Another thing that has always bugged me about various RPG beastiaries is that they are all do-it-yourself. Here are the dice to role to determine this and that. RuneQuest 2 at least provided the average number so that you could quickly create an average creature but nobody else has followed suit.
A beastiary should have stat-blocks ready to go. Not just for the average but for big and small versions. If done correctly a GM could just transcribe or copy/paste the info and populate an adventure quickly, or just use the book on the fly.
As I've been thinking about the beastiary(s) I'd create it occured to me that i've grouped beasts together in two situations. (1) When the beasts were behaviorally the same even if they were drastically different. An example would be Canines. A Chihauha and a German Shepard behave basically the same except one can back up the threat more than the other so they'd need different statblocks. (2) When the beasts are basically the same but behave differently. My example here would be Elves. From a Statblock point of view the Wood Elf and Dark Elf are basically the same, but culturally (the part required when putting an adventure or campaign together) they are night and day. Still their weapon, armor, & spell choices would be different so a partial stat-block of that info for each type is probably warranted. Same with humans, Desert Nomads have a different culture from Civilized or Feudal humans, they'll have different weapons and armor and all that, but both will have the same 3d6 for every attribute when it comes to their stats.
Anyway that's been on my mind so I thought I'd write it out specifically before I go on.
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