Today, I logged into the monster builder for the first time in a while...and - wow.
It's finally a monster builder and not just a monster viewer!
I'm sure I'll hate to ask this but What's a monster builder?
I have a mental image of some sort of SPORE creature maker. You take the head of a kobold, put it on a tangler beetle body and add wings....
I'm sure I'll hate to ask this but What's a monster builder?
I have a mental image of some sort of SPORE creature maker. You take the head of a kobold, put it on a tangler beetle body and add wings....
Program for statting up monsters.
While the 4E program is called the monster builder and it certianly can be used for that its almost more accurate to call it the monster modifier since this is what it is really exceptionally good at. List every monster in 4E that has appeared in any product including specific NPCs and such.
Generally I use it in a couple of ways. One is the most basic of basic - looking for a monster for my adventure and I scan through the options. Here I'll often know roughly what I want so I might do a search on Hobgoblin. This will bring up the stat block for every single hobgoblin that has ever been in an official 4E product. If I find what I'm looking for then I can get a copy of that stat block to import into my word processor with the push of a button.
If what is being looked for has not been found then its on to modification to suite ones needs. Generally here I'm look for a 'base' monster. A stat block that I'm going to modify to suite my needs. This is useful because you can raise or lower the level of aby monster in the game or change its base role (from say soldier to artillery) and the program will automatically adjust its stats to reflect its new level. You can also take any power that any other monster in the game has and swap that power into your creation - so if I want a hobgoblin that has the claws of a dragon then I swap in the dragons claw powers or if my hobgoblin is a hobgoblin medusa then I can steal medusa powers. Anything taken from some other monster automatically has its stats adjusted to be suitable for the level of the creature being created.
After that I'll look over the statblock and make adjustments (i.e. override) any stats that are not to my liking and replace them with whatever suits my needs.
One of the reasons 4E DMs tend to feel that prepping 4E is extremely fast rests on the monster builder as it usually takes only a couple of minutes to find and import a suitable monster to ones encounter and even creating the complex monsters or higher level NPCs generally takes less then 10 minutes. Even something like a high level unique and complex solo specifically made for ones campaign should take no more then 20 minutes to create and that presumes lots of pausing to think about what it is you want this monster to do.
Can I copy and paste out of it as text, or is it locked into being a bit map or some flash based or locked down format?
Can I copy and paste out of it as text, or is it locked into being a bit map or some flash based or locked down format?
You can copy-paste it, or export it as XML, but what I usually to is print-to-pdf and then use those on the iPad. I like the colored monster format of 4e, don't want to go back to the ugly wall of stats-and-text version of 3e.