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Monster Vault impressions
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<blockquote data-quote="OchreJelly" data-source="post: 5380270" data-attributes="member: 62056"><p>I got mine last night , propped up MM1 next to the new Monster Vault book, and started reading. Here are my impressions: </p><p></p><p><strong>1) The sort-of bad. </strong> I'll get the negative out of the way first. I got the impressions from the previews / podcasts that it was mostly going to be new takes on existing monsters rather than straight updates from MM1. For example, the "kobold tunneler" I believe is a new type of kobold. In my, albeit cursory, comparisons I found that there are actually way more straight MM1 ports that were updated than I expected based on this belief. Examples: All the demons and devils, displacer beasts, etc. (ok you can see I mostly made it to the D's). </p><p></p><p><strong>2) As to those updated monsters...</strong> With that out of the way, I'm <em>glad </em>they were updated. I just wish there was a bit more transparency on the designers' part. They won't really ever out-right say that most of MM1 was underpowered, but whatever I drank the coolaid so here I am. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>The updates in general are very nice. Brutes in particular got a very nice overhaul that puts them in line with the new math. Unfortunately I don't have the books in front of me now, but as I was doing a side-by-side comparison I recall that the Hezrou's average damage is flat-out doubled. </p><p></p><p>Besides damage, they cut out a lot of the more fiddly abilities and/or rolled those abilities into the monster's average attacks. Like the balor (I think) had an ability to reroll a missed attack as a free action. Gone. Now they have a more evocotive beheading attack that just screams damage-dealing hoss. Other fiddly bits I noticed removed: No more secondary roll on poison attacks. I observed this on at least one monster. If it's an attack like a poison sting, it's straight vs. fort + poison damage attack all handled in one attack roll. Nice. </p><p></p><p>Interestingly enough, the pit fiend lost his encounter summon ability, in exchange for a tactical leader-like ability. I guess the designers felt that a GM could handle reinforcements outside of the creature mechanic. Decent change overall.</p><p></p><p>The basic lich is more "lichy". I always thought it was incredibly un-lichlike to have "second wind" as the original base MM1 lich had. That is gone. Now the base one has a vampiric touch, a chill grasp, and enervating tentacles. There are other varieties I didn't look at closely yet.</p><p></p><p><strong>3) Solos. </strong> Many of the solos flat-out end dominate/daze/stun effects. This appeared to be true of all dragons where they just end those effects at the end of their round whether the power would require a save or not. As a dm I love this, and I think even my players were starting to get bored with some of the bad lock-down fests some of our earlier sessions had. You <em>can </em>still lock down dragons but it's limited to one round only. So coordinated players will still be able to stack them round-to-round but it's a lot less of a sure thing now, especially since the stun always ends on the dragon's turn. </p><p></p><p><strong>4) The tokens. </strong>Honestly this was the main reason I bought this kit, because I'm not a minis collector. The quality is great and every creature has a bloodied side. The "embiggenator" is a nice innovation (it's a ring that turns a large token into a huge token). </p><p></p><p>To sum up, I'm very happy with this. I haven't even cracked the adventure or the map, but for me this was a lot of bang for my buck. YMMY depending on how much you care about updated monster stats, and tokens.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="OchreJelly, post: 5380270, member: 62056"] I got mine last night , propped up MM1 next to the new Monster Vault book, and started reading. Here are my impressions: [B]1) The sort-of bad. [/B] I'll get the negative out of the way first. I got the impressions from the previews / podcasts that it was mostly going to be new takes on existing monsters rather than straight updates from MM1. For example, the "kobold tunneler" I believe is a new type of kobold. In my, albeit cursory, comparisons I found that there are actually way more straight MM1 ports that were updated than I expected based on this belief. Examples: All the demons and devils, displacer beasts, etc. (ok you can see I mostly made it to the D's). [B]2) As to those updated monsters...[/B] With that out of the way, I'm [I]glad [/I]they were updated. I just wish there was a bit more transparency on the designers' part. They won't really ever out-right say that most of MM1 was underpowered, but whatever I drank the coolaid so here I am. :) The updates in general are very nice. Brutes in particular got a very nice overhaul that puts them in line with the new math. Unfortunately I don't have the books in front of me now, but as I was doing a side-by-side comparison I recall that the Hezrou's average damage is flat-out doubled. Besides damage, they cut out a lot of the more fiddly abilities and/or rolled those abilities into the monster's average attacks. Like the balor (I think) had an ability to reroll a missed attack as a free action. Gone. Now they have a more evocotive beheading attack that just screams damage-dealing hoss. Other fiddly bits I noticed removed: No more secondary roll on poison attacks. I observed this on at least one monster. If it's an attack like a poison sting, it's straight vs. fort + poison damage attack all handled in one attack roll. Nice. Interestingly enough, the pit fiend lost his encounter summon ability, in exchange for a tactical leader-like ability. I guess the designers felt that a GM could handle reinforcements outside of the creature mechanic. Decent change overall. The basic lich is more "lichy". I always thought it was incredibly un-lichlike to have "second wind" as the original base MM1 lich had. That is gone. Now the base one has a vampiric touch, a chill grasp, and enervating tentacles. There are other varieties I didn't look at closely yet. [B]3) Solos. [/B] Many of the solos flat-out end dominate/daze/stun effects. This appeared to be true of all dragons where they just end those effects at the end of their round whether the power would require a save or not. As a dm I love this, and I think even my players were starting to get bored with some of the bad lock-down fests some of our earlier sessions had. You [I]can [/I]still lock down dragons but it's limited to one round only. So coordinated players will still be able to stack them round-to-round but it's a lot less of a sure thing now, especially since the stun always ends on the dragon's turn. [B]4) The tokens. [/B]Honestly this was the main reason I bought this kit, because I'm not a minis collector. The quality is great and every creature has a bloodied side. The "embiggenator" is a nice innovation (it's a ring that turns a large token into a huge token). To sum up, I'm very happy with this. I haven't even cracked the adventure or the map, but for me this was a lot of bang for my buck. YMMY depending on how much you care about updated monster stats, and tokens. [/QUOTE]
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