Dragon Compendium
part 9/10
MONSTERS: The monsters are another mix of new ones from the 3e issues, already done conversions, and new exclusive updates for this compilation. Obviously, I'm more interested in the stuff they're updating, as that took more work, and gives me more toys to play with. Who will their favourites in this department turn out to be?
Blackroot Marauders remind us that James Jacobs started giving us awesome monsters just before the 3e changeover, and they fully deserve to be updated and used along with the many others he's given us since. His distinctive flavour can definitely liven up a campaign.
Bleeders are one of the monsters that made it to official books in 2e, but only ever got updated to 3e in the magazine, and I have no idea why, since it seems pretty arbitrary. For all Ed's prestige, a fair few of his articles still wound up on the chopping board over the years.
Bodak templates still seem like a decent enough addition to 3e's modularity, and the specific example is very cool indeed. Definitely a good pick.
Bonespitters are another James Jacobs one, a gruesome amalgamation of body parts that you too could be incorporated into if unlucky. This kind of stuff is why clerics get anti-undead powers, because they're just too squicky otherwise.
Bonetrees are similarly gruesome, yet completely different in terms of powers. They still want to eat you, though, and use your bones to plate their bark though. Fee fi foe fum indeed. (and I can't believe I nearly went the full thread without making THAT reference. )
Casaruas are a pretty cool one to update, since Tom Moldvay's alternate undead were pretty memorable in general. They're distinctive in visuals, powers and creation method, and are better faced using brains than brawn, so it's a win all round.
Chaoswyrd are another one of James Jacob's sanity threatening monsters that he can whip up in his sleep. While cool, I think they may be spoiling us with too much of a good thing again, as his style is starting to get samey.
Ciruja Plants are another one from James, but don't use the same stereotypes, instead ageing you rather than threatening your sanity. Still, it is pretty brutal, so you should still be afraid. Just a few years later they wouldn't let them make monsters like this,
Elemental Demons still piss me off, knowing that they're Mearls' trial run for rewriting the cosmology and stripping all monsters of everything but a few combat related tricks in the next edition. Also, why these rather than the Battleloths, which were far more interesting in my opinion. Strange decision.
Demonically infused elementals add to the confusion, letting you give your inner planar creatures an outer planar flavour. We already have a fiendish and half-fiend template, and several different types of fiendish bloodline. Do we really need another one?
The colour wheel dragons get fairly straight conversions to 3e, with most of their spell-like abilities remaining the same, but some alignment changes. As with the 2e conversion, I find myself increasingly pleased to see them again, as they're something exclusive to the magazine. I hope they appear at some point in the 4e issues too.
Ghastly and Ghoulish creatures are still a sensible idea when you're working from the PoV that templates are good, and you should be able to combine creature types in all sorts of ways. Not that plenty of living monsters don't want to eat your flesh anyway, but adding paralyzation to the mix definitely turns up the fear factor.
Glasspane Horrors are one I've never seen before, since I've still never managed to get hold of the Creature Catalog from issue 89. They're pretty nifty too, making me pleased to see them here, and annoyed I didn't get the chance before this, and can't compare the mechanics.
Grandfather Plaques are a somewhat goofy one to convert, but hey, we can't forget the influence of Labyrinth and the fairy tale end of fantasy on D&D. There's still plenty of strange creatures ripe for conversion there.
Bog Mummies are just tougher mummies with a vulnerability to cold instead of fire. Not hard to figure out when you know their origins. Meh.
Ragewings are yet another James Jacobs combination of gruesome appearance and annoying special powers that make them pretty dangerous to fight. Well, as one of their lead editors, he has no trouble keeping his material fresh in their minds.
Ravenous template is still a good way to get your zombies to fit the Romero mould, as well as having more esoteric uses. I just wish they'd used the version from Silicon Sorcery instead. In fact, the stuff from book and video game articles has been notably absent from this collection, despite it generally being more adventurous mechanically. Guess they didn't want to deal with licensing hassles again.
Seelie Court Fey still seem annoyingly froofy. As if most fae weren't annoying enough as it is, you had to add an in-crowd and an out-crowd to them. No desire to relive that kind of high school
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Spiritus Anime get their setting details mildly rewritten to make them more generic, but remain pretty similar mechanically. Oh well, I guess that gives DM'd more freedom to put them where they like in a dungeon.
Trap Haunts still feel like an amusing lampshading of D&D dungeons, and their impossibility in reality. Someone has to maintain this stuff if more than one adventuring party passes through, and it might as well be undead, who don't have to worry about ecology.
Fire Trolls retain their amusing, and somewhat tricky to discover weak point, making them a real pain to take down permanently. Just the thing when players get complacent and think they can rely on brute force to solve their problems.
Unseelie Fey are one I'm pretty shocked to see reprinted, given how nasty I found the anti miscegenation message there first time around. I guess drama sells, and knowing sex is forbidden between you because it produces monstrosities certainly qualifies for that.
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