|
Actually, more I think about it, it makes a great paranoid delusion. "Squirrels? They're Ninja. THEY send them to SPY on me. Here me, squirrel? I know WHAT you ARE!!!"Actually, around here we have black squirrels, which my circle insistently refer to as Ninja Squirrels.
Ninja squirrels is an oxymoron. If you see them too, watch your back, man. Aaargh! I'm on to you squirrels!
I'm not one to borrow words, so I'm not starting with a quote from another fan.
My initial impression of the MM IV was good, and that hasn't changed. I like the additional attention to lairs and ecology. I like the format that the stats are written in. I like the leveled up monsters for ease of use. I only have a few gripes.
I think there were too many entries for Tiamat's spawn. To try and put this outlook in perspective, let me say that I plan to RUN A CAMPAIGN based around Tiamat's goal of taking over the world through prolific breeding (as mentioned in Races of the Dragon). Creators and editors, thank you for another book that I will find use for in my overwhelming library, but the 'spawn' leave a bad taste in my mouth. My campaign likely won't include more than two of these ghastly beasts, as they are better replaced with half-dragon creatures in my opinion.
It gives credence to the arguement, 'what happened to the majesty and uniqueness of the dragon as a PC terror?' My two coppers.
Now I disagree... the spawn of tiamat were one of my favorite parts of the book, and I would have loved to see more (though I certainly understand why they didn't include more).
- Ashavan
|
|
Woah... I was driving back from lunch today, and this squirrel was crossing the road, and he went under this moving SUV, and he paused under the middle of the SUV, and the SUV kept moving, and the squirrel waited then ran the rest of the way across the road completely unscathed!!!
Total true story.
Squirrel ninjas? Yup.
Woah... I was driving back from lunch today, and this squirrel was crossing the road, and he went under this moving SUV, and he paused under the middle of the SUV, and the SUV kept moving, and the squirrel waited then ran the rest of the way across the road completely unscathed!!!
Total true story.
Squirrel ninjas? Yup.
Seen that happen around here, and had that happen to me once as a driver.
I was sure I'd hit the little fella, but nope; he waited and then ran.
Now if only we had ninja DEER around here, I'd feel alot better.
(or would I...?)
|
I don't know why I bother but:
I like it. I'm not a noob. I didn't just fall off the pokemon wagon and discover D&D yesterday. The fact is, I don't need another exotic monster I will never use. I need leveled humanoids. I need them in an accessible format. I need monster lairs for when my players go off the beaten path.
I 100%ly agree with this!
My players definitely like the "veteran monsters", but they also like variation. MM IV addresses this issue quite well. Even so there are still too many other monsters in MM I - IV which will never see play in my campaign.I hope the 4e MM follows this format (...)
I realized in earlier postings of yours that you apparently can't expect to see a 4th edition. I don't. I don't see any reason for a new edition when a lot of d20 products out there address any possible short coming of the core rules, and even less after reading the first insider hints about the new edition: http://www.enworld.org/ -> thursday's entry.
We will see 4th edition hysteria soon enough. So please keep it out of non-4th-edition-threads.
Thanks.
Greetings,
Günther
|
|
(Of course, if they just came out with 4e, we could have the cream of the crop in the core rules! No need for a dozen books, it would be concentrated into three volumes of core goodness. Huzzah!)
Sorry to just add another posting to this topic:
According to what I "read through the grapevine" (see above), 4th ed. is supposed to be even more miniature centred and to spread its contents on even more supplements.This doesn't sound any better than 3rd edtion to me. But then the poster (Eric Noah) wasn't very optimistic in the first place...
Enough about 4th edition,
Günther
It was pretty good. It had a big enough handful of good monsters to be worth my while.
I'm just an unapologetic new monster junkie; there's no hope for me. So I bought the dang thing, I just wish there were more new beasties is all.
