Building monster statblocks

[J-H]

I've found that it's much easier to build enemies in 5e. I can look at the average figures for a given CR and quickly target to-hit, average damage, AC, hp, etc. and know that I'm somewhere in the "right area." I can also just say "Ok, the enemy will cast these 5 spells" - knowing that the battle will be over before 5 rounds are up. I can whip up an enemy in a minute or two, without having to add up BAB, strong/weak saves, etc.

I just had to make an enemy (non-caster) for a 3.5 game I'm still running here, and I think it took about half an hour of looking up PRCs and stuff.

Is it just a brain-bug that "Monsters have to follow the same rules as players" in 3.5? Is it going to make the world end if I say:
"Ok, this guy's an Ogre Duskblade. He wears light armor, so he's got about AC 17, his HP is about 10 hit dice plus CON, so he has about 90hp, his Fort save is probably +9, his Will save is about +5, and his Reflex save is about +2, and he hits at +12 for 2d6+4 plus Shocking Grasp for 5d6 or Touch of Fatigue up to 5 times." -- and just run with that statblock instead of copying an Ogre statblock, adding 4 levels of Duskblade and modifying all the numbers, picking feats, etc.?

This feels like a "I've wasted so much time!" moment.

[Thurbane]

Funnily enough, monsters following the same basic rules as PCs was considered an innovation when 3E first came out. 1E and 2E had simplified monster stats blocks...from what you're saying, 5E has moved back that way? Interesting.

In practical terms, there's a ton of NPC/monster stat blocks in various 3.5 books. If you're finding it a headache to write them up from scratch, just grab an existing stat block and tweak it as you need.

For me personally, I really enjoy the painstaking process of making a well crafted NPC or monster encounter, so I don't mind the effort.

[J-H]

Yes, and partly thanks to bounded accuracy, we have some reasonable expectations of what to expect for a given CR of monster.

http://blogofholding.com/?p=7338

The huge amount of options in 3.5 is fun, but being able to stat 2-3 5e encounters up in the same time it takes for one custom 3.5 monster sure helps keep a creative flow going.

[zlefin]

It won't break the game much if you just declare the monsters relevant stats to be what you want them do; and if a check calls for info you hadn't determined you just make something up or roll in a range to see what it was (i.e. a skill check you hadn't planned for). It does increase the risk of some errors and may hurt consistency of the rules; but there's still low risk overall.


Have you looked at any of the pathfinder monster builders? they look like good quick ways to assemble monsters though I haven't used them myself; there's a couple different ones iirc.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/unchained-rules/simple-monster-creation/

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-creation/