Dungeons & Dragons 4e is not everybody’s favorite iteration of D&D. It is a wild departure from previous versions of the classes d20 system. One thing many people are are able to attribute to 4e is its emphasis on making the DM’s job easier. Encounter building is a breeze, monsters are relatively easy to run at the table and the system’s unified mechanics provide a gentle learning curve for any new DM. It is probably one of the simplest systems for a person to begin their career behind the screen.
The unified mechanics of monsters allowed DMs to easily create monsters to fit the situation and plot if those monsters did not already exist. This is called ‘Reskinning’. Reskinning and encounter building constantly jockey between each other inside my mind for what is my favorite piece of 4e for DMs. They’re both easy to do and fun. Reskinning and creating your own monsters is all well and good but (at least for me) scouring a page of text or handwritten scribbles at the table is not nearly as user friendly as the D&D 4e Stat blocks. That’s why I use Monster Maker. If you’re not using Ian Toltz’s program or never heard of it I suggest you check it out over at Asmor.com under Scripts and Programs.
– Pixie Swarm created in Monster Maker
It has allowed me to create and save custom monsters for my campaigns in the familiar 4e stat block layout. Asmor.com also hosts a slew of other useful digital gaming aids for different systems and games ranging from Ensemble (an aid for developing PCs and NPCs) to Pokédex, which is exactly what the name implies.
Making and reskinning monsters in 4e is great fun and so much easier than building them in Pathfinder/3.x which is pretty fiddly. I haven’t tried the Monster Maker you mention but the Monster Builder that comes with a DDI subscription is very easy to use.
The CR system hinders PF/3. X I think. I’ve used the DDI Monster Builder before. I like Monster Maker since it’s a light, simple program. I also no longer have a DDI subscription, I didn’t feel WotC was making it worth my while.
You’re right about the CR system. Also took me ages to stop meticulously counting out skill points for 3.x monsters. Wanted to do it “properly”