Unfortunately, this hopeless 2e DM is also a monster-phile. I bought it, even though the stat blocks will have to be completely redone as usual (thank you very much), but I can't seem to resist monster books regardless of edition. I think it has something to do with being able to get a glimpse into the twisted minds of others, and the beasties they dream up. Sick b*stards. ;-)
(Of course, if they just came out with 4e, we could have the cream of the crop in the core rules! No need for a dozen books, it would be concentrated into three volumes of core goodness. Huzzah!)Sorry to just add another posting to this topic:
According to what I "read through the grapevine" (see above), 4th ed. is supposed to be even more miniature centred and to spread its contents on even more supplements.This doesn't sound any better than 3rd edtion to me. But then the poster (Eric Noah) wasn't very optimistic in the first place...
Enough about 4th edition,
Günther
Dear Lord, if 4th edition has even more supplements (books) that 3.5; my players will need to have moving companies assist them in transporting their already vast 3.5 libraries of books to the game store where we play.
|
|
Dear Lord, if 4th edition has even more supplements (books) that 3.5; my players will need to have moving companies assist them in transporting their already vast 3.5 libraries of books to the game store where we play.
As I wrote in that 4th edition thread, I fell victim to a rumour.
Here is the rectification published by www.enworld.org today. Hopefully this will help to steer this thread back to MM IV. ;-)
D&D 4th Edition News*
As a followup to the recent 4th Edition rumours - WotC has emailed Eric Noah, directly contradicting his info. EN World member "RigaMortus2" was able to provide some more info; like Eric's original rumour, this is from "a friend who knows some people at WotC", and so should, as always, be treated as unverified.It should be noted that when Charles Ryan ran the D&D brand, he said that WotC would give at least a full year's warning regarding 4E; however, Charles Ryan is no longer with WotC.
So, at present (and unless WotC says something directly), it's still all speculation and rumour! For those interested, it might be worth reminding yourself of Monte Cook's opinions regarding the future of the Open Gaming License and the D&D brand:
"Let me preface this by saying that nothing I'll write here on the subject of 4th Edition is based on any kind of direct knowledge. No one's told me a thing. But I did work at Wizards for years, and I knew the original plans. Moreover, I know the kinds of products that you release before a new edition, and the kinds of things you post to the Internet and say at conventions when you're working on a new edition. And so based on all that, my wild guess is 2008, with an announcement in 2007. That said, I think it maybe could come as early as 2007, with an announcement this year. If that were to happen, however, and I was working on D&D at Wizards, I'd polish up my resume, because a release that soon would seem to indicate that Hasbro was forcing the issue; it would suggest the corporation wants squeeze the game for what it was worth and then dump it, because the timing would be wrong for optimal success. It would indicate that they (Hasbro) just didn't care. To be blunt, 2007 would be too early--sales would not be as good, and the finished game would likely have been rushed. It would be very bad news for the game, for people working on the game, and likely for the rpg hobby as a whole (remember, so goes Wizards...)"Of course, I could be completely wrong. Maybe it will be farther off. Like I said, I have no special knowledge."
I have only this to say. TIAMAT! Stop f**king! Stop f**king right now! It's a BIG waste of paper!
GREAT!
Now I have this image of Tiamat laying down paper before she gets busy. Like an untrained puppy.
Now that I've worked with MMIV for a while, I have to say this about MMIV:
It is the very model of a modern monster manual.
It has information vegetable, animal, and mineral....(With apologies to both Gilbert and Sullivan.)
LOL! Theater geek!
Add me to the list of people that really dig MM IV.
I absolutely *love* the new format.
I dig the new stat block, I dig the leveled creatures, and I dig the sample encounters and lairs.
Huge time savers and the quality is superb, especially what I've seen so far of the sample lairs.
Personally, between all the books and the magazines, I have almost zero need for new monsters. We can make those ourselves, too. What I like is the new level of detail.
|
Half-Fiend Gnoll Warlock? Uhm...will anyone actually USE this creature?
Mabey not, but it dose give ideas for possibilities that DM's never thought of. They're just examples anyways.
Drow Ninja???????
Drow NINJA??????
RABBI Ninja is more likely than Drow Ninja. Would someone please tell me how the philosophy of Ninjitsu emigrated to the Underdark? Don't Ninja have a code of conduct? Drow have NONE! :)
Two things wrong with this. One, drow DO have a code of conduct. It goes like this:
Women over men,Spiders over all,
and killing is not a crime if your not caught,
but it is a great joke at a party when you brag about it later.
