JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I love monster books. They are one of the quickest ways to challenge your players and try to recapture the lost years when we all first started playing and fought our first kobold wondering, “What is that and can I beat it?” Apparently I’m not the only one who enjoys these books as we’ve seen many releases under that umbrella including Creatures of Freeport.
The book starts off with the obligatory introduction. This includes a brief snippet about how these monsters are different and the tome, Beastes of Ye Farre Landes, a book granting its reader a +2 bonus on Knowledge and Gather Information Checks on creatures native to the Serpent Teeth area.
Then the monsters start. Each monster has standard 3.5 information including number of squares for speed, base attack and grapple information, level adjustment and other goods we’ve come to expect from a 3.5 product. In addition to those standards, they’ve added some new ones. These news statistics include Knowledge, Uses, Adventure Hooks and Sample NPCs.
For example, the Thanatos, either a large or gargantuan undead fish, provides several different levels of information that the player gains ranging from knowing about the creature’s life draining ability to knowing which parts of the creature can be crafted in the making of magic items. That’s where the uses come in. In this case, the user can use components of the creature to substitute for spells. How about making a life drinker axe without the need to cast finger of death or enervation? How about making ghost touch armor and shields without etherealness?
The adventure hooks are a little on the weak side. For example, in this case, a thanatos is attacking ships and needs to be hunted down. How about a sahuagin cleric controlling such a creature and using it to sink ships? Or how about famous and rich hunters coming to hunt the creature down for sport? Some of the ideas are just a little too obvious, others could’ve benefited from following Malhavok’s recent release and including a few maps. Some have ideas that would lend themselves to other products but those products aren’t mentioned. For example, the Thanatos helps necromancers but no mention is made of the Secret College of Necromancy. I can understanding not wanting to alienate the audience but with this being Creatures of Freeport already, some further mention of other products probably wouldn’t hurt.
There are sixteen different creatures and numerous different swarms. There are numerous animals and vermin included. That doesn’t seem like a lot of creatures for such a large tome. In an effort to make the book more useable, I think that they’ve cut too deep into the main content of the book. Only the most time pressed GMs are going to need these obvious adventure seeds and some of the material would’ve probably been better off as web enhancements to showcase how easy it is to add utility to a monster.
The good thing about all of these details is that it helps the setting teem with ideas and helps fully flesh out the background of the area. For example, the cataclysm that destroyed Valossa had other consequences. This includes the fact that ancient fey known as the spirit lizards who were bonded to their trees became deadwood trees, while those that were not bonded at the time but where warped by the energies became devil lizards, tormented fey who want isolation and to finish off their corrupted deadwood family.
Another good thing is that when templates are presented, we get fully fleshed out NPCs like Salannon Foam Shine,a aquatic elf who suffers from the curse of lycanthropy, in this case, a wereshark. In addition, there are numerous new magic items and uses that expand the book’s utility beyond a mere monster book. Take for example the Lock of Devotion, a minor artifact that a nereid gives to her mortal love. It provides the user with bonuses on their saving throws against a fey’s spell like abilities as well as against the sea songs of other nereids.
Despite the limited number of creatures, there is a good variety in the challenge ratings and uses of the monsters. They range from the ocean wyrms known as Kolan’tathok, colossal quatic elemental serpents weighing in at a CR of 16 to ant swarms that feed off those that dare invade their jungles at a CR of 4. One of my favorites follows the avatar thought introduced in the Miniature Handbook, X’sval, the avatar of the Unspeakable One. A creature with a devastating attack but a overall low CR of 7. Some may just want a little something to spice up their campaign and using the picacoutatl, a semi-couatl of small size, as an improved familiar, may fit that bill.
One nice thing about the book is that the CR table lists the creatures by challenge rating and includes the page number. This is good as it includes the animals and vermin who don’t have full page write ups but abbreviated stats and would take a little time to look up as opposed to just flipping to the approximate page for the standard monsters.
The art is good and allows the GM to quickly show his players what the creatures look like if they can’t form a good mental image from the italicized descriptions. The details on each creature are very complete and GMs should be able to use every creature in this book to one degree or another. Editing is fair and the writing is easy to read. The little snippets from the Beastes of Ye Farre Landes are entertaining to read but consume space, another reason why there aren’t more creatures here.
This book isn’t overflowing with creatures. These monsters have been crafted with care. GMs looking for quantity over utility may want another book like Tome of Horrors II. GMs who want a mix of the two may want Legacy of the Dragons. Creatures of Freeport provides unique challenges and is perfect for a GM looking to customize his personal Freeport setting. I can also see some of these creatures working their way into the Scarred Lands, especially in the Blood Sea as that region produces its own horrors and some of them would make excellent supplements to Green Ronin’s Mytic Vista setting, Mindshadows.
