Sell me a Monster Book

[John Crichton]

From that list, I recommend the Tome of Horrors. It has the greatest diversity of creatures, so you're fated to find creatures you will have use for, whatever is your campaign's style.

How about books not on the list? I'm certainly not limiting myself.

 

[johnsemlak]

I don't have any books besides the one's you mentioned in your first post, but there certainly are some others out there...

Dangerous Denizens--by KenzerCo (A Kalamar monster book)
Complete Minions by Bastion Press (just released in PDF format, now 3.5)

I can't remember when it comes out, but shoudl be soon--The Dragonlance Bestiary from Sovereign Press. A DL book may well not fit what you're looking for, but it shoudl have very good production values.

Oh, you may want to give the Monsternomicon a closer look before discarding it. THere are certainly a number of monsters that would fit a wilderness setting. Only about 10% of the monsters are steampunk-only

 

[John Crichton]

I don't have any books besides the one's you mentioned in your first post, but there certainly are some others out there...

Dangerous Denizens--by KenzerCo (A Kalamar monster book)
Complete Minions by Bastion Press (just released in PDF format, now 3.5)

I can't remember when it comes out, but shoudl be soon--The Dragonlance Bestiary from Sovereign Press. A DL book may well not fit what you're looking for, but it shoudl have very good production values.

Thanks for these alternate books. If I can peak at them I will.

Oh, you may want to give the Monsternomicon a closer look before discarding it. THere are certainly a number of monsters that would fit a wilderness setting. Only about 10% of the monsters are steampunk-only

Really? That's good to know as most of the reviews I have read focused on the steampunk critters. I'd try and flip through the ones I am interested in but the stores around me really don't have the best supply. Maybe I'll try again next weekend.

:: edited formatting ::

 

[Darrin Drader]

I own all the book son your list and then some. I agree with others that you would be best served in the short term by Tome of Horrors, but you really shouldn't miss Fiend Folio. A huge chunk of Tome of Horrors are the 1st and 2nd edition monsters that didn't make the cut for the Monster Manual I or II. Some were great monsters while others were, well, lets just say there's a reason they didn't make the cut in the first place.

Fiend Folio introduces some awesome monsters, some of which have the potential to go on to become the next Githyanki. The kaorti are my personal favorites but there are others that aren't quite so alien. Also, a fair number of the monsters in that book are CR 3 or less, but for the most part, this is something that is going to get more use once the party hits 10th level or so.

Anyway, the choice is up to you, but if I had to make that decision, I would plan for both books, if not now, then eventually.

 

[Tsyr]

I'll throw my voice out for Tome of Horrors... As a DM, it's been one of my most-used books, after the books I get my rules out of (Since I run in a heavily modified world, I use rules from all over... casting from WoT, etc) Plus the sucker is just huge. Add in some good art, a number of my favorite creatures from the old days brought back, and some pretty cool new ones, and all-around good production values, and, well, you have a winner. It's my second-favorite monster book of all time. (The first was the 2E Monster Manual)

Also, while, yes, there are some "bleh" monsters in Tome of Horrors (There are in most monster books), I think saying 10 bleh for every 1 cool one is horrible. The vast majority of monsters I could see uses for potentialy, even if I have no immediate need for them.

 

[Jim Butler]

In my utterly biased opinion, I'd recommend Minions: Fearsome Foes. ;-)

As for creatures 4th level and lower, you'll find more than 50 of them.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2235

 

[Nellisir]

In my utterly biased opinion, I'd recommend Minions: Fearsome Foes. ;-)
As for creatures 4th level and lower, you'll find more than 50 of them.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2235

two tries and then an edit.

I'd purchase in the following order:

Book of Templates - Deluxe Edition ($8 pdf at RPGNow) Honestly the best money you'll ever spend for monsters.

Tome of Horrors

Complete Minions ($10 pdf at RPGNow). Includes more, and sells for far less, than the original print version. Being the owner of a print version myself, I'm a little conflicted there...but you can pick up the BoT-DE and Minions for slightly more than half the cost of the FF.

Fiend Folio.

I have a number of other bestiaries, including the Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Liber Bestarius, Dangerous Denizens, Ravenloft Denizens of Darkness, Bane Ledger (pdf), Gaming Frontiers: Monsters, and a few other pdf collections I can't place my finger on at the moment. I've also owned the original CC and CC2, but have sold them both. I can't recommend spending the money for the PFB -- I think you'll get more bang for your buck buying two of almost anything else.

Also pick up these free collections.
The Book of Beasts (150 pages; http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dungeon/3980/upload/bob/)

The Bestiary of the Realms, V1, by Eric L Boyd and Thomas Costa (142 pages; I couldn't locate a link to this collection, but it was posted on the front page here a few weeks ago)

Cheers!
Nell.

 

[John Crichton]

Nellsir - Thanks for the free suggestions. I have some downloading to do.

I can't recommend spending the money for the PFB -- I feel you'll get more bang for your buck buying two of almost anything else.

Can I ask why you think this? Is it because the critters are boring? Unbalanced? Drawings suck?

 

[Nellisir]

Can I ask why you think this? Is it because the critters are boring? Unbalanced? Drawings suck?

Argh. I pulled out the PFB to justify this statement, and y'know what? I'm not sure I can. My opinions are a bit sketchy. And keep in mind -- I sold CC and CC2. I haven't sold the PFB.

I think it's too much money (I paid it, mind you). Ten dollars less; I'd probably be thrilled.

I don't like the layout -- it's annoying to have the descriptive text functionally interrupted by the mechanical text; I find the descriptive font hard to read, and the spacing on Atlas's products always seems weird.

Naryanese snapdragons and fuzzwippets both should've been cut. There's a reason why writers shouldn't edit their own work.

Overall, I would've been happier with a more compact design and a lower price tag.

That said, there are some very cool creatures in the book. If you can find a copy in a bargain bin, pick it up.

But get the Book of Templates - Deluxe Edition first. Seriously.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

With your interest in books that will provide some story ideas, I'd strongly consider the Monsternomicon and Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary - they have the most "hooks" of any of the books. The PFB does have some clunker monsters, but its such a big book, there's a lot of good. It's also a beautiful book, though not so pretty as Monsternomicon, which is a great-looking book.

I concur with those who have said that the steam-punk is not as prevalent as you might think. A bigger concern might be that there are a lot of variants of existing creatures, though they are cool variants which you can use to trip up your players. The quality of creatures in the Monsternomicon is excellent, though there are fewer than the other books mentioned.