General Monster Manual 3 Thread

[Rechan]

The sort of style mishmash makes it especially jarring. If you have some book where pretty much everything is described on an in world level with quotes and stories (the DL SAGA monster book), then it may be good or bad in execution, but it's a consistent concept. Or you could have the MM 1 or 2 style technical manual of monsters with some omniscient 3 person writing.

But using both styles at once doesn't seem to strongly appeal to people preferring either approach.

The Banderhobb is the ONLY monster that had its fluff like that. Let's not blow it out of proportion as an actual common problem.

 

[Victim]

The Banderhobb is the ONLY monster that had its fluff like that. So saying it's a problem is a bit of an exaggeration. The Banderhobb is a single case, an outlier.

The autumn nymph has an entry like that, as does some type of ghast IIRC. It's not especially common, but there are other entries like that.

 

[Scribble]

The autumn nymph has an entry like that, as does some type of ghast IIRC. It's not especially common, but there are other entries like that.

The Ghast has a normal one...

I get the feeling the more esoteric entries are reserved for the monsters that the author intended for less of a "fight this" role, and more of an "interact with this" role.

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Sounds like I need to buy this.

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything... Where would this rank in books to buy for a DM? (I don't actually have any of my own yet.)

 

[Aegeri]

Sounds like I need to buy this.

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything... Where would this rank in books to buy for a DM? (I don't actually have any of my own yet.)

At the top and easily. This feels like their best Monster Manual and it is definitely the way to go forwards.

 

[Victim]

The Ghast has a story about some rogue sealing up from ghouls and then coming back years later.

It seems like there are a ton of monsters that dominate and/or force people to make attacks against their allies. I guess that's one way to get around a monster damage problem - just have them use PC damage. However, Dominate is one of the less satisfying conditions when your character is on the receiving end. The Spring Nymph, for example, is only like level 5 and has a reusable dominate attack.

 

[Zaukrie]

I love the fluff. Otherwise, they are just pictures and stats. This is especially important for newer DMs. As a loooooooooooooong time DM, I also enjoy it.

For the most part, do people actually use the detailed tactics sections? I'd like something that is a combo fluff/tactics. There is no reason that part can't be more enjoyable to read than just Use power 4, then use power 2, then action point, then use power 5.

 

[fba827]

So I asked this question when MM2 came out and I'll ask it again since I enjoyed everyone's answers that time ...


What handful of monsters in MM3 really caught your interest/attention (for whatever reason - be it mechanics, fluff, picture, 'is just too perfect timing for what you happened to need in your game' etc)??

 

[malraux]

At the top and easily. This feels like their best Monster Manual and it is definitely the way to go forwards.

How about for a DM that uses DDI heavily? Is the non-crunch stuff worthwhile?

 

[Aegeri]

The Ghast has a story about some rogue sealing up from ghouls and then coming back years later.

It seems like there are a ton of monsters that dominate and/or force people to make attacks against their allies. I guess that's one way to get around a monster damage problem - just have them use PC damage. However, Dominate is one of the less satisfying conditions when your character is on the receiving end. The Spring Nymph, for example, is only like level 5 and has a reusable dominate attack.

This isn't new, two creatures that can dominate exist at level 4 and 6 and both are at-will

Spoiler

Brain in a Broken Jar (4)
Brain in a Jar (6)

So this isn't actually breaking any new ground. Neither is dominate at high levels. What is new is the dominate powers of the Astral Kraken and one other monster I forget right now. Both actually can order a PC (without expending) their highest level encounter power on another PC. Now that can be a bit of a shock.

How about for a DM that uses DDI heavily? Is the non-crunch stuff worthwhile?

That's a hard question for me to answer, because I'm a crunch person but I do find the fluff they include useful. For example most of the time they focus on explaining what a creature does and adventure ideas (particularly for the cultists of the various elemental evils). So they're really making a case for "How can I use this monster" as opposed to descriptions like "It lives in a forest and poops tree bark" or whatever. This makes them pretty useful for generating ideas - some people though complain this fluff isn't actually really telling them things about the monster itself like the old MMs did.

There is a lot more of it and one reason I like having the books is to tell what various monsters actually are. Determining what some of the more random monsters actually look like from a stat block isn't actually that easy. So I would recommend buying the book for the stat blocks, the art and yeah the fluff is good as well.

But if the art and fluff isn't really a huge priority for you, I honestly don't think other than maybe some neat ideas for using a monster or some possible adventures you'll miss a lot.