Shade
Monster Junkie
I picked up MMV yesterday, and I have to say I'm very impressed. This is easily the best Monster Manual since the Fiend Folio.
It's no secret that I feel that MMIV is the worst of the monster books released in Third Edition, so I was hesitant to pick this one up, especially since I knew that classed monsters (my biggest gripe with MMIV) would be present once more. But the early buzz and excerpts led me to take a chance, and I'm glad I did.
I've only given it a brief look-through so far, but I really like what I see, and already want to use over half the creatures in this book.
The spirrax is my early favorite. An extraplanar nautiloid aberration that fires death rays and has a powerful shell that deteriorates as it takes damage before revealing the creepy interior...count me in!
The dalmosh is another early favorite. It's essentially a unique demon combined with the tarrasque with a very nice plot hook.
The garngrath is another "instant classic", and it hails from the under-utilized Pandemonium, which is always welcome. It's another Erythnul-linked creature, but far more powerful (and interesting, IMHO) than the windblades in MMIV. The planes get some good attention in MMV, and its nice to see the under-utilized realms like Arcadia starting to get some attention.
I'm a huge fan of ties to other creatures, and this book delivers. The merchurion is linked to Surtur, the Ember Guard to Imix, and other references abound.
I like the inclusion of several unique creatures, such as the dalmosh and Illurien, an entity from the Outlands.
I'm glad to see the pendulum swinging back to monsters that aren't just "one-trick ponies", but actually have a variety of abilities. Several of the monsters have death throes and contingency powers, which make for entertaining battles. The neatest innovations are the creatures that can take damage to alter themselves in battle...some almost seem like Transformers tie-ins.
The dreaded "MM critters with class levels" are present once again, but are much better this time. The kuo-toas are mostly unique variants that recreate classic kuo-toa roles from past editions, like whip and monitor. The Thoon stuff is among the best in the book, and I'll probably be using half of these critters in the near future. These go way beyond "illithids with class levels". Most are entirely new creatures, and the few variants are mostly very much altered. The hobgoblins didn't do much for me, but at least they are more than just hobs with class levels. The vampires would have been nice in a Rogue's Gallery/Enemies and Allies type book, but they left me with that feeling of opportunity cost more than any other portion of the book. Drop this last type of entries and give me the gacholoth and hydroloth, or one of the other host of unupdated classics and I'll be even happier with MMVI.
Sure, the book has a few duds, but don't they all? I'm glad to see the MM series is getting back on track. If you loathed MMIV, give MMV a chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
It's no secret that I feel that MMIV is the worst of the monster books released in Third Edition, so I was hesitant to pick this one up, especially since I knew that classed monsters (my biggest gripe with MMIV) would be present once more. But the early buzz and excerpts led me to take a chance, and I'm glad I did.
I've only given it a brief look-through so far, but I really like what I see, and already want to use over half the creatures in this book.
The spirrax is my early favorite. An extraplanar nautiloid aberration that fires death rays and has a powerful shell that deteriorates as it takes damage before revealing the creepy interior...count me in!
The dalmosh is another early favorite. It's essentially a unique demon combined with the tarrasque with a very nice plot hook.
The garngrath is another "instant classic", and it hails from the under-utilized Pandemonium, which is always welcome. It's another Erythnul-linked creature, but far more powerful (and interesting, IMHO) than the windblades in MMIV. The planes get some good attention in MMV, and its nice to see the under-utilized realms like Arcadia starting to get some attention.
I'm a huge fan of ties to other creatures, and this book delivers. The merchurion is linked to Surtur, the Ember Guard to Imix, and other references abound.
I like the inclusion of several unique creatures, such as the dalmosh and Illurien, an entity from the Outlands.
I'm glad to see the pendulum swinging back to monsters that aren't just "one-trick ponies", but actually have a variety of abilities. Several of the monsters have death throes and contingency powers, which make for entertaining battles. The neatest innovations are the creatures that can take damage to alter themselves in battle...some almost seem like Transformers tie-ins.
The dreaded "MM critters with class levels" are present once again, but are much better this time. The kuo-toas are mostly unique variants that recreate classic kuo-toa roles from past editions, like whip and monitor. The Thoon stuff is among the best in the book, and I'll probably be using half of these critters in the near future. These go way beyond "illithids with class levels". Most are entirely new creatures, and the few variants are mostly very much altered. The hobgoblins didn't do much for me, but at least they are more than just hobs with class levels. The vampires would have been nice in a Rogue's Gallery/Enemies and Allies type book, but they left me with that feeling of opportunity cost more than any other portion of the book. Drop this last type of entries and give me the gacholoth and hydroloth, or one of the other host of unupdated classics and I'll be even happier with MMVI.
Sure, the book has a few duds, but don't they all? I'm glad to see the MM series is getting back on track. If you loathed MMIV, give MMV a chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
