Monster Manual II and III: Both worth getting?

[Ninja-to]

After 3.5 came out, I've been finally able to play with a group I formed here in Tokyo (by the way, if anyone knows of any gamers out here please let me know). I've seen the Erratta and conversion docs for some of the books, and decided that I won't buy any 3.0 books unless they're exceptionally good (the Book of Vile Darkness for example). So, as the subject says:

1. Is it worth getting the Monster Manual II? How much of a pain is it to convert to 3.5?

2. How is the new MMIII? Worth picking up? Any examples of cool monsters/features you could describe?

On a similar topic, I'm quite sure I'm going to pick up the Fiend Folio (I have a demon fetish... umm...) and I believe the only thing needed to change is the DR for the most part. Anything else I should know about?

 

[John Morrow]

After 3.5 came out, I've been finally able to play with a group I formed here in Tokyo (by the way, if anyone knows of any gamers out here please let me know).

Contact JIGG, the Japan International Gamer's Guild. They have quite a few Tokyo members and the mailing list still gets a reasonable amount of traffic. You can join it via Yahoo Groups. The name of the group is "JIGG". Join and send out an email and see what people have to say.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I rather like the MM3. It's got some good ideas in it - even if some of them aren't executed quite as well as I might like (the drowned leap immediately to mind).

EDIT: As for particularly cool MM3 creatures, it's got the Living Spell template (originally in the Eberron Campaign Setting), ephemeral swarms (undead rat swarms), some neat mixed elementals, and some cool undead (the drowned, above, are pretty heinous [too heinous, in fact], but the boneclaws are fun, and can put up quite a fight).

 

[Ninja-to]

Contact JIGG, the Japan International Gamer's Guild. They have quite a few Tokyo members and the mailing list still gets a reasonable amount of traffic. You can join it via Yahoo Groups. The name of the group is "JIGG". Join and send out an email and see what people have to say.

Nice. I've never heard of them before. I'll look them up.

Patryn of Elvenshae, what else do you like about it? And I hate your sig

 

[Crothian]

The third on is much better then the second one. THe second MM is IMO one of the most disappointing books wizards has

 

[Shade]

As a total monster junkie, I'd love to share my thoughts with you.

First of all, the fact that you are definitely getting the Fiend Folio brings a large smile to my face. I think it is by far the best of the 3E/3.5 monster books, and by a far cry.

I like the MM2 quite a bit. It has some classics from previous editions of the game, as well as some interesting new creatures, and some real good templates. It also has many high-level creatures, which usually isn't the norm. The conversion guide does a decent job of making them 3.5 compatible, but is by no means complete. Be wary...some of the CRs are quite off (mostly overstated).

I was very disappointed in the MM3. It is by far the worst-edited book WOTC has released in 3E. Check out the errata files (there are two already), and notice how much is in there. Then keep in mind that what they did include in the errata is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several threads here on ENWorld that gather much more of the errata from the book.

Besides poor editing, I wasn't really "wowed" by too many of the creatures within. The ragewalker is incredibly cool (a CR 14 badass fey that controls living spells), as is the death giant and the ssvaklor (essentially a yuan-ti dragon). But the book has way too many barely-different variations on goblins, ogres, trolls, and so forth. Plus, it has only four templates (five if you count the topiary guardians as templates), and one of them is a reprint from Eberron (living spell). I'd recommend buying Lords of Madness and the Draconomicon before the MM3.

I'd rank the 3E/3.5 monster books in this order in overall usefulness and quality of monsters:
Fiend Folio
Lords of Madness
Draconomicon
MM2
Monsters of Faerun
MM3
Libris Mortis

 

[Jdvn1]

I dont' think MM2 is a particularly good book, but I like both MM2 and MM3 because it's cool seeing all the creatures. If you like monster books, go for it. If you don't have a particular preference, it's probably not worth it.

 

[John Morrow]

Nice. I've never heard of them before. I'll look them up.

Here is a link to the list:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/jigg/

You should ask them to run some ads in the English Language classifieds in Tokyo. They were doing that in the late 1990s and havign regular monthly meetings, too.

 

[MoonZar]

After 3.5 came out, I've been finally able to play with a group I formed here in Tokyo (by the way, if anyone knows of any gamers out here please let me know). I've seen the Erratta and conversion docs for some of the books, and decided that I won't buy any 3.0 books unless they're exceptionally good (the Book of Vile Darkness for example). So, as the subject says:

1. Is it worth getting the Monster Manual II? How much of a pain is it to convert to 3.5?

2. How is the new MMIII? Worth picking up? Any examples of cool monsters/features you could describe?

On a similar topic, I'm quite sure I'm going to pick up the Fiend Folio (I have a demon fetish... umm...) and I believe the only thing needed to change is the DR for the most part. Anything else I should know about?

I really like the monster manual III after all he's official 3.5 and my players don't know any of the monster in this book, perfect to surprise them.

They have a couple of interresting stuff in the monster manual II like the phoenix and the death knight.

 

[Psion]

It's nice that MMIII is 3.5.

But for sheer inspiration and utility, I find MMII to be the better book. I feel no desire to use most of the MMIII creatures in my game.