https://www.dndbeyond.com/changelog#UpdatingtheDDBeyondToolsetforthe2024CoreRulebooks

Having just read the recent changelog update (linked above), I have learned of something I had previously been unaware of. I have intentionally been avoiding all of the online hype and splash about the upcoming releases for the revised 5th edition of D&D so as to have the benefit of taking in the material when I purchase them with as little outside opinion affecting my own opinions as possible. To that end I was unaware u til just a few moments ago that WorC has overhauled the layout of monster stat blocks. Here is an image for comparison (excerpted from the changelog linked above):

Now, is it just me, or is that new star block ugly as sin?!? I mean, I’m all for function over form as a general rule, but damn, that’s so aesthetically unpleasing as to make me sadder just looking at it. I mean, it’s like it was designed by the same people who designed comunist are apartment buildings in the USSR for crying out loud. Didn’t anyone look at that and say, “wow, that’s really ugly, maybe we should do something about that.” As a DM I spend more time looking at monsters than I do looking at my characters sheets as a player. I don’t want to have to look at those ugly ass things all that much time. I’m gonna need a vitamin D supplement just to not get depressed if I have to look at those that long.

What do you think? Is it just me? Am I being too critical? Or are they really actually as ugly as they seem to me?

I do like the new info, and think the addition of saves, initiative and proficiency bonus' will be useful for new DM's, but considering how much the art is praised in this book it is disappointing to see the layout and color decisions.

I also think it is pretty darn ugly - but am guessing I will mostly get over that once the initial shock wears off.  Consolidating similar information in simple, easy-to-grasp tables and better headers that do not get lost in a sea of text are both significant improvements that should make reading them in the heat of battle a bit easier.

Now, that doesn’t mean I’ll ever find them attractive - but I also am the kind of person who is still sad they changed the Magic card frames.. and that happened two decades ago.

The stat block is fine, but wow they nerfed the dire wolf.

I'm not too put off by the new stat block coloration. But I'm also not the most artistically inclined person either.

I do see utility to some of the reorganization. Though two things stick out to me.

1. Why did they choose a Dire Wolf picture without the proficiency bonus? I currently see the proficiency bonus.

2. I'm curious how it will handle the AC of armored enemies. In the current it has "Armor Class: 14 (natural armor)" whereas the new one just says the AC is 14. I find the source of AC useful if running monsters like hobgoblins because it shows you need to subtract 2 AC if they're using the longbow as part of that AC is from shield. And by mentioning they're wearing chainmail you can know if the druid can cast heat metal on them.

form wise, it is fine. A bit too much empty space in certain areas. What it doesn't do any favors are the colors. There are 5 different colors for highlighted text (title, proficiency, sense, rules, condition). Then the background color looks a really ugly beige.

If they change the colors a bit, this if fine looking.

Quote from IamSposta >>

What do you think? Is it just me? Am I being too critical? Or are they really actually as ugly as they seem to me?

 Honestly?

Aesthetically, I think it is a downgrade in appearance. It makes it feel...modern? I liked the almost "this is on a scroll" feel to it in the old statblock style.

I'm also unsure what to make of the "additional information". It's possible that the Dire Wolf is just a poor example of what it's meant to do better, but I'm not seeing it presenting any new information (fundamental changes to the creature's stats aside). Having the Saves be presented on the matrix is nice for creatures that have proficiency in saves, but also just eats into white space for those that don't (which is what jumped out to me for the example, since it isn't proficient in any, so it's needless duplication).

Explicit Initiative Bonus is nice I guess, but there's less information being presented, less whitespace (in this example there is actually more, but that's because they've removed a feature for the creature and, again due to changes to the creature rather than style of statblock, has less information to present for the attack) and the lack of separating lines makes it marginally harder to parse at a glance. On the plus side, Saves will be a bit more intuitive to find.

It could be worse, but I do think it's a step down, but I think I'd need to actually play with it to make a final judgment.

The block does look ugly. It's not that i love the old one particularly, but the new one does seem objectively worse, both aesthetically and functionally.

• Saved space using abbreviations or acronyms, then do nothing with the space? why, what's the point? why make this change?
• Oh, but don't forget to say None instead of leaving languages blank. When it was blank we all just got confused as to what languages wolves speak?
• the massive gap between the left and right columns, why? were there genuine concerns people couldn't handle the narrower gap? all those people who aren't able to read a book from one page to another without getting confused? what's the philosophy or reasoning behind this change?
• AC and Initiative can share a line. Speed and hit points cannot. i get Speed could include more movement types; what's the reasoning behind this?
• The name needs to be able to run across the entire card, for the sake of more wasted whitespace? because if a creature has a truly massive name, you don't want to have to split it onto multiple lines? what proportion of monsters does that apply to?
• why are the attribute/mod/saves tables so small? why not fill out the left column with them? what's that massive gap to the right of them actually for?
• It presents the same information, but with more empty space? why then make it even bigger overall? is the concern people can't read the statblocks, and don't know how to adjust for that (move closer to book, wear glasses, zoom in on screen, increase default font size, increase scaling on desktop/device) so we all need marginally bigger print?
• If a different creature would have better demonstrated the changes in a positive light, then do that. It doesn't even need to be a real creature, it could be a Loremipsumosaurus if it fits better and shows us what you're trying to show us.
• If the whitespace is beneficial, why not have a full two inch border of whitespace around every block. it'll make them stand out more and provide more whitespace for whatever purpose you're including all the other extra whitespace. if it's better with the current changes then my proposed change will only further improve it.

This feels like change for the sake of it, where each individual change might be justifiable, but the sum of them all appears to have no thought or intent behind it.

