D&D 5E (2014) How are Bloodied & Bruised, Legendary Bestiary: Lair Actions, and MM Expanded?

[Greg K]

Hi, Has anyone used the Bloodied & Bruised pdfs, Legendary Bestiary: Lair Actions pdfs, or Dragonix's Monster Manual Expanded pdfs? If so, how did you like them?

 

[Stormonu]

I've use the MM Expanded - the stat blocks are well-laid out and it really opens up the level and option range for familiar monster encounters (lots of bosses for epic fights and "lesser" versions for low-level encounters). The later books (especially #3) have a lot of monsters from older editions that weren't converted to 5E or are entirely new (#3 is my favorite of them all for the "new" monsters, #1 & #2 is good if you want different options for CR an abilities for existing monsters).

 

[Greg K]

I've use the MM Expanded - the stat blocks are well-laid out and it really opens up the level and option range for familiar monster encounters (lots of bosses for epic fights and "lesser" versions for low-level encounters). The later books (especially #3) have a lot of monsters from older editions that weren't converted to 5E or are entirely new (#3 is my favorite of them all for the "new" monsters, #1 & #2 is good if you want different options for CR an abilities for existing monsters).

Thanks Stormonu.

 

[mamba]

If you want more monsters, with a variety of options for many of the 'official' ones, you can't go wrong with MME 1 to 3, and Dragonix Deadly Denizens (same author). I definitely like all four of them and they make the other third-party monster books mostly obsolete for me.

Bloodied & Bruised gives some additional actions when a monster first gets bloodied (down to <= 50% health) which mixes up the fight a bit.

Bloodied & Bruised – Main Volumes [BUNDLE] - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Bloodied & Bruised – Main Volumes [BUNDLE] - This special bundle product contains the following titles.Bloodied & Bruised Vol. 1 – Monster ManualRegular price:&nbs

www.dmsguild.com

In a similar vein there are the Recharge series which adds rechargeable skills and Legendary Bestiary series which adds legendary actions.

Recharged Core [BUNDLE] - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Recharged Core [BUNDLE] - This special bundle product contains the following titles:Recharged: Bigby Presents Glory of the GiantsRegular price:&nb

www.dmsguild.com

Legendary Bestiary [BUNDLE] - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Legendary Bestiary [BUNDLE] - This special bundle product contains the following titles.Legendary Bestiary II: Legendary Actions for CR 4 to 6Regular

www.dmsguild.com

I like them, but having some actions in a separate book is a bit of a pain, i.e. you basically have to create your own statblock that includes these, to not forget about them.

Don't have the Legendary actions or Lair actions ones

 

[Greg K]

If you want more monsters, with a variety of options for many of the 'official' ones, you can't go wrong with MME 1 to 3, and Dragonix Deadly Denizens (same author). I definitely like all four of them and they make the other third-party monster books mostly obsolete for me.

Bloodied & Bruised gives some additional actions when a monster first gets bloodied (down to <= 50% health) which mixes up the fight a bit.

In a similar vein there are the Recharge series which adds rechargeable skills and Legendary Bestiary series which adds legendary actions.

I like them, but having some actions in a separate book is a bit of a pain, i.e. you basically have to create your own statblock that includes these, to not forget about them.

Don't have the Legendary actions or Lair actions ones

Thanks @mamba

 

[Rabulias]

Consider this another endorsement of all three of Dragonix's Monster Manual Expanded books. I have been very happy with them. I don't have any of the other products so I can't speak to them.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

I use all three of Dragonix's Monster Manual Expanded books as well as his Deadly Denizens book on DriveThruRPG. There are so many great monsters and monster variant stats in this book for every tier of play, and I love using these stat blocks as they come and as a base to add additional features and actions on top of, including those from the Bloodied & Bruised series.

 

[Darkwynters]

I have been using Anne Gregersen’s Bruised and Bloodied books for my table’s Keys to the Golden Vault and Phandelver and Below. I have not seen any OP and sometimes it’s just nice to have the monsters do something unexpected for my players.

 

[Darkwynters]

I have also recently used some of her Monster Loot books. I just bought Monster Loot: Phandelver and Below during the DMsguild sale. Looks pretty good. Especially since my gamers love looting corpses of monsters. LOL