Customer Reviews

Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III v. 3.5 (Dungeons & Dragons d20 System)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm not going to talk about the controversy over the release of these books and will only be reviewing the information as it's written, and commenting on improvements or setbacks since the last edition.

The previous Monster Manual was a good guide to the basic monsters necessary for a DM to attempt to kill his PCs. The problem is, at that time the rules for 3rd edition were still fairly skeletal, and as time passed and rules were published enabling players and DMs alike to use monsters as PCs, these rules were not in the Monster Manual. Also, some terms were redefined, and even the manner in which the stats of a monster are to be determined changed. Adding to the confusion, the book was designed a little haphazardly, making it difficult to tell just where you're supposed to look for the information you need.

All these rules changes and additions have been incorporated into the new Monster Manual, and this book is now a complete, up-to-date, bound volume of WoTC's holy writ. The problem is, a lot of the organizational problems still exist or were expanded on.

The book boasts a few nice new illustrations, and they're more closely linked to the appropriate monster entry, but there are still some times where there'll be only a portion of a paragraph about a monster on the page that carries that monster's illustration.

Also, the templates have been shuffled in with all the monsters. I have no idea why they did this. There are monsters, and then there are templates to add to monsters. It makes perfect sense to separate the two. I must admit, though, making zombies and skeletons into templates, rather than monsters of dubious usefulness, was a great idea.

Some additions were simply wonderful, though. The "How to Create a Monster" section is welcome, laying out bare a lot of rules that were previously only available by cross-referencing several books. The short, italicized descriptions of every monster are a great template to drop into a dungeon encounter, or at least a starting point for a DM to get an image from.

On the whole, the Monster Manual is a useful tome, and a definite improvement on its predecessor. It still has a few flaws, however, which will no doubt be fixed in upcoming errata.

I really like this version of the Monster Manual. Primarily because the monsters, my friends, have had the major upgrade they have always needed. Any monster, from the lowly kobold to the most powerful dragon, can become more powerful. You can create a 28th level goblin rogue, a 48 hit dice ogre barbarian, an enormous 30 hit dice dire bear, etc. Any monster can be upgraded to match the skill level of your campaign. Each monster is basically a template from which you begin. Party having a little too easy of a time with the orcs? Have a squad of 10, 4th level orc fighters run out of the cave. This book tells you how to upgrade all of the monsters.
Damage reduction has had a huge change. An iron golem, for example, has DR 15/adamantine. This means if you hit it with any weapon that is not adamantine (including a +5 Holy Avenger), you have to subtract 15 points from the damage before it affects the golem. This makes them many times more difficult to destroy. Monsters such as lycanthropes have DR 10/silver (only silver weapons do full damage. No more killing everything with your longsword +3).

In one of our adventures, our dungeonmaster had our 4th level party encounter a group of ogres. I was thinking, "easy fight." What I didn't know was that they were also 4th level barbarians. Our party barely survived, two party members died, and it was the greatest battle in the entire 25 years I have been playing D&D!

The game has shifted from an easy monster kill to more of a survival game, where any monster is a potentially lethal threat. It makes you pay a lot closer attention to the description as the DM reads it out to you. In a word, it has made the game exciting.

Now when an ancient red dragon comes charging out of its cave, you seriously consider having your 12th level barbarian run away at full speed, while hoping the rest of your party can keep it busy for a while (because you know there is no way your group can defeat it).

Out of the three re-released core D&D rulebooks, the Monster Manual has the most outstanding changes. The differences between the 3E and 3.5E versions are vast, and the changes made in 3.5E are almost all for the better.

Monster statistics now come equipped with base attack bonuses, grapple bonuses, and level adjustments (if you want to build your own monstrous character, either as a player or DM).

The book now includes rules and guidelines, both new and improved, for creating your own monsters, as well as increasing the power of those already provided. Monster skills and feats have been addressed in far greater detail, as well.

More importantly, the book includes both monsters from other books and new monsters, though the new monsters are often simply enhanced versions of older ones.

Lastly, the book includes a lot of new and very cool artwork.

The only thing that disappointed me was how they changed damage reduction. Enhancement bonuses to weapons are no longer relevant for purposes of damage reduction--now it has a lot more to do with the alignment of your weapon and what it's made out of. To me, this seems like an unnecessary change, one that makes it difficult to bring 3E monsters that feature damage reduction up to date with 3.5E.

While 3rd edition brought balance to a previously unbalanced game, the 3rd edition Monster Manual wasn't supposed to be a lot better than its older counterparts. See, its older counterparts even had more monsters to look at. Of course, by balancing the monsters and creating a bunch of universal definitions, they turned it into a much more organized experience, but a lot was still to come.

