MMV love from a MMIV hater

[DragonLancer]

I picked up my copy of MMV today and I like it. Theres some great stuff in there that I really want to use ASAP.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

The spirrax is my early favorite. An extraplanar nautiloid aberration that fires death rays and has a powerful shell that deteriorates as it takes damage before revealing the creepy interior...count me in!

You sir, are my new favorite poster on ENworld...

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager
Spirrax inventor... woot.

 

[Shade]

You sir, are my new favorite poster on ENworld...

That one was yours? Sweet. Take a bow.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Player: "Why are we chopping down the mightiest tree in the forest with... a herring?!?"
DM: "Because your patron dragon needs you to get a flush on the flop or else he loses 5 points. And eats you."

I lol'd.

 

[frankthedm]

The spirrax is my early favorite. An extraplanar nautiloid aberration that fires death rays and has a powerful shell that deteriorates as it takes damage before revealing the creepy interior...count me in!

Thats the kind of video game influence I want to see in D&D.

The dalmosh is another early favorite. It's essentially a unique demon combined with the tarrasque with a very nice plot hook.

I wonder if the name is a play on "demolish"

Several of the monsters have death throes and contingency powers, which make for entertaining battles.

Some players really hate those. I think they are grand, but the Monsters that blow up when dead tend to hurt the front liners, while the casters are safe farther away.

The neatest innovations are the creatures that can take damage to alter themselves in battle...some almost seem like Transformers tie-ins.

The art for the ruin guardian looks that part.

 

[Shade]

Thats the kind of video game influence I want to see in D&D.

Also borrowing from videogames is the "defeated monster that rises again in a different form."
One of the creatures is a magical beast that, once slain, rises as a zombie version of itself.

The art for the ruin guardian looks that part.

It's mainly among the Thoon constructs.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I flipped through it and liked what I saw. I, too, enjoyed the Mind Flayers.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

Also borrowing from videogames is the "defeated monster that rises again in a different form."
One of the creatures is a magical beast that, once slain, rises as a zombie version of itself.

Funny enough.. I wrote that one too. I was aiming to create some creatures that caused the combat to shift mid-stream. Far too often, imho, combats tend to degrade into a boring routine, with the heavy hitters exhanging blows for round after round until one falls.

I hope these help add some fun back into the mix.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sure, the book has a few duds, but don't they all? I'm glad to see the MM series is getting back on track. If you loathed MMIV, give MMV a chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Hmm...I quite enjoyed FF and strongly disliked MMIV, which has become the only 3.X monster book that I do not own. Based on the description, I had assumed that MMV might be more of the same. Count me in as another possible sale you just made. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[IanB]

I guess there always has to be one dissenter, so I'll be it. Caveat: I am only halfway through MM V.

I liked IV a lot better. I would like *more* classed humanoids, not less, personally - I find them a lot more useful than a lot of the new monsters (I never. ever. need to see another new ooze again.) I also actually liked the various spawn of Tiamat for the most part.

V isn't *bad*, but IV was just right for me. I don't really like the use of variant non-classed humanoids, like in the case of the hobgoblins and kuo-toa in V, and I have a lot of little nitpicks about things (why are Arcadian avengers still called that in the Eberron and Faerun paragraphs, given that those cosmologies don't have Arcadia, etc.) but it will still see some use. I don't really care for the big hungry demon type guy, but I do like the other unique monster I've hit so far (the watery knowledge-stealing one.)