Monster Manual V ?!

[Darrin Drader]

I knew what the format of MMIV was going to be before the book was even written. It is now the only monster book in the last 15 years that I haven't bought.

 

[Shade]

My hat of MMIV knows no limits, but I'm actually looking forward to this one because of the folks involved. The Paizo guys wouldn't contribute to suck.

That said, here's hoping for no MM creatures with class levels, dragonspawn, yugoloths that don't remotely resemble yugoloths, demons that don't make any sense in the grand scheme of things (or rely on quickened SLAs too high level for the feat), or templates that do next-to-nothing. And how about some true dragons and an updated pre-3E critter or two this time?

 

[Soel]

I wouldn't mind the classed critters if they weren't the same old, same old. If its less typical creatures, with less typical classes, then I'd even love it.

The random (unlinked with any particular creatures) gotta go! Also any maps like the ones in the Accordlands book,(basically, ones that you could do yourself in less than two minutes.)

 

[satori01]

The Paizo guys wouldn't contribute to suck.

So Jacobs and Mona contributed monsters to this book? Does anyone know if there is a general theme behind the book?
As much as I love the discussion about who hates MM IV the most, ,
any hard data on MM V would be appreciated.

For the record, I love the Knowledge check Sidebars, those should be standard issue for the future. The Spawn do not bug me. Like the Kaodi, or other set of related monsters one might find in any of the previous Monster books, I might use them some time down the road, or I might not. .. mechanically and thematically they work, especially in a Swords Against Tiamat campaign.

Classed Monsters....I see the utility....I also see the reprinting of data I already have. I would be fine with class stats for unusual monsters, or good stats using unusual classes...like say Psionics.

 

[Shade]

So Jacobs and Mona contributed monsters to this book? Does anyone know if there is a general theme behind the book?

I do not believe Erik or James are involved. I know Mike McArtor is involved, and IIRC Jason Bulmahn and a few of the other Paizo guys mentioned their involvement at one time.

I don't recall seeing a general theme for MMV. Did MMIV have a theme? Sure, it was loaded with dragonspawn, but beyond that it was a fairly mixed bag.

If anything, this year's theme appears to be adventures, especially "Expedition to..."s. So one could hope it would be stocked with critters tied in with those adventures. But I doubt it will have such a theme.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Classed monsters. Ugh.

I spend enough time doing that myself. If they [WotC] continues this format, that ought to just call the book Elite Opponents Compendium.

 

[Fishbone]

I think there should be a cutoff for complexity's sake. Only give levels and more NACLs to the really difficult stuff, past say CR 5. And come one, classed Gishes, Gnolls, Drow? Low level mooks that people have been classing for about a decade in 3.5 shouldn't get treatment. From the cover it looks like it will have a mini lords of madness in it. Cool, I'm down with that. What I'm not down with is Dragonspawn redux. Dragonspawn redux would be 10+ flat, uninspired Mind Flayer tweaks taking up nearly 30 pages in a 30 dollar hardcover.

 

[Felon]

The gems were there, like the new fey creatures (I like Lunar Ravager and Verdant Prince) and a few others, even the yugoloths of course (even though the guy wrote the their names screwed up with the naming convention).

"Naming convention"? You mean a couple of meaningless syllables with "loth" slapped on the end? boobooloth, mamajamaloth, ramalamadingdongloth, and such? What you call a "screw-up" was an intentional and quite reasonable decision to give yugoloths names that make one distinct from another.

 

[Felon]

I think there should be a cutoff for complexity's sake. Only give levels and more NACLs to the really difficult stuff, past say CR 5. And come one, classed Gishes, Gnolls, Drow? Low level mooks that people have been classing for about a decade in 3.5 shouldn't get treatment.

The attitude that WotC should market their books only to experienced DM's is pure poison. I think the designers get this.

However, I do agree that they could have also gotten more ambitious with classing than orcs, gnolls, and ogres. Suffice to say, with the exception of goblinoids, they don't have much in the way of basic bidped creatures to work from in MMV unless they revisit creatures they covered in IV.

Personally, I'd say that playing with staple critters is all good and well, but they should also use classing to embellish on monsters with strong potential that really hasn't been tapped into yet. Spell weavers, ethergaunts, avolakia, and so on.

 

[Voadam]

I would love to have the MMIV in pdf.

I want electronic stat blocks. If I plan on using one monster stat in a game I prefer to print that out to bring without carrying a whole book. I like reading my fluff in print however. So FC I & II in print and MMIV and V in pdf would be great for me.