Monster
Monster is one of AEG's series of topically titled d20 system supplements. Other books in this series are Dungeons, Evil, Dragons, Undead, and War.
The topic of Monster is none other than playing monstrous characters as PCs... or even as a whole party of PCs. With Wizards' own Tooth & Claw looming on the horizon, one wonders if it is wise to publish such a book. But we shall see. Take a look.
A First Look
Monster is a 152-page perfect bound softcover book, priced at $24.95 US. Softcover books of that size vary widely in price, but that price is about average, though higher than AEG's own Dragons and War books, which are similar in size.
However, the book shows a major improvement over the prior books in terms of typeface. The book uses a much denser typeface, yet has the same thin margin that other AEG d20 system books have used. This means that the book overall has a very good text density.
Monster has a brown cover, with a gray piping in a fashion similar to AEG's other d20 system sourcebooks. The frond cover picture depicts some green trollish creature.
The interior is black and white. The illustrations are of very good quality, but are somewhat sparsely allocated through the book.
Considering the text density of the book, it delivers a good value based on quantity alone.
A Deeper Look
Monster is organized into six chapters: The Age of Man, Monster Races, A New Breed, Anti-heroes, Outcasts, and From the Hands of Giants.
Chapter One: The Age of Man
The first chapter begins with a piece of fiction that describes a possible scenario for a campaign featuring the monster races as player characters. Fictional blurbs in d20 system products have typically struck me as a waste of time. This one is one of the rare exceptions. The piece was well written and did its job: it whetted my appetite for such a campaign.
The chapter itself discusses various monster races. This is mostly focuses on the many of the traditional humanoid and giant races that populate the typical fantasy world as adversaries – goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres, and the like. The chapter starts with a general description of the mindset and sociology of these races. Then a few paragraphs are devoted to the conditions and sociology of the specific races.
Though there are some assertions and conclusions in the chapter that I don't exactly agree with. However, for the most part is seems like an interesting and functional view of the various races and should serve as good inspiration for GMs and players running members of the races. The chapter essentially serves as a condensed version of Mongoose's various Slayer's Guide for numerous races.
Chapter Two: Monster Races
The second chapter provides PHB style writeups for a number of monstrous races that exist in the d20 system rules, including tabulated ability score modifiers, racial abilities, racial level equivalents, and details such as personality, physical description, relations, land, religions, names, and what motivates typical adventures of the race. The covered races include: bugbears, centaurs, driders, ettins, gnolls, goblins, harpies, hobgoblins, lizardfolk, merfolk, minotaurs, ogres, sahuagin, troglodytes, and trolls.
In addition to fleshing out the statistics of each race, there are some variants provided for some of the races. Many of the races that have nonzero effective character level modifiers feature a "young" variant of the race that is more reasonable to play in a campaign with low level characters. Some races feature specific tribes that serve as subraces with variant abilities.
Chapter Three: A New Breed
While chapter two covers many standard monstrous races as PCs, chapter three provides a number of new monstrous races in PC format. The new races include variants, crossbreeds, and totally new races, and include:
- Black Orcs: A race of frail orcs that the book describes as not having been seen for years. They are weak and have difficulty seeing in the light, but are very graceful and intelligent for orcs.
- Brood: The brood are drow/orc crossbreeds magically engineered by the drow for use against the surface elves.
- Cobra Ogre: Just as bizarre as it sounds, the cobra ogres are strange descendants of ogres with poisonous fangs and a cobra-like hood.
- Dogfaces: Dogfaces are alchemically engineered crossbreeds between gnolls and bugbears.
- Ferris: The ferris are an oddity. The ferris appear as enormous rats, and are the descendants of a cursed ogre-mage.
- Grikkyn: The Grikkyn are hobgoblin/troll crossbreeds, created by hobgoblins as an effort to employ troll like creatures on the battlefield that weren't quite as stupid as trolls.
- Groglin: Another bizarre crossbreed, the groglin is a troglodyte/goblin crossbreed.
