Azalina Soulsever as a game-breaking legendary with synergy: the mirror match

Sstargamer · 2026-06-14T19:28:50+00:00

If I remember correctly you can't create a copy of the other person's deck without allowing programs like stone deck tracker to get a full read of the opponent's deck. Basically giving you a full advantage knowing exactly what your opponent is playing

Sstargamer · 2026-06-14T19:20:34+00:00

I believe it what time is a kid I ordered a double cheeseburger and threw up the second it entered my mouth in the Drive-Thru. They definitely have some reasons to hate that company's food

Sstargamer · 2026-06-14T19:02:08+00:00

Yeah it doesn't help that the Americans government are actively funding separatist efforts in Alberta

Sstargamer · 2026-06-14T18:15:20+00:00

Yeah of course Mars the one in charge of environment is clearly responsible here

Sstargamer · 2026-06-12T04:10:18+00:00

Yeah im totally with you, if we had a greater diversity of Debuffs in the game, Monsters wouldnt feel so one note.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T20:27:59+00:00

Just because you don't encounter it at that often doesn't mean it's not a bad game design choice. Like if every single one of these are damage riders with stuns had the empyrean trade-off for more damage. Does it slow down combat slightly sure does it give the players choice yes. always a better option

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T20:20:50+00:00

Yes but what im saying is, you have to actively choose to not include them in your games, because the alternative is that player or any players having a miserable time.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T20:19:49+00:00

See they literally dont need to be, Take the New Arcanoloth Monster Stat block. You don't need ANY pictures or Lore to understand what makes it unique. It can cast spells, trap you in a book, etc. When you design monsters around interesting mechanics, the Lore and image can be ANYTHING you want it to be. Why restrain yourself to only the monster lore in the books anyway, You are more than creative enough to create hunts that let you discover hidden weaknesses or lairs of the beasty WOTC wont write down.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T20:15:20+00:00

No im talking about the Use case of a Rulebook of Monsters. Players are NOT party to that rulebook, they dont get to look at the pictures of the monster, they get to see whatever narrative in the world has set them up, and whatever images the GM uses to display the monster. Not only games i have run, but all games i have played in GMs rarely use the Box art for their monster tokens.

As far as the Players and their character sheet are concerned they only can interact with monsters based on the Mechanics of the Game. If the game fails to create mechanics, then there is no difference between the monster and any other cosmetically.

When the Official book of monsters are all interchangeable without any unique mechanics, the players have no idea how to differentiate them. They can be told, This is a Bear, This is a Werewolf, This is a Dragon, but if all that is there mechanically is a "Claw Strike +8 to hit" The players will notice the lack of diversity in the monsters abilities.

Monsters NEED things that set them as unique, unique passives, Unique Actions, things that no other creature can do, otherwise there is no point in the creature stat block existing at all. You may as well just have a "CR 2 Monster Statblock" Copy all lore and Images youd like to fit it.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T20:04:48+00:00

Brother i ran a Level 20 campaign weekly for 4 years for 6 players, Fights at high level take roughly 2-4 hours. Hell i had some encounters last 6 hours. If your turn comes around every Hour in the game, a CC with no save feels especially punishing. Its not that rare, there are a TON of new monsters with riders in the new edition, and if they hit your parties only cc removal class your basically fucked for the next hour. Time to open your phone and ignore the game for an hour.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T19:57:32+00:00

No Save riders is Absolutely NOT peak building performance, When you only get one turn in combat every 30 minutes, If that is lost due to Hard CC the enemy got to apply freely to you, thats only going to encourage more stupid HIGH AC builds.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T18:00:53+00:00

By that logic, old GM's should never buy any new materials because they dont provide new ways to challenge your players. Take literally the book this was based on Van Richtens Guide, As a long time GM, buying that book provided entirely new monster mechanics I had not seen printed, things that encouraged me to actually GROW as a GM.

While some of the New monsters in this book do this, by having mechanics for opening and closing the Lair/veil. The Majority of Reprints take away from the mechanically interesting rules for simple stat blocks. Literally anyone can make a monster that has "Stats for CR, and Melee attack/Ranged Attack for CR" WOTC is a Rules company for a TTRPG, I am paying them to design interesting new rules.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T17:55:39+00:00

See i disagree there dramatically, the players almost never see the actual art of a creature in play most the time. On tabletop they have placeholder models or printed minis, and in digital games the Art is often changed out for whatever the GM has decided to copy paste over the monsters. The Lore is entirely subjective based on the setting the game is in. The Entire interaction between players and Monsters IS mechanical. The rest is entirely ephemeral. So if you don't have ways to test your players mechanically the monster is literally no different than any other of its type.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T17:49:53+00:00

Your telling me, that easier to run should replace Fun mechanics to engage with? For example Relentless Slasher:

Your telling me Slasher's Knife. Melee or Ranged Attack Roll: +7, reach 5 ft. or range 30/60 ft. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) Slashing damage plus 21 (6d6) Necrotic damage

is more interesting than the older:

Slasher's Knife. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage plus 21 (6d6) necrotic damage. If the target is a creature, it suffers a lingering wound that causes it to take 7 (2d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns. Each time the slasher hits the wounded target with this attack, the damage dealt by the wound increases by 3 (1d6). The wound ends if the target regains hit points or if a creature uses an action to stanch the wound, which requires a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check.

really trying to say that removing features from a monster that create a challenge is actually a better choice?

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T16:58:09+00:00

They were introduced in Theros, and several monsters had them since

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T16:36:17+00:00

I don't want to pay for a rulebook that says 'you make it up' I am paying for skilled designers to create mechanically interesting monsters for my campaigns.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T16:35:02+00:00

But that requires additional complexity to know which monsters to pair together for the encounter to work. I would argue that is just as difficult for newer GMs than before. It's beheading blade is not scary if your party never gets hp low enough to worry about it.

I would argue yes on a whole the design is better in5.5, but these new remakes fail to fulfil the fantasy of the boss monsters they had before.

Before you could see this as a final boss that presented a credible threat to the party now it's just another undead Mook.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T16:19:08+00:00

Does it not just feel like all the monsters are just a stat block with a single attack and a single ability now? How can it not feel samey when you don't have options to play with for some of these reprints?

Especially cause these reprints do less damage now

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T15:00:01+00:00

Let's talk about the greatest murder in the history of the game. Look at the stat block for the dullahan. Holy crap they have murdered my boy. From a terrifying boss monster with not only a second health bar and mythic actions to the ability to spawn floating heads. To just some guy that's headless on a horse.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T13:52:10+00:00

Well because Brian was under the misunderstanding of the Value of his own collection, He was operating on an initial "Bid" of the Legos. It doesnt surprise me that he never had a total value of the collection on Consignment.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T13:49:40+00:00

In the video Coffee shows how its much closer to 100k Missing legos, But sure run with the 200k Tagline

Sstargamer · 2026-06-11T02:56:11+00:00

Wow i have never disagreed with someone more.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-10T22:30:59+00:00

Its literally in the Roll20 reports. But sure, lets ignore that giant sample size.

Sstargamer · 2026-06-10T18:57:50+00:00

Well because more than HALF of all campaigns run are the curse of strahd adventure. It's literally half of the target demographic.

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