EricNoah
Adventurer
Hi all! Fiend Folio was at my doorstep when I got back from vacation yesterday. I see that Olive is answering content question so I'll let him continue to be the scooper in that regard.
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46403
I'm going to present a few comments in general, and then attempt to pull out all of the 3.5 goodies I can...
My Comments: It's another big book of monsters. These creatures and templates, to me, seem to be a very nice mix. There's lots of usable stuff in here, and a wide range of challenge ratings and types. I see more fey in this book than in the other monster books, including a feytouched "race" and a half-fey template that should really come in handy for me. The art, by and large, is very good.
3.5 Goodies:
1) Skills & Feats: We already know that there have been some skill and feat name changes:
Alchemy --> Craft (Alchemy)
Pick Pocket --> Sleight of Hand
Wilderness Lore --> Survival
Sunder --> Improved Sunder
It turns out that *something* grants a synergy bonus to the "following tracks" use for the Survival skill (we know, because "special case" synergy bonuses are called out in the stats -- more below). I think it might be Spot. [Edit -- a little birdie tells me it's actually Search, which of course makes more sense.]
Weapon Finesse has changed -- you no longer have to pick a weapon to apply it to; once you have it, you can apply it to any weapon that qualifies.
Two-Weapon Fighting no longer has Ambidexterity as a prerequisite.
Skill points are as in Savage Species (all types gain 2+Int skill points per hit die, x4 for first level; except Fey and Dragons, which gain 6+Int).
2) Monster types: Not much new here we didn't learn from Savage Species. Beast and Shapechanger are gone; Shapechanger is now a subtype. New subtypes include Extraplanar, Swarm, and Symbiont.
3) Creatures, as we knew from before, all have square facings.
4) Stat layout: the stat layout includes entries for:
Base Attack / Grapple: (listed as +10/+15, for example)
Attack: (what the creature uses when performing a single attack or an attack of opportunity)
Full Attack: (self-explanatory)
Level Adjustment: (only for creatures that are "suitable" as PCs -- usually Int 3+ and opposable thumbs)
It, of course, includes other "lessons learned" from Monster Manual II: flat-footed and touch AC broken out; bonus feats marked with a (B).
Skill synergy is broken down in the stats when the synergy only applies to one aspect of the skill. You often see
Survival +1 (+3 following tracks)
or
Use Rope +4 (+6 binding)
5) Most interesting to me is one thing that is NOT 3.5 compatible -- Damage Reduction. FF uses the old way (10/+1) instead of the new 3.5 way. My only guess as to why is that the DR issue, from what we've read in Dragon Magazine, apparently came up fairly recently -- maybe after FF was already "done." So it looks like we'll all be penciling in the correct DR info into our Fiend Folios.
I'll post more if I find anything.
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46403
I'm going to present a few comments in general, and then attempt to pull out all of the 3.5 goodies I can...
My Comments: It's another big book of monsters. These creatures and templates, to me, seem to be a very nice mix. There's lots of usable stuff in here, and a wide range of challenge ratings and types. I see more fey in this book than in the other monster books, including a feytouched "race" and a half-fey template that should really come in handy for me. The art, by and large, is very good.
3.5 Goodies:
1) Skills & Feats: We already know that there have been some skill and feat name changes:
Alchemy --> Craft (Alchemy)
Pick Pocket --> Sleight of Hand
Wilderness Lore --> Survival
Sunder --> Improved Sunder
It turns out that *something* grants a synergy bonus to the "following tracks" use for the Survival skill (we know, because "special case" synergy bonuses are called out in the stats -- more below). I think it might be Spot. [Edit -- a little birdie tells me it's actually Search, which of course makes more sense.]
Weapon Finesse has changed -- you no longer have to pick a weapon to apply it to; once you have it, you can apply it to any weapon that qualifies.
Two-Weapon Fighting no longer has Ambidexterity as a prerequisite.
Skill points are as in Savage Species (all types gain 2+Int skill points per hit die, x4 for first level; except Fey and Dragons, which gain 6+Int).
2) Monster types: Not much new here we didn't learn from Savage Species. Beast and Shapechanger are gone; Shapechanger is now a subtype. New subtypes include Extraplanar, Swarm, and Symbiont.
3) Creatures, as we knew from before, all have square facings.
4) Stat layout: the stat layout includes entries for:
Base Attack / Grapple: (listed as +10/+15, for example)
Attack: (what the creature uses when performing a single attack or an attack of opportunity)
Full Attack: (self-explanatory)
Level Adjustment: (only for creatures that are "suitable" as PCs -- usually Int 3+ and opposable thumbs)
It, of course, includes other "lessons learned" from Monster Manual II: flat-footed and touch AC broken out; bonus feats marked with a (B).
Skill synergy is broken down in the stats when the synergy only applies to one aspect of the skill. You often see
Survival +1 (+3 following tracks)
or
Use Rope +4 (+6 binding)
5) Most interesting to me is one thing that is NOT 3.5 compatible -- Damage Reduction. FF uses the old way (10/+1) instead of the new 3.5 way. My only guess as to why is that the DR issue, from what we've read in Dragon Magazine, apparently came up fairly recently -- maybe after FF was already "done." So it looks like we'll all be penciling in the correct DR info into our Fiend Folios.
I'll post more if I find anything.
Last edited:
) could reverse engineer skill points for some monsters?
