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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 5214599" data-attributes="member: 30022">Mechanics?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No specific monster, but there are multiple (at least 6 different types, from ogres to banderhobbs to meazels to cave fishers) that have an "abduction" mechanic. They lunge in, grab a character, and immediately begin tugging him away from the rest of the group. That can set up a nice dynamic with appropriate terrain, such as trying to drag the poor victim into a pit, or down a pitch-blach shaft. Very tense for the others, desperately trying to mount a rescue attempt.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are several "choice" mechanics, such as: "You can either take 20 psychic damage, or choose to charge one of your own allies" or the nymph's Whisper Game: "save vs this effect and it passes to one of your allies... whoever has it last suffers a really punishing effect when the nymph dies". These all add suspense within the fight.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are several monsters that make really good use of minions. The paelyrion (corruption) devil has 5-6 different types of minions, and each has a radically different impact on the battle (lethargy, lust, carnage, greed, etc). The oblivion moss can target PCs with its powers and form minions based on their role: defender, striker, leader, controller. Again, these have different impacts on the battle depending on their type.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are 4 big bad solos: Lolth, Imix, Ogremoch and Allabar (basically, a Lovecraftian Old One), plus some very powerful "lesser bosses" such as Eclavdra, Elder Brains and so forth. There are new Epic-level yuan-ti and drow, and some of the latter could be campaign-ending villains as well. All of them were very nicely differentiated, with some very flavorsome powers.</li> </ul>Fluff-wise...<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yeah, the banderhobbs. Everyone is talking about them. I guess is because they bring that whole "monster-under-the-bed" vibe (explicitly mentioned in the flavor text). The art is great, the powers are evocative. It's rare that I see a new creature that has never appeared before in D&D and immediately think: "That's a classic".</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There's a genuine "old school" feel to the book, with a lot of classic creatures updated.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Excellent selection of demons and devils (always my favorites). Ultroloths (...sory, ultrodemons), nalfeshnees, cambions, molydei, babaus, paelyrions, quasits, narzugons, klurichirs, etc. They seem to have covered off all the outstanding big name demons/devils from previous editions; much more so than MM2, which largely introduced a bunch of "new" demons/devils that had never appeared before.</li> </ul>What didn't I care for?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The new 4e norkers didn't do much for me. I never associated norkers with paragon-tier elemental creatures before, so that was a bit of a let-down. However, the new 4e xvarts (sorry, xivorts) are buckets of fun. Great art, too.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Having both the Forsaken and the Tulgar was maybe a little too much. I know they're radically different, but they both struck me as: uber-epic, humanoid, enemies of the gods. Throw the weavers into the mix as well (they also meet the description) and there seem to be a few too many high epic-level humanoid races around. I'd rather see classic enemies (krakens, demon lords, abominations) in the high epic-levels, rather than: "You walk into a room. There are 4x 27th level forsaken/tulgar/weaver guards here, and a 29th level leader-type" It's not really... epic, you know?</li> </ul></blockquote>

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