Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vigwyn the Unruly" data-source="post: 2011929" data-attributes="member: 20345">Monster Manual IIIWizards of the Coast 2004Game Accessory for Dungeons & Dragons v3.5As a DM, I like new monsters. They add variety to the game, provide new challenges for the PCs, and can make for encounters that are as fun and interesting for the DM as they are for the players. So I bought Monster Manual III as soon as I could. I was not disappointed. In fact, this is one of the best D&D purchases I have made—I got my money’s worth and much more. In my opinion, this is Wizards’ best RPG release of 2004. If you don’t own it yet, you should go buy it now. It will be a fantastic addition to your gaming shelf.The Bad:It should be mentioned right off the bat that this book has a ton of errors in it. Some of these are simple mistakes like spelling errors. However, many of them are more problematic, such as errors in stat blocks or inconsistencies in the descriptions. The majority of these will not affect play very much (e.g., the monster has an attack bonus of +5 instead of +4) so you can basically ignore them, but some of them might cause the DM to have to make some tough calls at the table. If a PC gets killed, it’s nice to be able to point at the book and say, “That’s the way the monster is written.” But if the monster as written is inconsistent with the rules, or even within its own description, then the heat is on you as the DM.I know that mistakes happen, and I am generally forgiving, but WotC seems to be doing an exceptionally lousy job lately at catching these kinds of things. We as consumers need to keep the pressure on them until they get the ship turned back around on this issue.The Good:As has become typical with WotC, this book is of excellent physical quality. WotC is the industry leader in this regard. They do not skimp on the physical aspects of the book, and it shows. The cover and binding are nice and tight. The pages are of good stock with a nice finish. In general, it is a solid book with a quality feel. Some companies put out books that feel physically cheap, but with Wizards you get a book that feels like a $34.95 book. My only complaint here is that I don’t care for the choice of black paper for the fly leaf. I think it is unattractive, and I’m worried that it will fade to a really ugly brown with age.The art in this book is very good. There are a couple of stinkers, but the average level of art quality in this book is quite high. It is better than even Draconomicon, and compares favorably with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. When I got this book, I just had to flip through all of the pages, reveling in page after page of evocative images. Nearly every page has a fantastic painting or drawing on it. The cover art is also quite nice. I am not impressed with the core rulebook covers, which are overly decorated and almost rococo in style, but this cover is very good. Every time I grab this book from my shelf, I spend a few moments smiling as I admire the cover. (Note: Some of the online booksellers are still using the pre-production cover mock-up as their image. For an idea of what the cover really looks like, see the top of this page or visit your FLGS.)Now, to the meat of the book. This book presents monsters with a very nice spread of CRs. Specifically, there are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">6 CR ½</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">18 CR 1</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">12 CR 2</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">7 CR 3</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">12 CR 4</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">15 CR 5</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">15 CR 6</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">18 CR 7</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">12 CR 8</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">8 CR 9</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">10 CR 10</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">9 CR 11</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">9 CR 12</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">10 CR 13</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">5 CR 14</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">8 CR 15</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">5 CR 16</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">6 CR 17</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3 CR 18</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">2 CR 19</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3 CR 20</li> </ul>This spreads the CRs out, with a slight favoring of low CRs—exactly what I look for in a monster collection.There is also a very good variety of monster types and subtypes. If you want undead, they’re in here; if you want fey, they’re in here; if you want tanar’ri subtype, they’re in here; if you want—well, you get the idea.There are also a pretty fair number of advanced monsters (both by HD and by character class) and monster variants. For example, there are the skullcrusher ogre and skullcrusher ogre Ftr3, and there are fully five different kinds of trolls. I absolutely love this kind of thing. It adds variety to the game and makes my job as the DM a lot easier. Wizards has done a very good job recently of providing these kinds of things. Examples include the sample dragons in the Draconomicon and the sample locations and NPCs in Libris Mortis. More, more, more!Wizards also added several new design elements to this monster book. First, they begin the entry for each monster at the top of a new page. When I first read about this, I didn’t think it was a big deal. But it turns out that it makes a big difference in actual play. It cuts down on page turning, decreasing extraneous activity at the table and presumably prolonging the life of the book. It is noticeably more pleasant to use than the core Monster Manual. I have since picked up another monster book with this feature, and love it in that book, too. I hope this becomes the industry standard.Second, some of the monsters have an entry called “Tactics round-by-round”. This describes typical combat actions for the monster for the first several rounds. It’s a nice useful touch, especially for complicated monsters or monsters with lots of special abilities.Third, many of the monsters have entries describing how they might be used in the Eberron or Forgotten Realms campaign settings. While I will personally get very little use out of this, it will probably be appreciated by serious fans of those settings. If you are going to start each monster at the top of a new page (and I think you should), you are likely to have some extra space at the end of most entries. While white space doesn’t bother me as much as it does some others, you might as well fill it up with this kind of extra, and thereby add to the value of the book.This book provides several nice tables. There is a table of creatures suitable for use as animal companions or mounts, a listing of creatures by type or subtype, a listing of creatures by CR, and a listing of creatures suitable for play as characters. These tables should be standard in every book. Sadly, they are not, so give kudos to Wizards for putting them in here. I’d also like to see a table of creatures suitable for use as familiars, along with the benefits they convey.Finally, and most importantly, the monsters in this book are fun and interesting to play. While there are a few that don’t interest me, the vast majority are just aching to get into my game. I’ve already managed to work two of them in, and will be using many more in the future. When I design an encounter, this will be one of the books I reach for first. What makes these monsters great is that the designers have done a terrific job of coming up with interesting and creative monsters, many of which have innovative and clever special attacks and special qualities. A monster like that makes an encounter just as fun for the DM as it is for the PCs.Conclusion:This is the best monster book on my shelf. In my opinion, you can’t buy this book fast enough. Wizards has put together a real gem here. In my mind, this book is right up there with the Draconomicon.I would have scored this book a five except for the glaring and numerous editing errors. Even with those problems, though, this is a fantastic book. Years from now, you will look back on it with nostalgia.</blockquote>

Verification