I personally like when stat blocks have a "flavor title" like crafty. For me it helps to inform the kind of creature this is, especially if there's not a picture attached. If I just read "Goblin boss doesn't provoke opportunity attacks", as a DM I would think ... "Ok, but why not? How do I flavor that in a fight?" ... But, just the simple word "crafty" gives me some creative juices to be able to say something like, "This goblin boss looks past you and seems frightened causing you to look over your shoulder, when you turn back around, he has already moved past you."
Definitely agree about XP, CR, ability scores, and weapon descriptions though ... completely unnecessary.
This is a good point for feature titles! But a tip, whenever you're faced a player question that you don't have an instant answer to, just roll a die for yes/no or follow with "would it be more fun for you it's evil? Yes? Okay it's EVIL!!"
lol That's a great question! "Would it be more fun for you if it's evil?" ... I'll remember that. Thanks, Bob. @@BobWorldBuilder
Precisely. I think the big divide here splits between the min/maxers and roleplayers...
@@BobWorldBuilder Yeah and then throw the rules out the window. No thanks.
@@BobWorldBuilder The problem I have with just making it up on the spot is that if you want to make a consistent world, you'll have to start making notes on every decision and eventually you'll have all the information that was removed from the stat block.
The size of a creature is always relevant, due to how it interacts with both grappling, and fitting through spaces.
Yep, he got so much wrong in this video, that it's really mind boggling. The fact he feels so much is useless makes me think he's the DM that ignores all of the rules in favor of pulling rulings out of his behind. Rules are the framework of the system and while they can be bent--even broken, you need to have a fundamental understanding of WHY they are there first--clearly something he lacks.
@@shawnwolf5961 " he got so much wrong" is the funniest thing I've read all day.
Yes the size of the creature is relevant but did you know I can figure out that a house cat is small and the Ogre is big without it actually telling me in the book.
But if you need a book to hand hold you through those moments then sure ok...but maybe go outside and touch some grass
Regarding MCDM Goblin Boss’ Command feature I don’t think it actually overcomplicates the communication rulings for rules. It tells you how Goblins behave. It’s not that the feature doesn’t work if the Boss can’t see them, it’s that the Goblins won’t listen to their Boss unless they feel like they have to. It paints a picture not of a disciplined warband, but of selfish, lazy buggers who won’t do as they’re told unless they can hear their boss’ whip cracking, and know they are being watched, so they can’t just ignore them without the risk of punishment.
yes it is very clear that sadly bob made these points without reading flee, mortals! sadly, love him but that wasnt great
@@trashley05 I understand you are part of Matt Colvilles cult but please understand that those long ass, unnessary stat blocks only hinder the game.
They slow combat down and make it a pain to DM/GM. They add this much more fun to the table: 0
My TTPRG’s solution to stat blocks is having BOTH versions with the option to separate between the two with QR codes that can be scanned by the GM (or players) and shared in a group chat with the other members of your party. It works wonderfully as the mobile stat block is more condensed into ‘Need to know’ info and shrinks about 2/3rd’s in size compared to the in depth version within the book. This allows the GM to get better idea’s for planing out deeper in-depth ideas & scenarios with much more flavor. It’s also a good read for players who want a more in depth concept as a whole or when needed if the QR version is to vague and needs that extra bit of info for particular situational coverage.
You really need to look at how stat blocks were made for 4th Edition, they were nice and compact, to the point and rarely if ever required you to flip pages.
There is a really fun image that compares the stat blocks, and relative information to run a Mummy Lord between 3rd Edition and 4th edition. Despite them having roughly the same functions the 3d edition version is about 10x longer, and requires you to go through multiple pages on multiple books. The 5e version of the mummy lord is an improvement being about half as long as the 3rd edition.
I started playing ttrpgs with 4e essentials and I really liked how efficient the text felt and how easy it was to glance through it. Was really confused when 5e felt like it had to have so much more dense text to get information across.
@@kyang321 I know right, they solved the issue, and then subsequently unsolved it out of some kind of embarrassment to distance them selves from 4e while designing 5e. You can also see this in other forms of their writing with how long winded and redundant the writing of spells/features is. I understand that not every player might enjoy the system, but they did a really good job making it easy and convenient to run for the GM.
So I think my main mistake on this video was not showing my final stat block at the end. I didn't have a clean PDF version before the video was done. But now I do, and it's free with other goblin stat blocks, linked in the pinned comment, and that PDF also shows how I usually reduce stats to only 1-2 lines in my GM prep notes. My other mistake was forgetting how important the Pole Arm master and Sentinel feats are to many, many people xD
The comments section sounds like you are wanting to kick puppies. Sheesh. I thought it was a thought provoking video on what is really needed.
I've literally seen no comments like this. I've seen constructive rebuttals to the suggested changes and people stating why they're for or against the suggestions given.
This comment comes across more of a lap-dog lap-dogging.
Sure, I'd anecdotally say the comments lean more against making these changes, but no outrage or 'OMG you're kicking puppies'. Seems a bit of a hyperbolic statement. @@jeffreykershner440
Yeah, you seem to have touched a nerve. I'm not seeing a lot of people super upset but lots of disagreeing. Hey, at least it's engagement!
I think there's a lot of stuff to cut from the official Stat block, but what I really want are more interesting things for monsters to be able to do, while not making things really complicated. Almost all the Stat blocks in the Monster Manual are just bags of HP that have several basic attacks. I don't need to know the creature has multiple types of weapons that do the same damage, I need ideas on fun effects to challenge the characters. All we've got is damage, adv/disadvantage, and lose a turn (I once read the 5e monster manual cover to cover and that's like 99% of effects to monster actions).
I find that the names of abilities give a lot of flavor for how that ability works.
It is one thing to know a goblin boss doesn't prevoke opportuinity attacks, but the "crafty" word shows WHY they avoid them.
