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Tome of Horrors II
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<blockquote data-quote="MonsterMash" data-source="post: 2011267" data-attributes="member: 12974"><p>Tome of Horrors II</p><p></p><p>Necromancer Games</p><p></p><p>By Scott Greene with Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Jim Collura, Meghan Greene, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Bill Kenower, Patrick Lawinger, Nathan Paul, Clark Peterson, and Bill Webb. </p><p></p><p>Unlike its predecessor this is a set of new monsters rather than conversions. The format is similar to the Tome of Horrors with black and white illustrations throughout. There is more space devoted to each creature than the first Tome of Horrors, with a description of its appearance, likely behaviour and special abilities. </p><p></p><p><strong>Content</strong></p><p>Unsurprisingly for Necromancer Games there are 16 undead, but for me I was glad to see 15 animals and 5 swarms as I'm always keen on these for my wilderness based campaigns. There are also some more demons and devils, with these tying into the original Tome of Horrors, with more about Lucifers minions. </p><p></p><p>There are eight fey and nine constructs including some evil fey which can be useful in wilderness focused campaigns. The constructs include five golems, including the Magnesium golem. </p><p></p><p>There are a couple of dragons including the Dungeon Dragon and three giants. The Dungeon Dragon is intriguing as it creates a dungeon which it then uses to lure in hapless adventurers, not so much to fight them as to observe them. The giants are all useful with </p><p>the Volcano Giant being my favourite of the three.</p><p></p><p>There are a number of humanoid creatures which to me are useful for giving flavour in </p><p>games rather than just'more orcs'. The main ones are a variant gnome, the Barbegazi, </p><p>living in the cold areas of the world; a crossbred Ogre/Hobgoblin, the Ogren; the Ryven, badger folk; the Huggermugger, which could provide a threat in urban encounters; and the Silid. The most complex humanoids are the Inphidian reptillian humanoids, which are an interesting type with three variations published in the book and scope for more. </p><p></p><p>The undead range in toughness between the weaker types like the Cadaver and the Hanged Man to tougher ones like the Red Jester and Crucifixion spirit. </p><p></p><p>The demons and devils have a mixture of individuals and commoner beasts, including some with low CR. I was particularly taken by Demoriel out of the devils, for the illustration if nothing else. </p><p></p><p>There are eight plants, including the sinister Gallowstree which creates its own undead to serve it in catching more prey. The Bog Creeper, Phlogiston, and Witch Tree all caught my eye.</p><p></p><p>There are six appendices: </p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Animals</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> B Templates</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> C the N'gathau</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> D The planes of existence</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> E Feats</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> F Monster Glossary, CR index and monster type index</li> </ul><p></p><p>The Animals includes useful types like the Mountain Lion, some giant fish, and the </p><p>Smilodon. These are all new versions not based on previous publications with the same </p><p>creatures in.</p><p></p><p>Nine templates are included, with one or more examples of the way that they are used, and there is information about several planes of existence which supports some of the creatures included. The templates vary between being generally useful like the Undead Lord to fairly specific like the Corpsespun Creature which links to the Corpsespinner in the main list of creatures.</p><p></p><p>The full list of the templates is:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Amphisbaena </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Cheitan</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Corpsespun Creature</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Debased Fey</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Landwalker</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Phase Creature</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Ravenous (Eater of Flesh)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Spellgorged Zombie </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Undead Lord</li> </ul><p></p><p>A number of the creatures and templates tie in to other products coming from Necromancer </p><p>including the City of Brass, where there are five creatures and one template, and some </p><p>others where I'm not certain which products they're due to be used in. </p><p></p><p>An appendix details the N'gathau which is a new set of extraplanar creatures from the </p><p>plane of Pain. The closest comparison I can make is with the cenobites from Hellraiser and its sequels. Personally I'm probably not going to use these, but they'd be useful in a more horror or dark oriented campaign. This part has the only closed content in the book. </p><p></p><p>Not only is there a table of contents, but there is also a challenge rating index and an index by monster name covering the original Tome of Horrors as well as the second book. </p><p>This is very useful and a major plus in my view. </p><p></p><p>As noted before the interior artwork is all black and white in a similar way to the first Tome of Horrors. Generally I like the artwork with some of the work by Richard Thomas and David Day really appealing to me. </p><p></p><p><strong>Price</strong></p><p>The list price is $34.95 in the US, which is a fair price for a hardcover of this size and represents value for money given how the creatures presented within can be used for </p><p>campaigns. The physical production is good, and looks like it should last. </p><p></p><p><strong>Pluses:</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Some inventive and useful creatures</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A mixture of CRs not everything is high level or low level</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Supplemental information on the planes of existence which ties into the devils and <br /> some of the other creatures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Table of contents, indices, and clear page layout</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Generally good artwork</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Lots of wilderness creatures including some fey. </li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Negatives:</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Possibly a greater number of creatures could have been included with less descriptive text for each one. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A few more creatures would have been nice, but there are nearly 200.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I'm not keen on the N'gathau.