MM4 Table of Contents up

[bastrak]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060626a

I am not liking what I am seeing. Gnolls, drow, orcs, githyanki, yuan-ti and ogres take up too much space for existing creatures and the spawn take up 1/6th of the whole book.

I'm inclined to agree.

There seems to be a serious lack of original content when compared to previous Monster Manuals.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Maybe, but the tools are available to create the staples easily. From almost completely random generators like Jamis Buck's generator, over intelligent generators like Vascant's NPC Designer with varying levels of control over the end result, to fully-blown character creators like eTools (or whatever the name was). A DM with computer access does him/herself a great favor looking into such programs.

I don't disagree. But there are people, like me, who would rather have this kind of stuff done for us. I'll handle more complex or important NPCs, but I'd like to have "generic" NPCs or more workaday advanced critters already statted out for me.

I'd say that's exactly the problem. A book like the old Enemies & Allies likely doesn't sell well, since it's "just a bunch of 'I could do that myself' stuff." Also, it is "the same old and boring stuff." Monster Manuals are supposed to be "new and exciting stuff that I couldn't create myself." Or "Updates to old products that aren't readily available anymore, or that would require a lot of conversion-work."

But, there are still plenty of people who would buy such a product of statblocks. Not a huge number, but some.

 

[Aeolius]

I honestly don't see any creatures that I would use in my campaigns. Perhaps that's why they posted the TOC; so folks wouldn't blindly buy the book looking for either classic monsters or new and innovative ones.

No flumph?!? Tsk...

 

[EricNoah]

Thinking further ... if I were going to design such a book, I would want to do it in two-page "spreads" that had a bunch of related stat blocks, and then the descriptions of any powers they all had in common. Each "spread" would be kind of self-contained.

So I might have a two-page spread featuring Ogres, with stat blocks for an Ogre Cheiftain, an Ogre Champion (maybe a fighter or whatever martial class you wanted), an Ogre Adept or Cleric, an Ogre Barbarian, and a couple of different styles of Ogre Warrior, and make it fit on one two-page spread so you could lay that book open and have it available for when the PCs are raiding an ogre lair. If you had room you could do brief stats for typical ogre pets and ogre lair traps.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Thinking further ... if I were going to design such a book, I would want to do it in two-page "spreads" that had a bunch of related stat blocks, and then the descriptions of any powers they all had in common. Each "spread" would be kind of self-contained.

So I might have a two-page spread featuring Ogres, with stat blocks for an Ogre Cheiftain, an Ogre Champion (maybe a fighter or whatever martial class you wanted), an Ogre Adept or Cleric, an Ogre Barbarian, and a couple of different styles of Ogre Warrior, and make it fit on one two-page spread so you could lay that book open and have it available for when the PCs are raiding an ogre lair. If you had room you could do brief stats for typical ogre pets and ogre lair traps.

I'd buy that product. It would be very useful.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I'm liking it. This stuff sounds pretty useful.
With several hundred published monsters, just from WOTC alone, with templates, and the ability to advance monsters... how many more do we really need? Pre-printed game stats and encounters are really helpful.

If they take the place of another shrub monster, or weregerbal, or something else I'll never use, that's great!

 

[d20Dwarf]

Don't overlook this book, and don't judge it by a perceived lack of content. I *love* the MM IV, it's really inspiring me in a way that nothing has in a long while. The expanded content for each monster is very interesting and useful, and more than makes up for the "low" total number of monsters presented. In addition, the content is varied and uses a lot of sources that you haven't traditionally seen in a Monster Manual. Overall I think this is the best Monster Manual yet.

 

[Glyfair]

Agreed -- Yes, when I have time I certainly like to stat up my own drow and other bad guys, but this looks like a useful move to have more ready-made stats at the DM's fingertips. Heck, I wouldn't mind a whole book like that just based on the first four/five MMs.

I wouldn't mind seeing a book like that either. I'd rather it not be a "monster manual."

I saw the 4 page excerpt in Game Trade Magazine (they covered the Vitreous Drinker and the Wrackspawn) and I'm not impressed . It's not "won't buy" but it's way down on my list. Maybe next year.

 

[Aeolius]

Don't overlook this book, and don't judge it by a perceived lack of content.

So it DOES have aquatic creatures, hags, and a flumph, then?

 

[Alzrius]

I wouldn't even mind an entire book of monsters from the MM with class levels/templates (from various sources) added on for me already.

Such a book has already been made, just not by WotC. A Flock of Foes by Genjitsu Gaming is a book of SRD monsters with advanced hit dice, class levels, and templates (and in many cases combinations of those), along with a few new goodies thrown in for good measure. I gave it four out of five stars in my review, and I recommend that anyone wanting such a book check this out.