Most of the people I've been DMing for recently are new to the hobby, and I've been trying a variety of subtle and not so subtle hints. I think one thing that might work is just a simple rule of thumb based on size, with cautions about oddball monsters and special powers. This says nothing about what kind of bestiary the DM is working with, but avoids some of the more obvious mismatches, as long as you refrain from throwing killer bunnies into the mix. By the way, fighters should also be able to size up the fighting capacities of other humans and beings with levels.
I ran out of room to mention dragons on this sheet, but there's no real need to, right?
That's cool. I still remember my player that had an elephant-fly hybrid as the first encounter he ever had. He said "I shoot it in the eye." Sure, in real life we would all be scared, but he didn't know how the system worked, how much damage a bow does, how likely it was to get a hit in combat. He has since learned.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be cool to have a salty old timer like this around for players to talk to. Maybe travelers tales could be something that sailors tell each day on ship, or hireling bearers around the camp fire. Thanks.
Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDeleteSuper cool! I was wondering what the Cracker Jacks kid ended up doing in later life. Hard life!
ReplyDeleteI love it - the Old One-Armed Man keeps making me laugh - he belongs in every campaign.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, and useful for new players. I think I might create something like this for the next version of my players guide.
ReplyDeleteThats awesome!
ReplyDeleteFinally got around to creating my own threat ranking based on yours, which you can see here (if you wish)
ReplyDeleteLGP: very nice! I like how the monsters romp from left to right. And that's one big griffin!
ReplyDeleteExcellent - I'm using it in my 4e D&D campaigns!
ReplyDeleteAnd you could use this as a basis for your one page monsters project
ReplyDelete