What book to get?

[Crothian]

Let this be a last ditch admonition for Advanced Bestiary. MMIII's concepts are not gripping IMO and it is riddled with errata. LoM is a more interesting book, but genreally, AdB is more of workhorse and has great ideas all its own.

I agree with Psion. Advanced Bestiary is a book I use a lot mor ethen both of the other two combined. It it usefule, creative, and brilliant.

 

[Tetsubo]

LoM is a solid book. If you like Aberrations it is a must have.

AB is great if you like a lot of template choices. I think it's the best of the three Advanced books.

MM III is a good, especially if you like a "complete" set of official books.

That's the order I'd buy them in.

 

[Shade]

Go with Lords of Madness. It is imaginative and high quality. MMIII is the worst of WOTC's monster books. If you don't have it yet, I'd recommend Fiend Folio over MMIII in a heartbeat.

 

[Crothian]

Go with Lords of Madness. It is imaginative and high quality. MMIII is the worst of WOTC's monster books. If you don't have it yet, I'd recommend Fiend Folio over MMIII in a heartbeat.

MMII is the worst by far, but I do agree FF is probably better then MMIII

 

[Shade]

MMII is the worst by far, but I do agree FF is probably better then MMIII

Really? I find the monster selection better in MMII, and the editing is far superior. Plus, MMII has a better spread over the CR ranges. And MMII has twice as many templates.

Of course, if the weight of one's opinion is a factor of post count, yours outweighs mine nearly 10 to 1.

 

[DragonLancer]

MMII is the worst by far, but I do agree FF is probably better then MMIII

What???

The FF was quite terrible IMO. The MM2 could have been better also.
MM3 contains some absolutely tops ideas and new monsters. Better than average design, and background, and seemingly written with a place in a given campaign in mind. I'd consider MM3 to be the prize of my monster sourcebook collection and I have more than a fair few of them.

 

[Psion]

The FF was quite terrible IMO. The MM2 could have been better also.
MM3 contains some absolutely tops ideas and new monsters. Better than average design, and background, and seemingly written with a place in a given campaign in mind. I'd consider MM3 to be the prize of my monster sourcebook collection and I have more than a fair few of them.

Obviously opinions vary on the issue. Quite a bit.

I like FF better for things that were in it that WEREN'T monsters. I got lots of use out of MM2 and espeicially appreciated it for filling out the high end of the CR scale and providing some creatures that weren't strictly to fight. But I found the MM3 largely uninspiring.

 

[Crothian]

MM3 contains some absolutely tops ideas and new monsters. Better than average design, and background, and seemingly written with a place in a given campaign in mind. I'd consider MM3 to be the prize of my monster sourcebook collection and I have more than a fair few of them.

If we are going to bring in other monster books MMIII doesn't stand a chance IMO. Creatures of Freeport, Monsternomicon, Fantasy Beastiary, Monsters of the Endless Dark, Beastiary of Krynn, the Kalamar one, Tome of Horrors...all those I goto before MMII, MMIII, or FF.

 

[Nightfall]

Get the Deluxe Book of Templates first, then Advanced Beastiary. Together those books will make all your other books much more useful.

Mmm interesting. I had the first one and from what Psion posted of his review, I should pick up the 3.5 one too. But yeah add AB to my "Get that first!" MMIII is alright but no where NEAR as cool as creating your own monsters with those two books. LoM is great for understanding abberations in D&D but I'd give AB and DBoT higher ratings for monsters you can use more often.

Crothy,

Don't forget CCII and CCIII plus CC Revised!

 

[Crothian]

Crothy,

Don't forget CCII and CCIII plus CC Revised!

I didn't...but to be fair I only have CCII