Short descriptive text is almost never wasteful, since combat is roleplay as well as rules.
We already know goblins are 'crafty' but why are you discriminating against the non-crafty goblins??
12:35 There are some spells and abilities that do impact the actual ability score of the target or does require the target to have a certain ability score. Usually draining strength or constitution, or it requires that they have an intelligence of 3 or higher. Those are very rare instances though, as even my rules-lawyer mind cannot remember exactly what those spells or abilities are.
I found this video refreshing.
I’ve been hacking down 5e stat blocks for years, then Shadowdark did it for me. I’m sold!
10:48 Here, I disagree on CR being useless, since this specifically is a Flee, Mortals! creature. All Flee, Mortals! creatures' CR scores are carefully assigned, actually make sense and work extremely well within the encounter building guidelines listed in the book. I would keep it there. "Support" is also very useful to know, since it's one of the core aspects of Flee, Mortals! encounter building (An encounter with only Support creatures can be pretty boring f.e.).
Yeah I saw another comment saying they're much more careful about CR. Didn't know that beforehand.
the CR system isn't good.
I'm glad Colville could make it work but there are better ways than trying to piece together that broken CR system.
Also remember that MCDM is in business to sell books featuring massive stat blocks with lots of adjectives
If the point is you don't need the CR and the Role (support) when running combat, I can kinda see that, but for designing an encounter both very are necessary. And yeah CR is imperfect but that doesn't mean its useless. Knowing something is CR 10 vs CR 1/2 vs CR 25 is important if you don't want to absolutely destroy your party. The roles are like half the point of flee mortals and ate useful in combat a bit too. It's a short hand for what a creature does and how you should use them.
I almost always role for a monster HP… Or have one of my players do it when I didn’t have it prepared. Nothing more satisfying than asking “can someone role 12d10 + 86” and see their faces drop in horror for a random encounter!
30 is two squares more than 20, and it's not a spider which means it may not be as good at climbing. We also use dex score as first tie breaker for initiative.
Some of these words do rules work: opportunity attacks "when they move out of an enemy's reach" is distinct from all opportunity attacks, meaning polearm master's OA on apporach and other sources of opportunity attacks function as normal against the MCDM monster.
Spells like Feeblemind actively change a creature's mental stats - so I feel like having the ability scores front and center on the statblock is not bloating, but necessary. For me, at least, it was good practice seeing a creature's ability score and being able to equate it to what modifier they should have anyway- they just became interchangeable pieces of data. To understand the game I feel like they should be on there.
I had figured subtypes for humanoids was for things like Favored Enemy
Rangers do not pick subtype. They pick race. It's more specific than subtype since subtype has multiple races within it. Hope this helps
@@indigo_tribeThey should pick subtype then
@@steel5315 the way i understand it (also according to the forgotten realms wiki) goblinoid is the race. and bugbears and hobgoblins are subraces
@@morrohir goblinoid is a subtype. Goblin is the race. Hobgoblins and bugbears are different races under the subtype goblinoids. For instance: dragonborn is a race, however red dragonborn is a subrace. Does that make sense? Hobgoblins are goblin-like but not goblins. But red dragonborns are literally a type of dragonborn.
Perhaps! I honestly don't know because standard 5e favored enemy isn't very useful in itself
Couple of points:
Special abilities like "crafty" have names so the DM can make notes without writing the whole definition of the special ability out every time. It's a mnemonic.
Extra data like the ability scores of monsters is helpful if the party spends a prolonged time with the creature. Not all monster encounters end with combat. If you're familiar with the hijinks players get up to you'll know they like to make friends with everyone. Good luck trying to add a character class to a monster without it's stat skeleton. It's a nightmare lol
I agree there should be a stat block available to the DM that's useful in combat and the current stat blocks aren't written that way, but justifying a monsters stats by providing details helps DMs in-between sessions by showing how monsters are designed and how they can be tweaked in a controlled way. Honestly I'd like to see "combat stats" and "full stats" as separate blocks in different chapters of the bestiary.
As for "rulings, not rules" it's just a play style, not gospel. Please don't assume a design is bad based on how it fails to align to one worldview. Some folks enjoy crunchy games and that's okay.
turn off the Matt Colville videos. He has everyone brain washed into some weird adjective obsession.
We already know goblins are 'crafty' but why are you discriminating against the non-crafty goblins???
Do you say 'crafty' everytime? If not, why not? How many times do you say the word 'crafty' while you are running a group of goblins? 'crafty, crafty, goblin three....crafty'
@@VegasDM geez, who got your panties in a twist?
@@ardentdrops Bob out here giving yall the ancient secret DM knowledge about monster stat blocks and everyone on here acting like he is speaking sacrilage about their mom
I personally like the way Statblocks are and I dont feel alot of words are cluttering them. I´d rather have the same format for all the Statblocks with attackname, type, range etc. instead of using more or less extra words where applicable. I will admit it helps alot to color code things like to hit for example on bigger statblocks but I am not a fan of having something condensed just because it can be.
asa DM/GM: every tried running any caster in 5e (especially at higher levels)?
Its damn near impossible. Not fun for the DM/GM and slows the game for the players
@@VegasDM The main problem imo is forcing caster enemies to have the same spells as players. Only thing as a dm you can do is having spell cards etc next to you, bce spells are just listed and not explained on the statblock. If all those spells would be listed the same way "normal" attacks are it would make things more uniform and easier to navigate. I also dont think a monster needs 10 different spells prepared to be interesting.
@@KirisuKuro so you do think that the statblocks have 'alot of words cluttering them'.
Having run several (almost every) editions of D&D I will say the 5E statblocks are bloated AF. I can run goblins with basically a 2 line text. I do think they made 5e in the way they did because they think it helps new players (and maybe it does)
I LOVE that you put "loot" on your stat blocks. Players constantly ask to loot the body and I have to scramble every time! BRAVO!
