A list of monsters would be exquisite
But if that's too much to ask, roughly how much of the book is devoted to new monsters vs. NPCs from Nentir Vale?
And do the NPCs seem readily re-fluffable?
Thanks!
Everything's tied in it's fluff to the Nentir Vale. It's all easily refluffable, and some ties are pretty weak. Here's a list of all the entries with my notes in parentheses:
Abyssal Plague Demons
Barrowhaunts (group of undead former-adventurers)
Bitterstrike (Adult White Dragon)
Blackfang Gnolls
Bloodfire Ooze
Boggle
Cadaver Collector (a necromancer's best friend/construct)
Calastryx
Clan Bloodspear (orcs)
Daggerburg Goblins
Dark Drake of the Moon Hills (drakes)
Dythan's Legion (dragonborn)
Fell Court (tieflings)
Felldrake (more drakes)
Frost Witches
Gravelstoke Family (human noble assassins)
Gray Company (human soldiers)
Harken's Heart (druids)
Hound of Ill Omen
Hunter Spiders (drow)
Hurly-Burly Brothers (no less disappointing than the preview)
Iron Circle (devils and humans)
Mages of Saruun
Mooncalf (aberrant creatures)
Penanggalan
Peryton
Phantom Brigade (undead)
Ragewind (undead animated whirlwind of swords)
Raven Roost Bandits (shadar-kai)
River Rats (halflings/thieves)
Scroll Mummy
Shadowmire (Elder Black Dragon)
Tigerclaw Barbarians (shifters/humans)
Treants of the Nentir Vale
Twig Blight (fey plants)
Vampiric Mist
Vestapalk (Young Green Dragon)
Wandering Tower
Witchlight Lizardfolk
Wolf Runners (bandits)
If you're looking for monsters in the mid to late heroic tier, I think it's an amazing product with some great design. Even up to early paragon, maybe.
Heck, much of this stuff is designed mean enough that it'd easily survive being leveled up to epic and still stand strong. In full disclosure, I haven't actually DM'ed epic tier myself.