JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I’ve been messing around with my counters and miniatures again. Having received the Map Folio 3-D and just purchased the Dungeon Stamps, I thought I’d go over some other things I have. In this case, I’m talking about Counter Collection 5, Summoned Creatures.
This comes in the now standard tin from Fiery Dragon Games and includes over 350 counters. For me, this was a nice tin because one of the players in my game is playing a wizard whose a conjuration specialist and all of his creatures are goodly aligned, mostly celestial animals.
Now what are counters? They are illustrations put onto a flat piece of paper, in this case, a fairly heavy cardstock, that takes up a certain number of squares based on the creature’s size. For example, a large creature takes up four squares while a medium creature takes up one and a smaller creature takes up one fourth. The illustrations here are all done by Fiery Dragon standard man, Claudio and it looks like there are some old familiars here and although I couldn’t say with 100% certainty, some new faces.
One of the cards is a summon monster list and includes spells from 1st to 9th level with appropriate creatures for each level and their alignment. Using a 4th level spell? Look for a celestial giant eagle or a yeth hound. Using an 8th level one? Look out for that celestial dire bear or that fiendish tyrannosaurus. The tin also includes new familiars like squirrel, wild rooster and mongoose. You should be able to download the familiar stats at www.fierydragon.com. I’m not a huge familiar person so haven’t checked it out personally. (Althought I did put the link in the product info section.)
The rest of the cards are various monsters. They have a small circle in the lower right hand corner for numbering or direction facing and at the top of the page, included the name and summon monster level of the creature. That information would probably be better off on a small line under the creature or on the back of the card because once the creatures are cut out, the GM is not going to have that information available to him anymore. In terms of utility, the book includes a lot of material. We have everything from dire lions and various sized elementals, to griffons and the dreaded invisible stalker. All sized for their 3.5 versions and utility.
If that’s the case, why does this product rate lower than Counter Collection Gold? It sounds like it has much of the same utility no? It does but despite being $5.00 more, the Gold collection had more things going for it. One, it was perforated. I’m clumsy. As soon as a blade has to enter my hand or a pair of scissors has to be used, I’m automatically put into the “more effort” mindset. Two, Gold has dungeon tiles by SkeletonKey Games that can be used for any standard fantasy game. Three, there are several blanks in Summoned Creatures. In a collection like this, no counter should go unused.
If you are just started out in the counters game, Counter Collection Gold is your top choice. If you find yourself missing some of the creatures that were left out of that collection or if you’re a spellcaster who summons things like my buddy, then Summoned Creatures is perfect for you. For those wondering if the counters are worth the money, Summoned Creatures is less expensive than Gold so earns some defense in that category.
For me, I find that they work better together as they are meant to compliment one another, especially with the zero amount of overlap between the two.
This comes in the now standard tin from Fiery Dragon Games and includes over 350 counters. For me, this was a nice tin because one of the players in my game is playing a wizard whose a conjuration specialist and all of his creatures are goodly aligned, mostly celestial animals.
Now what are counters? They are illustrations put onto a flat piece of paper, in this case, a fairly heavy cardstock, that takes up a certain number of squares based on the creature’s size. For example, a large creature takes up four squares while a medium creature takes up one and a smaller creature takes up one fourth. The illustrations here are all done by Fiery Dragon standard man, Claudio and it looks like there are some old familiars here and although I couldn’t say with 100% certainty, some new faces.
One of the cards is a summon monster list and includes spells from 1st to 9th level with appropriate creatures for each level and their alignment. Using a 4th level spell? Look for a celestial giant eagle or a yeth hound. Using an 8th level one? Look out for that celestial dire bear or that fiendish tyrannosaurus. The tin also includes new familiars like squirrel, wild rooster and mongoose. You should be able to download the familiar stats at www.fierydragon.com. I’m not a huge familiar person so haven’t checked it out personally. (Althought I did put the link in the product info section.)
The rest of the cards are various monsters. They have a small circle in the lower right hand corner for numbering or direction facing and at the top of the page, included the name and summon monster level of the creature. That information would probably be better off on a small line under the creature or on the back of the card because once the creatures are cut out, the GM is not going to have that information available to him anymore. In terms of utility, the book includes a lot of material. We have everything from dire lions and various sized elementals, to griffons and the dreaded invisible stalker. All sized for their 3.5 versions and utility.
If that’s the case, why does this product rate lower than Counter Collection Gold? It sounds like it has much of the same utility no? It does but despite being $5.00 more, the Gold collection had more things going for it. One, it was perforated. I’m clumsy. As soon as a blade has to enter my hand or a pair of scissors has to be used, I’m automatically put into the “more effort” mindset. Two, Gold has dungeon tiles by SkeletonKey Games that can be used for any standard fantasy game. Three, there are several blanks in Summoned Creatures. In a collection like this, no counter should go unused.
If you are just started out in the counters game, Counter Collection Gold is your top choice. If you find yourself missing some of the creatures that were left out of that collection or if you’re a spellcaster who summons things like my buddy, then Summoned Creatures is perfect for you. For those wondering if the counters are worth the money, Summoned Creatures is less expensive than Gold so earns some defense in that category.
For me, I find that they work better together as they are meant to compliment one another, especially with the zero amount of overlap between the two.
