I loooove your 4th edition stat block!! Ive always wanted to change it up to be more like yours here and have a better DM user experience. In my 4th edition adventure I use the standard stat blocks so 4th edition people who buy it wont freak out about any wild changes to the stat block (especially 4th edition discord- those folks are serious! haha). I do use my own symbols though for area attacks, melee, etc. The only thing I might change about yours (nitpicking here) is having the monsters full ability scores listed. Thats just because I’ll often have objects in the environment that the characters and monsters can utilize, and they may take a certain strength or dexterity for instance to do so. Great work, as always
I watched the video about the 4e license agreement. So you are allowed to create your own stat block and can use the stats from all the monsters in the 3 monster manuals? Then you can also make your own monsters like a level 8 Creeping Doom Spider or whatnot if you need a beefier spider to pair with some Drow or something? Interesting. I like your custom stat block. One suggestion maybe remove the miscellany line which isn’t saying anything and move up the creature type which is somewhat important so medium natural beast (spider) is on the same line opposite level 2 lurker 125 XP?
The SRD only covers PHB1/2, MM 1/2, DMG, and the Adventurer's Vault. The later books are not included since the SRD was never updated past that point in time. The Ambush Spider is not in the SRD. I would not be allowed to publish this stat block since an Ambush Spider is an official monster and it is not in the SRD. I would also not be able to reprint 'running text' from the books anyway. I used it here only as an example for the stat block format.
But, to your point, I am free to create a "Creeping Doom Spider" with stats that I define on my own. And I could publish my custom stat block for that monster.
There are really 3 categories...
1) Something is in the official books, but NOT in the SRD (I cannot use or even reference it)
2) Something is in the official books AND in the SRD (I can refer to it by name, but I cannot print the definition or stat block of it)
3) Something is my own creation and not part of the official books (I can do whatever I want with it including publishing a stat block for it)
It is important to note that while a Goblin Warrior is in the SRD, I could not create a Goblin Warrior with my own stats and publish that. I would be breaking the rule about altering the definition of a reference. I would need to use a completely different name for that monster.
Thank you for the input on the stat block. I'll take a look at repositioning the creature type.
I like your custom block
I loooove your 4th edition stat block!! Ive always wanted to change it up to be more like yours here and have a better DM user experience. In my 4th edition adventure I use the standard stat blocks so 4th edition people who buy it wont freak out about any wild changes to the stat block (especially 4th edition discord- those folks are serious! haha). I do use my own symbols though for area attacks, melee, etc. The only thing I might change about yours (nitpicking here) is having the monsters full ability scores listed. Thats just because I’ll often have objects in the environment that the characters and monsters can utilize, and they may take a certain strength or dexterity for instance to do so. Great work, as always
Thank you. I will think about adding the actual ability scores.
💯 agree with you about stat blocks for monsters in 5th edition. For me, I have to take out what I don’t use to keep things manageable.
I watched the video about the 4e license agreement. So you are allowed to create your own stat block and can use the stats from all the monsters in the 3 monster manuals? Then you can also make your own monsters like a level 8 Creeping Doom Spider or whatnot if you need a beefier spider to pair with some Drow or something? Interesting. I like your custom stat block. One suggestion maybe remove the miscellany line which isn’t saying anything and move up the creature type which is somewhat important so medium natural beast (spider) is on the same line opposite level 2 lurker 125 XP?
The SRD only covers PHB1/2, MM 1/2, DMG, and the Adventurer's Vault. The later books are not included since the SRD was never updated past that point in time. The Ambush Spider is not in the SRD. I would not be allowed to publish this stat block since an Ambush Spider is an official monster and it is not in the SRD. I would also not be able to reprint 'running text' from the books anyway. I used it here only as an example for the stat block format.
But, to your point, I am free to create a "Creeping Doom Spider" with stats that I define on my own. And I could publish my custom stat block for that monster.
There are really 3 categories...
1) Something is in the official books, but NOT in the SRD (I cannot use or even reference it)
2) Something is in the official books AND in the SRD (I can refer to it by name, but I cannot print the definition or stat block of it)
3) Something is my own creation and not part of the official books (I can do whatever I want with it including publishing a stat block for it)
It is important to note that while a Goblin Warrior is in the SRD, I could not create a Goblin Warrior with my own stats and publish that. I would be breaking the rule about altering the definition of a reference. I would need to use a completely different name for that monster.
Thank you for the input on the stat block. I'll take a look at repositioning the creature type.