This review was originally posted on the 3rdedition.org site
Monster Manual III is the latest in the series of official D&D monster books. It is a 224 page full-color hardcover for $34.95 which contains descriptions of some 162 new monsters for the D&D game. It is also the first D&D monster book designed after the release of the 3.5 edition rules, Fiend Folio having been released a couple of months beforehand.
This book is also the result of a new process in designing D&D monster books: the designers created far more monsters than were included in this book, then only used the best of what they'd come up with. They also made certain that all the Challenge Ratings and monster types would be represented. In this, they were extremely successful. Most of the Challenge Ratings have between five and eight new monsters, with only the top three levels (18-20) having fewer. There is also a good spread amongst the creature types - i.e. Aberration, Humanoid, Plant, etc.
So, the book has many different monsters. Are they any good? I would have to say that yes, they are.
For the most part, the monsters in this book are actual monsters, designed to be excellent foes of the PCs. The range of creature types also means that it's not just more orcs - the monsters progress from the mundane to the bizarre. There are several new variants of the common Troll: Cave Troll, Crystalline Troll, Forest Troll, Mountain Troll, and War Troll, all with different abilities and purposes. Then you have the Living Spells - an idea that may be familiar to some from Eberron - which are Oozes with the abilities of the spells from which they were formed. Thus, a Living Blasphemy is a huge ooze which inflicts the effect of the blasphemy spell on anything it hits with its melee attack.
You have the Rage Drake, a primitive draconic creature which engages in combat with its claws: Power attacking and with Improved Critical! Then you have the Night Twist, a plant which sings a despairing song, affecting those within miles of the plant, causing them to neglect their duties and come to the plant, most likely to die.
The format for the book has been updated: each creature entry begins on a new page, and certain feats (like Power Attack and Powerful Charge) are included in the creature's stats. Thus, the Rage Drake is always considered to be using the Power Attack feat to a certain extent, and the Attack entry has the damage codes for the Powerful Attack so that you don't have to look up a secondary reference for what the feat does.
Many entries also have references on including the monster in an Eberron campaign or a Forgotten Realms campaign, or sometimes both. There are also Round-by-Round tactics entries for some of the monsters.
This is good; it shows that Wizards are seeking to make their books more useful to us, and it's something I really appreciate.
What I don't appreciate, however, is the high level of typographical and mathematical errors that have crept into the manuscript. The book has nine principal designers, nine secondary designers, three developers, three editors, a proof-reader and two managing editors. By the time all of those had finished with the book, you'd expect it to be perfect, right?
Alas, that is not the case. As John Cooper has pointed out in his review, there are a host of errors that affect slightly under 40% of the monsters. For the most part, they make no difference whatsoever to the use of the monsters, and so it's not going to be of much concern. However, the cumulative effect of it all is extremely irritating. References to "Improved Natural Weapon" when it should be "Improved Natural Attack" doesn't have much of an effect on the monster, but what do you make the Deathshrieker's attack? The stats say that its incorporeal touch drains 1d8 Cha, but the text says that it is 1d4 points of permanent Cha drain, 2d4 Cha on a critical. Hmm.
I like Monster Manual III. I consider it to be an excellent source of new monsters, and I'm really looking forward to throwing some of them at my players. However, I wish Wizards had paid more attention to the small details in this book. Getting the mathematics of the monsters right is, in fact, not a difficult business. If this had been done, I'd rated this as an exceptional book rather than merely a good one.
Content: 4
Excellent monsters, although you're likely to find cultural notes a bit scarce. There are some in the book, but the book does hearken back to the adventuring component of D&D rather than the simulation of a fantasy world. I don't feel that the book has the standout campaign-building creatures I found in Fiend Folio, but I like the total selection of creatures far more in this book.
Clarity: 5
The new format pays off handsomely for Wizards. Are there still improvements that could be made? Possibly, but I'm not the person to tell you what they'll be. The book also contains the up-to-date Glossary for the Monster Manuals.
Layout/Artwork: 4.5
One of the best-looking books that Wizards has produced recently. I actually think the artwork is slightly less prominent on the pages and interferes with the layout far less than normal. The cover is interesting, but not, I think, quite as successful as it could be - the background is somewhat too dark.
Originality: 4.5
There are many lovely new monsters and very few ones from previous editions (the Flind gets an update, however). This is one of the highlights of this book, actually.
Development/Editing: 1.5
I think the development of the monsters is extremely good. There are a few Challenge Ratings that I'll have to see in actual play (the Arrow Demon in particular), but my initial impression is favorable. Unfortunately, all of that is undone by the awful checking of mathematics behind the creatures' stats and the other typographical errors. In Complete Divine, I could shrug off some of the errors, but part of getting a Monster Manual done properly is to get the maths right.
Value: 3.5
224 pages of excellent monsters for $34.95? It's the standard Wizards price: expensive, but you get a (mostly) quality book.
Overall: 3.5 / 5
Monster Manual III should have a better overall mark. It really should. The work that has gone into the design of this book is clearly of very high quality. Unfortunately, the errors drag down the mark from what should be a solid 4 or even 4.5. Wizards of the Coast is on the right track with this book, but needs to look at its development and editing procedures further. I hope that such is down effectively, for I'm really looking forward to Monster Manual IV
Monster Manual III is the latest in the series of official D&D monster books. It is a 224 page full-color hardcover for $34.95 which contains descriptions of some 162 new monsters for the D&D game. It is also the first D&D monster book designed after the release of the 3.5 edition rules, Fiend Folio having been released a couple of months beforehand.
