d20 Patch: 4e-style monsters
It has been pointed out that players prefer 3.5 and GMs prefer 4e. Whether this is true or not, it has enough of an element of truth to gain some traction.
Why?
GMs really like the ease of preparation in 4e. In 3.5, statting up a monster for a combat that might last a couple of rounds was a headache. In 4e, you can quickly edit something from the Monster Manual – or, if you need something totally different, you pick a level, role, and a couple of powers and – with info contained on a 2-page spread in the DMG – you are pretty much good to go.
Has anyone basically translated this back so that it would be usable in 3.5? If not, is there a demand for it? I was thinking about doing it, but didn’t want to waste my time if someone already has…
I believe there does exist a demand for a more systemic and easier preparation of materials for 3.5. I think you should take a look at Pathfinder Beta as a starting point. Pathfinder has an encounter and monster building system that tries to be quite like 4e’s. It’s a decent start, but it really could use a steady hand and a lot more elbow grease, and to be more fearless in its reforms.
I’ve been thinking hard about this exact same thing; it shouldn’t be that difficult to take the concepts that make GM-work so simple in 4e and retrofit them back to 3e, I’m sure.
I’ll go away and think some more 😀
I’ve kinda sorta started work in this direction with my most recent 3.X monsters, but I haven’t taken the initial work away from a 3.X DM; I’ve just done it for them. I would, of course, be really interested if someone was working on this.
I think I’ll have to check out the Pathfinder Beta, as Wyattsalazar suggests.