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> one or two annoying errata like the missing feat on the Ogren</li> </ul><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Downloads:</strong></p><p>There are plans to add some websupport to the product, but currently all that is available at the time of writing is the preview at Necromancer Games website. There is also an errata thread on the Necromancer Games message boards, where most of the identified errata has been dealt with promptly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Overall</strong></p><p>I give it a five because there aren't any half stars and I was torn between 4.5 and 5 </p><p>stars and I think that this will be a product I'll use heavily over the years unlike an adventure or splatbook. Other reasons - the range of CRs included, I don't like monster books with just high level or weak creatures included and this has a good range of useable monsters which are not too specific to any one setting. </p><p></p><p>Personal favourites with the creatures included are the Encepahlon Gorger, Red Cap and Hanged Man.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MonsterMash, post: 2011267, member: 12974"] Tome of Horrors II Necromancer Games By Scott Greene with Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Jim Collura, Meghan Greene, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Bill Kenower, Patrick Lawinger, Nathan Paul, Clark Peterson, and Bill Webb. Unlike its predecessor this is a set of new monsters rather than conversions. The format is similar to the Tome of Horrors with black and white illustrations throughout. There is more space devoted to each creature than the first Tome of Horrors, with a description of its appearance, likely behaviour and special abilities. [b]Content[/b] Unsurprisingly for Necromancer Games there are 16 undead, but for me I was glad to see 15 animals and 5 swarms as I'm always keen on these for my wilderness based campaigns. There are also some more demons and devils, with these tying into the original Tome of Horrors, with more about Lucifers minions. There are eight fey and nine constructs including some evil fey which can be useful in wilderness focused campaigns. The constructs include five golems, including the Magnesium golem. There are a couple of dragons including the Dungeon Dragon and three giants. The Dungeon Dragon is intriguing as it creates a dungeon which it then uses to lure in hapless adventurers, not so much to fight them as to observe them. The giants are all useful with the Volcano Giant being my favourite of the three. There are a number of humanoid creatures which to me are useful for giving flavour in games rather than just'more orcs'. The main ones are a variant gnome, the Barbegazi, living in the cold areas of the world; a crossbred Ogre/Hobgoblin, the Ogren; the Ryven, badger folk; the Huggermugger, which could provide a threat in urban encounters; and the Silid. The most complex humanoids are the Inphidian reptillian humanoids, which are an interesting type with three variations published in the book and scope for more. The undead range in toughness between the weaker types like the Cadaver and the Hanged Man to tougher ones like the Red Jester and Crucifixion spirit. The demons and devils have a mixture of individuals and commoner beasts, including some with low CR. I was particularly taken by Demoriel out of the devils, for the illustration if nothing else. There are eight plants, including the sinister Gallowstree which creates its own undead to serve it in catching more prey. The Bog Creeper, Phlogiston, and Witch Tree all caught my eye. There are six appendices: [list] [*] A Animals [*] B Templates [*] C the N'gathau [*] D The planes of existence [*] E Feats [*] F Monster Glossary, CR index and monster type index [/list] The Animals includes useful types like the Mountain Lion, some giant fish, and the Smilodon. These are all new versions not based on previous publications with the same creatures in. Nine templates are included, with one or more examples of the way that they are used, and there is information about several planes of existence which supports some of the creatures included. The templates vary between being generally useful like the Undead Lord to fairly specific like the Corpsespun Creature which links to the Corpsespinner in the main list of creatures. The full list of the templates is: [list] [*] Amphisbaena [*] Cheitan [*] Corpsespun Creature [*] Debased Fey [*] Landwalker [*] Phase Creature [*] Ravenous (Eater of Flesh) [*] Spellgorged Zombie [*] Undead Lord [/list] A number of the creatures and templates tie in to other products coming from Necromancer including the City of Brass, where there are five creatures and one template, and some others where I'm not certain which products they're due to be used in. An appendix details the N'gathau which is a new set of extraplanar creatures from the plane of Pain. The closest comparison I can make is with the cenobites from Hellraiser and its sequels. Personally I'm probably not going to use these, but they'd be useful in a more horror or dark oriented campaign. This part has the only closed content in the book. Not only is there a table of contents, but there is also a challenge rating index and an index by monster name covering the original Tome of Horrors as well as the second book. This is very useful and a major plus in my view. As noted before the interior artwork is all black and white in a similar way to the first Tome of Horrors. Generally I like the artwork with some of the work by Richard Thomas and David Day really appealing to me. [b]Price[/b] The list price is $34.95 in the US, which is a fair price for a hardcover of this size and represents value for money given how the creatures presented within can be used for campaigns. The physical production is good, and looks like it should last. [b]Pluses:[/b] [list] [*] Some inventive and useful creatures [*] A mixture of CRs not everything is high level or low level [*] Supplemental information on the planes of existence which ties into the devils and some of the other creatures. [*] Table of contents, indices, and clear page layout [*] Generally good artwork [*] Lots of wilderness creatures including some fey. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] Possibly a greater number of creatures could have been included with less descriptive text for each one. [*] A few more creatures would have been nice, but there are nearly 200. [*] I'm not keen on the N'gathau. [*] one or two annoying errata like the missing feat on the Ogren [/list] [b]Downloads:[/b] There are plans to add some websupport to the product, but currently all that is available at the time of writing is the preview at Necromancer Games website. There is also an errata thread on the Necromancer Games message boards, where most of the identified errata has been dealt with promptly. [b]Overall[/b] I give it a five because there aren't any half stars and I was torn between 4.5 and 5 stars and I think that this will be a product I'll use heavily over the years unlike an adventure or splatbook. Other reasons - the range of CRs included, I don't like monster books with just high level or weak creatures included and this has a good range of useable monsters which are not too specific to any one setting. Personal favourites with the creatures included are the Encepahlon Gorger, Red Cap and Hanged Man. [/QUOTE]
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