Another....Favorite Monster Manuals Thread.

[Shemeska]

Planescape Monstrous Compendium II
Paranormal Animals of Europe (Shadowrun)
2e Monstrous Compendium Annual #4 - the one with all the Gates of Firestorm Peak monsters in it

 

[Dykstrav]

Monster Manual II gets my recommendation for your next monster supplement. I actually use as many critters in that book as I do critters from the core Monster Manual(particularly the crimson death, the various demons, gem dragons, marrashi, rogue eidolons). It's also got lots of illustrations if that's one of your criteria. Monster Manual II feels like the 'special edition' to me with all the stuff that couldn't be crammed into the first Monster Manual. It's not that thick of a book though, although there are several monsters in the higher CR range (10+).

Fiend Folio is okay. There are some genuinely cool monsters in there (the phiul and blackstone gigant comes immediately to mind), although alot of the monsters read more like entries for a new PC race rather than something you should fight (shadar-kai or nerra, just to name a few). It does have alot of extrapalanr critters if that's what you dig.

Monster Manual III is a poor buy in my opinion. There aren't that many cool creatures, although the cool ones really do shine (boneclaw and conflagration ooze). But as you read through the entries, it feels like the design of Monster Manual III leaned toward filling a niche in the rules and showing off some cool new abilities rather than designing an evocative creature. Maybe I get this impression because alot of the creatures just seem sort of bland and uninspired, they seem more weird for the sake of being weird than actually designed. Alot of them are just plain weird (knell beetle, lhosk, lurking strangler) and I've found very few of the creatures to be actually interesting enough to use. Alot of the "new" monsters are also rehashes of old ones like the various lizardfolk, troll, and rakshasa types. I also didn't like the shameless Eberron plugs (changeling, living spell, warforged), which apparently the designers felt were so good that they should be included in core D&D sources.

Monster Manual IV did a better job of making some genuinely cool creatures, like the bloodhulk, concordant killer, wrackspawn, and the necrosis carnex. It uses the new stat block format which I have mixed feelings about. But it's genuinely fatal flaw is statting out generic Monster Manual critters with class levels to pad out the entries. I guess I can see how a brand-spanking-new DM might find it useful, but I think more new monsters would be a better use of page space than giving class levels to drow, gnolls, and orcs.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

A couple of requirments: 1) I want a picture of each creature. It doesn't have to be a great picture....just something to help me and my players visualize what the book is talking about.

2) There needs to be a lot of monsters in the book. I'm willing to pay more for a book if it is large....and that's what I want. I know there are good monster/creature manuals with less monsters...but I'd like a book that's full of plenty of 'em.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

And, yes, I'm looking for the best bang for the buck. I'm asking for your suggestions because I have a limited idea of what is out there.

I just wrote a review for a monster book

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185172


It does not meet requirement #1. What it does do is present the monsters in an amazingly usable format. If that doesn't sound like a good sell, trust me, once you start using it, you'll wonder why all monster books are like this.

But it is a "workhorse" not a "showpony".

 

[BryonD]

I just wrote a review for a monster book

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185172


It does not meet requirement #1. What it does do is present the monsters in an amazingly usable format. If that doesn't sound like a good sell, trust me, once you start using it, you'll wonder why all monster books are like this.

But it is a "workhorse" not a "showpony".

The entire MG series is a great set.
And, if you want a picture of every one, just buy the associated counter collection.

 

[Ulric]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Anyone else have a favorite monster manual they can recommend?

 

[Psion]

Though I have many, the ones I find using most (and favorites in each) are:

• Denizens of Avadnu - The creepy, wickedly evil alien Xxyth are the highlight, though there are several other great creatures in in like the magic-robbing Madrir, and the Nightmare collection, a well intentioned magical construct gone wrong.
• Tome of Horrors Revised - Repeats many classics that got missed, and introduces some great new creatures. Examples include catlord, crypt things, faerie dragons, psionic elementals, inphidians, and quicklings.
• Creature collection Revised & II - Ratmen, Hags, Tempus Twins. Lots of good stuff.
• Book of Fiends - Lots of good stuff here, though the Devils and Daemons are my favorites. The daemons are not yugoloths, but a whole new type of creatures based on a sin theme and with lots of plot potential.

 

[Glyfair]

What did you like about Denizens of Avadnu? I bought the book, paged through it and promptly traded it in for store credit. In my defense I bought it online sight unseen because people raved about it. I found it dull and really didn't like the art.

I have to agree with you 100%. I didn't hate it, but nothing in it excited me. I suspect it was partially that I saw all the raves online and I expected much more. The artwork was mostly good (but poor in a couple of places - adithari, I'm looking at you) but nothing amazing. The creatures had detail, but nothing that grabbed me and said "use me."

Oddly enough, the monster manual I've used most lately (besides the core) has been Monsters of Faerun. I just picked up the Book of Fiends and I might use that a bit when I send my PCs against the Lords of Dust (depending on how my Heroquest sojourn goes).

 

[JVisgaitis]

What did you like about Denizens of Avadnu? I bought the book, paged through it and promptly traded it in for store credit. In my defense I bought it online sight unseen because people raved about it. I found it dull and really didn't like the art.

Art is of course subjective so no question there, but I'm wondering why you thought it was dull? If anything we tried to make sure each creature brought something new to the table especially in regard to mechanics. Did you really give it a chance or did you pass it off cuz the art wasn't your thing? I'm just curious as we were considering a DoA2. What should we do to make it not dull in your eyes?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Monsternomicon, hands down the best monster book I have ever seen...

But it doesn't have a lot of monsters for the page count, which is something that he wanted.

And, you know, I know that people love this book, and I bought it off the effusive recommendations here at ENWorld, but there's like five monsters that inspire me in this book, tops.

I like Creatures of Freeport, myself, and think that it has an excellent quality monsters to page ratio. I also find Denizens of Dread, the 3.5 Ravenloft monsters book, has enough interesting monsters for two or three campaigns. Advanced Bestiary, which is a book of templates, has a sample creature for each, most of which are worth running as-is (they picked really interesting monsters to template up in each case). And of the WotC monster books, I find that Fiend Folio has several really good monsters but a lot of very borderline ones. Monster Manual II and III are both mostly middle of the road, with some notables, but nothing astonishingly awesome.

Oh, and the Living Spells from Eberron/Monster Manual III are so cool that they should be in the core rules. I would be amazed if they weren't in MM1 for every future version of the game.

And for a statless monster book that will make you dust off some "boring" monsters from Monster Manual I and breathe new life into them: Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World around you. It's theoretically all fey, but that's used rather broadly here, and it covers fey, trolls, ogres, dragons, unicorns, griffons and more. Best monster book I own, no question.

 

[Soel]

I'll add in one that's not talked about often - Eden Studio's Liber Bestarius. Its got some cool creatures, great art, and almost every creature has a classed version.

One really should pick up the Book of Templates 3.5 and Advanced Bestiary as well. Both are full of templates to make existing creatures into something totally different.