tome of horrors vs creature collection

[Voadam]

I'm tentatively thinking of an overarching plot theme of "corruption of the natural world"--but instead of undead as the major baddies, evil plant-critters (corrpution) and/or clockworks (unnatural life). The former will work particularly well with the greenbond, while the latter should stymie the greenbond and give the warmain and runethane (particularly) stuff to play with.

For the corrupted nature I'd suggest Into the Green from Bastion Press, lots of corrupted treant type things where bad things happened in the woods resulting in various monstrosities. It is a terrain based book for woods and jungles. I didn't care for the weather rules that much, but it has a lot of natural hazards and neat forest based monsters.

According to Joseph Goodman posting on these boards The Primeaval forest wanderer thing from Goodman games apparently had a screwup at the printer and used a pre-editing version of the material that was simply used for placeholding to do layout and has completely screwed up stats. So Caveat Emptor there.

There is also the pdf Kaiser's Garden with 23 plant monsters for $5. I don't have it so I can't comment on it's quality.

Clockworks I'd suggest any books with constructs and altering the description to be more the clockwork feel you are going for.

 

[Gez]

I'm tentatively thinking of an overarching plot theme of "corruption of the natural world"--but instead of undead as the major baddies, evil plant-critters (corrpution) and/or clockworks (unnatural life).

Well, Tome of Horrors has plenty of evil or aberrant plant critters:
Algolei, Archer Bush, Ascomoid, Basidirond, Cobra Flower, Forester's Bane, Gas Spore, Hangman Tree, Jack-O-Lantern, Jupiter Bloodsucker, Kampfult, Kelpie, Kelp Devil, Mandragora, Phycomid, Quickwood, Scythe Tree, Strangle Weed, Thornies, Tri-Flower Fronds, Vampire Rose, the six ranks of vegepygmies (commoner, worker, guard, bodyguard, subchief, chief), Witherweed...

It also has plant hazards, like memory moss, twilight mushrooms, or the russet mold that creates "vegepygmies". And monsters that look like plants without being plants, like the Wolf-In-Sheep's-Clothing, an aberration looking like a tree stump.

And for clockworks, it has a whole organisation of them, with drones, scouts, overseers, warriors, parasites, swarms, titans, and an evil brain gear mastermind. CR ranging from 1/8 to 6, though -- it's a bit low. It also has several other constructs, from the self-replicating crystone to various golems to scarecrows

 

[Arnwyn]

In my opinion, it converted all the monsters that most of us hoped would be quietly swept under the rug and forgotten.

That "most" of us missed and wanted updated. FYI.

 

[Gez]

That "most" of us missed and wanted updated. FYI.

Heh. I did both. It converted monsters people missed, and monsters people didn't miss. But these two categories of monsters are not universal -- even for the flumph, you'll find people who liked them.

I'd say that at least 1/4 of the ToH's content will be useful for you, regardless of your tastes in monsters. That's more than what can be said, for say, MM2 or even FF.

 

[Desdichado]

That "most" of us missed and wanted updated. FYI.

Well, my most is me, and your most is you. We obviously have different interpretations of what "most" of the D&D playing population wants. What the actual "most" of the population of D&D players wanted is unknown.

 

[Nightfall]

Barendd,

While Psion and I might disagree about the extent of usage outside the Scarred Lands, I do agree though, CC Revised and CC II are very good books to use in any d20 campaign. That said, I can't praise my stars enough for having both ToH and ToH II. I think the thing is, Psion knows what he wants in his campaign. I automatically default to a Scarred Lands Setting any time I can get the chance.

Btw Monsteronimicon, is nice but I still feel Legacy of Dragons is better than it. Fantasy Beastiary. Eh. Not bad but I've seen better.

But yeah Book of Fiends is probably the best d20 source for using a LOT of fiends in a campaign.

 

[Pants]

I'd say that at least 1/4 of the ToH's content will be useful for you, regardless of your tastes in monsters. That's more than what can be said, for say, MM2 or even FF.

That's because 1/4 of the ToH is about the size of FF and MMII.

ToH and CCII both have plenty of 'evil/weird plant-types' in them to fit your needs, among other things.

 

[Algolei]

Hmm, good thing I can use the Search function now.

Well, Tome of Horrors has plenty of evil or aberrant plant critters:
Algolei, Archer Bush, Ascomoid....

I AM NOT A PLANT CRITTER.

Evil, yes. Aberrant, absolutely. But I am not a plant.

(I'm funguy. )

 

[Gez]

I said Algolei? I meant Algoid, of course.

 

[Algolei]

Yes, of course you did.