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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010724" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Fantasy Bestiary is essentially a very big monster manual/creature collection for d20 3.0 from Atlas Games.Fantasy Bestiary is a 368-page mono hardcover book costing $44.95. Space usage is generally pretty good with a tight font, no space between paragraphs, and small margins, though there are scattered chunks of white space and a page and a half of ads. Pretty much all of the creatures are illustrated and most keep to their own page or pages, though in certain sections covering multiple creatures of a similar type, the text crosses page barriers. Art quality ranges in style and from poor to good, with significantly more good than bad; I was particularly impressed with the drawings by Kelley Hensing that capture the creature's emotion as well as their appearance. Each creature is presented in the standard format of stat block and special abilities on a white background taking up 2/3 of the page in a double column layout using a standard font, whilst the third column is in a handwriting-style font and sits on a grey background showing a mediaeval style image - this section gives background information and adventure seeds for the creature. A mock tear across the paper divides the two sections vertically down the page (the style changes in the template section to a horizontal 'tear' with a two column layout). With nearly 40 authors the writing style should be varied but the editor has done an impressive job of giving a feel of continuity of style between creatures. Editing is very impressive considering the size of the product.Here are a few stats on the product to mull over:* There are more than 200 monsters presented.* CRs range from 1/4 to 22+, with the majority being CR 9 or below.* All 3.0 creature types are represented, though there is a predilection for aberrations, constructs, dragons, magical beasts, outsiders and undead.One unusual feature of the book is the use of icons to give a quick overview of the style of the creature - the Wolf icon represents hunter predators suited to combat encounters, the Cat icon represents creatures whose strength lies in stealth and subterfuge. The Hand icon represents those creatures that rely on magical or supernatural powers, the Mask icon represents creatures suitable for roleplaying encounters and the Eclipse icon represents ultra-powerful creatures that one could design a campaign around. These icons are used in conjunction with each other to help GMs find a suitable creature for a particular encounter.There is a long list of playtesters for this product, which bodes well for appropriate CRs and decent stat blocks. A check through a few creatures did not reveal any grievous errors. It should be noted that the stats relate to v3.0 rather than 3.5.OK, everyone has their preferences when it comes to creature types and ambience, so the following should be taken with a pinch of salt:Creatures That Appealed To Me:* Dark Advocate - this devil uses power, magic and wealth to seduce mortals to evil. The twist involves a contract written in the victim's blood, which signs away their soul (at which point they become Soulless, a template offered later in the book). The adventure seed sees the PCs getting involved in a dispute over a blood contract, where they have to attend a diabolic court on behalf of a good-aligned cleric to save the soul of a peasant farmer.* Dreamkind - an offshoot of the Oneiromancy section in Atlas Games' Occult Lore, five creatures of the dream plane are described under the Dreamkind section - wists (embodied daydreams that are invisible to normal people but evoke pleasant childhood smells to those that sense them), fables (fairy-tale characters with animal heads, who represent strong emotions and personality traits), dream knights (actors who orchestrate the dreams of dreamers), dream lords (embodying legends and overseeing dream knights and other denizens of the dream plane), and the nemesis (a sleeping creature made up of unfinished dreams that will destroy the plane of dream if awakened).* Court Of The Pale King - a twist on Celtic legend, this section describes Pale Kings, subjects of the fey god of the dead, Arawn. These powerful fey can create undead thralls with their death gaze - Thrall of the Pale King is later provided, as a template. Arawn uses outsider hunting dogs, Hounds of Arawn, to track down his enemies and these creatures are also described. Finally, the section gives base information on Arawn, the fey lord of the dead. One of the adventure seeds involves a local lord wagering his daughter's hand in a hunting contest against a pale king. Though the lord has the best hunting dogs in the land, he is unlikely to win the wager against the Hounds of Arawn used by the Pale King, without the PCs help.Creatures That Annoyed Me:* Fuzzwippit - this over-sized furball enthralls its prey with a cooing purr. Any player that wants one of these as a familiar will be thrown out of my game immediately. Good for a Pokemon RPG.* Cactus Crawler - essentially a moving cactus patch. Serious lack of innovation. Interesting for method actors.* Alchemice - these sentient mice use the prestidigitation ability to cause havoc and can identify and drink potions to boost their abilities. These creatures could be the new heroes of the next Disney cartoon.For some example downloads of other creatures, see the links on the <a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=currentprod&which=PeFB" target="_blank">main page</a> of this product.Conclusion:Though there were a smattering of creatures in the product that lacked flavour or sense, the majority of creatures are interesting, balanced, and well-detailed. I particularly liked the linking of similar creatures in sections and across into the 60-page templates section at the end of the product. I also appreciated the multiple appendices showing creatures by type (and subtype), by terrain, by challenge rating, those advancing by class, supplemental summoning tables for the new creatures, as well as a bibliography, new d20 material by type, and an index of all monsters with page number at the beginning of the book. It doesn't have quite the depth of information for running the creature in a campaign or adventure that I would have liked but it's generally good enough, and well written in most cases. The additional d20 material such as new potions, poisons, spells, deities, diseases, and magic items spread through the book is an additional bonus. Delayed at the printers, it's a shame this was released so late in the day before 3.5 was released, but with a little work, favourite monsters can be converted for use with the newer rule set.</blockquote>

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