What's The Best Monster Book?

[Neonchameleon]

Um...



So, no, that strawman doesn't fly.

You've a point there. But the part on tribal organisation does still. And the cities all being structured the same way. The point is that it's negatively useful fluff rather than even neutral.

 

[CM]

And yes, I think 4e combined the Duegar and Derro. And as I said, don't ask me about the beard-quills. It's goofy, silly, and not even in a good way.

Derro appear in 4e in MM3 and Dungeon #201.

When I ran Thunderspire Labyrinth, I too rolled my eyes at the poison beard quills. Instead I just made them master poisoners and gave their weapon attacks ongoing poison.

 

[pemerton]

I think 4e combined the Duegar and Derro.

I think derro and duergar may have been combined in 4E; but firing beard-quills?

In 4e, duergar are found in a H2 (as Heroic tier antagonists) and then are slightly errata-ed and reproduced in MM2 (like it's first edition counterpart, it has the module monsters!), along with some paragon-tier versions.

MV reproduces some of the MM2 entries plus adds some new ones.

(I know all this because in my campaign the PCs spent the last session hanging out with duergar in their stronghold.)

Derro, on the other hand, are in MM3. They are statted up for paragon tier.

Here is the intro to the MM3 entry on derros:

Derros are warped descendants of a mad, power hungry civilization that nearly ripped apart the planes when the world was still young. Craving primordial power but unwilling to bend their knees to any master, the derros created portals to the Far Realm in hopes of harnessing its power. The madness and horror they unleashed caused the World Serpent to drag their lands beneath the surface to halt their machinations.​

So they are not dwarves (size Small, not Medium), which is a departure from earlier editions.

As for duergar beard quills, the PCs in my game haven't fought any duergar yet but may do so next session. If that happens I'll be using the quills, and so (if this thread is still active) will report back on whether or not these were experienced as goofy and/or silly. (The devilish inclinations of the duergar have been a big part of how I've been running them, and I will be keeping that up if I have to narrate the quills.)