I think for a game like D&D with such a wide range of ways to play it is better to provide more information than is necessary rather than not provide enough. I use the monster ability modifiers all the time when making saving throws for them and find the the actual scores helpful when I’m trying to come up with my own homebrew versions.
Labels like Crafty are evocative and help explain why the creature has an ability that it has.
Even though a stat block has more information than you need to run a simple combat, it also provides lots of additional information about the creature that can help inspire creative campaign and world building.
I wish there was a uniform and smooth way to have a more compact stat block, but I think it would need to actually be that the rules for 5e combat would need to be less. I end up printing out the stat blocks in the 5e formatting (because I can’t create a better formatting, and I could need all that info), and then I put it in a plastic sleeve and write all the things I really need bigger in the white space (AC, HP, to hit modifier and damage for attacks cause the weapon text is very BLEGH). You could probably achieve the same thing with a highlighter.
I don’t know if any solution is viable but I wish there was a compact stat block.
I cannot for the life of me work out why shaddowdark cannot spare the space to put the creatures attributes on a separate line for readability, but still feels the need to specify the goblin is wearing chainmail.
Yeah, the shadowdark one is the only one that is completely unusable for me.
Honestly never had a problem.
As for the armor, there's a good chance that one of your players could use the armor
I feel like this whole video is an example of a solution in search of a problem.
Yeah I think a separate line for stats would go a long way haha, but like in the others chainmail is useful for monster math and for compatibility with other fantasy games.
The Shadowdark stat blocks do get longer when a creature is more complex like a Hag or a Lich. I appreciate that if I have a page of a dungeon in the left side a spread, they can fit all the creatures in those rooms in the right side of the spread. No flipping needed. (I just got done playing Kazad Mor Shadowdark)
I can agree on a few points, mainly "One target" being redundant, but a lot of your suggestions remove a lot of things I actually use. Most of them quite a lot. Especially in a VTT where I can automate stuff, but even outside of that a lot of it gives you a clearer picture to tell your story from or make rulings from.
I think a statblock should include everything you need to run a random encounter with a creature without needing to look up other books or pages, beyond maybe a short, specific description. That means the players could do nearly anything with that creature for a few minutes, without needing to look up much info.
And locking info behind generalizations is not good design, as then I'm not given that generalization in the first place to start learning it. It becomes a "reference the quick-guide" instead which slows things down.
I am a DM who likes being told how things work, or what the rules should be. Because then I can more easily tell my players why a plan would or would not work, and we can more easily make a really good story out of it. And it makes the exceptions to the rule more impactful. Clear details also help me a lot to describe stuff on the fly without needing to make stuff up entirely from scratch. I like having a solid framework, it's really helpful to build off of.
So... Starting from the top, sorry for the wall of text, here's my issues with this reduction.
* Size is important. There are feats, abilities, spells, actions, it's not something that's always needed every turn but it's something everyone will need eventually. And often times I don't have an intuitive idea how big the creature is. Cloaker? Sounds small to me. Goblin? I've seen settings have human-sized goblins, so maybe. Except that's not what's described in the book, it wouldn't make sense for a big goblin to have expertise in stealth. So... Only include it when it's not obvious? Except that is terrible design, it feels terrible to check for a piece of information and find it isn't there for "convenience".
* The subtype is still useful beyond the Favored Enemy, but I don't disagree with you that it's a bit odd. But I'm not sure of a better way to detail that "This bladesinger has to be an elf." or easily communicate "Hobgoblins are goblins too for goblin hunting purposes."
* I've implemented weapons and skills that use alignment, slaying evil in particular, or especially effecting the good. And it's VERY useful info if the players choose not to be murderhobos. I can just glance at 2 words and get an idea how Random Mook 37 reacts to the player suddenly yelling "By order of the King I wish to parlay!" rather than spending a minute figuring out how agreeable an imp should be.
* Breaking down AC is handy for if the players get smart, sabotaging before hand, but I would never recalculate it even with that. Some people might, though, and it's useful so I can describe the attack using their armor instead of just "Your attack went to the side"
* I always roll HP, so removing that info harms my playstyle. VTTs make that simple, and that's super common. (I personally, if I were given a fixed HP like that, I would actually be less likely to tweak it to fit my players live compared to rolled HP values...)
* Speed varies a fair amount, it's actually surprising to me Goblins have 30ft because with their small size, 25ft. is common. I'd like to know if my Mobile character outpaces the wolf. I could see simplifying it to tiers maybe, but removing it when it's normal is an inconsistency I don't like.
* Stuff like charm spells often use actual values for ability scores. While those are the exception, consistency between players and monsters makes it a lot easier to do everything. It's 2 numbers per.
* Proficiency bonus is... It took me a minute to figure out how you're doing that. Don't make me do extra math to keep it shorter, and how would you write expertise? The fact that goblins are really good at hiding is actually lost in your version.
I agree that Proficiency Bonus would be nice to include though. I think it was excluded so the sheet could be streamlined more so you don't need to do any extra math to it, but it would be nice.
* Visions... I feel like simplifying that down only works if you know that stuff off the top of your head. Now it's "refer to quick-guide page 7 for how far that means" in the eyes of a new player. And it's barely any extra text.
* Languages being readily available is nice for those moments when the players decide not to fight. Heck, it's even useful for those moments when the players want to roleplay mid-combat, as a DM I don't want to read through the lore page to check if it's common for goblins to know Common.
* And CR is... Well, yeah, it's crap. Useful to get a rough idea of how hard something is from a list, but we all know it's barely useful beyond that.
* Trait names... This one I completely disagree with you on, and I don't know how we disagree so fundamentally on. People already pointed out re-used names are useful, but it also serves another purpose. Flavor, which can lead itself to creative rulings. If a goblin is Crafty, I can describe it cleverly distracting you as it ducks away. If a phoenix has Flyby, I can describe it quickly swooping away before you get to attack it. The name is such a great way to describe how the trait works with minimal extra text! They reduced a full paragraph of description into one word already for some of these.