In my opinion, 3.5e Monster Manual answers to most of our prayers. Not only it revises the already balanced previous version, but now you can even use it as a source for new core races and monsters. Wanna roleplay an ogre? Here you got it. Don't like the tree-hugging regular elves? Throw a dark and twisted drow PC at them. You're a DM? Maybe you'll want to create your own monsters, and here you got the rules.

The templates are also a new good step for this great game. Why all skeletons look alike? Killing a Troll skeleton was a lot more fun, it even rended my war horse to pieces!

Also, let me point out that the illustrations are beautiful and now, finally, ALL monsters are there and well identified. In 3e Monster Manual you still had to guess which picture had the right slaad you were trying to describe.

Monster feats are now better than ever, and the monsters look real smart and deadly.

Monster attributes are also better distributed. Orcs are not only stronger than humans in average anymore, they also favor a higher strength attribute overall, which makes them spend most of their points there! 3e had monsters with all attributes close to 10, too easy to fool or kill.

Seriously, in my opinion, all new monster books should look like this one, bringing rules to use them as player characters, templates and such. Thumbs up!

I must say that at first I was unsure when I heard that wizards was revising the 3rd edition rulebooks, but now that I have seen them I am quite happy with the changes. The Monster Manual 3.5 is simply much easier to use and it is formated better. The stats of creatures are explained better (for instance listing a creatures grapple attack & base attack bonus). Also, for the more challenging creatures they have added a very helpfull tactics section which breaks down what a monster would do on each round of combat, making it much easier for a DM to run them effectively.

3.5 MM is alot better than the 3.0 MM IMO. It's easier to use. Grapple attack rating is listed YAY! Orginization is improved to. Templates(like half dragon) are now listed with the rest of the monsters not in a seperate section for templates, which you may or may not like(personal I'd rather flip to where the Hs are at than have to go to the back of the book and look through the template section). Devils got a much needed boost. I wish there was more new art. If you are thinking about getting 3.5 this book is should be near the top of your list. 2 stars for what you call the best 3.5 book? I'd hate to hear what you think of the rest of revised core ruleboks.

Wizards of the Coast made a good marketing move by releasing a revision of its most well known rpg, not only it can increase sales but it is supposed to make the game system even better. Thats not exactly what happens when you fire the original game designers and put new people to revise it. Its kinda like making some newbie fantasy author reviewing Harry Potter books and releasing updated versions. How can you really revise something you didnt create? Perhaps by talking with the authors, but not even that occured as Monte Cook said on his review.

Theres are lots of good news though, like the urgent fix on Harm, Heal and Haste spells; The downgrading on wizards power by reducing the ammount of spell DC augnment on bumping feats/class abilities; The total redisign on Ranger and Monk classes; and so on...

But... There are some terrible terrible mistakes. Like making weapons vary with size (like small longsword and large longsword, which in fact is the same as a great swrod); Combat rules even more tied to miniatures system (looks like a war game, and not everyone likes miniatures or can afford tons of them); Some weird racial abilities (half elves now gain bonuses to diplomacy skills because they "get along with everyone" ??);
Clerics got even more powers with mass healing/harming spells; etc...

Overall its 3.5 stars for 3.5 edition. But because you have to pay 90 bucks for the 3 books I give 3 stars.

Pros:
-Great illustrations help immersion and tactical role playing for DM
-Concise breakdown of stats so DMs can spend more time designing and planning
-A 'decent' (read: barely satisfactory) rundown of different monsters

Cons:
-Overpriced due to increased demand and nil supply
-Mediocre value (see above)
-Leaves a thorough wanting for more content to consumer for designing/planning

Other Thoughts:
I'm trying to not pull any punches with my above notes. Honestly, this book is useful. It's not useful at the price point, but that's the cost of business with out of print books. It's one of the books that I want in hand for quick reference, and not in cache as a PDF.

So, new and old players alike who are getting into 3.5: Suck it up and buy it. Also, if you are more than just a PC and plan to DM or help design, bet on spending another $50-$100 on monster manuals for the content you may want. Ouch.

This tome contains some fascinating monsters for use in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition universe. They'll fit most campaign settings from level 1 to beyond level 20, whether you want to use an official Wizards setting, or just take the Animals section in the back of the book and make them the scariest critters ever for your own setting. It even contains rules for making your own monsters, if you really want to get creative. A must-own for the DM, not so much for the players.

The drawings are a little cartoonish...but still a great book. Now I just have to find some Die Hard D&D players.