Ze Groupe wrote: Again i like the idea that monsters don't have DP's for speeds sake, but this leads to a wierd situation where only Fully Fledged NPC's can dodge, evade etc but not world eating monsters..
World eating monsters can dodge, evade, etc. It's just that the GM describes it any way he likes, using a single HP score. Player characters having DP pools helps create a narrative in combat. Doing the same for all monsters does not, because the GM has
full control over describing how each attack is mitigated.
Imho, it should either be ONLY pc's have it, or EVERYONE, purely for internal consistancy fi nothing else.
The players don't have to know, that's part of the magic of being behind the screen as the GM. You describe it as the monster takes it.
That way you don't end up with your players going "so, the evil mercenary can evade and block, but not the gigantic epic dragon of doom!?".
The gigantic dragon may not bother with moving aside in the first place
Disclaimer- I am in no way 100% down with all the monster creation rules so if i have missed something please just say.
The only thing you're missing is that you don't have to reveal everything about an opponent faced. You have control over how the PC's actions affect the monster in question.
Why then, you might ask, did I split hit points into various pools for players? Because it enchances the narrative flow of combat. Honestly, that was the only reason. It
forces players to contribute a narrative to their character's actions. Some players have been better at this than others all along, I realize, and I'm not saying games that stick to a single hit point score have somehow *failed*. I do believe the reason for splitting HP into multiple pools is great for PCs, but falls apart in most cases for GM controlled monsters.
Don't let those players behind your screen!
an optional rule!