This book is also the result of a new process in designing D&D monster books: the designers created far more monsters than were included in this book, then only used the best of what they'd come up with. They also made certain that all the Challenge Ratings and monster types would be represented. In this, they were extremely successful. Most of the Challenge Ratings have between five and eight new monsters, with only the top three levels (18-20) having fewer. There is also a good spread amongst the creature types - i.e. Aberration, Humanoid, Plant, etc.
So, the book has many different monsters. Are they any good? I would have to say that yes, they are.
For the most part, the monsters in this book are actual monsters, designed to be excellent foes of the PCs. The range of creature types also means that it's not just more orcs - the monsters progress from the mundane to the bizarre. There are several new variants of the common Troll: Cave Troll, Crystalline Troll, Forest Troll, Mountain Troll, and War Troll, all with different abilities and purposes. Then you have the Living Spells - an idea that may be familiar to some from Eberron - which are Oozes with the abilities of the spells from which they were formed. Thus, a Living Blasphemy is a huge ooze which inflicts the effect of the blasphemy spell on anything it hits with its melee attack.
You have the Rage Drake, a primitive draconic creature which engages in combat with its claws: Power attacking and with Improved Critical! Then you have the Night Twist, a plant which sings a despairing song, affecting those within miles of the plant, causing them to neglect their duties and come to the plant, most likely to die.
The format for the book has been updated: each creature entry begins on a new page, and certain feats (like Power Attack and Powerful Charge) are included in the creature's stats. Thus, the Rage Drake is always considered to be using the Power Attack feat to a certain extent, and the Attack entry has the damage codes for the Powerful Attack so that you don't have to look up a secondary reference for what the feat does.
Many entries also have references on including the monster in an Eberron campaign or a Forgotten Realms campaign, or sometimes both. There are also Round-by-Round tactics entries for some of the monsters.
This is good; it shows that Wizards are seeking to make their books more useful to us, and it's something I really appreciate.
What I don't appreciate, however, is the high level of typographical and mathematical errors that have crept into the manuscript. The book has nine principal designers, nine secondary designers, three developers, three editors, a proof-reader and two managing editors. By the time all of those had finished with the book, you'd expect it to be perfect, right?
Alas, that is not the case. As John Cooper has pointed out in his review, there are a host of errors that affect slightly under 40% of the monsters. For the most part, they make no difference whatsoever to the use of the monsters, and so it's not going to be of much concern. However, the cumulative effect of it all is extremely irritating. References to "Improved Natural Weapon" when it should be "Improved Natural Attack" doesn't have much of an effect on the monster, but what do you make the Deathshrieker's attack? The stats say that its incorporeal touch drains 1d8 Cha, but the text says that it is 1d4 points of permanent Cha drain, 2d4 Cha on a critical. Hmm.
I like Monster Manual III. I consider it to be an excellent source of new monsters, and I'm really looking forward to throwing some of them at my players. However, I wish Wizards had paid more attention to the small details in this book. Getting the mathematics of the monsters right is, in fact, not a difficult business. If this had been done, I'd rated this as an exceptional book rather than merely a good one.
Content: 4
Excellent monsters, although you're likely to find cultural notes a bit scarce. There are some in the book, but the book does hearken back to the adventuring component of D&D rather than the simulation of a fantasy world. I don't feel that the book has the standout campaign-building creatures I found in Fiend Folio, but I like the total selection of creatures far more in this book.
Clarity: 5
The new format pays off handsomely for Wizards. Are there still improvements that could be made? Possibly, but I'm not the person to tell you what they'll be. The book also contains the up-to-date Glossary for the Monster Manuals.
Layout/Artwork: 4.5
One of the best-looking books that Wizards has produced recently. I actually think the artwork is slightly less prominent on the pages and interferes with the layout far less than normal. The cover is interesting, but not, I think, quite as successful as it could be - the background is somewhat too dark.
Originality: 4.5
There are many lovely new monsters and very few ones from previous editions (the Flind gets an update, however). This is one of the highlights of this book, actually.
Development/Editing: 1.5
I think the development of the monsters is extremely good. There are a few Challenge Ratings that I'll have to see in actual play (the Arrow Demon in particular), but my initial impression is favorable. Unfortunately, all of that is undone by the awful checking of mathematics behind the creatures' stats and the other typographical errors. In Complete Divine, I could shrug off some of the errors, but part of getting a Monster Manual done properly is to get the maths right.
Value: 3.5
224 pages of excellent monsters for $34.95? It's the standard Wizards price: expensive, but you get a (mostly) quality book.
Overall: 3.5 / 5
Monster Manual III should have a better overall mark. It really should. The work that has gone into the design of this book is clearly of very high quality. Unfortunately, the errors drag down the mark from what should be a solid 4 or even 4.5. Wizards of the Coast is on the right track with this book, but needs to look at its development and editing procedures further. I hope that such is down effectively, for I'm really looking forward to Monster Manual IV