And that flavor then allows the players to get creative. They can force the pheonix to the ground to remove Flyby if that's a big issue. They can dumb the goblin down, maybe get it drunk, to remove that trait. But if all the statblock said was "Immune to opportunity attacks" I would hesitate to do those, because... I don't know why it's immune.
* Attacks... I think I could get used to that...? It's still way too dense and hard to parse for me though, I would need to have a guide to double check what's what for awhile. Fantasy Grounds, the VTT I use, would simplify it to: "Scimitar [M] [ATK: +4] [DMG: 1d6+2 slashing]" which is about as short as I think you can get while clearly communicating what everything relates to. The One Target is generally assumed, specifying Weapon Attack vs. spell attack could be useful but I've never seen it come up, and some of the phrasing can feel a bit odd.
* Including loot is neat, I like that. Although listing Leather Armor on a goblin reinforces that it's medium sized and your human can wear it, or it feels very video gamey that the goblin has the wrong size of equipment. That, or the DM feels like they're ignoring what you said to make their own ruling that it shouldn't fit a human. But that's just a nitpick, including loot is very useful and I wish more stuff had this.
I feel like you trimmed out anything you didn't use yourself in combat encounters, severely reducing the number of people who would find such statblocks useful, while 5e's statblock tries to include as much info as tightly as possible so that it's useful for as many people and situations as possible. (Which includes a few pieces of bloat that I'm reasonably sure actually no one uses.)
I feel like if I were playing, your statblock would feel even more restricting and rules-enforcing than 5e's, which I'm fairly sure wasn't your intention.
In defence of CR (hardly a saving defence, mind you), the cleric requires it for Destroy Undead. The druid requires it for Wild Shape - after all, literally every entity in the game that has stats has a statblock, and that includes beasts. On a similar note, Polymorph and True Polymorph also use either challenge rating or level. I'm sure there are other uses for it, but most search results for "Challenge Rating" are either explanations of why it's useless for encounter and monster design (fair enough), or calculators for it. It's not even in the PHB's index.
Love your videos, but small constructive criticism, goblinoid absolutely has relation to other game mechanics. The 'redirect attack' in the same stat block requires choosing another goblin. Whether that refers to a creature with 'goblin' in it's name, or 'goblinoid' is unclear is GM discretion I think
Bugbears are goblinoids and cannot be targeted. It's specific to goblin because of their small size, mostly.
I think its also there or the Rangers Favored Enemy that no one uses because you have to selected 2 specific types of humanoids when you gain humanoids as your Favored Enemy
@@steel5315 exactly, Goblinoid matters for that and warding spells or anything specifically 'Goblinoid' like magic items and spells that aren't meant for just goblins.
LOVE MCDM's "Flee Mortals!", I always enjoy the varied stat blocks. Makes it much easier for my monsters to use tactics.
Yeah, me too. I do want to add that the "role" part of the statblock is really useful for me, it makes it easy to remember how to use the creature, without thinking too much about it. Apart from that, yeah, the statblock is pretty much in this style to be "the same" as 5e standard.
I think they're super creative monsters but usually have too much text for me
@@LogistiQbunnik Yes the Role is very useful for encounter planning (as is CR & XP value). Not so much use once combat starts, but that is only part of the reason we have stat blocks - encounter planning is another major reason why.
The only one keeping your monsters from using tactics before was you.
@@NemoOhd20 Tactical decision making is constrained by what is mechanically possible. Of course you could throw mechanics out entirely and at that point you'd be playing an FKR game, but at that point why even bother with statblocks?
One should make good and comprehensive rules, or no rules at all, no inbetween, that is how I see it.
As frustrating as it can be looking through all of the things that are listed (I would agree that we only need modifiers and not full stats), a lot of those details are included so that when they do change, they are listed in a uniform fashion. Yes, a scimitar is a melee weapon attack that hits 1 creature, but some monster is going to have an attack with a bizarre name and knowing that every attack has the type, range, and targets listed like that means you don't have to scramble to interpret the weirder stat blocks.
The current statblocks to me always screamed "Program This" so you had a standard block of info your programmers could code into the matrix.
Even tough i like the reduction of statblocks, a few additions.
1.) Creature size is used by spells like dimension door.
2.) Feats like sentinal create opportunity attacks when the creature enters the range.
3.) Languages are really important during combat, as enemies might understand the pcs and roleplay of enemies relies on it.
I would also like to add that i use the subtype of creatures during encounter creation. Where else then the statblock should be the subtype. If you remove it from the statblock and the name does not include goblin for example, the book needs to be edited accordingly causing additional problems with formatting, page count, expension books, 3rd party content and so on.
What vexes me is that reach and range are not first in a 5e weapon description. The first step is ensuring you are in range to use the attack.
This is EXCELLENT, Bob. Bravo! ~d.fx
There are other ways to provoke attacks of opportunity besides moving out of the enemy's reach, there is Mage Slayer and Polearm Master. That line is important unless you want it to affect those as well.
Thank you friend, truly you have been a voice of the people this day.
Not to mention he says all melee attacks are 5 ft. of reach but this is also not true. Polearms make melee attacks but have a 10 ft. reach. I understand what he is trying to do, but he is assuming that most DMs are already familiar with a ton of stuff that newer DMs simply won't be. His statblocks work great for someone like me that has DM'd now for more than 30 years, but to brand new DMs and those not as familiar with TTRPGs this advice is just plain bad.
Do firing a ranged weapon, casting a spell, or performing an object interaction inside of someones' threatened area not provoke AoOp's in 5e?
If not, wow, way to nerf melee martials into the ground even harder, jeeze.
