D&D 5E Volo's Guide to Monsters: General Discussion.

[Sword of Spirit]

Well I finally picked up a copy and while this is a good generic monster book, it's not so good as a FR product. I wish they would have given more lore on the monsters with regards to how they interact with Faerun. I mean if you are going to call this a "Volo's Guide", then I expect write ups on their connection to the Realms.

The funny thing is that your con is my pro on this. Although they probably could have made it work for both of us just by including brief sidebars describing where they fit in the Realms.

For many of the more common monsters, other FR setting products (whether SCAG or previous editions) tell you what lives in various locations.

In the case of SCAG, they've essentially already done this for the edition, so I'm not sure it would be a good idea to take out 15 monsters to make room for sidebars for people who want to play FR without the SCAG.

For the more rare and obscure monsters...well those are the kind you usually just add to an adventure or stick on a "special" line in a random encounter, so unless they have been specifically and uniquely located somewhere in the Realms in the past, I'm not sure if it would be needed.

 

[Werebat]

I am disappointed by Volo's Guide to Monsters, but for a reason that may be atypical.

The fluff sections are good for what they were, but I didn't need them at all and they took up about half of the book. I have been playing for long enough that I already know how goblinoids function and structure themselves as a society. I didn't need that information (and other information like it) again.

The monster sections, including the bits expanding on established monsters like kobolds with new types of adversaries (kobold alchemist, etc) were great! I really wanted 5E conversions for monsters like the Froghemoth and the Annis.

But I didn't want to have to pay for a whole book that I am only going to use half of. I feel like I paid money for a whole book of monsters and only got a half a book of monsters, and another half book of fluff I didn't need or want. And I was forced to do this unless I wanted to do without the monster conversions, that I really did want.

Just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.

 

[flametitan]

I am disappointed by Volo's Guide to Monsters, but for a reason that may be atypical.

The fluff sections are good for what they were, but I didn't need them at all and they took up about half of the book. I have been playing for long enough that I already know how goblinoids function and structure themselves as a society. I didn't need that information (and other information like it) again.

The monster sections, including the bits expanding on established monsters like kobolds with new types of adversaries (kobold alchemist, etc) were great! I really wanted 5E conversions for monsters like the Froghemoth and the Annis.

But I didn't want to have to pay for a whole book that I am only going to use half of. I feel like I paid money for a whole book of monsters and only got a half a book of monsters, and another half book of fluff I didn't need or want. And I was forced to do this unless I wanted to do without the monster conversions, that I really did want.

Just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.

I don't really consider a weakness for a couple reasons. They're obviously targeting newer players, who likely don't have a previous lore book to fall back on, and might be curious as to how these things work. Additionally, it's actually pretty useful to have it all in one book, as now you're using less books on the table to acheive a similar results as having an MM, MM2, and a lore book.

I can see how it might be a little frustrating if you already have the lore/make up your own, but it likely works in the product's favour to be an all-in-one.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

But I didn't want to have to pay for a whole book that I am only going to use half of. I feel like I paid money for a whole book of monsters and only got a half a book of monsters, and another half book of fluff I didn't need or want. And I was forced to do this unless I wanted to do without the monster conversions, that I really did want.

Just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.

How useful did you find the monster conversions afterward? You mentioned the Annis Hag and the Froghemoth. I view those parts of the book as the most uninspired and easiest to recreate, since 5E stat blocks are so simplistic: the Annis Hag is just a CR 6 hag with high-damage melee attacks; and the Froghemoth, while slightly more complex due to grapple-and-swallow, isn't anything surprising if you know already what a Froghemoth is. If I told you to make a CR 10 Froghemoth you'd probably make something approximately as useful to your campaign as the Volo's Guide Froghemoth statblock.

I like Volo's Guide a lot, but I'd be surprised if anyone could buy it purely for the monster conversions and be happy with the purchase.

(If you really just want a bunch of monsters-created-by-someone-else to add novelty to your campaign I'd say go for Fifth Edition Foes or Tome of Beasts instead.)

 

[Werebat]

Quick question -- Do Rothe get the carrying capacity of Oxen?

Do Deep Rothe get the same thing? By the book, that would have them carry things as if they were size Huge, despite being size Medium.

 

[Werebat]

How useful did you find the monster conversions afterward? You mentioned the Annis Hag and the Froghemoth. I view those parts of the book as the most uninspired and easiest to recreate, since 5E stat blocks are so simplistic: the Annis Hag is just a CR 6 hag with high-damage melee attacks; and the Froghemoth, while slightly more complex due to grapple-and-swallow, isn't anything surprising if you know already what a Froghemoth is. If I told you to make a CR 10 Froghemoth you'd probably make something approximately as useful to your campaign as the Volo's Guide Froghemoth statblock.

I like Volo's Guide a lot, but I'd be surprised if anyone could buy it purely for the monster conversions and be happy with the purchase.

(If you really just want a bunch of monsters-created-by-someone-else to add novelty to your campaign I'd say go for Fifth Edition Foes or Tome of Beasts instead.)

I have a full time job, four kids, two dogs, and a heart condition that means I should be constantly moving like a shark if I don't want to die young(er). I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to converting monsters these days!

And I DID buy the Tome of Beasts!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I have a full time job, four kids, two dogs, and a heart condition that means I should be constantly moving like a shark if I don't want to die young(er). I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to converting monsters these days!

Here's what a quick Google search for "Froghemoth 5E" got me: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B56oe0eWddrua0t3ZkhCUi1zelk/view (via https://newbiedm.com/2015/04/24/5e-monsters-korred-and-froghemoth/)

Here's somebody's Annis Hag: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?472935-Annis-Hag-(input-desired)

Neither one of these is worse than the Volo's Guide version of same. The Froghemoth is arguably better.

Not trying to tell you what to do, just mentioning possibilities in case you didn't know about them.

 

[flametitan]

Just some interesting trivia I saw: http://imgur.com/a/KJZ7Z

Seems the image for chapter 1 and 3 reflect different PoV of the same scene.

 

[Parmandur]

Just some interesting trivia I saw: http://imgur.com/a/KJZ7Z

Seems the image for chapter 1 and 3 reflect different PoV of the same scene.

That's awesome; didn't they do that in 2E with the reprints of the DMG and PHB...?

 

[Krachek]

I just want to say that Kobolds should get a +1 to Cha.

And the kobold inventor should have 10 int.