The book starts off with the obligatory introduction. This includes a brief snippet about how these monsters are different and the tome, Beastes of Ye Farre Landes, a book granting its reader a +2 bonus on Knowledge and Gather Information Checks on creatures native to the Serpent Teeth area.
Then the monsters start. Each monster has standard 3.5 information including number of squares for speed, base attack and grapple information, level adjustment and other goods we’ve come to expect from a 3.5 product. In addition to those standards, they’ve added some new ones. These news statistics include Knowledge, Uses, Adventure Hooks and Sample NPCs.
For example, the Thanatos, either a large or gargantuan undead fish, provides several different levels of information that the player gains ranging from knowing about the creature’s life draining ability to knowing which parts of the creature can be crafted in the making of magic items. That’s where the uses come in. In this case, the user can use components of the creature to substitute for spells. How about making a life drinker axe without the need to cast finger of death or enervation? How about making ghost touch armor and shields without etherealness?
The adventure hooks are a little on the weak side. For example, in this case, a thanatos is attacking ships and needs to be hunted down. How about a sahuagin cleric controlling such a creature and using it to sink ships? Or how about famous and rich hunters coming to hunt the creature down for sport? Some of the ideas are just a little too obvious, others could’ve benefited from following Malhavok’s recent release and including a few maps. Some have ideas that would lend themselves to other products but those products aren’t mentioned. For example, the Thanatos helps necromancers but no mention is made of the Secret College of Necromancy. I can understanding not wanting to alienate the audience but with this being Creatures of Freeport already, some further mention of other products probably wouldn’t hurt.
There are sixteen different creatures and numerous different swarms. There are numerous animals and vermin included. That doesn’t seem like a lot of creatures for such a large tome. In an effort to make the book more useable, I think that they’ve cut too deep into the main content of the book. Only the most time pressed GMs are going to need these obvious adventure seeds and some of the material would’ve probably been better off as web enhancements to showcase how easy it is to add utility to a monster.
The good thing about all of these details is that it helps the setting teem with ideas and helps fully flesh out the background of the area. For example, the cataclysm that destroyed Valossa had other consequences. This includes the fact that ancient fey known as the spirit lizards who were bonded to their trees became deadwood trees, while those that were not bonded at the time but where warped by the energies became devil lizards, tormented fey who want isolation and to finish off their corrupted deadwood family.
Another good thing is that when templates are presented, we get fully fleshed out NPCs like Salannon Foam Shine,a aquatic elf who suffers from the curse of lycanthropy, in this case, a wereshark. In addition, there are numerous new magic items and uses that expand the book’s utility beyond a mere monster book. Take for example the Lock of Devotion, a minor artifact that a nereid gives to her mortal love. It provides the user with bonuses on their saving throws against a fey’s spell like abilities as well as against the sea songs of other nereids.
Despite the limited number of creatures, there is a good variety in the challenge ratings and uses of the monsters. They range from the ocean wyrms known as Kolan’tathok, colossal quatic elemental serpents weighing in at a CR of 16 to ant swarms that feed off those that dare invade their jungles at a CR of 4. One of my favorites follows the avatar thought introduced in the Miniature Handbook, X’sval, the avatar of the Unspeakable One. A creature with a devastating attack but a overall low CR of 7. Some may just want a little something to spice up their campaign and using the picacoutatl, a semi-couatl of small size, as an improved familiar, may fit that bill.
One nice thing about the book is that the CR table lists the creatures by challenge rating and includes the page number. This is good as it includes the animals and vermin who don’t have full page write ups but abbreviated stats and would take a little time to look up as opposed to just flipping to the approximate page for the standard monsters.
The art is good and allows the GM to quickly show his players what the creatures look like if they can’t form a good mental image from the italicized descriptions. The details on each creature are very complete and GMs should be able to use every creature in this book to one degree or another. Editing is fair and the writing is easy to read. The little snippets from the Beastes of Ye Farre Landes are entertaining to read but consume space, another reason why there aren’t more creatures here.
This book isn’t overflowing with creatures. These monsters have been crafted with care. GMs looking for quantity over utility may want another book like Tome of Horrors II. GMs who want a mix of the two may want Legacy of the Dragons. Creatures of Freeport provides unique challenges and is perfect for a GM looking to customize his personal Freeport setting. I can also see some of these creatures working their way into the Scarred Lands, especially in the Blood Sea as that region produces its own horrors and some of them would make excellent supplements to Green Ronin’s Mytic Vista setting, Mindshadows.