@@O-D-X I don't even agree that his statblocks are good for experienced DM's. His style of statblock actually is worse than a more detailed statblock for an experienced DM. The corners he cuts actually eliminates useful information that only the more experienced DM is actually utilizing.
@@josephpotter5766No, they only cause disadvantange on the ranged/spell attack. Which is stupid, if you just use spells that get saving throws it has no effect.
It may have been said in another comment, but in the MCDM goblin boss block the subtype goblin HAS a purpose. Subtypes come with a collection of abilities and features, for goblins this is the crafty feature. The whole CR 2 Support thing IS much more useful in Flee Mortals. The creature roles are handy to refence to pick out a variety of monsters for an encounter with ready abilities to use to for a balanced group of creatures and helps to remind how to use them in combat.
This made me want to get flee mortals more then anything. I agree that event the fluffy words actually help in reading the stat block. The shatter dark is so condensed I wouldn't want to flip through a book with all the monsters labeled that way unless they were reminders to a larger stat block in another book (ie an adventure wants to remind you of some monsters abilities).
flee mortals is really good and they have their own cr system and the role tags together make encounter building super good, plus yeah the monster abilities are super interesting, highly recommend :)
Regarding modifiers: keep in mind that the skills listed are only the ones the character is proficient with. Just last session, I had to roll a deception check for someone who wasn't proficient in it (nor any of the other charisma skills, so I couldn't just subtract their proficiency bonus). Sure, I guess I could just decide what their bonus would be based on vibes, but I think it's better to just keep the mods and consistently apply the same one
Yeah the mods seem good to keep in!
A lot of redundant information in stat blocks, I think, comes from the fact that the information needs to exist somewhere. What armor the creature wears, hit dice, ability modifers, and skills dont really come up in combat but may be useful if the players recruit the monster into the party or the monster escapes into the dungeon to take a short rest. While it may be inefficient to have this info in a combat reference template, it's probably more inefficient in terms of page count to break it off into its own separate section, which means fewer monsters in the monster book.
12:35
Having 20 ft climb speed with 30 ft walk speed would imply a creature could climb 25 without using dash. Because they've used 25 of their max movements, and if they wish to use their walk speed to continue to climb its treated as difficult terrain. So most creatures have 15 since its walking but difficult. This gives the goblin boss 10 extra feet, not just 5 ft. Am I reading this ruling correctly? I know this is nitpicking, but for some reason, that made me stop.
Another great video Bob. Completely agree with you about the trimmed down stat blocks. And for some reason the old school images of the Boblin popping up all over the screen cracked me up.
Good video. This shows the power of PDF's so that, during prep, the GM can quickly build their own stat blocks the way they like them. I run games off of my computer and I usually cut and paste the room description into one column and put the monster statblock in the other with a table for trackin HP underneath. A compact statblock helps cut down on scrolling during combat.
- the 'goblinoid' info is used for the 'favoured enemy' feature of the ranger. but that is somewhat niche.
- the stats (atleast modifiers) is still important for saves because under skills/saves it only lists those who they are proficient with
- also with the 'crafty' feature you would (RAW) still trigger the opportunity attack of the polearm master feat.
but yeah a lot of information is somewhat useless or at least very rarely used.
Subtypes are not an option. Under the humanoid choice you pick two races, not subtype. Subtype has multiple races within it so it isn't specific enough. Hope this helps
@@indigo_tribe my understanding is that goblinoid is their race = so it would include hobgoblin and bugbears. because the example in the feature is orc, which i think also includes orogs humanoid (orc)
@@morrohir goblinoids is their subtype. Goblin is their race.
@@morrohir in your example you listed two races that fall under goblinoids. That proves my point. The ability sucks. Just let it suck. It's really specific when you choose the humanoid subtype. It's meant to be. Talk to your DM if you want it to be more powerful than it is clearly not currently.
@@indigo_tribe sure the feature is bad. But if you look at other monster blocks line the archmage it says humanoid (any race), so it makes sense to assume that for humanoids the race is in the brackets
Looks like Bob kicked a hornets nest. I love the video man, good points!
I think that if for example, Crafty means "This creature never provokes opportunity attacks", then you can just have Crafty on the creatures sheet and have an index of keyword abilities elsewhere in the book. I would generally only have a description of an ability if it's one that's unique to that creature or creature type, or if it's a fairly rare or complex ability.
I come from a background of playing Warhammer and Magic The Gathering, so that's what I feel an efficient, readable sheet would look like to me.
Keeping the reaction bit a part of the command description is important because it more so limits this feature and tells us how often it can be done. It is less important that the goblin boss can't opportunity attack rather it is that they can command an undetermined amount of times.
The subrace (Goblinoid) is also important with relation to expected languages. I believe there are spells that require the ability to communicate with the target.
All of that information is and has been useful for me. Just as that was your opinion, mine is:
The only way your one would be useful for me is if it was printed in addition to the normal one, when I've already read through the normal one during prep, so I have the gutted one as a cue card.
That would waste a lot of space in physical books though, but it would be a nice digital extra to print out.
Using a goblin might be "intuitive", but only because it is such a basic monster.
Goblinoid / Creature Subtype I use a lot for matching and finding similar ones. If you filter for goblinoid you get all the relevant ones and can put them together in encounter planning.
Small size is useful because if you have no idea what a goblin is, how would you know it is small? It still needs to be written somewhere at least once, and if you use a 'random encounter generator' and it isn't on the default stat block, then you just won't know without taking more time to go read the lore page on it (or where would you put the additional info?).
CR I use a lot, XP I do use.
Armor Class can be AC, sure. The Studded Leather, Shield next to it is useful for when my druid wants to cast heat metal, and I know to remove 2 from it if it swaps to using a bow. If it was written down below in the info or loot I need to go looking for it instead of just checking where it makes sense for it to be.