- Gurks are two-headed orcs of uncertain origin.
- Minos are minotaur-centaur crossbreeds.
- Mongrels are creatures with a magical heritage that have traits of many races in them.
- Nasimir are a rare crossbreed between a nymph and a rakshasa.
- Neslikaar: The Neliskarr are subterranean reptilian creatures that are essentially lizardman centaurs. The have a lizardman like torso, but their lower body resembles a large lizard.
- Ruoth: The ruoth are a race of horned ogres, possibly descended from the magical union of a minotaur and an ogre.
- Screeching greens: These creatures appear to be an unusual magical crossbreeding between orcs and harpies.
- Sluverians: Sluverians where engineered by mermen and sahuagin as an envoy between their traditionally unfriendly races, but have come to hate both of their parent races.
- Spider Goblin: A goblin variant with many eyes and two extra arms. When I read this, I was instantly reminded of the Scarred Lands setting's spider eyes goblins.
The chapter ends with tables detailing the height, weight, and aging details for each race described in the book.
Chapter Four: Anti-heros
This chapter introduces new character options targeted at monster characters.
The chapter begins with a new collection of "new uses for old skills," primarily targeted at characters in a monsters-as-PCs campaign. As examples, the balance skill can let you move hastily through difficult terrain, disguise can be used to apply warpaint in a manner to give you a synergy bonus to intimidate checks, and heal can let you intentionally botch a treatment without being noticed. I thought that most of these where creative uses of the skills involved, and the mechanical treatment was well done.
The new feats introduced are also primarily oriented towards characters with monstrous physiologies. Improved darkvision give a character with darkvision improved range and chances to spot characters hiding in shadows. Mongrel gives a non-human character a somewhat human appearane that might allow them to pass as humans; the main fault with this feat is that there was no restriction limiting it to beginning characters. Usable tail allows characters with tails the ability to hold some objects with them.
There are 9 new prestige classes introduced primarily for use by monster characters:
- Bandit: This class might have been better named bandit leader; it represents a charismatic and experienced bandit. Abilities include an improved leadership ability, knowledge of the area that the bandit haunts, and some other benefits when acting as a bandit. My only quibble with this class is that while some of these abilities can serve as convenient shorthand for the GM, I would be inclined to give anyone familiar with an area similar bonuses.
- Beastknight: The beastknight is a humanoid with a special bond with some sort of creature. The knight gains special abilities relating to the creature, including being able to call it from a distance, or derive abilities from it like a caster does a familiar. The class could have used some more thorough guidelines on what sort of creatures are appropriate.
- Beaststalker: The beaststalker is a character specialized in hunting dangerous denizens of some terrain near their homeland.
- Infiltrator: The infiltrator is a character with a talent for blending in with another race, acting as a spy. Their central class ability is the improved disguise ability, which provides a variety of benefits to the disguise skill. For example at first level, the penalty is eliminated for disguising yourself at the member of another race. At 4th level, the character can rapidly change guises. At 7th level, if the character imitates an high ranking official, they may use their intimidate skill to keep underlings from attempting a spot check to penetrate the disguise.
- Mook: I'm a little uncertain why this one is a prestige class at all. The mook appears to be a "tough grunt" type of character. While the class abilities do represent this well, this is the type of role you usually don't waste a prestige class on. Additionally, the class uses nonstandard BAB and saving throw advancements; if you target a supplement and d20 system fantasy (AKA, D&D), you should use standard d20 system advancement schemes.
- Pugilist: The pugilist is a non-monk expert in unarmed fighting. The class abilities seem to fit well enough, but I am not sure how well the class does at representing the basic concept. I would normally assume that by assuming that this class represent non-monk brawlers, it would avoid invoking Asian style martial arts. Strangely, though, the class has a limb-block ability that sounds very much like an Asian unarmed fighting style and has a good will save for no reason that I can fathom. Further, some class abilities struck me as too much, such as the ability granting two additional hand strikes per round with no penalties. Finally, like the mook, the class invokes a nonstandard BAB advancement. Though some of the class abilities might be good inspirations for abilities for other classes, I really wasn't impressed with this class as written.
