D&D 5E Choosing a 3rd party monster book

[Dragonblade]

I noped out of 4E after reading the PHB, but the more I hear about 4E's bloodied condition, the more I like it. I would definitely be interested in a 5E monster book with 4E design theory behind it. (Not so much the aesthetics, though, as that's part of what turned me off about 4E.)

Yes, I totally get why the player side of 4e's mechanics didn't resonate with many, but as an old time gamer (I started with Basic and AD&D decades ago), 4e monster design was great!

Combat was always tactically interesting, and as an old school improv style DM, it made running off the cuff, improvisational encounters sooo much easier to run and manage without needing to do any prep ahead of time.

 

[Morrus]

Are there any variant monster books out there that are statted up to be fully compatible with 5e, but take a 4e or 13th Age inspired design approach?

By that I mean I'm looking for self-contained stat blocks that never require looking up spells, with varied tactical combat and magic abilities, movement abilities, control effects, and trigger mechanics with variant monster versions included in the same stat block (ala 4e, or 13th Age's 'nastier specials').

I would pay top dollar for such a book, especially if it reworked all the core 5e monsters to fit this design paradigm. @Morrus, something to think about for Level Up's Bestiary.

Sort of. We're making sure you don't need to look up spells in combat by replacing the combat ones with abilities, but we'll still have the full spell list there for those who need it.

 

[Nebulous]

You can't go wrong with any of the three Kobold Press monster manuals (Tomes and Codex). They're all good and have a strong focus on fey, and I'm sure there are dragons in all of them too. Also, the monsters can be quite a bit meaner than default 5e monsters, if you're wanting to scare the PCs some. Other than those, Monster Manual Expanded 1, 2 and soon 3 are excellent monster books that take the core 5e monsters and scale them up and down. It's quite an indispensable book in my opinion. Any complaint that a core 5e monster is "vanilla" is largely corrected by the Expanded books.

But if it is lots of fey and weird stuff, I would go for the Tome of Beasts first.

 

[Nebulous]

Sort of. We're making sure you don't need to look up spells in combat by replacing the combat ones with abilities, but we'll still have the full spell list there for those who need it.

Awesome. So a spell-like ability unique to a monster makes a return? I would love that.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Tome of Foes II has a high percentage of Fae. That's the one I would suggest if you get one, although all three by Kobold Press are very good.

 

[Dragonblade]

Sort of. We're making sure you don't need to look up spells in combat by replacing the combat ones with abilities, but we'll still have the full spell list there for those who need it.

That's great! And a nice improvement. I'm very much looking forward to Level Up!