I use the full ability score to:
Str: Jump distance, Dex: settle initiative ties,
Int: Some spells only work on creatures with more or less than a specific int score, so they would have to be rebalanced to use the modifier.
So they need to stay there somewhere. Fine if they got rid of them completely like Pathfinder 2, but that's a game change, not a stat block change.
Polearm Master Feat: "...other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter the reach you have with that weapon."
Specific beats general, removing the second line from crafty, or just making it "Never provokes opportunity attacks' means you either make the GBoss immune to this as well, or have to add it in with a ruling anyway.
But now you know farther.
So helpful. As a new GM I found myself reading too much into stat blocks. I kept thinking I was missing something because the information was there. It made me believe I needed to know more about the game than I actually did. I thought I needed to rely on the written rules rather than my own logic.
When I played 3.5, the humanoid subtypes are used by the ranger favored enemy.
Also some cleric/divine spell use alignment information (detect evil for example)
The language could be used "by the players" to exchange information in game during the combat, or to try to dialogate with the boss
The stats block is important while polymorphed, because changed the physical attributes.
Your are like the 6th youtuber that i watch that has put out a video within the last week sponsored by dscribe. So i can see the sponsorship deadline 😂
size matters with certain spells like enlarge, subtype matters with rangers and specific creature abilities, alignment matters with spells like detect good/evil, armor type matters for certain spells like heat metal, i use ability scores as guidelines to how they would act/react to the players or environment. i agree that dnd stat blocks are pretty bloated with mechanical descriptions, but i also couldn't stand playing shadowdark because of it's lack of content in anything, it's just way too basic without a gm that is really good at fleshing things out themselves. I have never used a creatures stat block as is in any game i've ran, i cherry pick what i need/want and come up with appropriate changes for whatever it is i'm trying to accomplish. Good video though, definitely has me thinking about approaching stat blocks a little different now.
Crafty should keep the words "when it moves out of an enemies reach" because you can still use Polearm Master opportunity attacks against them. Fun little interactions like that, that make the players feel like theyre cool and outsmarting the GM, is why specificity is good.
I will say that I roll HP for all of my creatures. I think it makes things a little less predictable for the players and it makes it a little harder to metagame. And it is always fun when a player kills your weakest monster first so they assume that the rest have less HP, but then they attack the next one with max HP and realize things are more dangerous then they first expected. But I have also written my own random dice generator/HP generator, so I can do that really quick and with no math. I also added in boxes that I can copy/paste to my session document that gives me the HP in boxes, broken up in 5 box chunks to make tracking monster HP much easier. That is something I pulled from Basic Fantasy, and I love it. I use it in any system I run now to track HP.
Gotta hard disagree on striking CR. I love how easily scannable mcdm's CR is. Even if ur not hanging on too tightly, it's a simple quick reference for power level that I do absolutely look at when picking monsters
just a personal thing but i want more information on my stat blocks. it give me more freedom to make decisions as a dm. less is not always more, but thats just me.
Great video Bob!
Simplified statblocks is such am obvious solution, im annoyed i didnt develope short hand for myself
There was some information that got moved or slashed that's important for some low level spells:
- Languages are important for command as you can't command a creature that doesn't understand you
- Intelligence score is important for tasha's hideous laughter as a score of 4 or less isn't affected
- Armor like the studded leather and shield are important for spells like heat metal
Total preference, but I actually find that brief, descriptive/thematic names really help inform my rulings! Sometimes I'll jot down a cool sounding name with no mechanics and then just decide what that name means in the moment.
Which is to say, my big takeaway here is that *published* stat blocks serve a different purpose from *referenced* stat blocks, which GMs should feel free to customize to suit their table. Loved the video, I'm going through and compressing next session's stat blocks now!
As much as DnD descriptions are quite wordy, they contain a lot of crucial information now just for combat, but also outside of it...and since there are some many different sub/debatable rulings, things like "meele weapon attack" is quite important for a lot of these situations.
I do use the creature's actual Dex score. The reason is that I really struggle with rolling for initiative so I use a system where everything just goes on their Dex score. This means a zombie is almost always going to go last, providing a certain level of consistency and meaning that I don't have to stop combat (and therefore the narrative immersion) to mess around with rolling initative and creating a roster/initiative tracker for everything at the start of every combat.
Wouldn't really change anything if you used the modifiers though, you'd just have a few more ties right?
Great video! Having to scan through a wall of text to run a monster is a real pain!
On rolling hitpoints, if you use a good VTT you can automatically roll randomised hit points. Having monsters have a varied hitpoint amount really adds some interest to the combat. It can even help the DM describe and rollplay the monsters better. This is a downside to running at a table with pen and paper. So I wouldn't discount it for everyone :)
Harrumph back in the day we rolled baby blue d8 for all the monsters hp and we like it. Until we just said max hp of pcs, max hp for monsters.
I don’t think this is the way. It’s better to be clear in the stat rather than having to flip back and forth. Sure, if you’re playing before or once you get some experience it should work, but the new player is far more important to think of in this case.
And I think putting a keyword on abilities can just help people remember the ability. They just have to associate the one word rather than a sentence with the monster.
but then you'd hardly need a statblock anyway, right, since you have it in your VTT already!
@@LogistiQbunnik I’m not sure how to read your message. I don’t use a vtt.
Are you suggesting all new players will have vtts?
Thanks Bob, great video.
I've had to reference a monster's hit dice, such as to determine the damage of a drow mage's ray of frost cantrip.
Stats used on monsters: Summon Steed checks INT-Scores ;)
Alignment: Protect/Detect Evil etc. Spells need creature Alignment
just my 2 cents ;)
So a lot of other folks have already highlighted how and why the elements of the 5e statblock you thought weren't necessary or useful are actually used (creature type for favored enemy, ability bonuses for non-proficient skills and saves etc) but there's a really big element here that I don't think you gave enough focus to; intended audience.
