Fifth Edition Foes Monster Book

The PDF's out? How cool!

 

[Zaukrie]

Nice book on first glance.

 

[Jason.knepper]

So excited for this, but the challenge ratings seem a bit skewed for some creatures. Dark Creepers are the same challenge rating/experience point value as a goblin? One has 3 hit dice, can see in perfect darkness, use poison, make sneak attacks, and explodes when you kill it, the other... Well the other is just a goblin. Noticed odd experience point values for quite a few other monsters as well. Still great to see 5E work ups for some many of my favorite monsters. Just gonna have to adjust exp values for some.

 

[Zarithar]

I am in love with this. Just got it this afternoon and I can honestly say that it has been my favorite Kickstarter reward thus far. I will be throwing a few of these monsters into the mix to shake things up for my players!

 

[Curmudjinn]

I'm not for sure if this was mentioned above, but was licensing information listed in the contents pages? There has to be some form of agreement between Wizards and Necromancer for them to reproduce and display actual 5th edition rules in this book. Great book and all, and I'm all for Necromancer, but I'm curious is Wizards is going to be outsourcing actual supplements through nonCC/SRD personal licenses/permissions.

Technically, the nongeneric old monsters are WotC IP, so sort of Jedi Mind Trick is going on.
"These aren't the intellectual properties you're looking for.."

I'm pretty excited about it either way.

 

[Jester David]

Wow, that book sounds a lot better than I expected. For some reason I thought it'd be 200-pages of newish monsters, not the classics from the Tome of Horrors.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

I'm not for sure if this was mentioned above, but was licensing information listed in the contents pages? There has to be some form of agreement between Wizards and Necromancer for them to reproduce and display actual 5th edition rules in this book. Great book and all, and I'm all for Necromancer, but I'm curious is Wizards is going to be outsourcing actual supplements through nonCC/SRD personal licenses/permissions.

I don't think that's really true - to the best of my knowledge there's no direct excerpting of 5E text (hence the comments expressing disappointment about monsters not being in quite the same format), and there's definitely no licensing agreement with Necromancer. I'm pretty sure that legally, anyone can print a book of material, monsters or otherwise, that is compatible with a given game, as long as they don't present themselves as affiliates or use copyrighted material.

They can still be sued mind you, but legally I'm pretty sure they're within their rights.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What?!? A 5E conversion of AD&D monsters? Take my money now! Where's the link?

 

[mach1.9pants]

I don't think that's really true - to the best of my knowledge there's no direct excerpting of 5E text (hence the comments expressing disappointment about monsters not being in quite the same format), and there's definitely no licensing agreement with Necromancer. I'm pretty sure that legally, anyone can print a book of material, monsters or otherwise, that is compatible with a given game, as long as they don't present themselves as affiliates or use copyrighted material.

They can still be sued mind you, but legally I'm pretty sure they're within their rights.

Basically it is very easy to use the 3e OGL to clone and/or make products for any edition of DnD- thus we have pathfinder, OSRIC, S&W, etc etc. so Frog God Games, who own Necromancer Game's names and IP, have put out some 5e compatible stuff under Necromancer banner. Note there is no mention of DnD in the product just'fifth edition', which we all know what it means but it's a legally useable phrase. So sure they can be sued but it won't be successful. IANAL etc etc, but there was a big thread on this when the kick starter was announced. Also Goodman Games and others are doing the same thing.

 

[Jester David]

I'm not for sure if this was mentioned above, but was licensing information listed in the contents pages? There has to be some form of agreement between Wizards and Necromancer for them to reproduce and display actual 5th edition rules in this book. Great book and all, and I'm all for Necromancer, but I'm curious is Wizards is going to be outsourcing actual supplements through nonCC/SRD personal licenses/permissions.

Technically, the nongeneric old monsters are WotC IP, so sort of Jedi Mind Trick is going on.
"These aren't the intellectual properties you're looking for.."

I'm pretty excited about it either way.

Necromancer games inherited the licence arranged between Frog God Games and WotC early in 3e to update monsters that became the original Tome of Horrors. This is an extension, likely done under the OGL, because cosmetically 3e and 5e look a lot alike, so long as they're careful what they reference and how they advertise.

 

[Mike D]

I missed the Kickstarter. Will these be available to the general public? Last time I looked, I did not see them for sale on the website.