How many monsters does a D&D edition need to start with?

[infected slut princess]

Putting aside gameplay issues, you need a monster book with 500 monsters instead of 100 monsters + charts & tables, because a book with 500 monsters will be more interesting to outsiders and make the game look more interesting. If some random johnny dumbfuck starts flipping through the 500 monster book with art and evocative descriptions, his imagination might get pumped up and he might want to play the game. If random johnny dumbfuck flips through the 100 monster book w/hundreds of pages of tables/charts/lists, he will probably get less pumped up.

[Ghremdal]

Systems like Numenara technically make monster generation freaky fast by having their level be the default value for everything, then they include a small handful of traits that break the basic shape.

When I get home from work, I need to post some of the monster generation systems that I've seen on the D&D With Pornstars blog.

I think that way you just get a bunch of sameish, bag of numbers monsters that become boring very fast.

Fuck me, but in any setting I want to play I want to have a big book of interesting already stated monsters that I can just plug and play. Having a quick monster generator is all well and dandy, but I don't have time during the week to waste hours generating monsters if I can just buy a decent book with them.

[K]

There is no reason why any monster generation needs to take more than a minute

Yes there is. It takes longer than a minute just to understand what your options even are. It takes a minute just to grok a monster that is already written up. It takes much longer than that to assemble abilities off an index and then look up what they do in a big list.

For fuck's sake, you are literally asking people to choose and then cast a bunch of high level wizard spells they've never used or even read before. This is not a fast operation.

When did monster abilities become as complex as wizard spells?

Shit, let's just look at the MM. i picked the first monster I saw, and here is the text for an ability:

Powerful Charge (Ex)

A minotaur typically begins a battle by charging at an opponent, lowering its head to bring its mighty horns into play. In addition to the normal benefits and hazards of a charge, this allows the beast to make a single gore attack with a +9 attack bonus that deals 4d6+6 points of damage.

That's a Minotaur ability, and it's pretty standard size for a monster ability. You could seriously put that ability on a Magic card, and you don't need to spend fifteen minutes to read and understand and apply that ability because you aren't an idiot.

Let's look at another random one:

Breath Weapon (Su)

10-foot cone of ice shards, damage 1d4 cold, Reflex DC 12 half. Living creatures that fail their saves are tormented by frostbitten skin and frozen eyes unless they have immunity to cold or are otherwise protected. This effect imposes a -4 penalty to AC and a -2 penalty on attack rolls for 3 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +1 racial bonus.

That's for an ice mephit. I think I can get the gist of that in under fifteen seconds and remember that well enough that I can pick it off a list of a bunch of similar level-appropriate abilities without needing to read them all in full and spend an hour contemplating the perfect ability combo.

That's crazy easy. I select a monster stack block, I read the titles of a bunch of abilities I've used before on many different monsters in the past, I pick a few, and I'm done. That's how you design a monster in less than a minute.

Unlike a PC spell list, my selections don't have to be perfect or synergize because this monster might not even live long enough to use all of it's abilities. I don't need to read 100 pages of spells in full before every monster creation to make those selections. If I want to make a fire beast, I scan the list and make a selection from the few fire powers that I've used dozens of times and some beast powers I've used dozens of times and I move on with my life because reading 200 words of powers text total is a trivial task that you can do while people are rolling initiative.

So yeh, the only reason that monster generation would possible take more than a minute is that you decided to overdesign a uselessly complex system and make monster stat blocks and powers vastly more complicated and longer than they have ever been in any edition.

[Kaelik]

and you don't need to spend fifteen minutes to read and understand and apply that ability because you aren't an idiot.

On the other hand, no one said you needed 15 minutes to read one ability. But you claimed that you could read and choose from 100 such abilities in a minute... so... Good luck with that.

[Parthenon]

K is joking, right? That was an actual joke post, where he insists that all DMs should have years of experience and already made monsters hundreds of times and each power dozens of times. That beginner DMs don't exist.

And he says it takes less than a minute to read 5 or 6 powers, each of which takes 15 seconds to read and understand (already at least half again his maximum), and then choose them and apply them.

His argument is not one I can take seriously.

[Cyberzombie]

Unlike a PC spell list, my selections don't have to be perfect or synergize because this monster might not even live long enough to use all of it's abilities. I don't need to read 100 pages of spells in full before every monster creation to make those selections.

