Monster Vault First Impressions...

[the Jester]

Did they finally go back to making it a binder? Cause that would be awesome. I hate flipping pages.

Are... are you serious??

 

[Argyle King]

Is there enough fluff (and enough detail in the fluff) to aid in converting the monsters into the mechanics of other systems?

 

[Neonchameleon]

Is there enough fluff (and enough detail in the fluff) to aid in converting the monsters into the mechanics of other systems?

It depends. There's a lot more fluff than in earlier monster manuals so in that way, probably. But a lot of the fluff detail is actually in the crunch - for instance the kobold quickblade who can shift 3 as a move action and does two points more damage for every square he shifts on his turn...

 

[Aegeri]

After reading most of the monsters in the book now fully I am very impressed. This is better than MM3 in many ways and I think these monsters are great. My highlights are the new Hydra, Dracolich and Balor. Quiet achievers who deserve more recognition though will be the Succubus, Gargoyle (just hilarious) and Pit Fiend. I actually believe in the right situation the Pit Fiend is more dangerous than the Balor. If Wizards give some devil love in future, it can easily get to "Competitive with Daemons as end tier antagonists".

I am pleased to see that the new damage values are being applied pretty consistently now. I don't see as many "one shot" PC monsters at super low levels (like what has appeared in MM3 and DSCC). This is a good thing, because we needed the damage at epic: Not at early heroic.

 

[buddhafrog]

Just got mine shipped to Korea (for FREE from bookdepository.com!) and love it. I love using miniatures, but these quality tokens really provide additional options for minis I don't have. LOVE IT!