34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, but mostly Heroic-tier, June 28, 2011
This review is from: Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale: A 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D) (Game)
Rating this one is tough.
On the one hand, in this book, you have some of the very best monster design in 4e. WotC has only been getting better at monsters since Monster Manual 3 last year, and I haven't found much to complain about in this one yet... Except for one thing, which I'll get to.
Much like in the Shadowfell box set, we have a 128-page softcover book, a poster map, and six cardstock sheets of tokens. Unlike in the Shadowfell box, WotC doesn't even try to make the container box-like; it's a slipcover, shrink-wrapped, holding all the goodies. All told, this still makes the product rather pricey for the page-count... As I've said, this is quality material, so I'm not grouching too much, but it's a tough sell at full price. (Sadly, the tokens continue to have the monster names across the Bloodied sides, which make them easier to find, but make it much tougher to use them as generic placeholders, and make it nearly impossible to hide monsters' identities from your players. I'd rather guess!)
Also like in the Shadowfell box set, a large portion of the "monsters" herein are basically NPC groups, generally opponents. For me, this is awesome; it's very easy to take a group like, say, the Blackfang Gnolls or the Tigerclaw Barbarians, and quickly construct a level-appropriate encounter for my players. It helps make prep-time low, and play-time valuable. I'm also partial to NPC groups in general; a faction such as the Iron Circle or the Grey Company has a lot more interest as a long-term foe than a simple Troll does. This also makes it very easy for me to integrate these foes into my home Dark Sun game.
Although I've not had time to exhaustively read the flavor text, there's a ton of it, and it's overall well-written. The Wandering Tower, Mooncalves, and Dythan's Legion - the ones that caught my interest first - are all fantastic. The art is pretty uniformly high-quality, too.
So how nasty are the monsters? Calastryx was featured on the Wizards site within the last month, and he's the scariest 14th-level Solo I've ever seen. Google him or the Boggle for examples. Perytons are back in their heart-ripping glory, and Pennaggalans are every bit as gross and creepy as ever. I'd go on, but I'm afraid I'd just rave about nearly every monster.
So given this, why four stars instead of five?
Well, the monsters here range from Level 1 to Level 20; everything at 19 or 20 is an Elite or Solo, so this book is mostly useful up until about Level 17 or 18ish. There's not a single Epic monster to be found. Worse, somewhere around 3/4 of these are Heroic-tier; there's a sampling of 11-20's, but they're in the minority, and there are only a few per level. While this is fine in general, it overlaps with the Monster Vault significantly, and is of only moderate use in my high-heroic tier game.
While I applaud the new monster design, there's a dearth of Epic-tier foes using the upgraded design standards. I was hopeful that this book would cover all levels, but it doesn't. With this and with the high cost per page, I had to drop this otherwise outstanding product 1 star.
Ah well. I don't regret the purchase even a bit; it's just a missed opportunity.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Monsters, So-So Value, July 14, 2011
This review is from: Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale: A 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D) (Game)
I have mixed feelings about MV: Threats to the Nentir Vale. If this was the only monster manual I would give this book 5 stars. As it is the latest monster manual (despite being called a roleplaying supplement) I'm going to give it a bit above 4 stars. Let me explain.
I've been playing 4E since Keep on the Shadowfell was released. One thing the designers realized as time passed was that monsters were underpowered against PCs after the lower levels. Starting with Monster Manual 3 monster power was adjusted particularly at high heroic, paragon and epic levels.
The good is the designers now know how to make good 4E monsters. The monsters in the book are good and if you are using Nentir Vale there is also good story ties to various parts of the Vale. The bulk of the monsters are heroic level with some paragon level ones. There are no epic monsters which makes sense because Nentir Vale is not an epic setting.
If you have run or are planning to run H1 Keep on the Shadowfell or H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth you can see the expansions to familiar areas and module monsters. If you want to run adventures based out of Winterhaven, Fallcrest, Harkenwold or Hammerfast the story ties will help quite a bit. The nice thing is even if you are not going to run a game based out of Nentir Vale the stories hooks are generic enough most will still work for you with little or minor modification or you can just ignore them altogether and just use the monsters. OK, that's the good.
What's the bad and why did I take off a star on the review, then? Price really. There are 184 monsters in this 127 page book. Technically, this is a Roleplaying Supplement not a monster manual but despite the bits of story - this is really a book of monsters so I can't help compare it to the Monster Vault and Monster Manual 3 and when I do that I find this book wanting.
The Monster Vault has 304 monsters, 10 sheets of counters, a poster map and a 30 page adventure. MV: Threats to the Nentir Vale has 184 monsters, 8 sheets of counters, a poster map and it has a retail price of five bucks *more* than the Monster Vault. Monster Manual 3 has 301 monsters and retails for the same price as MV: Threats. It's this value that makes me take off a star. I already have all the other 4E monster books so this was a good choice for me and I don't regret getting it for the price. However, unless you are in the same position, you would be better off getting Monster Vault first and then either MV: Threats or MM3 depending on what level of game you are running or planning to run.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Monsters AND Fluff!, August 1, 2011
This review is from: Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale: A 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D) (Game)
WotC really streamlined this product. Out went the useless box (like
The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond: A 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D) had. And in came more fluff and taglines for the Nentir Campaign setting!
The price was a bit much for what you actually got, but reasonable enough for the complete-ist (like myself). The content was smooth and easy to navigate AND was filled with story ideas and monster/NPC backgrounds. Awesome.
Although it was paperback, it was at least the same (page) size as the hardback releases, such as
Monster Manual 3: A 4th Edition D&D Core Rulebook (Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition), and that was nice change from the Essentials line.
All in all, I love this and would recommend all DMs to pick it up.
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