But you really do have to worry about synergy, because your goal is to create a creature of a specific CR. That's the entire point of a monster generation system. And to get a CR you need to look at the full monster and what it can actually do. You will get drastically different results giving invisibility and flight to a pixie than you will if you give it to a troll.

And if your system can't construct a monster of a chosen CR, it's not much of a system. It's DM eyeballs it with a lot of window dressing.

[K]

and you don't need to spend fifteen minutes to read and understand and apply that ability because you aren't an idiot.

On the other hand, no one said you needed 15 minutes to read one ability. But you claimed that you could read and choose from 100 such abilities in a minute... so... Good luck with that.

You can't scan a list of 100 entries? I bet you can.

Here is a list of 88 spells. How long does it take you to pick two from 1st level and two from 2nd level with the understanding that you can pick literally any combo at all because it doesn't really matter?

1st-Level Sorcerer/Wizard Spells
Alarm: Wards an area for 2 hours/level.
Endure Elements: Exist comfortably in hot or cold environments.
Hold Portal: Holds door shut.
Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders.
Shield: Invisible disc gives +4 to AC, blocks magic missiles.

Conj

Grease: Makes 10-ft. square or one object slippery.
Mage Armor: Gives subject +4 armor bonus.
Mount: Summons riding horse for 2 hours/level.
Obscuring Mist: Fog surrounds you.
Summon Monster I: Calls extraplanar creature to fight for you.
Unseen Servant: Invisible force obeys your commands.

Div

Comprehend Languages: You understand all spoken and written languages.
Detect Secret Doors: Reveals hidden doors within 60 ft.
Detect Undead: Reveals undead within 60 ft.
Identify M: Determines properties of magic item.
True Strike: +20 on your next attack roll.

Ench

Charm Person: Makes one person your friend.
Hypnotism: Fascinates 2d4 HD of creatures.
Sleep: Puts 4 HD of creatures into magical slumber.

Evoc

Burning Hands: 1d4/level fire damage (max 5d4).
Floating Disk: Creates 3-ft.-diameter horizontal disk that holds 100 lb./level.
Magic Missile: 1d4+1 damage; +1 missile per two levels above 1st (max 5).
Shocking Grasp: Touch delivers 1d6/level electricity damage (max 5d6).

Illus

Color Spray: Knocks unconscious, blinds, and/or stuns weak creatures.
Disguise Self: Changes your appearance.
Magic Aura: Alters object’s magic aura.
Silent Image: Creates minor illusion of your design.
Ventriloquism: Throws voice for 1 min./level.

Necro

Cause Fear: One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds.
Chill Touch: One touch/level deals 1d6 damage and possibly 1 Str damage.
Ray of Enfeeblement: Ray deals 1d6 +1 per two levels Str damage.

Trans

Animate Rope: Makes a rope move at your command.
Enlarge Person: Humanoid creature doubles in size.
Erase: Mundane or magical writing vanishes.
Expeditious Retreat: Your speed increases by 30 ft.
Feather Fall: Objects or creatures fall slowly.
Jump: Subject gets bonus on Jump checks.
Magic Weapon: Weapon gains +1 bonus.
Reduce Person: Humanoid creature halves in size.

2nd-Level Sorcerer/Wizard Spells
Abjur

Arcane Lock M: Magically locks a portal or chest.
Obscure Object: Masks object against scrying.
Protection from Arrows: Subject immune to most ranged attacks.
Resist Energy: Ignores first 10 (or more) points of damage/attack from specified energy type.

Conj

Acid Arrow: Ranged touch attack; 2d4 damage for 1 round +1 round/three levels.
Fog Cloud: Fog obscures vision.
Glitterdust: Blinds creatures, outlines invisible creatures.
Summon Monster II: Calls extraplanar creature to fight for you.
Summon Swarm: Summons swarm of bats, rats, or spiders.
Web: Fills 20-ft.-radius spread with sticky spiderwebs.

Div

Detect Thoughts: Allows “listening” to surface thoughts.
Locate Object: Senses direction toward object (specific or type).
See Invisibility: Reveals invisible creatures or objects.

Ench

Daze Monster: Living creature of 6 HD or less loses next action.
Hideous Laughter: Subject loses actions for 1 round/level.
Touch of Idiocy: Subject takes 1d6 points of Int, Wis, and Cha damage.

