Monsters in the MM3 (and other upcoming books)
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Shade
Monster Junkie
I picked up both Frostburn and MM3 last night. I can't even begin to express my complete sastisfaction with Frostburn....wow! There are easily 50 monsters in there, way more than shown in the art gallery. I think this is WOTC's best release since the Draconomicon. 
MM3, on the other hand, is only slightly less disappointing than I had expected. Now that I have it, I can truly say that it is "Monsters of Eberron". There are far more "in Eberron" sections than "in Faerun", and very few that have just "in Faerun". Bummer.
While there are some interesting creatures in there, and the layout is an improvement, the book is a far cry from the Fiend Folio, or even the MM2, in overall "quality" monsters.
MM3, on the other hand, is only slightly less disappointing than I had expected. Now that I have it, I can truly say that it is "Monsters of Eberron". There are far more "in Eberron" sections than "in Faerun", and very few that have just "in Faerun". Bummer.
While there are some interesting creatures in there, and the layout is an improvement, the book is a far cry from the Fiend Folio, or even the MM2, in overall "quality" monsters.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Yes, thank goodness!BOZ said:now, i have to ask - do they have anything about how arctic creatures without cold resistance/immunity can survive in the cold?
I haven't looked at it real closely, but apparently they have added "protective levels" to determine how much a creature is exposed to cold. Arctic animals have a higher protective level than nonartic creatures in this case.
And you'll be happy to know that frost folk can still shoot an ice blast out of one eye.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Having dug a little deeper into the MM3, it turns out the yugoloths came out better than we had originally been led to believe.
Yugoloth is now officially a subtype. Woo-hoo!
The first monster I used (the storm elemental) had several errors. On the save DC tables for its abilities, the elder and greater elementals were reversed. The nycaloth's grapple modifier doesn't include its strength modifier, and it lacks a caster level for its spell-like abilities.
It is still riddled with the usual cut-n-paste errors. The mezzoloth still uses teleport without error, for example.
The inclusion of "preset" Power Attack in the stat block is maddeningly frustrating. I hope they ditch this quickly in future supplements.
Telepathy is back in the combat sections of critters, instead of referring to the glossary.
Spell-like abilities are no longer italicized in the bold part of their entry. They've dropped "the save DCs are Charisma-based" from the end of spell-like ability entries.
They have dropped the "This ability is the equivalent of a x-level spell" from summon entries.
Old-school wounding has been renamed "bleeding wounds".
Yugoloth is now officially a subtype. Woo-hoo!
- The canoloth gained a HD and boosts to ability scores, and went down a CR.
- Same goes for the mezzoloth, who also gained a caster level boost, a magic trident and now has its shield figured into its stat block.
- Nycaloths gained 3 HD, a liftoff ability, and its CR went down by 3. They also added the nycaloth commander, a nycaloth advanced to 25 HD.
- Although its Intelligence is still woefully low, the ultroloth picked up a +3 longsword, 5 HD, 100 hp, several more at-will spell-like abilities, a higher caster level, and its CR dropped by 3. Oddly, the ultroloth has a LA of +5, which combined with its 18 HD, pushes it past the "glass ceiling" of ECL 20.
The first monster I used (the storm elemental) had several errors. On the save DC tables for its abilities, the elder and greater elementals were reversed. The nycaloth's grapple modifier doesn't include its strength modifier, and it lacks a caster level for its spell-like abilities.
It is still riddled with the usual cut-n-paste errors. The mezzoloth still uses teleport without error, for example.
The inclusion of "preset" Power Attack in the stat block is maddeningly frustrating. I hope they ditch this quickly in future supplements.
Telepathy is back in the combat sections of critters, instead of referring to the glossary.
Spell-like abilities are no longer italicized in the bold part of their entry. They've dropped "the save DCs are Charisma-based" from the end of spell-like ability entries.
They have dropped the "This ability is the equivalent of a x-level spell" from summon entries.
Old-school wounding has been renamed "bleeding wounds".
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Knight Otu
First Post
Interesting observations. Regarding telepathy - does anything indicate whether a creature addressed via telepathy can respond telepathically as well?
Shade
Monster Junkie
No, though it is somewhat implied (emphasis mine): "It is possible to address multiple creatures at once telepathically, although maintaining a telepathic conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time."Knight Otu said:
Shade
Monster Junkie
Some more observations:
While I like the new "each monster starts at the top of the page" format, the book is heavily padded to make this work. For example, one creature that has improved evasion and improved uncanny dodge not only has those abilities spelled out in its combat section, but also has evasion and uncanny dodge completely spelled out. This is a frustrating waste of space. Honestly, at this point, evasion and uncanny dodge (and the improved versions of both) are so commonplace they should be in the glossary. Even worse, it was obviously cut from the shadowdancer ("the X now takes only half damage on a failed save"...now? I guess it leveled while I was reading it!
)
Monsters that rebuke undead list the following on the SQ line: rebuke undead (+X, Xd6+X, Xth). That is: turning check bonus, turning damage, and effective level. Very handy.
They are really working on beefing up monster hit points. In addition to the unholy toughness that some undead now possess, they have included the Improved Toughness feat (+1 hp/HD). Bwahahaha!![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
While I like the new "each monster starts at the top of the page" format, the book is heavily padded to make this work. For example, one creature that has improved evasion and improved uncanny dodge not only has those abilities spelled out in its combat section, but also has evasion and uncanny dodge completely spelled out. This is a frustrating waste of space. Honestly, at this point, evasion and uncanny dodge (and the improved versions of both) are so commonplace they should be in the glossary. Even worse, it was obviously cut from the shadowdancer ("the X now takes only half damage on a failed save"...now? I guess it leveled while I was reading it!
)Monsters that rebuke undead list the following on the SQ line: rebuke undead (+X, Xd6+X, Xth). That is: turning check bonus, turning damage, and effective level. Very handy.
They are really working on beefing up monster hit points. In addition to the unholy toughness that some undead now possess, they have included the Improved Toughness feat (+1 hp/HD). Bwahahaha!
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