D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Changes to the Monster Manual

[gfunk]

So far, I have to say that I really like the changes in the MM re: the Pit Fiend, Osyluth, and Titan. Two changes in particular are welcome:

1) Assigning DCs to all SLAs (makes it much easier for DMs)
2) Getting read of 'useless' spells. Did a Balor really need Read Magic at will?

Also, the monsters seem to have an almost uniform increase in ability scores, saves, SR, AC and hit points. Personally, I think the fiends in the MM now are quite weak for their CR. Hopefully these changes will re-introduce a significant challenge.

I'm very curious to see changes to the fighting classes and especially cheesey PrC like the Red Wizard to see if new newly revised PC classes can match these new foes.

 

[Murrdox]

With the changes in DR... I'm curious how monsters are going to work. That's my biggest, and really ONLY qualm about 3.5.

How it works in 3.0: Creatures have high DR which is bypassed by increasingly powerful weapons - usually silver, +1, +2, etc..

How it will be in 3.5: Creatures have a lower DR which is bypassed by certain TYPES of weapons... no progression. This should be things like silver, good, holy, magic, etc.

So how are Monsters going to beat each other's DR, and what kind of DR are some monsters going to have?

We got a TASTE of this with the Titan. His attacks count as Chaotic for the purpose of DR. Does that mean that he has no hope of beating magic or lawful or good DR?

What about something like an Iron Golem? Golems are just naturally very HARD - so they had a +3 DR requirement. Changing their DR to something simple like DR/Magic Adamantine seems like nerfing their protection.

I like some of the new ideas behind DR... but I'm really unsure of how it's really going to work.

 

[Technik4]

Damage:

Attack: Gargantuan +3 adamantine warhammer +37 melee (4d6+27/×3) or +3 javelin +22 ranged (2d6+19) or slam +34 (1d8+16)
Full Attack: Gargantuan +3 adamantine warhammer +37/+32/+27/+22 melee (4d6+27/×3) or +3 javelin +22 ranged (2d6+19) or 2 slams +34 (1d8+16)


Subtract 15 (which is the greatest DR before epic or tarrasque) and he still does very reasonable damage. Of course, a Titan who needed DR against a specific foe may seek out the appropriate weapon.

Technik

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

The only type of DR that worries me is chaotic or lawful - I think's that making too many assumptions about the alignment of party members.

I think admantine works fine. After all, any 13th-level party would have +3 weapons anyway, so it isn't like it actually counted before.

 

[Murrdox]

I'm also curious about Dragons. Their DR gets more powerful as they age. Both the amount of damage reduction (5, 10) and the degree (+1, +2) increase. Does this mean that for a Black dragon, for example, we're going to get the following?

Young Adult - 5/Magic
Mature Adult - 10/Magic
Very Old - 10/Magic Good
Wyrm - 15/Magic Good Adamantine

 

[IanB]

Do we know for sure that golems will have DR?

It seems natural to me to just give them hardness based on their material.

 

[the Jester]

The stuff in the new Dungeon (haven't yet seen the current Dragon) seems to imply that githyanki (and presumably githzerai) are in the revised MM.

 

[Olive]

I'm very interested to see what new (or not really new, but new to this book) monsters made it in...

Surely the next revision spotlight will be on the new MM? They need to build excitment for books other than the PHB!

 

[Li Shenron]

We got a TASTE of this with the Titan. His attacks count as Chaotic for the purpose of DR. Does that mean that he has no hope of beating magic or lawful or good DR?

I suppose it means the quality "Chaotic" is automatically applied to all his attacks with any weapon (or with only natural weapons?). When he uses a magic sword, it's going to count as Magic Chaotic, therefore would bypass DR x/Magic, DR x/Chaotic and DR x/Magic Chaotic.

The only type of DR that worries me is chaotic or lawful - I think's that making too many assumptions about the alignment of party members.

...am not really sure what you mean. A Lawful creature's attacks are not considerer Lawful for the purpose of damage reduction, it's a magic weapon property, or special creature's property.

2) Getting read of 'useless' spells. Did a Balor really need Read Magic at will?

I agree with anything else in your post except this. Well yes, the DM is basically never going to have the Balrog use Read Magic, but I like the idea that some monsters have special abilities or spell-like abilities that they may use them outside of combat. Yes, the player are never going to see them - unless they ARE playing a monster - but I don't like the idea that the PC are the world and the others are meat for battle, which is true in the view of the players but their PCs don't know .

In brief, I like the monster fluff: it doesn't hurt and adds flavor. Isn't a Balrog/Balor some kind of abyssal aristocrat? Diplomacy and Knowledge(Nobility) fits perfectly, why taking them out because, let's face it, you must be in a very original campaign to be talking with a Balor?

 

[drnuncheon]

...am not really sure what you mean. A Lawful creature's attacks are not considerer Lawful for the purpose of damage reduction, it's a magic weapon property, or special creature's property.

What he's trying to say is this that if you have a chaotic party, nobody is going to have a lawful weapon for those times when you run into a powerful chaotic creature with DR. And presumably, the cleric isn't going to be able to cast Align Weapon to make a lawful weapon...

Whereas you can make general assumptions about good PCs not fighting good creatures (even if they may be false in certain rare or specific circumstances), it's a lot harder to make that assuption about lawful or chaotic creatures, especially since D&D presents the good/evil axis as more important than the law/chaos one.

J