Evoc

Continual Flame M: Makes a permanent, heatless torch.
Darkness: 20-ft. radius of supernatural shadow.
Flaming Sphere: Creates rolling ball of fire, 2d6 damage, lasts 1 round/level.
Gust of Wind: Blows away or knocks down smaller creatures.
Scorching Ray: Ranged touch attack deals 4d6 fire damage, +1 ray/four levels (max 3).
Shatter: Sonic vibration damages objects or crystalline creatures.

Illus

Blur: Attacks miss subject 20% of the time.
Hypnotic Pattern: Fascinates (2d4 + level) HD of creatures.
Invisibility: Subject is invisible for 1 min./level or until it attacks.
Magic Mouth M: Speaks once when triggered.
Minor Image: As silent image, plus some sound.
Mirror Image: Creates decoy duplicates of you (1d4 +1 per three levels, max 8).
Misdirection: Misleads divinations for one creature or object.
Phantom Trap M: Makes item seem trapped.

Necro

Blindness/Deafness: Makes subject blinded or deafened.
Command Undead: Undead creature obeys your commands.
False Life: Gain 1d10 temporary hp +1/level (max +10).
Ghoul Touch: Paralyzes one subject, which exudes stench that makes those nearby sickened.
Scare: Panics creatures of less than 6 HD.
Spectral Hand: Creates disembodied glowing hand to deliver touch attacks.

Trans

Alter Self: Assume form of a similar creature.
Bear’s Endurance: Subject gains +4 to Con for 1 min./level.
Bull’s Strength: Subject gains +4 to Str for 1 min./level.
Cat’s Grace: Subject gains +4 to Dex for 1 min./level.
Darkvision: See 60 ft. in total darkness.
Eagle’s Splendor: Subject gains +4 to Cha for 1 min./level.
Fox’s Cunning: Subject gains +4 Int for 1 min./level.
Knock: Opens locked or magically sealed door.
Levitate: Subject moves up and down at your direction.
Owl’s Wisdom: Subject gains +4 to Wis for 1 min./level.
Pyrotechnics: Turns fire into blinding light or choking smoke.
Rope Trick: As many as eight creatures hide in extradimensional space.
Spider Climb: Grants ability to walk on walls and ceilings.
Whispering Wind: Sends a short message 1 mile/level.

The next step is to look up any abilities where you don't remember all of the details. Chances are good that you aren't going to be rereading Cat's Grace because you've used it a hundreds of times, but you might need to look over Pyrotechnics because you never use that one, but you are lucky because the monster-ability-version of Pyrotechnics is less than 100 words.

[K]

Unlike a PC spell list, my selections don't have to be perfect or synergize because this monster might not even live long enough to use all of it's abilities. I don't need to read 100 pages of spells in full before every monster creation to make those selections.

But you really do have to worry about synergy, because your goal is to create a creature of a specific CR. That's the entire point of a monster generation system. And to get a CR you need to look at the full monster and what it can actually do. You will get drastically different results giving invisibility and flight to a pixie than you will if you give it to a troll.

And if your system can't construct a monster of a chosen CR, it's not much of a system. It's DM eyeballs it with a lot of window dressing.

If you've decided to use horribly unbalanced stats for monsters like trolls or pixies, you gave up on CR a long time ago. Your example is literally two of the most poorly statted monsters that 3e ever produced that are legendary for not performing at their CR as designed.

Synergy is not important for monsters because CR is always going to be a fluid concept. Some monsters are going to die easy to one combination of PCs and the same ones are going to be hard for a different combination of PCs and the goal is just to keep those abilities and stats within a range.

You keep numbers within a range by preventing effects from stacking and setting your range to within what PCs can handle. You keep powers within a range by also keeping them from stacking and by keeping them few enough that synergy doesn't really happen with so few combos. For example, the monster with Flight and Invisibility already has his best ability slots filled and only has room for a few low-end attack powers and this means that he's not going to have a high-end Troll Rend.

[K]

K is joking, right? That was an actual joke post, where he insists that all DMs should have years of experience and already made monsters hundreds of times and each power dozens of times. That beginner DMs don't exist.

And he says it takes less than a minute to read 5 or 6 powers, each of which takes 15 seconds to read and understand (already at least half again his maximum), and then choose them and apply them.

His argument is not one I can take seriously.

If you use the 100 pre-statted monsters, you are already learning the monster abilities that you will see on the lists. This means that the new DM can just use his 100 pre-statted monsters for a while until he learns that Breath Weapons on the monsters he's using are cone AoE elemental attacks and then doesn't get tripped up when he sees the Breath Weapon line on the list.

