clawoftiamat wrote:
Pathfinder left most of the fluff up to the person running the game. In some GM's world, he may have all bats be herbivores. There is fluff for major types like angels, devils, etc. but most ordinary creatures are left up to the GM's discretion.
I can understand that standpoint, giving the GM more discretion to build his world. I think that's a very valid point. :)
However, I would counter that the "fluff" or lore, gives the GM more tools and information to work with. The GM can always disregard how a Kobold tribe is set up and do it his own way, but having the extra information there makes his life easier and makes the monsters more interesting. It breathes life into monster from the start and it becomes, imo, easier to craft a story, develop a NPC monster or build a lair, when you have this extra information about their motives and ways of life. (In fact, I think the creators of the 2nd Edition Mon. Manual had this optional disregard in mind, they would usually preface more specific information with "some scholars have observed . . ." or "observers have theorized . . .")
Of course, I might just believe this because it was the way the 2nd Edition Monster Compendium was set up. They had an entire page describing just rats. ;)
