Monster Manual (Dungeons Dragons 3rd Edition) by Skip Williams

Monster Manual (Dungeons Dragons 3rd Edition) Reviews

• 
  Shannon

  For new players this might seem like the best thing ever. I have to admit I had some reservations about going from 2E to 3E with my players but they were all dying for it so away we go!
  I suspect this review will be of more use to veteran types than novice types, as the latter have no comparison, but here goes:
  
  GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE MANUAL
  
  (1) ARMOR CLASS: a variety of factors are now used to determine AC; the dexterity of very quick creatures; the toughness of the hide; the size of the creature. Some PCs always complained that huge monsters were impossible to hit b/c they were so quick.
  
  (2) FEATS: yes, the monsters now have cool feats; some are unique to those in the PH;
  
  (3) MAGIC RESISTANCE: this has been changed to SPELL RESISTANCE. Anyway, it is no longer set so a creature with the old MR from 2E now has to worry about higher level spells and higher level wizards dropping it down;
  
  (4) TOUGHER CREATURES: some creatures which seemed to be somewhat weak in 2E are now made to be much tougher; of course, this is all around;
  
  (5) DEMONS/DEVILS: yes, they no longer fell to the pressure of giving demons and devils stupid names like tannari and baaetzu. Now, they're called, once again, what they were called in first edition.
  
  (6) DRAGONS: are super tough. The older ones are almost impossible to kill which makes it nice since dragons were pretty weak in 1E, got better in 2E but were never quite tough enough.
  
  (7) ELABORATION ON CLASSING: a lot of humanoid monsters can do more with classes and there are less level limitations on them. Before, most humanoids could only go so high.
  
  (8) MONSTER HD IMPROVEMENT: creatures that used to be set in HD now can go up to a certain degree.
  
  WHAT I DON"T CARE FOR
  
  (1) TOUGHER MONSTERS: means a tougher world. If you already have a game going, you need to compensate for the change in power balancing.
  
  (2) BOOK TO EXPENSIVE: for what you get in it. A lot of 2E creatures that are in the basic MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM are missing. What about two headed or giant trolls? Those creatures were great to have around. Lots of others missing, too, but you know that if you played 2E or 1E.
  
  (3) FORMAT: the old books gave a page per creature. You dont' get that here. Yes, they're trying to conserve on space but it just looks sloppy. Two creatures detail sheets are on one page and it gets confusing.
  
  (4) LOTS OF MONSTERS MISSING: I didn't expect them to include 2E monsters from PLANESCAPE or particular realms but geesh, lots of creatures missing from 2E basic monster book, which I like to use.
  
  Some of them are: the two headed troll (like an ettin and troll mix with lethal damage compared to a regular troll), the giant troll (tougher and you need to do a certain amount of special damage), Dracolich (the undead dragon!), Githyanki (another cool, intelligent creature with death swords), all the different types of beholders, etc.
  
  (5) CAN YOU SAY ECOLOGY AND HABITAT?: used to be in 2E but not in the new MM. Anybody going to tell us that orcs have an average lifespan of 40 yrs as detailed in 2E? How about the difference between good and evil dragons when territorial disputes transpire? How about spell components for potions and magic used from certain monsters?
  
  All gone. You have to make this all up yourself or go back to 2E sources. Not good.
  
  I understand there's no way to fit all the creatures in but they took a bit from here and there. Would have been better to keep the basics in one book, spread it out and tell everyone there would be a second one with the special creatures from PLANESCAPE and other areas.
  
  Anyway, my advice to old and new RPGers is to consider some points I rised. It's a lot easier to change things now then later when players are used to certain rules. Whatever the case, some things are good and some are not in my opinion.
  
  To the more seasoned people, hope this helped some. :)
• 
  S.H.I.E.L.D.

  me gusto por todos los monstruos para DYD que contiene para las aventuras
• 
  FLASH52

  es muy entretenido por todos los monstruos que tiene
• 
  Mark Austin

  I grew up playing board games against myself. My sister wasn't much into them and whatever friends I managed to scrap together for a year or two before we moved again were either disinterested from the get-go or quickly became disinterested as I beat them mercilessly at whatever we played.
  
  I also grew up in a world of imagination which almost universally drifted to war. I'm not sure why, but my games, movies, books, shows, and idle imaginings only seem to have real staying power if they are somehow associated with combat. One of my earliest memories is drawing viking ships battling on the ocean... and so it went from there.
  
