Looking for a monster book recommendation

[CCamfield]

The only book of monsters I have at the moment is the Monster Manual and I find it pretty limiting.

I'm running a campaign currently at first level, in a mostly desert environment. What I really would like is a book with relatively plausible creatures rather than a whole bunch of outsiders or mechano-zombies. (Which rules out the Monsternomicon, I think.) Obviously creatures suitable for deserts or a warm climate would be a plus.

Any suggestions?

 

[Voadam]

Hang on about a year, the open call for Creature Collection III just went out for submissions and they are specifically looking for a bunch of dessert creatures, among other kinds.

Check out the dark sun 3e site for some conversions of their psionic desert world 2e monsters.

Ravenloft Denizens of Darkness and Minions rebirth both have a very limited number of Eqyptian style creatures. Relics and Rituals has a mummy template as does the Ravenloft core book, Dragon 300 and the upcoming GFDF Monsters.

I do not have and can not comment on Liber Bestarius, Monsternomicon, Monster manual II (but check out the wizards site for a listing of the monsters) Monsters of Faerun, the first two Creature Collections, Tome of Horrors, or the Darwin world bestiary.

 

[Katerek]

Monster Manual 2 is a good resource. there is quite a bit of stuff that can be used there, even for a lower end campaign.

Liber Bestarius is absolutely fantastic.

Those would be my first two recomendations. Especially LB. With the way it is written, you will proabbly be coming up with new adventure hooks and sotry arcs that just revolve around the monsters. I know I did.

 

[mearls]

I don't normally devolve into a walking commercial for my work, but in this case I'll make an exception since I think it fits.

The Monster's Handbook from Fantasy Flight might be exactly what you need. It includes rules for customizing monsters, giving them new special attacks and abilities, and taking those into account to adjust their CRs. Rules in the book describe how to turn any spell effect into a special attack or special quality you can apply to a monster. For instance, if you wanted to make a tribe of desert gnolls who are immune to fire attacks the book has rules for doing that. If you want to make a fire griffon that can summon fire elementals and breath flame, the rules let you do that.

There's a sample chapter available here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/llmh.html

Along with a description of the book. The sample chapter is a preview of how each monster type is handled.

 

[digitaldark]

I second the Monster's Handbook...I saw it at my local FLGS...and (although I was gonna get it anywayz cause I have all of FFG's other d20 Books..) I flipped through it and immediatly knew I had to have it...lots of really good monster options!

 

[Arkham]

Hang on about a year, the open call for Creature Collection III just went out for submissions and they are specifically looking for a bunch of dessert creatures, among other kinds.

Dessert creatures?!? Great! I can submit my conversion of Flans, and some puddings, Jello's, and maybe even my cakedaemon.

I hope they accept my Dire Fondue, I am awefully fond of that one. I'm a bit leery of even submitting my mousse-folk, they are a bit 'done'.

And for my desert dessert creature, I've got an Ice-Scream Sand Witch.....

 

[jaldaen]

I would like to point out that the Monsternomicon has only about 8 (or so) monsters that are mechanically oriented out of around 80... As for desert oriented creatures there are the following eight that were created specifically for the desert:

Assassin Fly, Dune Prowler, Bogrin, Kaelram, Oasis Ooze, Sepulchral Lurker, & Skorne.

This is of course not to mention the other non-"mechano-zombies" that are presented throughout the book ;-)

You also get the always useful Appendix with its treatment of Legends & Lore, Tomes of Lore, Quickplates, etc...

Joseph Miller
Privateer Freelancer and author of the Assassin Fly, Dune Prowler, Oasis Ooze, and Sepulchar Lurker mentioned above (and more in the book ;-)

PS: I have a few friends that were apprehensive of the Monsternomicon b/c of its "steam-punk" feel (though I prefer the term "Full-Metal Fantasy"), but once they read through it they were quite taken by its production value and content and have made good (unfortunately for us PCs) use out of it. So I would say give the Monsternomicon a chance... Please ;-)

 

[Storminator]

I was really impressed with all the fey in Monsternomicon. Those will get the most use in my campaign. In fact, I recently changed the entire direction of a major villain to maximize his use of MN's fey creatures. I was going to use various forms of fiends, but I think the fey will be much cooler.

And think of the adventure hooks when Cask Imps invade every tavern in town!

PS

 

[Psion]

One other aspect of the monsternomicon you may appreciate if you are looking for more "plausible" creatures. Monsternomicon features "quickplates" which instead of the rather sensational template, presents options to create an alpha beast, a clever creatures, etc., which allows smaller refinements to individualize the creatures.

I'm betting the new THG interludes book has some desert-oriented stuff in it.

 

[Turjan]

Although it's not desert-oriented, I would recommend "Minions: Rebirth" from Bastion Press. This one is available as a pdf download from RPGNow (this means: it's cheap ). I find it very useful for someone who's looking for believable creatures, and each one is given a nice plot hook. It's not really suited for 1st level PC's though, but from level 5 on it's one of my favourite monster books .