Sure, the first time you create a completely new monster you will want to read all of the abilities once. That being said, how often do you need to read Breath Weapon to understand that it's a AoE elemental attack? Do you really need to reread it every time to figure out if you want it, or are you going to say to yourself "hey, breath weapons were pretty cool on the pre-statted dragon I used last week and it'd be cool on this flame golem I want to make."

Assuming that people are going to stay ignorant forever is a mistake. They will read the monster generation system once before the first time they use it, but it's not unreasonable to assume that a DM might want to read a book before he uses it for the first time.

Mostly, DMs and PCs will learn abilities through the pre-statted monsters and by designing monsters on thier own time. Of course, the first few times you'll refresh yourself on Breath Weapon, but that is not going to be a permanent state of consciousness.

In a lot of ways, it's even easier than using 500 pre-statted monsters with unique abilities. I mean, I have a lot of 3.X DnD experience and I have absolutely no confidence that I could run a MM4 monster without reading the full entry because almost all of the abilities will be unique and the stat block will be definitely unique, but I do have confidence that I could use a generation system with sets of stat blocks and a unified ability list.

[Username17]

K is joking, right? That was an actual joke post, where he insists that all DMs should have years of experience and already made monsters hundreds of times and each power dozens of times. That beginner DMs don't exist.

Basically, yes. K had sort of a core of an interesting idea, but under careful analysis it was determined to be unfeasible horseshit. In a face to face discussion, that would basically be the end of it. But since people won't back down on the internet even after having been proved wrong by expert testimony, eye witnesses, DNA evidence, and pure logic applied to mathematical axioms, he continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into a rhetorical hole.

I think I can get the gist of that in under fifteen seconds and remember that well enough that I can pick it off a list of a bunch of similar level-appropriate abilities without needing to read them all in full and spend an hour contemplating the perfect ability combo.

That's fucking wonderful, but you've already failed. Because the task you've set for yourself was to be able to select all the powers and make the actual monster in less than a minute. If just reading one of the powers you've selected is taking you fifteen seconds, you won't even be able to do a first pass read of all the powers on the monster your system has output in under a minute. And you still have to actually select the powers in the first place. You've just lost this argument. Even your own overly optimistic assessment of your own abilities doesn't add up to this plan making any sense.

And of course, we're still confronted with the cold hard reality that long before anyone could ever be an expert in the system they would have to be a novice, and such a person would take longer than you or I to grok any particular entry and would have to read all the different powers on the elementals list before settling on ice breath in the first place.

Synergy is not important for monsters because CR is always going to be a fluid concept.

This is bullshit. You're playing a very obvious semantic shell game to dodge a very real and obvious complaint. It is trivially obvious that having a level appropriate attack and a level appropriate defense is better than having two level appropriate attacks or two level appropriate defenses. Having a powerful but conditional ability is great if you already have a low payout reliable ability to fall back on when it's not available and kind of ass when you don't.

Picking abilities at random like you are advocating is going to produce shitty results even if all the abilities are very well balanced. Unless of course, your system has a bunch of sub menus and constraints - at which point it won't be fast or simple anymore because it has a bunch of fucking sub menus and constraints!

Again, you've clearly and demonstrably lost this part of the argument. The most dedicated speed monster creation trials you could hold up are not only not fast enough, but they don't even produce results that are good.

---

When it comes down to it, making a bunch of rapid selections when creating a monster isn't even a reasonable goal. If you care so little about your new Scorpion Eel monster that it doesn't bother you if they don't end up with a poison stinger attack, why the fuck do you need to create a monster in the first place? You could just reskin a Sea Tiger or something.

A reskinned monster out of the basic book may not have abilities that make sense for the monster you have imagined, but if you're picking abilities rapidly or even randomly that's going to be true anyway. At least a reskinned monster was made by an actual designer and hopefully has a workable selection of stats and powers for whatever the fuck it originally was supposed to do. Heck, it might have even been playtested at some point!

-Username17

[K]

A reskinned monster out of the basic book may not have abilities that make sense for the monster you have imagined, but if you're picking abilities rapidly or even randomly that's going to be true anyway. At least a reskinned monster was made by an actual designer and hopefully has a workable selection of stats and powers for whatever the fuck it originally was supposed to do. Heck, it might have even been playtested at some point!