- Scavenger: A return to decent class concepts after the last two, the scavenger is an excellent fit for this book. The scavenger is a character that is specialized in finding means to survive and prosper in a hostile environment on the fringes of society.
- Tribal Champion: A tribal champion is the standard bearer for a humanoid tribe marching to war. It has barbarian like rage abilities, and can assist others of his tribe in combat. The class is overall fairly good, save for the inspire rage ability. With the inspire rage ability, all members of the tribe that can see the standard go into rage when the standard bearer does; this needs to be more limited.
- Trapmaster: The trapmaster is a member of a small race that relies on traps (usually a Kobold) who is especially good at his race's art. This class would make a good PC or NPC adversary.
The new equipment section is primarily focused on providing statistics for standard PHB weapons of larger size categories. It also provides rules for larger monks as well as shoddy equipment that you might find in some more primitive monstrous societies. There are a few totally new pieces of equipment, like gum arrows and dwarf-catching nets (nets specially designed to be useful against much smaller creatures).
Chapter Five: Outcasts
While the first chapter provides a good deal of exposition about the nature of various monster societies, this chapter provides advice and insights on running a campaign with monster PCs. Topics are covered including ideas for monster oriented campaigns, considerations for how to role play a monstrous PC, possible motivations for such PCs, and general advice on running such a game.
Most of the advice is generally sound and thoughtful. The chapter suffers a little from poor organization and the "multiple author" syndrome that AEG books often exhibit. For example, there are two entirely different sections entitled "Monster PCs." Finally, the last section of the chapter entitled "Monster Advancement" refers to some rules oriented sidebar which is nowhere to be found.
Chapter 6: From the Hands of Giants
The last chapter provides new spells and magic items supposedly wielded or created by the monstrous character. Some of the spells seem especially appropriate for non-human PCs, such as opposable thumbs, which assists creatures without manipulatory appendages. Others don't seem like they would be any less useful for other races, like detect aberration, which detects creatures of the aberration type.
Of the spells, some seem an inappropriate level. An effect similar to gaze mirror, a spell that protects against gaze attacks, is only a second level psionic power in the psionics handbook. However, antimagic aura doesn't seem that much less useful than antimagic shell, but is only 5th level.
Most of the new items are unique are semi-unique in nature. Examples include the armor of many forms (if the wearer shifts form, the armor shifts form with the wearer and continues to protect her), the ethereal shield (an amulet that prevents travel to or from the ethereal plane within 90 feet), anti-rocks (basically shock-sensitive grenades), and the ring of air breathing (allows a water breathing creature to breathe in air.)
Finally, the chapter provides brief MM style entries for all of the new races introduced in chapter 3. In addition, there is a new template, the half-human. As the name implies, the template can be used to generate a half human version of a variety of creatures. The sample creature provided is a half-manticore.
Conclusions
I was very drawn in by this book's general concept, and once introduced to the concept, the book really delivered the goods on making it happen. Should you be toying with the concept of running a d20 system fantasy campaign with a party monster PCs, this book is a must have.
Even if you don't have such designs, as a GM, you can still get a lot out of this book. It provides some additional ideas for the existing monster races typical to a d20 system fantasy campaign, as well as providing some new twists and variants. It delivers such ideas for a variety of different creatures quite a bit more economically than buying individual books for each creature.
The book had a good balance of exposition and rules material, and a good synergy between this material. There are some problems with some of the rules material. I still have to wonder about both the concept and execution of the mook and the pugilist, though much of the remaining material is fairly well done.
Finally, though the price per page went up, I was fairly pleased to see AEG go to a more compact typeface in the book. The content delivered for the price is probably fairly close considering the price increase, but I think it appears more readable and the layout of the tables appears much cleaner.
-Alan D. Kohler