In my experience, a lot of folks who want to strip down statblocks (and I'm guilty of this myself) are doing so because they are familiar with a lot of the rules, can make a lot of assumptions based on past experience, and are much more comfortable with improv and rulings vs rules. In short, they are veteran GMs. For those folks, condensed statblocks can speed things up and not cause any downsides, but when you're designing something like this, you shouldn't assume knowledge on the part of the user.
You pretty much always know exactly what you're getting with a 5e monster every time, and it's very rare you need to go and look anywhere else in the book when looking at their statblock. Contrast that with something like Pathfinder 2e, which uses a trait system to condense information - if you aren't familiar with the traits of a monster, you have to go looking them up which can really slow down the process as you try and figure out how rules interact because you're unsure whether something is buried in the traits or not.
IMO the only downside to the 5e style of monster statblock writing is that it can take up a little more space, so you sometimes end up with fewer monsters, but the trade off is that it will usually be pretty clear how those monsters work.
Hard disagree on this statement: "5e statblock you thought weren't necessary or useful are actually used"
Bob has a whole video stating why they are not needed
I think one of two things is happening:
1. "a lot of folks who want to strip down statblocks (and I'm guilty of this myself) are doing so because they are familiar with a lot of the rules"
OR
2. they follow MCDM and have invested in MCDM books and don't want to hear that ...gasp...you can run a goblin with 2 lines of text.
That 2 line goblin with be as fun at the table then anything any game company has stated ' you have to use'
disclaimer: I like the Matt Colville videos and everything stated is purely subjective
I dig the lack of flavor text (or minimized flavor text) in Shadowdark, but I like to put it back in for my own homebrewed worlds. I also like some of the more detailed encounter and treasure descriptions from older editions of D&D. Here's a homebrewed creature from my campaign.
Nagdryl
Often confused as dryads even to the learned, the nagdryl is a creature of animated flora. Its body is hard, gnarled wood and its hair ranges from long, willowy vines to pine needles. The features most distinguishing them from dryads are their hands, ending in talon-like branches and the crazed look in their glowing eyes.
AC 16, HP 18, ATK 2 claws +4 (1d8), MV near, S +2, D +3 C +2, I -2, W +1, Ch -1, AL C, LV 4
Persistent. When reduced to 0 hp, 4:6 chance to recover 2d8 hp at the start of its next turn unless killed with fire or completely destroyed.
Speech. None. Emits high pitched growls and screeches. Understands rudimentary sylvan.
Encounters. 1d3. No lair.
Treasure. TODO
Nature’s Avengers. Nagdryls are born when nature seeks vengeance for a great wrong inflicted upon it. After the nagdryl enacts its vengeance it wanders the wilds aimlessly, seeing all trespassers as enemies to nature.
Activity
1. Being harassed by 1d6 fairies. Mindlessly attacking them as they fly out of reach.
2. Feebly trying to repair a trampled sapling.
3. Attacking a group of 1d4 terrified hunters.
4. Dragging the corpse of a recently slain victim to feed to a bed of blood-thorns.
Mutation
1. Thorns. If both claws hit the same target, deal 1d6 damage.
2. Pollen. Creatures in a near area of nagdryl make a DC 12 CON check or make rolls with DISADV.
3. Poison. Creatures taking damage from nagdryl’s claw attacks make a DC 12 CON check or become paralyzed for 1d4 rounds.
4. Vines. Gain 2 vines, +3 (1d4 + strangle).
4a. Strangle. 1d6 damage until DC 12 STR. Cannot use vines while strangling.
I somewhat agree on the rounding of HP, except when it's fairly low. For HP values below 20, single points are far from irrelevant IMO.
This is a really cool concept! Has a lot of flavor without adding up crazy space! (:
@@9HPRuneScape Thanks. Pulled some inspiration from Elder Scrolls spriggans
This whole video can be summed up with the Kevin Malone quote: "Why waste time say lot word when few do trick?"
I think this is a really good example of how you can condense the monster information once you already know how the monster works and have memorized the rules pretty thoroughly, but in materials that are being published I think that companies should strive to be as clear and detailed as possible.
also, when building encounters i’ve found that the monster’s role is invaluable. it tells you where they’re going to be positioned, how they behave, and you know what kind of powers they’ll have without needing to read any more. the support role tells you that the goblin boss relies on others to do significant damage and that its main purpose is to assist. It will probably try to stay in the back lines and help it’s allies from a safe place. the role at the top helps me understand if i want the monster in a given encounter, and how it works, than any other word or stat in the block.
I kinda vehemently disagree :D
The stats serve the same purpose you yourself found in reading the attack in the MM: they reduce the need to reference stuff elsewhere.
Hiding languages removes the possibility of talking mid-fight
On the ability text:
Your adjustments of no sight/hearing requirement removes a LOT of the flavor. Goblins are cowardly, and if the boss does not see them, they will not obey.
Removing the descriptors in the top corner simply because you don't use them just narrows down the usability of the creature. CR is not super accurate, but it's useful shorthand. XP amount is useful for those who use it. The combat role is useful if you're building a more complex encounter.
Overall, your adjustments kinda rip out all flavor from the text, and leave barebones data.
I agree for a beginner D&D basic book. But most have seen enough fantasy movies and read enough fantasy books to have their own flavor at the table
I don't reguire hand holding for this and would much rather have a simple stat block that I can add to(if wanted) as I see fit
I think removing stuff is always fraught with danger - unless you know all the rules 100% (And no one does) then you may be missing a use case. Such as for the small (Changes gappling, dimension door, etc) and goblinoid (favored foe, etc) keywords. Heck what if a player has resistance to slashing suddenly, I need to know the type of damage. What if the monster crits, I need to know the die used to roll the extra one.
I've used the score of a monster as a player had a stat draining ability. But thats a very niche use.
