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Legend
5 out of 5 rating for Tome of Beasts
Outstanding!
You get 407 monsters by my count, which is pretty close to the Monster Manual which has 409 monsters. All illustrated in full-color. Font size is a bit bigger than the Monster Manual, particularly when it comes to stat blocks.
The monster design is generally on point and consistent with 5e, though there are a few delightful surprises that take bolder riskier decisions. For example, there are several monsters (e.g. Beli, Cambium, Gray Thirster) that impose exhaustion. Other monsters siphon spell slots or steal time. It's wonderful stuff.
I found the "flavor" to be pretty good, in some places outstanding, and fairly consistent with the amount of flavor found in the Monster Manual. There are some nods towards Open Design's Midgard setting which are even interesting to someone not familiar with that setting. There are also several delightful nods to H.P. Lovecraft with references to Leng and the Void.
I found the selection of monsters to be all over the place. There is lots of support for aberrations and other Cthulu-esque monsters. There is lots of support for shadow fey. There is lots of support for a variety of clockwork creatures and other constructs. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much attention these monsters get. Many leap off the page and say "use me in your campaign!" However, other monsters are...just strange...leaving me without a sense of how to use them in a game. Several of the fiends, such as the Malakabel, "demonic messengers" who are the "embodiment of all that is forbidden and destructive" did nothing for me. And the number of "evil seductresses" in the book is almost ridiculous – do we really need Lorelei, Miragers, and Rusulkas? Or does that just lead to the PCs not trusting beautiful women (and most are presented as women) as a matter of habit?
Given my appreciation for old school aesthetics, there are some monsters that just made me giddy. The Cobbleswarm – leaping little monsters that look like bricks and cobblestones and carry prone creatures along with them – reminds me of something straight out of The Labyrinth (with David Bowie). The Gray Thirster actually reminds me of a creature introduced in one of the old Al-Qadim books. So is the Zaratan. You rock, Wolfgang
There are definitely several monsters that seem to have a more Arabian-esque or Egyptian theme – some are converted from Open Design's Southlands setting.
The overlap in monsters between Tome of Beasts and Volo's Guide to Monsters is quite minimal. The only ones that stood out as occupying the same design space are ToB's Deep Ones – a direct parallel to Deep Scions in VGtM.
I am waiting on my print copy, but it's my understanding that while the print may lack certain indexes, the PDF has indexes by CR, terrain, and monster type. Awesome.
Overall this is a 5 out of 5. Can't wait to use Tome of Beasts in my games!
Outstanding!
You get 407 monsters by my count, which is pretty close to the Monster Manual which has 409 monsters. All illustrated in full-color. Font size is a bit bigger than the Monster Manual, particularly when it comes to stat blocks.
The monster design is generally on point and consistent with 5e, though there are a few delightful surprises that take bolder riskier decisions. For example, there are several monsters (e.g. Beli, Cambium, Gray Thirster) that impose exhaustion. Other monsters siphon spell slots or steal time. It's wonderful stuff.
I found the "flavor" to be pretty good, in some places outstanding, and fairly consistent with the amount of flavor found in the Monster Manual. There are some nods towards Open Design's Midgard setting which are even interesting to someone not familiar with that setting. There are also several delightful nods to H.P. Lovecraft with references to Leng and the Void.
I found the selection of monsters to be all over the place. There is lots of support for aberrations and other Cthulu-esque monsters. There is lots of support for shadow fey. There is lots of support for a variety of clockwork creatures and other constructs. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much attention these monsters get. Many leap off the page and say "use me in your campaign!" However, other monsters are...just strange...leaving me without a sense of how to use them in a game. Several of the fiends, such as the Malakabel, "demonic messengers" who are the "embodiment of all that is forbidden and destructive" did nothing for me. And the number of "evil seductresses" in the book is almost ridiculous – do we really need Lorelei, Miragers, and Rusulkas? Or does that just lead to the PCs not trusting beautiful women (and most are presented as women) as a matter of habit?
Given my appreciation for old school aesthetics, there are some monsters that just made me giddy. The Cobbleswarm – leaping little monsters that look like bricks and cobblestones and carry prone creatures along with them – reminds me of something straight out of The Labyrinth (with David Bowie). The Gray Thirster actually reminds me of a creature introduced in one of the old Al-Qadim books. So is the Zaratan. You rock, Wolfgang
There are definitely several monsters that seem to have a more Arabian-esque or Egyptian theme – some are converted from Open Design's Southlands setting.The overlap in monsters between Tome of Beasts and Volo's Guide to Monsters is quite minimal. The only ones that stood out as occupying the same design space are ToB's Deep Ones – a direct parallel to Deep Scions in VGtM.
I am waiting on my print copy, but it's my understanding that while the print may lack certain indexes, the PDF has indexes by CR, terrain, and monster type. Awesome.
Overall this is a 5 out of 5. Can't wait to use Tome of Beasts in my games!
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