Too many monsters: what to do?

[freyar]

Recently I've noticed that I have a number of "duplicate" monsters hanging around in various PDFs or even books, and I'm wondering how to choose which one to use. I'm not talking about when one is obviously superior to the other or when you don't know what kind of monster fits in the adventure. Say I have a great place for a shape-shifting ruler of lamias in service to a demon lord --- how do I decide between pathfinder #2's lamia matriarch and the creature catalog's lamia noble conversion? (Hopefully that explains what I mean.)

What do you do?

 

[Greylock]

Kill them and take their stuff.

hth

 

[Glyfair]

First I use what fits best where I want it used. If the Lamia Matriarch fits the specific situation better I use it. If I later want to use her sister in an adventure and the Lamia Noble fits her better, then I'll use the Noble for her sister.

Second, I use a source I already use a lot. That's one reason the WotC books see more use in my games than the 3rd party books. I'm sure that's why the Tome of Horrors sees a lot of use in some games as well. Why reference dozens of books when a handful of them will give you the same use?

 

[QuaziquestGM]

Well, I consider the duplicates as variants for use in keeping the pcs guessing. It is lots of fun to hit them with older edition stirges that do hp damage, and then later hit them with the 3rd ed stirges that do con damage. I just make them slightly different colors. It also makes them put in a bit more effort....is this the type of troll that is going to get back up if they do not burn it, or is taking it to negative 10 enough?

Also, do I feel like rolling attacks for the piercers, or making the players roll saves?

What flavor do you want today? psionic snake men or magical ones?

 

[Soel]

I like to combine them, if they have different, and cool abilities. The I judge the CR change, if any.

 

[JDJblatherings]

I tend to use the version of monster that looks easier for me to run. Yeah, totally useless to you. Actually I've really loosened up a lot lately and I don't worry too much about exact scores and values much; If a monster is much weaker or much stronger then the party, the exact stats don't matter all that much to me at all, just the description and role of the creature. Recently running Rappan-athuak and Dungie came into play, I didn't worry one bit about dungies actual stats just kept it slow, weird and gross.

 

[Voadam]

Recently I've noticed that I have a number of "duplicate" monsters hanging around in various PDFs or even books, and I'm wondering how to choose which one to use. I'm not talking about when one is obviously superior to the other or when you don't know what kind of monster fits in the adventure. Say I have a great place for a shape-shifting ruler of lamias in service to a demon lord --- how do I decide between pathfinder #2's lamia matriarch and the creature catalog's lamia noble conversion? (Hopefully that explains what I mean.)

What do you do?

Look at the two and consider their differences and what I want to use the monster for.

Which one you think will be easiest to use at the table.

Which one you think has more appropriate mechanical stats for what you want.

Which one has better descriptions/flavor info you will refer back to.

Which one is a more interesting take on the concept for you.

Which one will lead to more interesting interactions with your party and how they are likely to deal with it.

 

[haakon1]

I pretty much stick to WOTC and Tome of Horrors.

 

[Asmor]

Kill them and take their stuff.

hth

Agreed.

 

[Warren Okuma]

I vote for ease of carry and reference. One critter book per location.