1. Not all art is new. Layout is pretty similiar too.
2. Monster Manual is still piss poor in terms of layout and making the book readable. Very much the same book in terms of layout and style.
I never really had a problem with the art in the first place. That's a wash for me.
I will admit, one monster per page is such a no brainer, and WOTC should be the publisher most able to accomodate the added cost this would incur. I agree with Joe on this one.
3. Full utilization of racial traits not made. The aranea has a level adjustment of +4 but no racial stats listed. Combat tactics are practically nonexsistant.
Disagree here. I think there's just enough combat tactics to be useful to a new DM without overwhelming or talking down to him. More experienced DM's don't really need this, so more info would have just eaten more of those precious 320 pages.
As for the racial traits, that's kind of irrelevant to me. I am not warm to the idea of monsters as PCs. I think there is a difference between listing a level adjustment (suitable for defining the ECL of cohorts and such) and providing the full "XXX as Characters" info. Some monsters, I reason, are ok as cohorts but not as characters.
You'll need the level adjustment in order to determine how long it takes a cohort-creature to gain a level of advancement by character class. The aranea, for example, with a +4 level adjustment, is going to need 5th level XP to gain its 1st level of sorcerer (or what have ya).
Again, this isn't terribly important to me.
4. Templates aren't in a seperate section but in the main body of the text.
I guess I prefer this, actually. Not sure why-- I value alphabetization in a monster book, I think.
5.For the MM, Feats and one skill are at the back of the book. Some are simple like IMproved Natural Armor where you get a +1 bonus to AC while others like Empower Spell Like Ability will quickly even the meta-magic odds.
Cool, huh?
6. When listing monsters by CR, where is the page #? Not there.
Nor necessary, as the monsters are alphabetized. That table is already a pretty tight layout, packed into two pages. I'm not sure I'd sacrifice the extra room for the page numbers. Plus I'd rather be able to scan down the single row of numbers provided for just the CR's.
7. There is some great new art. The giants, demons, and devils all have some new illustrations in there.
Cool, huh?
8. The Level Equivilence is not the same as the CR and every time I saw it, it was higher. i.e. a CR of +2 from a template wasn't a +2 to Level but maybe a +3 or +4.
CR will almost always be lower, because the "stage time" of a monster is not the same as the "stage time" of a character, and some abilities improve in effectiveness the more often they are seen. The ability to, say, Spider Climb at will (as a top of the head example), isn't terribly impactful to the CR of a monster, but it may have a significant impact to a player character.
9. Humanoids when listed, all have a class, usually warrior one.
Is that a complaint? Can't tell. I'll clip the praise from here on out.
10. Some creatures, instead of a level adjustment, have a note like Improved Familiar (quasit/imp) or cohort (mephits).
See above.
14.Racial Traits (I consider racial traits only valid if they have stat modifiers and may have missed some): Azer, bugbears, centaurs, doppelgangers, dwarves, elf, gargoyles, janni, hill giants, stone giants, githyanki, githzerai, gnolls, gnomes, goblins, grimlock, halfling, hobgoblin, kobold,s kuo-toa, lizard folk, mind flayers, minotaurs, ogre, ogre magi, orc, rakshasas, satyrs, troglodyte, and Yuan Ti Purebloods.
The "XXX as Characters" section is very nice, breaking down everything you get for that "+X level adjustment": hit die by hit die, feat by feat, and skill point by skill point. It's cool. Would more be better? Of course.
15. Tactics: Balor, Pit Fiend, Mind Flayer, Titan. I must've missed some but there weren't many listings.
More is nice, but more than zero is better than 3.0, right?
Joe actually missed my favorite bits: the d20-Modern-esque updates to the statblock (base attack, full attack, and grapple), and the brief introductory description. This part is just brilliant for new DMs or for DM's who would rather describe a monster than just say, "You encounter a mind flayer." Yeah, I know, in a couple months time, the players will have even these descriptions memorized to the point where you might as well just name the creature outright, but it's still a nice touch if you ask me.
Wulf
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