Here is an example of monster stats in 2024 D&D:
This is... not bad.
Of course, we could reduce it by half while keeping the information we need 90% of the time. How often do you need to know this monster's Charisma score?
But it has a few advantages over the D&D 2014 stat block: it abbreviates AC, HP and CR, it includes saves right next to abilities, and it removes the armor type since it rarely does anything.
It adds Initiative to monsters, which I don't get.
Here, it is "+5 (15)". I'm assuming that 15 means that:
- You can use that instead of rolling.
- They found it useful to save you the trouble of simply checking Dex modifier.
- They found it useful to save you the trouble of simply adding 10.
- They made a mistake (it was supposed to be 13, due to Dex) and I'm spending more time thinking about this stuff than they did.
But it wouldn't be D&D without some errors and redundancies, right?
It also has a few weird things.
For example, it mentions "Gear Daggers (10)". This is somewhat useful, but it almost creates more questions than it answer:
Are these ordinary daggers or whatever "umbral daggers" are? Does this creature (that has claws) has any unarmed attacked when it runs out of throwing daggers? Assuming it does, can it attack twice when unarmed?
(There is also an apparently baffling concept: this is a dagger that cannot kill you according to its description, but only poison and paralyze you. I'm assuming vampire's prefer warm blood...)
Some creatures that have attacks with swords and bows ALSO have these listed as gear, which looks redundant.
And the "Vampiric Connection" part is a bit baffling, since it seems to be a power particular to the MASTER and not the creature.
Now, about he ability scores... They LOOK fine, but I'm wonder if this wouldn't be more useful:
Similarly, it wouldn't be hard to rewrite the attacks to something simpler:
Umbral Dagger (x2), +5. Melee (5 ft) or Ranged (20/60 ft).
Damage 5+7 (1d4+3 piercing +3d4 necrotic). If reduced to 0 HP by this attack, the target becomes Stable but has the Poisoned condition for 1 hour. While it has the Poisoned condition, the target has the Paralyzed condition.
Anyway, the whole thing feels a bit cumbersome but has a few advantages over AD&D, since it lacks the several "none" and "nil" lines found there.
I do miss some of that 2e information (morale, terrain, etc.) but maybe "number appearing" should be included in the random encounter tables instead (does 2024 have those?).
Apparently the MM indicates that D&D 2024 is what we expected: a small improvement over 2014 in some areas, a bit worse in a few, and still maintaining a vague compatibility and lots of redundancies and inconsistencies.
