MM4 Table of Contents up

[airwalkrr]

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

Me too. If it had sections for creatures like orcs, goblins, drow, and even "good" races like dwarves and halflings that would be excellent. I must mention this idea to the d20 company I freelance for.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm going to be a contrary voice and say that the actual monsters (leaving aside the prestatted stuff which I will certainly grab in lieu of having to roll up something on the spur of the moment) sounds great for my campaign. Gnomes who create clockwork creatures are a part of the setting of my home campaign, as is a conquered dwarf hold. I've also been looking for a way to add in green dragon flavoring without having the big bad green dragon return to the setting (at least, not until the players have a shot at stopping her from killing everyone in the barony), and I'll be using the greenspawn as her left-behind guards.

Of course, I also found the Fiend Folio the least-useful supplemental monster book, and I mostly got it for the nerra (although the iron cobra is likely to see use in my campaign sooner rather than later).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh, and if anyone from WotC is listening, count me as a vote for Aspects appearing in every monster book from now on and in the 4E MM1. Easily one of the most useful additions to the game this edition.

 

[delericho]

Well, it looks like I'll be skipping this one.

I can see the value of presenting monsters with templates and class levels already added. But almost all that is required for such creatures is the stat block - they don't need the full write-ups that other creatures get. The ToC shows too much space being expended on these creatures for my taste, so my wallet will be staying closed this time.

(On the plus side, at 220+ pages, the book is at least a decent length.)

 

[Soel]

I don't like the fact that there are a lot less monsters, but if they are well-written (and generally, except for Complete Psionics, I totally dig the newer, more open design elements,) then I will accept it and buy this book.

A big stumbling block for me though is not the npcs, but the huge section devoted to dragonspawn. I'm quite sick of dragons and dragony things.

 

[Graf]

It's all REPRINTS!!!

The book is mostly reprints…

3/4ths of those monsters are already on the back of stat cards for the Mini’s game.

Lolth’s Sting?
The game’s been out for 4 years… most people (who would want to) can stat out a low level Ninja drow.
Ditto 75% of stuff on the list.

I know that WotC has been reprinting heavily but this is a bit absurd.
Why not just call it “the miniatures handbook II”?

P.S. For the sake of avoiding confusion this isn't a blast against having statted NPCs... just ones that aren't already printed and readily availible.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The book is mostly reprints…

3/4ths of those monsters are already on the back of stat cards for the Mini’s game.

Lolth’s Sting?
The game’s been out for 4 years… most people (who would want to) can stat out a low level Ninja drow.
Ditto 75% of stuff on the list.

I know that WotC has been reprinting heavily but this is a bit absurd.
Why not just call it “the miniatures handbook II”?

P.S. For the sake of avoiding confusion this isn't a blast against having statted NPCs... just ones that aren't already printed and readily availible.

That's an interesting point, but for someone (like me) who doesn't play the minis game, the material is new. But they should have been explicit about where the material came from (assuming they weren't).

 

[Buttercup]

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

I would too. It would save me a huge amount of time over the course of a campaign.

I have seen the book, I got it last week and have spent a lot of time with it, more so than any D&D book I can think of in years. No doubt you're not going to care for or use 100% of the stuff in the book, but that's how it always is. There are some inventive monsters in the book, but what I really dig is how the monsters have a more classic feel

This sounds better and better. The book has moved from "I don't need another monster book" to "I'll look at it" to "99% sure I'll buy it."

...these are things you can use in a variety of ways, rather than a book full of spectral bladed prismatic demonoids that live on the 663rd layer of the Abyss and never come to the Material Plane. (Gee, thanks! )

Paging Edena, paging Edena!

In addition, the ecology/for the players/lore sections are what I wish all the monsters had from the beginning. They really get your imagination flowing, which is what a good monster should do...you immediately start placing these guys in adventure locales and growing plots around them.

Ok, now I really can't wait to see it.

I dunno, I sound like a booster, but color me excited that D&D is starting to put out some fresh content. It's so funny that recently the fresher the content I see the less the message board community seems to like it. I dunno what that says about me, maybe I've accumulated too many dark side points, but I'm so totally gellin' with the current WotC product design braintrust.

Well, I have been remarking that WotC's offerings seem to be aimed at players other than me for about a year and a half now. I've really liked some of the offerings this year, for the first time in a long time. So maybe I've got too many dark side points too. But how is this possible? I'm not nearly as evil as you?

 

[d20Dwarf]

So maybe I've got too many dark side points too. But how is this possible? I'm not nearly as evil as you?

That's what we like you to keep thinking, all the way up til the end...

 

[BryonD]

I can't answer specific content questions, sorry about that.

That's cool. I didn't realize it was an NDA thing. I thought you just got one early.