First, monster design is already random. There is no logic for why Rakshasas have Sorcerer spellcasting and why demons get spell-likes. There is no underlying design philosophy for why gold dragons get Foresight when they get to Great Wyrm status. It's all some guy picking abilities at random with some vague theme and ALL OF THE MONSTERS LOOK LIKE THAT.

This shit was never even playtested. That's why pixies and trolls even exist in their 3.x form. It would take years of actual play to even run 400 battles with just one party set-up, much less the hundreds of possible combinations of unique abilities and party set-ups.

You don't need perfect monsters. You don't need perfectly tweaked stats and you don't unique abilities to make monsters feel unique. That way leads to massive unplaytested material and a lot of reading of the MM because you don't know what anything can ever do because it's a snowflake. Seriously, if you told me that we were fighting a CR 9 Undead monster from MM4 I'd have absolutely no idea what stats it might have or what abilities it might be using, and I'd have to spend five minutes reading the whole entry because it's all new material to me.

That's why you create a system. You playtest the stat lines and you playtest the abilities and you fix anything with extreme synergy or otherwise badly designed. People learn the abilities as they play and that makes using the system easy and fast even when you design on-the-fly.

Do you honestly think that DMs are grabbing a MM and reading a new entry during a game to discover the random stat line and random and unique snowflake abilities for a new monster? Is that honestly easier than using a stat line you've seen a hundred times and abilities you know because the show up on monsters you use all the time?

[Username17]

K, seriously, you're not making any fucking sense. Obviously you'd want to playtest things. Obviously you'd want to design things well.

But you are simultaneously arguing that individual powers are going to be designed by Game Design Jesus and balanced in perfect harmony with the spheres and yet actual monsters are going to be designed by Mike Mearls. You can't have it both ways. Whoever designs the powers and inputs for the build-a-monster system is the same group of people who are writing the monsters in your monster manual because the book only has one set of authors.

If the monsters are poorly designed crap, the powers on your build-a-monster lists will be poorly designed crap. If the powers on your build-a-monster lists are well designed, well balanced, and thoroughly playtested, then so will the actual monsters in your pregenerated monster writeups. You only have the one set of designers working on the Monster Manual, and they are going to be good or bad to essentially the same extent no matter what part of the book they happen to be writing.

-Username17

[Foxwarrior]

I think I see what K is getting at. If you embrace the principles of the SGT, a CR 6 monster only needs to be as balanced as the fact that the castle you're trying to get to is floating on a cloud. That relaxes the pressures on your monster creation system quite a lot.

I could see a board game built around fighting monsters randomly generated according to K's specifications being actually rather fun (the title: "Steve Hunter"). Much of the fun would be derived from randomly occurring synergies, though, so I'm pretty sure K's nod towards balance is completely misguided.

[OgreBattle]

The Tome True Fiend and Fiendish Brute seem like a good place to start with monster creation:

http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/True_Fiend_(3.5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Fiendish_B ... .5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Tome_Fiend_Feats

[Username17]

The Tome True Fiend and Fiendish Brute seem like a good place to start with monster creation:

http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/True_Fiend_(3.5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Fiendish_B ... .5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Tome_Fiend_Feats

Not really. Those would be things to keep in mind when making a class for player characters to mimic monsters, but are too fiddly and too accumulatory to really be used to whip up a monster in a short amount of time.

The needs of monsters and of player characters are different. The player character has to feel fully customized and is the sole province of a single player. The monster has to be easily grokkable as a tectical concept by both players and MCs very quickly. MCs need to make monsters fast enough that all of the monster for next week's session can be done up during prep time. The PCs don't have that restriction, and indeed interacting with their character growth is a major part of an open ended game.

-Username17

[K]

The Tome True Fiend and Fiendish Brute seem like a good place to start with monster creation:

http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/True_Fiend_(3.5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Fiendish_B ... .5e_Class)
http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Tome_Fiend_Feats

When I wrote those, I was trying really really hard to fit PC fiends into the existing model of the "made-randomly-by-perfect-designers" monsters already in the Monster Manual AND the constraints of the flaws in DnD's multiclassing system. That put a whole lot of limits on what I could even attempt.

It's fiddly, a bit unbalanced, and not nearly as well flavored as I would like. The Sphere system in particular is a straight desperate attempt to create a retrofitted system of demon powers into the per-day limits set in the MMs for other fiends, and the feats don't represent nearly enough options because I didn't want to overwhelm players and DMs with the large numbers of choices; I went for a "supplement-sized" system instead of a complete rewrite and new concept for the monster system ("book-sized") that I later realize in the middle of the process was desperately needed,. The smaller size and lack of deviation from standard DnD was never going to meet the demands of the task.

