D&D 5E Volo vs. Kobold

[knasser]

Hi,

A simple question for those who are familiar with both. I'm weighing up whether I might get Volo's Guide to Monsters or Tome of Beasts. It's one or the other not both. It's a new campaign so the emphasis will be on low level characters for now. I do like Fey and I think Tome of Beasts has a few of them so that's a mark in its favour.

Anyone have any guidance on which is the best use of finite funds? All comments welcome.

K.

 

[Prakriti]

Volo's adds a lot of depth to iconic monsters like kobolds and goblins. Tome of Beasts adds a ton of new stat blocks.

Personally, I get more value out of Volo's.

 

[Demetrios1453]

If you like fey, Volo's has several. Besides the hags, it has boggles, quucklings, and redcaps, as well as some others I know I'm forgetting.

 

[Sacrosanct]

If you want a ton of new monsters, then tomb of beasts. If you want a decent amount of monsters, and a lot of flavor and fluff about the "core" monsters, then Volo is for you. I do not have the tomb of beasts, as it's easy for me to create a monster. I do have Volo's guide, and think the flavor stuff is awesome. The adventure ideas write themselves.

 

[knasser]

If you like fey, Volo's has several. Besides the hags, it has boggles, quucklings, and redcaps, as well as some others I know I'm forgetting.

Those all sound fairly low CR creatures which would be perfect. I didn't notice those on the monster list that I saw for Volo and this is a big plus to go with Volo.

If you want a ton of new monsters, then tomb of beasts. If you want a decent amount of monsters, and a lot of flavor and fluff about the "core" monsters, then Volo is for you. I do not have the tomb of beasts, as it's easy for me to create a monster. I do have Volo's guide, and think the flavor stuff is awesome. The adventure ideas write themselves.

Regarding the "flavor and fluff", is it tied to the Forgotten Realms, much? I dislike the Forgotten Realms and when I learned that Volo's Guide was based on it that's actually what prompted me to look at other supplements and led to me discovering Tomb of Beasts.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Regarding the "flavor and fluff", is it tied to the Forgotten Realms, much? I dislike the Forgotten Realms and when I learned that Volo's Guide was based on it that's actually what prompted me to look at other supplements and led to me discovering Tomb of Beasts.

Not really. I guess the religions are, but some of them were pulled from GH anyway So it's incredibly easy to use the info as generic. Tons of good info, from lairs, to culture, to variations of them (dragonshields, etc)

 

[pukunui]

Those all sound fairly low CR creatures which would be perfect. I didn't notice those on the monster list that I saw for Volo and this is a big plus to go with Volo.

Here's the table of contents.

The full list of fey creatures in the book:

Annis hag
Bheur hag
Boggle
Darkling
Darkling elder
Korred
Meenlock
Quickling
Redcap
Yeth hound

 

[Croesus]

Tome of Beasts also has quite a bit of fluff and flavor, but it's in small chunks - several paragraphs for each creature, vs. Volo's in-depth info on a limited number. Don't dismiss the value of ToB's flavor text - reading through the book, I've picked out quite a few creatures that inspired ideas for their use in my game. I've already thrown four or five at my group and enjoyed their anxiety since they didn't automatically know what they were facing, nor why.

 

[gyor]

If you like fey, Volo's has several. Besides the hags, it has boggles, qicklings, and redcaps, as well as some others I know I'm forgetting.

Yeth Hound (I think Yeth hounds used to be fiends, but now they're fey)
Korred
Darkling
Darkling Elder
Quickling
Redcaps
Annis Hag
Bheur Hag
Meenlock
Boggle

I've been ninja'd!

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6670153]gyor[/MENTION]: By 38 minutes, no less!