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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009819" data-attributes="member: 172">Monster's HandbookThe Monster's Handbook is one of Fantasy Flight Games' Legends & Lairs books for d20 system fantasy games. The topic of most such books to date have been traps (with the Traps & Treachery books) and character options for PCs (with the Path of ... books.) The Monster's handbook is almost like the path books in that it provides new options, but in this case, the new options are not for PCs, but for their main opposition: monsters.A First LookThe Monster's Handbook is a 176-page hardbound book priced at $24.95.The cover of the book has the same metal-bound style used by all of FFG's Legends & Lairs d20 system books. The front cover has a metallic symbol of some horned monster, with excerpts from the interior art in the backdrop on a parchment tone background.The interior is black and white. The interior art is good to excellent. Interior illustrations are by Andy Brase, Mitch Cotie, David Griffith, Eric Lofgren, Hian Rodriguez, Tyler Walpole. As usual, I find Brase's artwork to be excellent (especially his harpy and centipede-man pictures), but the other artists have some very eye-catching artwork as well.The body text is moderately sized, the paragraphs are double spaced and the column spacing is somewhat wide. The text density is a bit low for a major d20 product, and it seems to me that perhaps they might have been able to fit in the missing chapter they sloughed off to the web if FFG used a layout like WotC and Sword & Sorcery Studios.A Deeper LookThe monsters handbook is arranged into 11 chapters. The first two chapters cover general rules and ideas on modifying monsters and monster tactics. The third through eleventh chapters are devoted to most of the various creature types per the d20 system core rules. There are individual chapters for abberations, dragons, elementals, fey, giants, outsiders, shapechangers, and undead. There is a combined chapter for humanoids and monstrous humanoids. The magical beasts chapter is not in the book, but is available as a web enhancement on the FFG website.The first chapter, entitled Modifying Monsters, contains the basic rules and common elements for modifying monsters.The basis of the book is a system for adding abilities and assessing the effects on a creature's CR. Each ability in the book is assessed a cost in challenge points. Each 100 points correspond to 1 CR point.Ability costs are further split down into absolute and relative. Abilities that scale with a creature's power are given an absolute cost, which provide a fixed adjustment to a creature's CR. Abilities that are relatively static and that are less of a benefit to more powerful creatures are given a relative cost. Relative costs figure CRs from CPs as well, but instead of adding directly to the cost, are added using the EL system in the DMG as multiple creatures of the given CR. This is an astute observation and is central to making the system work.The system recommends that abilities not adding the new abilities without adding additional hit dice and the attendant effects on attacks, skills, and saves. While this is generally sensible advice (what use is a special pumped up creature if it can't live to use its ability), I can see cases where you would not necessarily want to make a unique creature just as a unique challenge for the players, but as flavor in the campaign. As it is, the costs the system assesses sort of assume you will be using these increased hit dice; an assessment of cost without using the increased HD might have been prudent.The first chapter also has a number of abilities that you might add to any monster type and an example of using the system: an imp modified with the cold subtype and a cold breath weapon as a special challenge for the party.The second chapter, Monster Tactics, is short and provides some basic advice on creating challenging creature encounters. The advice is not limited to strictly tactical considerations; much of the advice concerns providing a feel and campaign details behind the sorts of changes you can make with this book, vice just blindly throwing super-monsters at the PCs.The third through eleventh chapters each provides guidelines for customizing creatures of the given type, as well as a variety of options specific to the creature type covered by the chapter. This includes unique special attacks and qualities, feats, prestige classes, and templates. Some chapters have variant rules specific to the creature type, such as rules for summoning elementals with classes. Finally, each chapter has one sample creature customized by the rules given in the chapter.ConclusionThe Monster's Handbook is a marvelous resource for a creative DM. Using the tools in this book, the DM can easily create a number of unique or new variants for PCs to face, and promises to keep players on their toes. It is more than just another monster book, but at the same time, it complements and adds to the possibilities of any monster book that you might own.-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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