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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dykstrav" data-source="post: 3278438" data-attributes="member: 40522">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.</blockquote>

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