  When I encountered my eventual group of best friends in 7th grade (many of whom I still talk to regularly), they were clustered on a table in the cafeteria playing something with sheets of paper, pencils, dice, and a set of weirdly-sized books. I drifted over, watched for a few minutes, and became instantly hooked.
  
  I only got to play my elven druid with his scimitar and panther a few times before their existing game master moved and the game ended, but endless class periods passed remembering every item of gear, every chunk of quantified capability that the numbers on my crumpled character sheet represented.
  
  Despite being new to the group, within months I was the new game master, spinning worlds, races, gods, ages, and cultures out of nothingness. We played straight up through high school graduation gathering in my friend's garage attic after school every night and sometimes 12-16 hour long weekend sessions. How I did it without burning out I don't know, but I do know it for the first time let others into the private universes I'd constructed, gave me something to look forward to, a group to be myself with, and a place of refuge both physically and mentally.
  
  Middle school was miserable. The trailers we bounced between were places of endless chore lists, terrible food, random hours-long barely-coherent suicidal rambles from an older brother out of his mind on who knows what. Our mom, when she was there, we hoped would take off on one of her regular days-long absences since when she was there it was either panicked, shouted orders to fix the latest crisis or the house filling with drunken bar dregs that'd be invited over to keep partying when the bar closed Friday night and that would sometimes linger until Monday came and swept the last of them away.
  
  D&D was an escape hatch to an alternate reality where such concerns were irrelevant and, for a time, I could forget the misery and uncertainty of my home life, to practice being someone more powerful, resourceful, and strong than I felt.
  
  The actual rules had some issues, especially compared to more modern rule systems, but that's like saying the pioneers' covered wagons were inefficient compared to modern moving trucks - it's true, but without the former to explore the terrain and settle the unknown the latter would likely not come into existence.
  
  Roleplaying games remain an important part of my life even if my playing time has vastly dwindled. The problem solving and social skills, the lessons on story structure, flow, pacing, and engagement, the friendships that remain to this day, all products of that time spent around a table or sprawled across an attic or living room.
• 
  Ville Kokko

  I'll say one thing. The illustrations are terrible for such an apparently high-budget product. Many are admittedly unremarkable either way, but a lot of them are just unattractive, and a bunch are seemingly trying to be weirder than before with dumb results: for example, the displacer beast one edition back looked like a fluffy panther with tentacles, but the one here looks like it was cross-bred with a Xenomorph and/or just survived an oil spill. However, the biggest problem is that many illustrations don't match the descriptions of the same creatures in the text. There's just no way that can be seen as a good thing.
• 
  Kat

  Basic Premise: Monsters for D&D 3.0.
  
  This book sets the tone for the monsters of D&D 3rd edition. Not all monsters get art, which is sad, but they are trying to cram quite a bit into the book. Oddly, a lot of very common monsters from 2E are missing, so I'm not entirely sure why they felt the need to cram. The stat blocks are pretty easy to read, and as a person who transitioned from 2e to 3e, that was important to me when this edition came out. It does what it needs to do, though, which is provide plenty of monsters for players to deal with.
• 
  Nicola

  3rd ed D&D will always be my favourite of the systems (and I've played from 2nd ed forward). A fun D20 gaming system from Wizards of the Coast with plenty of scope for different styles of play. Brings back warm nostalgic memories! It is funny watching Game of Thrones at the moment and seeing the D&D type party adventuring out into the snow in search of the frozen undead!
  
  Non fiction: Dungeons and Dragons, D&D, roleplaying, D20, rule book, setting, RPG, gaming, fantasy, adventure, Wizards of the Coast
• 
  Ricky Nuriadi

  The perfect guide for D&D monsters, excellent dragons illustrations and explanations on lich and wereforms...
  But despite great illustrations, there seemed like not enough illustrations in this book... loved the illustrations made by nickname W.A.R.
• 
  Mike (the Paladin)

  I'm not really found of the 3rd edition of D&D, but the Monster manual in each edition can be used for ideas and the creatures can be adapted for use in the other systems, so I kept this even though i intend to use 2nd edition in the future.
• 
  Nika

  More like a referenace book and their are many versions of manuals...I think this is the one we have.
• 
  Danyell

  Creepy Crawlies!
• 
  Dustin

  As far as D&D books go it's one of the few that I've kept.
• 
  Abraham Ray

  great monster book for dnd 3.0 ed.
• 
  David Leemon

  I guess we really didn't need the Beasts, but overall a fine monster manual.