I also went from initial idea to final design in two days, so I can't say that I tried enough design ideas or spent any time at all streamlining. I didn't even watch any low-budget demon movies for ideas to steal.

That being said, it's a pretty big use-case for why designers should not attempt a mishmash of unique/random-design monsters and ordered and balanced PC classes. The result is both mechanically complex needlessly AND jarring in terms of flavor the instant you want to create monster/PC hybrids for PCs or NPCs (and people desperately want to do that).

The takeaway from the experience was that complex designs are rarely better than simple ones if you want people to adopt and enjoy them. People love options and hate doing homework on learning how to design perfectly interlocking parts of a machine (See Eclipse Phase for another use case of a great idea ruined by a complex system).

[OgreBattle]

It's fiddly, a bit unbalanced, and not nearly as well flavored as I would like. The Sphere system in particular is a straight desperate attempt to create a retrofitted system of demon powers into the per-day limits set in the MMs for other fiends, and the feats don't represent nearly enough options because I didn't want to overwhelm players and DMs with the large numbers of choices; I went for a "supplement-sized" system instead of a complete rewrite and new concept for the monster system ("book-sized") that I later realize in the middle of the process was desperately needed,. The smaller size and lack of deviation from standard DnD was never going to meet the demands of the task.

Your fiendish spheres are easy to grasp and I like the Tome Mage based off of it.

How would you change the sphere system to be something that stands alone, instead of retrofitting D&D3.5e fiend powers? The 'complete rewrite' version. Would you be changing the 1/day->3/Day->at-will concept?

I've been pondering my own take on it, but it basically looks the same except 3/day becomes 1/encounter.

[Username17]

It's fiddly, a bit unbalanced, and not nearly as well flavored as I would like. The Sphere system in particular is a straight desperate attempt to create a retrofitted system of demon powers into the per-day limits set in the MMs for other fiends, and the feats don't represent nearly enough options because I didn't want to overwhelm players and DMs with the large numbers of choices; I went for a "supplement-sized" system instead of a complete rewrite and new concept for the monster system ("book-sized") that I later realize in the middle of the process was desperately needed,. The smaller size and lack of deviation from standard DnD was never going to meet the demands of the task.

Your fiendish spheres are easy to grasp and I like the Tome Mage based off of it.

How would you change the sphere system to be something that stands alone, instead of retrofitting D&D3.5e fiend powers? The 'complete rewrite' version. Would you be changing the 1/day->3/Day->at-will concept?

I've been pondering my own take on it, but it basically looks the same except 3/day becomes 1/encounter.

if we were to do it from the ground up, we'd have the abilities assigned to timing categories from the get-go. There are abilities that matter how often they are used in a day, and abilities that don't. There are abilities that matter how closely together the charges can be discharged, and abilities that don't.

So imagine you had an ability like Stone to Flesh. Every daily charge you have is one petrified ally you can revive. If you can do it once per day, a fight against the Gorgons will take half a week to recover from. If you can do it six times a day, you can recover from the Gorgon fight in time for the next encounter. If you can do it a hundred times a day, you can heal the entire Garden of Stilled Voices in the wrap-up of the Medusa Queen fight. There are actual palpable differences in what your daily limit allows you to do.

But imagine instead an ability like Animate Dead. It allows you to create your zombie army and refresh it when your zombie army is depleted. But so long as your zombie army doesn't get depleted, you don't need to recast it at all. And there's never any call to use it more than once after any encounter. Being able to use it once per day or even once per week isn't especially different from having it once per hour or even unlimited times per day.

So probably going to a Sphere system from the ground up, powers would have cool-downs or charge limits on them, and then they would also have values defined for cool downs or charge limits if you had double or triple sphere specialization. Some abilities might also have level effects on their charge limits or cool-down times to account for abilities that simply have their need for rationing expire at higher levels.

-Username17

[Krakatoa]

Do you honestly think that DMs are grabbing a MM and reading a new entry during a game to discover the random stat line and random and unique snowflake abilities for a new monster? Is that honestly easier than using a stat line you've seen a hundred times and abilities you know because the show up on monsters you use all the time?

You could just change "2d6+10 fire damage and the target is knocked prone" to "2d6+10 cold damage and the target is immobilized." Let the fiction of the monster inform what its powers do using your game's standard status effects. No lists are required.