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Message: <blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 2712988" data-attributes="member: 22784">Iron Heroes BestiaryIntroductionMonte Cook Presents: The Iron Heroes Bestiary is the third supplement for Malhavoc’s Iron Heroes line. The other two are Iron Heroes and Mastering Iron Heroes. This is a review of the pdf version which (for those who care about such things) I paid for myself. . Iron Heroes uses the d20 system.I love monster books, and I am a big fan of Iron Heroes, so this was never going to be a negative review. Hopefully I will be able to provide enough information for you to make up your own minds. Please note that I haven’t checked any stat blocks, and I haven’t play tested it.PresentationThe pdf is 98 pages long, although this includes the front cover, the credits page, two pages of advertisements and the back cover. In common with the other two Iron Heroes products, the text on the back cover of my version was corrupted. I don’t know if this is a common occurrence, or whether I have just been unlucky. The OGL takes up a further half a page.As is common with the other two Iron Heroes products, the book marking is first rate, being sufficient but not excessive.The artwork is black and white, except for the cover which is in colour. The style of the artwork in the Iron Heroes line does not appeal to me. It seems too much like a cartoon for my taste, although obviously opinions vary.The layout is clean and crisp, with plenty of white space. I like it, and I find it makes for an easy to read document. Some people might consider it somewhat sparse.ContentsThe first chapter provides useful advice for the GM in using monsters in Iron Heroes. It highlights the key differences between Iron Heroes and The Other Game ™. For example, the heroes have a base save bonus on all saves equal to their level, so if a monster has a low save DC for its special attack then it is unlikely to affect the party. However, the absence of magic means a failed saving throw can be catastrophic, so “save or die” effects should be saved for the climax of the adventure.There is also a handy reminder that some effects have been toned down in Iron Heroes; the example given is that petrification eventually wears off on its own.Chapter 2 introduces 3 new villain classes (to complement the 3 in Mastering Iron Heroes). These are the Champion, the Demonic Minion and the Demonic Knight. For those unfamiliar with villain classes, these are NPC-only classes designed to give the PCs a challenging encounter whilst minimising the bookkeeping required from the poor old GM. Having more of them is therefore a good thing.The Champion is a mighty tribal warrior, who stands head and shoulders above his peers. It is such a useful archetype that ideally it should have been included in Mastering Iron Heroes, but better late than never.The Demonic Minion is a sidekick of the BBEG, and skulks about the place scouting for its master and bullying the commoners.The Demonic Knight is the ominous presence in black armour, a master of combat and completely without mercy.At last, in Chapter 3 we arrive at the monsters. There are only 30 of them, but the chapter is over 60 pages long. Every monster has an illustration, and plenty of background detail. These backgrounds give us more glimpses of the Swordlands setting which was briefly touched upon in Iron Heroes.For example, the elemental Trondar were originally summoned to the world to be slaves of the Masters, and they are celebrating their freedom by terraforming the world to make it more to their liking.My only quibble is that each monster doesn’t start on a new page. It would have made the section easier to follow on the screen, although obviously adding slightly to printing costs.The challenge ratings range from ½ to 20, and plenty of thought has gone into making these “Iron Heroes monsters”. Thus, the Cliff Ogre has the ability to start avalanches, giving it its own personal Acton Zone. The Blade Tyrant gains tokens each round which it can use to bolster its allies (this is a very simple token pool to operate, so doesn’t significantly burden the GM). The huge Shellback normally has a massive +30 natural armour bonus, but PCs willing to take a few risks can attempt to climb on its back or tumble between its legs in order to target its vulnerable areas.Many of the monsters come with built in plot hooks. The psionically gifted Hundoon take a very dim view of the killing of their royals. The Grey Troll gets more intelligent as it eats – only to revert to bestial savagery when it gets hungry again. Four examples are given of cults who are in the habit of attempting to summon an Incarnation (a CR 20 monster which is typically bad news for everyone).The appendix gives guidelines for monster conversion. It also (apparently) lists all the current monsters in the Malhavoc “stable” by CR, and references them to the source in which they appear, which I thought was a nice touch. However, it takes up 3 ½ pages, so if you are not interested it makes the pdf that much shorter.ConclusionThis is an excellent product for any Iron Heroes game. At first I was wary of recommending it for other d20 games as there are only 30 monsters. However, they are such good monsters (and the Iron Heroes specific rules are fully explained, so for example it’s easy enough to use the Cliff Ogre’s crumbling avalanche ability even if you don’t have the faintest idea what a “Nonreusable Action Zone” is) that I'm  confident it would be an asset to any d20 fantasy game.</blockquote>

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