When did the Monster Manual 2 become a core book?

[jasamcarl]

Granted, that can cause an awkward mess, like the inconsistencies between the Manual of the Planes, Deities & Demigods, and Epic Level Handbook. Those books should have been written to work with one another, not against one another, which is how they present themselves; autonomous works that work with the core rules, to the exclusion of all others.

How so? Dieties and Demigods is perfectly consistent with the ELH, it just doesn't utilize all the options presented; and don't try to claim that the Gods presented aren't powerful enough as is..they are to the point of being worthless. And what problems do you see in the Manual of the Planes, which is primarily fluff?

 

[Pants]

The Underdark book had some of the same thing: it mentioned Avolakias and the Desmodu. I like that some noncore stuff is being used more, just as long as some as long as some books don't start requiring them to usable.

 

[drnuncheon]

Which one, specifically?

I'm curious, too - and is this one of those "you really can't use it at all without the MM2" situations, or is it just a "the PrC can summon creatures X, Y, and Z (where Z is from the MM2) sort of thing?

J

 

[Arnwyn]

This reminds me too much of "2nd edition product creep." Bleah; after explicitly saying that they wouldn't do this, I hope they don't make a habit of it.

I certainly hope they do. That so-called "product creep" was one of the better things of 2e. Using options from previous books in a recent book is very much appreciated, as it allows me to get even more use out of the previous books. It also avoids the "designing in a vacuum" problem that could start to appear as more books are released (resulting in inconsistent rules/stats). Finally, duplication is reduced.

 

[the Jester]

Well, imho, the Fiend Folio did it right with all the sidebars about how to integrate other books into a given monster. Heck, I wish all the 3.5 books would do this a lot more!

I don't want the hobbey to be hurt by the assumption that everyone has books they don't have, but on the other hand I want the chance to use my stuff... so I have mixed feelings on the subject.

 

[Grazzt]

This reminds me too much of "2nd edition product creep." Bleah; after explicitly saying that they wouldn't do this, I hope they don't make a habit of it.

I'm with you PCat. I remember those days, and hopefully, we aren't returning to them.

 

[Benben]

The 2nd ed product creep was vile and one of the many things that removed me from D&D for a long time.

However, I'm with the Jester, it's fine to mention other suppliments in sidebars and as options. Sometimes it is nice to show synergy between suppliments.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm still boggled by the fact that the Epic Level Handbook and Deities and Demigods shows so little synergy.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, imho, the Fiend Folio did it right with all the sidebars about how to integrate other books into a given monster. Heck, I wish all the 3.5 books would do this a lot more!

This was actually one of my favorite parts of that book. I definatly want to see that more often...as for the BOED and MMII. So far, I've just seen one thing that was obvious, and that's on the Exalted Cohorts...but really, those aren't required at all.

 

[widderslainte]

The Underdark book had some of the same thing: it mentioned Avolakias and the Desmodu. I like that some noncore stuff is being used more, just as long as some as long as some books don't start requiring them to usable.

It's annoying, but I bet people would be complaining about paying for reprinted info if WotC took the other path.