Defo disagree on languages as maaaany spells hinge on the target understanding you. Heck any attempt to persuade, intimidate, etc in combat would likely need them,
The super condensed stat blocks are funky but I find them more unreadable. I wonder if it's just a matter of getting used to them.
PS: YOU DON'T USE OPPORTUNITY ATTACKS? :O How come? Doesn't it make positioning too easy?
Yeah, I don't think condensed text is better. A bigger stat block with good visual anchors and design is faster to grasp. Unless you do ah resumed version on your prep notes yourself - the act of writing and selecting helps a lot.
I think that Bob here would rather use common sense than rules.
E.g. if the PC has resistance to slashing, first imagine what weapon the goblin is using, if it crits, just double the dmg or add a side effect as it slashes a tendon or something, etc.
@@user-sv8nf1ve9m That's just alot of mental work for the dm for no gain at all. Dms run so many things so anything that aids them is a boon. Condensing stat blocks to the point they are Lil puzzles doesn't seem to do that in my eyes.
Granted, alot of the parts he pointed out can absolutely be shortened or changed. Especially the segment around command, making it so defined takes away from the ability.
@@20storiesunder I love to add details like that in crits and my players are addicted to my gory descriptions lol
But I get you, every DM is different and that's how it should be
@@user-sv8nf1ve9m Oh absolutely, I love to narrate attacks. If I can get a player to wince from a description I know I'm doing it right xD
Great video with solid points. As someone that writes IT documents and is currently designing a TTRPG, one of the most important things to keep in mind is - audience. It’s a struggle to write for the novice reader. You want to give them what they need to be successful, to make things convenient, but you run the risk of bloat. The bloat increases text density and that can be intimidating or overwhelming to people. On the other hand, you run the risk of assuming too much and creating frustrations for the reader.
Full Minimalist Statblock (From Cypher System):
Goblin Boss: Level 4 (12)
This info tells me everything I need to know to use this monster in Cypher System.
What is the monster? A Goblin Boss. What does a player need to roll to hit this monster? 12 or higher (Level x3). What does a player need to roll to defend against this monster? 12 or higher (Level x3). How much damage does this monster do? 4 (Level).
A GM can add modifiers to anything they want to make this enemy more unique (even in the moment using a mechanic called a GMI).
Want it to hit harder?
Modifier: Damage as Level 5
Want it to sneak really well?
Modifier: Sneak actions as Level 6.
Want to give it a weird mechanic?
Special Ability: Boss Around: All Goblins in the same group as this enemy are treated as Level 3 Enemies for all attacks they make so long as the Goblin Boss is present and not dead.
...you can add or alter anything in the moment, but all you need for any combat is the enemy's level.
I enjoy both FM! And Shadowdark. I feel like the people that need an entire page for a stat block are a little lost in the sauce. You don't need a thesis statement for a monster to work. You can always improvise things in combat as the DM. You're not cheating, you're reacting to the game and creating a challenge for your players.
Yeah, some stat blocks are very verbose, but having the clear and consistent format for all monsters actually helps me find the important info faster. And the extra info takes some of the decision fatigue away and I can focus on other rulings and keep combat moving. This sauce keeps me locked in.
If I'm running a big, end-of-campaign boss fight that will take a session of dramatic combat tactics, I want a full page! If I'm running a resource draining dungeon crawl challenging players to outsmart and outgrit a warren of goblins, I want compact statblocks that reinforce that aesthetic.
I feel like the point of this video got lost on the way to "statblocks are designed for the game they support".
Adding to all other comments under the video. These are not called combat stat block, it's just stat block. It provide alignment, equipment, languages for roleplaying needs. Specific types and keywords for combat/mechanic pruposes. All is needed in different part of the game, if you know how stat block looks you know where to look for what you need. I feel that having data crammed into oneline text like in shadowdark results in you needing to read most of that block everytime you wanna find something.
Summarizing, barely anything on default statblock is not needed:
- specific type/race for rangers or magic items
- alignment for roleplay
- hit dice for not using the same hp for every monster but being able to get random value
- bolded names for features and stats to easily anchor your eyes on what you need to find (you remeber to look for bold Senses instead of checking if somewhere in the text it mention darkvision, much easier compared to searching for specific text/value in shadowdark mush of info)
- more keywords like melee weapon attack, on each turn, when leaving range etc if you ever participated in Adventure League organized play you'd know how important every keyword is in this game if you dedicate yourself to play as RAW as possible
Do you need all that info during combat? No, but when you use start combat you should already be somewhat familiarized with the statblock by checking it out before.
Btw. does it really benefit anyone to write somewhere in the book that Darkvision is 60ft by default, and the omit those 5 symbols "60 ft" in each statblock? Is it better to make everyone remember it's 60ft instead of writing it down barely consuming additional space?
I think folks think memorising comes easy to everyone. That 60ft would take me ages to remember if I was a new dm.
@@20storiesunder and then your group slow down to like one game a month and with all the shit going in everyones life you easily forget everything
All in all I'm on page with making combat stat blocks a bit shorter. I'd also like to point out that in many cases the DM is a more experienced player so he doesn't really need all those details.
That being said, there are a few things I'd like to point out.. or nitpick about ;)
1. Doesn't the "Favored Enemy" ranger ability use specific races or terms like "goblin" when picking "humanoid" as an enemy ?
2. And there ARE still spells that can work by alignment like "Glyph of Waring" (even though that looks more like a forgotten left-over).
3. Ability modifiers are useful for all those skills and saves that are not listed.
Great video! I recently started slashing stat blocks and rewriting them in Google Sheets so I can fit several on a page and still have all combat relevant information. We cut a lot of the same things, and I will back you up: ability scores are totally unnecessary, and even the modifiers are rarely used when all the attacks tell you what the + to hit is. I moved them all to the bottom in my format.