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Am I the Only One Not 100% Impressed with the Monster Manual?
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6401062" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>Finally I got to make a quick trip to the FLGS to check the PHB and MM out... I couldn't really browse all of the MM <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> but I checked out some of my favourite sections: Dragons, Giants, Angels & Demons & Devils, Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, Genies...</p><p></p><p>Overall I think it's a really good book, better than the 3e MM. My first (non in-depth) opinion in a nutshell:</p><p></p><p>PROS</p><p>- much more readable than 3e-era monster manuals, thanks to generally shorter information and better layout</p><p>- fluff information seemed very inspiring to me, although it could have been much more</p><p>- artwork <em>quality </em>significantly better than 3e, although not a 100% score, there are still several ugly pictures (for example the oozes)</p><p>- artwork <em>concepts</em> (or changes to previous editions) match my taste in most cases I've checked (for example, I liked the new take on orcs and trolls, not so much the overly muscular angels)</p><p>- every monster has a picture</p><p>- there are a very few omissions of classic monsters, and many additions I like, for example more dragons, demons and genies than in 3e</p><p></p><p>CONS</p><p>- really not much information on each monster: </p><p>(1) crunch is much less than 3e, but while this in general is a GOOD feature (that 5e doesn't <em>need</em> the same amount of data), there seemed to be a lot monsters which look just like a small bag of hp with no special abilities</p><p>(2) fluff is of good quality, but could have been more at least for <em>some</em> monsters, while it seems they standardized every monster to exactly 3 paragraphs of fluff, 3-4 lines each</p><p>- some artwork is indeed unnecessarily too large, as if they preferred padding the space by enlarging the pictures to avoid putting more information</p><p>- almost total lack of templates</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is true. I don't miss the written physical descriptions when every monster has a picture.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6401062, member: 1465"] Finally I got to make a quick trip to the FLGS to check the PHB and MM out... I couldn't really browse all of the MM :) but I checked out some of my favourite sections: Dragons, Giants, Angels & Demons & Devils, Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, Genies... Overall I think it's a really good book, better than the 3e MM. My first (non in-depth) opinion in a nutshell: PROS - much more readable than 3e-era monster manuals, thanks to generally shorter information and better layout - fluff information seemed very inspiring to me, although it could have been much more - artwork [I]quality [/I]significantly better than 3e, although not a 100% score, there are still several ugly pictures (for example the oozes) - artwork [I]concepts[/I] (or changes to previous editions) match my taste in most cases I've checked (for example, I liked the new take on orcs and trolls, not so much the overly muscular angels) - every monster has a picture - there are a very few omissions of classic monsters, and many additions I like, for example more dragons, demons and genies than in 3e CONS - really not much information on each monster: (1) crunch is much less than 3e, but while this in general is a GOOD feature (that 5e doesn't [I]need[/I] the same amount of data), there seemed to be a lot monsters which look just like a small bag of hp with no special abilities (2) fluff is of good quality, but could have been more at least for [I]some[/I] monsters, while it seems they standardized every monster to exactly 3 paragraphs of fluff, 3-4 lines each - some artwork is indeed unnecessarily too large, as if they preferred padding the space by enlarging the pictures to avoid putting more information - almost total lack of templates This is true. I don't miss the written physical descriptions when every monster has a picture. [/QUOTE]
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Am I the Only One Not 100% Impressed with the Monster Manual?
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