Dragonlance: Bestiary of Krynn

[talinthas]

I adore UDON, so i was really thrilled to see their art in the book. This is also the last book that will have the giant margins, which thrills me even more =)

Cam and Andre' have a love for the setting which pours through in their descriptions. Hell, they even made some monsters completely new, just based off of things like famous DL paintings, like the malruthin, which came out of the Caldwell? Parkinson? i don't remember, but the one with the duel between raist and fistandantilus =)
The monster PrCs are cool too, and the Child of Chemosh features prominently in my current campaign.

With a setting like dragonlance that is so intrinisically tied to the core rules, it's hard to find enough original monsters to fill out a book completely. You'll notice that Bakali are missing, cause they are functionally lizardmen. Same with other monsters who have been covered in core rules.

The only really negative thing i have to say regards the layout. oh my god, the layout. better luck next time, guys.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah the layout is a very huge downside for me. The art was however exceptional.

 

[johnsemlak]

What is the main problem with the layout? Is it just that the monster stat-bloc entries are split between pages, or are there more fundamental problems?

Oh, and is it just me or is the first post in this thread actually post#2?

 

[talinthas]

yeah, there's a time stamp issue somewhere.

they layout is just very wierdly aligned. its also harder to read than it should be, and sometimes just sloppy looking. If this was a word document that went vertically, it would look better, but as a book format, it becomes disjointed. One monster had its statblock swapped with another, as well. Not a fan of Kevin Stein's layout design at all, i am.

(of course, there is one of the coolest typos i've ever seen- the Forestmaster, a unicorn of purity and holiness, has an Aura of Clam!! Must come from hanging out with all those vestal virgins =)

 

[Cam Banks]

the Forestmaster, a unicorn of purity and holiness, has an Aura of Clam!! Must come from hanging out with all those vestal virgins =)

We do not mention the aura of clam!

That was Andre's creature anyway. Ahem.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Nightfall]

Let me guess Zeboim was having a little chuckle at your guys expense huh Cam?

 

[Kanegrundar]

I've had the BoK for a while now, but I haven't had the chance until recently to really look it over. All I have to say is that I hope future Dragonlance products go through better fact-checking. There are several instances of miscalculated AC's, special qualities listed in the monster entries that aren't given any rules. This lessens the utility greatly. Not to mention the horrible layout that just makes my head hurt.

This is actually one of the worst monster books I've picked up in a while. I had high hopes, but BoK fell short. I can't say that every monster is botched, many appear to be spot-on as far as stats go, but there are enough errors that makes think twice about using any monster from it without giving the stats a major overview.

My 2 cents,
Kane

 

[Steel_Wind]

This is actually one of the worst monster books I've picked up in a while. I had high hopes, but BoK fell short.

I actually was not entirely keen on BoK when I got it, but its grown on me since.

Compared to the monster books put out by White Wolf, this is a superior volume in quality, IMO.

There are some PrCs in there for DL which are also quite handy.

Overall, I have moved from grudging buyer to happy customer.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Compared to the monster books put out by White Wolf, this is a superior volume in quality, IMO.

I'll agree with you there, but compared to other monster books like Monsternomicon, Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Creatures of Freeport, and Liber Bestarius BoK falls way short of the mark. BoK, while being a very attractive book, didn't offer much in the way of information and usability as the above mentioned books.

Monster books that offer more than just a collection of stats and pretty pictures have set the standard for what I look for from a monster collection. This is why I honestly disliked Tome of Horrors. Don't get me wrong, I use it, but it doesn't grab me and say "Use this!" the way that other books that really flesh out the creatures do. BoK suffers from this as well, it assumes those reading it have read many of the books to get the most out of it for Dragonlance campaigns. I've only read the War of the Lance timeline of books (a couple others from the other ages, but they never interested me much) so the usability dropped greatly. Granted, I'll likely use BoK for homebrew campaigns, but my point still stands.

Couple the assumption of prior knowledge with the poorly written stats (in several places), and BoK becomes a "lower-end" monster book for me. Ranking down around the Creature Collection 1 on my list.

Kane

 

[Garnfellow]

OK, I'm really not trying to troll here. I love monster books but HATE Dragonlance -- a deep and abiding hate. I hated the original three novels, and I hated the old AD&D modules.

I've read a lot of messages from posters that give this book a big thumbs up. The great art is usally the most noted feature. However, almost all of these happy posters are also big dragonlance fans.

I've also read several comments about layout problems and statblock errors. Errors make me really cranky.

Given (1) my hate of Dragonlance, (2) my nit-picky personality, and (3) my unholy love of monster books, should I give this book a chance?