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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="roytheodd" data-source="post: 890972" data-attributes="member: 1508">What do I look for in a monster book? Huh. When it comes to buying I buy pretty much all of them, but the bulk of them get shelved and stay there. Most of them don't really have a lot of use to me because of their content. Here's what I like in terms of content:1) Few to zero humanoids listed in the book. Humanoids really can't just be tossed into an ongoing game if you want to keep the illusion of disbelief with your players.2) Flavor descriptions of the monsters. I find that flavor description (by which I mean little stories) tend to give me a better idea of how the monster operates and lives and gives me minor plot hooks - very good info to have. Monsternomicon nailed this one perfectly and others are now trying their hand at it (like Goodman Games). A good trend.3) I like monsters that both do and do not fill niches. I like monsters that dwell near graves or in mines as they are good specific monsters, but I find that there are never enough niche monsters to fill the niche I'm looking for. Therefore I also like monsters that can fit generically anywhere. I like the ability to just drop a monster anywhere I need one. What I'd really like to see are books that focus on a terrain and provide monsters for that terrain type - even to the point of cross-referencing those monster in the Core Books that would be found in that terrain. That would be a HUGE use to me.4) I like monsters that aren't just a new take on an old monster. Shapeshifters are tired, lycanthropes are tired, dragons are tired (well, not really, but they really don't need new varieties in every book).5) I like monsters that can survive in dungeons. Too many of them need food and water and thus couldn't really dwell where they are. On a related note - if you're going to make a new monster that is created by a magic-user, then give directions on how to create it!!6) I like nice artwork, but that doesn't mean color artwork per se. I want a monster to look believable to my eyes, unless it's purposely some outsider or aberration (the new Fiend Folio monsters suck in this regard). I like to see what the critter looks like because all too often the text description is lacking.7) A low range of CRs. I don't play Epic Level and I don't intend to play it. Yeah, I know folks do, but I don't and this is about what I like. I like CRs under 10.8) Free of the shackles of a campaign world. Yeah, campaign worlds need their own monster books and I'm not arguing with that, but those books will not get used in the least by me. I want books where the baddies aren't tied to a specific world or location.9) No more templates. We've got enough. Yours aren't really that clever or useful so quit trying to sell them to me.</blockquote>

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