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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greatwyrm" data-source="post: 2459658" data-attributes="member: 479">Stop what you’re doing and go get this book.  Really.Monster’s Handbook, written largely by rising d20 star Mike Mearls, is a very interesting monster supplement.  Interesting in that it doesn’t contain all that many monsters.  In fact, I think I only counted twelve in 169 pages.  That’s because this isn’t a book full of what other people thought were cool ideas for monsters.  This is a book that shows you very easy ways to take the monsters you already have and make them your own.In DMing for 3e/3.5e, the thing I’ve probably had the most trouble with is creating good homebrew monsters.  I like to create my own worlds and I like to try to throw at least one homebrew critter in each adventure.  The Monster’s Handbook has made this very simple for me.  Even though it’s a 3e book, I’ve had little trouble using it for my 3.5e games.There are eleven chapters, covering most of the different types of creatures.  Magical beasts were not included in the book, but are available in a web enhancement.  Also, Shapechangers appear as their own type, which is no longer the case for 3.5e.  This is a minor annoyance, however, and doesn’t diminish the usefulness of the book.The first two chapters, Modifying Monsters and Monster Tactics, can be applied to just about any creatures.  Modifying Monsters has guidelines for adding things like spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, poisonous attacks, and fiddling with things like stats or bonus feats.   Monster Tactics isn’t so much a tactical primer as advice for thinking through what you want your new creation to do and playing to its new strengths and weaknesses.  Quite simply, this is the most clear and concise advice I’ve seen on making new monsters.The subsequent chapters provide modifications more specific to different types of monsters.  This is done through specific abilities that can be added to creatures by modifying their challenge ratings, new feats, and monster specific prestige classes.  In fact, I think this is the first time I recall seeing monster specific PrCs anywhere.  To me, just advancing a monster based on its hit dice is tedious and boring.  The monster PrCs are a welcome alternative.Another thing I particularly like is the way adding abilities and modifying the CR is handled.  For the most part, everybody knows how templates and PrCs are handled.  Adding specific abilities that aren’t in a template or PrC is a little trickier.  The core Monster Manual offers a little advice on this.  Add one to the CR if the abilities generally improve the effectiveness of the creature in combat.  Add two if the abilities significantly improve the effectiveness of the creature in combat.  My problem is, if I want to add natural armor and magic resistance to a skeleton, is that worth +1 or +2?  How about adding a poisonous stinger tail to a kobold?Monster’s Handbook prices individual abilities in two ways.  The first is Absolute Cost.  These are abilities that have pretty much the same overall effect no matter what kind of monster you put them on.  Adding 4 points of natural armor to a skeleton or to a hill giant make the both harder to hit and adds the same amount to either one’s CR.  The other kind of cost is the Relative Cost.  Some abilities vastly improve a creature while some don’t add much at all.  Adding the ability to cast Magic Missile at will to a goblin definitely lets the little guy pack a lot more punch, especially against low level adventurers.  Adding the same ability to a mind flayer or a dragon usually won’t matter nearly as much, since both would have other abilities that already overshadow a simple Magic Missile.  The idea of the Relative Cost handles this disparity in a very elegant way.The only thing I can find that is problematic for a 3.5e game are the costs for various levels of damage reduction.  However, penalizing FFG for not being able to see into the future and include a 3.5e version right along side would be silly.  Using the guidelines in the 3.5e update booklet available from WotC’s website, you should be able to come to a reasonable cost for this one ability.The bottom line is no DM should be without this book.  If you like to make up your own creatures, this will save you loads of time and inspire even more creations.  Don’t let the fact that it’s a 3e book scare you off.  That has practically no effect on the 99% of abilities covered that aren’t damage reduction.</blockquote>

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