It's all very well telling us what's changing, but if the changes seem unwarranted then why bother? I'm optimistically going to assume it's for the sake of transparency and mutual understanding rather than 'this is what we're changing that you should want to pay for' as marketing patter, but if so why show stuff that just raises more questions.

and then there's the direwolf.

so add expertise in perception, darkvision, remove half the hp, then nerf the damage because hits automatically make their targets prone. presumably there are no saves against any forms of going prone in the 2024 rules? otherwise what would the logic be that a wolf has an unstoppable ability to prone anything it can bite that fits inside a 15' cube. strength 29 storm giant? brought to the floor with one hit. Indeed, it means it's not possible for the wolf to bite anything without making the thing go prone, regardless of whether it's hunting or acting out of self defense. Sure, it's streamlined now, if that's your reasoning. Is that a good thing? what does streamlining mean to you? is it simplification? is all simplification good? Will every spell or effect that makes anyone go prone have no save associated, or is it that the wolf possesses a physical ability stronger than any magic?

These aren't rhetorical questions, i genuinely want to understand because what's been communicated has only raised further questions.

It looks okay, seems like things will be easier to find but I wish they couldve done it in a prettier way. I liked the paper look. Wont really bother me much I think

The original wasn’t much to look at either, but it is a downgrade. Think it’s gone from a 3 to a 2.

I really like it, once our brain gets used to it there's so much less to slow processing. If you want a fancy stat block it should be fairly simple to make a browser script to make it more funky. As it is, I was prefer the function here rather than any prettiness'. 

I like that they added in needed info, like Initiative, and the general layout is fairly similar.

The only thing I don't think is aesthetically appealing is the way they show the Ability Scores.
Having them listed from left to right like they used to could still have been achieved, if they then put the 'MOD' and 'SAVE' under the Ability Value.

I don't think it will break anything for me, and will just take some getting used to.

Cheers!

I think it is fine. Very middle-of-the-pack. I think the color is not as pleasant as the previous version, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. They could work on contrast between the background color and the "Trait" and "Actions" heading colors.

I also agree there is too much white space between the two columns. There was maybe not enough in the older version, but they overcorrected.

I also agree that they should re-add some information that was on the previous version, like the Natural Armor in the AC, unless something about the new rules means you don't need to know what kind of armor an NPC is wearing (heat metal, shocking grasp, etc).

Content-wise, I'm sad about losing the Keen Hearing and Smell description, and wonder about the lack of save against being prone.

Quote from adrockadrock >>

Will every spell or effect that makes anyone go prone have no save associated, or is it that the wolf possesses a physical ability stronger than any magic?

It looks like the philosophy is "something will have an attack roll or a save, but not both". At least for minor conditions.

They've talked about making everything's power more accurate for their CR, I wonder if they've changed the defaults for CR. Because while the 2024 dire wolf was on the high end for both attack and defense, by 2014 standards the new dire wolf is kind of low. It's not at the absolute bottom, it's still above the 2014 ghoul (and if that turns no save on paralysis... yikes).

I don't love the background color, but it is slightly easier to read the text (for me at least). There is a whole lot trapped white space in that design which never looks good and the color choices for the abilities blocks do seem a bit weird.

The Ability and Saving Throw blocks are better. The red/blue words pop out more for me—the color contrast is helpful.

Quote from adrockadrock >>

and then there's the direwolf.

so add expertise in perception, darkvision, remove half the hp, then nerf the damage because hits automatically make their targets prone. presumably there are no saves against any forms of going prone in the 2024 rules? otherwise what would the logic be that a wolf has an unstoppable ability to prone anything it can bite that fits inside a 15' cube. strength 29 storm giant? brought to the floor with one hit. Indeed, it means it's not possible for the wolf to bite anything without making the thing go prone, regardless of whether it's hunting or acting out of self defense. Sure, it's streamlined now, if that's your reasoning. Is that a good thing? what does streamlining mean to you? is it simplification? is all simplification good? Will every spell or effect that makes anyone go prone have no save associated, or is it that the wolf possesses a physical ability stronger than any magic?

These aren't rhetorical questions, i genuinely want to understand because what's been communicated has only raised further questions.

FWIW, the Dire Wolf itself is the size of a horse, so yeah... in my head it makes enough sense for anything up to large.  Huge?  Possible, but a bit of a stretch (always going after calves, hamstrings, etc.).

As far as the block aesthetics go...  Odd background color choice.  Too much white space.  Not terribly bothered by it, but subjectively I do think it's a tad worse.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

The stat block is fine, but wow they nerfed the dire wolf.

 Yes and no. Less damage and less HP, sure, but now its trip ability is automatic (no saving throw) and works on any creature up to Huge, creatures that would have been easily passing a DC 13 Strength save anyway. This is going to be quite an early lockdown form for Moon Druids I think, especially since you keep the Grappler feat in wild shape.

Quote from kayakingpoodle >>

I do like the new info, and think the addition of saves, initiative and proficiency bonus' will be useful for new DM's, but considering how much the art is praised in this book it is disappointing to see the layout and color decisions.

 Agreed. I think the information is great but the layout and color choices seem to have been taken in a direction I would not have preferred. I am kind of hoping it will be like Caerwyn_Glyndwr suggested and it is just shock that will wear off and, hopefully, this time next year, I won't miss the old look. Right now though, it is my first major frown regarding the 2024 rules.

Quote from PsyrenXY >>

 Yes and no. Less damage and less HP, sure, but now its trip ability is automatic (no saving throw) and works on any creature up to Huge, creatures that would have been easily passing a DC 13 Strength save anyway. This is going to be quite an early lockdown form for Moon Druids I think, especially since you keep the Grappler feat in wild shape.

 Bite isn't an unarmed strike. This also makes me wonder what they'll do with bears (which have always been a huge outlier on CR 1 attack power). Change their CR? Remove multiattack?