Second, Ninja have a code of conduct, though it's more along the guidlines of:
Don't get caught,
Anything for the lord and I mean ANYTHING,
you are expendable,
and DON'T GET CAUGHT!
That being said while they might not hail from japan, Drow a natural born ninjas as the are naturals in the shadows and they have no ethics to speak of.
now if you were thinking of SAMURAI, that would be a different story, although how you could confuse a samurai and a ninja is beyond me as it's like comparing a nuetral evil rouge to a paladin.
P.S. lower your caffine.
Contributor
|
Add me to the list of people that really dig MM IV.
I absolutely *love* the new format.
I dig the new stat block, I dig the leveled creatures, and I dig the sample encounters and lairs.
Huge time savers and the quality is superb, especially what I've seen so far of the sample lairs.
Personally, between all the books and the magazines, I have almost zero need for new monsters. We can make those ourselves, too. What I like is the new level of detail.
I'm with you, Rob! I plan on using this book quite a bit in my future campaign. :)
I'm with you, Rob! I plan on using this book quite a bit in my future campaign. :)
I believe I already posted my faults with this book earlier, but anyways...
Dispite what I've said, I'll definitely be using it too, and I'm sure many others will, but there were some things that were just plain bad.
If MMV is really coming out in July (GenCon seminar video showed a cover that looked like a MM cover), I hope that Wizards will change a few things.
Director of Narrative
|
Now that this thread has been revived and now that I have bought the book, I have to say that I like it about as much as any MM since the core one.
Yes, there's heaps of stuff i won't use. But I've viewed buying the other two as simply a resource that I will only barely touch - and I'm okay with that. Campaigns take alot of time and for a focused thread of a storyline, you're only gonna hit a few critters that are CR/Environmental/Ecological/Logical to your specific story.
To me it was worth it for the Zern, Lodestone Marauder and the thingy with the "B" name that saps magic. (Sorry, books are at the office, and my memory for made-up names fails me often.)
To me it was worth it for the Zern, Lodestone Marauder and the thingy with the "B" name that saps magic. (Sorry, books are at the office, and my memory for made-up names fails me often.)
Some of my favorites from the book, Daigle. :D
And the monster that you are referring to is the balhannoth. I love those things!
And now for something completely different:
Did anyone notice the web mummy in the MM IV ? What is that, a web designer slave from ancient egypt ? Or rather a web user sitting waaaaay to long in front of his screen, forgetting to eat and drink, and being slowly mummified by screen radiation ?
SCNR.
Stefan
Add me to the list of people that really dig MM IV.
I absolutely *love* the new format.
I dig the new stat block, I dig the leveled creatures, and I dig the sample encounters and lairs.
Huge time savers and the quality is superb, especially what I've seen so far of the sample lairs.
Personally, between all the books and the magazines, I have almost zero need for new monsters. We can make those ourselves, too. What I like is the new level of detail.
Robert!!! I was wondering what happened to you. (Former Webmaster) Okay that explains it. Hope you and your family are doing well.
Anyway, I like MM IV primarily because it is easier to use "off the cuff" or when "winging" it than the other MMs. That's a good thing--if I'm stressed for quick encounter or need to pull something out of my b.hole when the players turn "left" this book's format fits the bill nicely.
Monster Manual 4 demonstrated a remarkable tie-in with the Red Hand of Doom module released a while back (I got to drop in 4 bluespawn gawdslayers instead of 3 of the lame encounters my party of 9 was facing) as well as *gasp* the War of the Dragon Queen mini's stuff. Party of 9 lvl 8s = EL 14, band of 4 CR 10s = EL 14. Even encounter in my book. So far, 1 dead PC, 2 dad bad guys and there will be 6 players present, or perhaps 7, for the showdown with the last 2 beasties.
Point is, I can actually run the critters with the advice of the tactics column - saves me the trouble of spending 15 minutes or so to look up unfamiliar feats and similar issues.
I DO agree, however, that a large chunk of the book is filler and fluff I can do without. The new-ish stat block format (the first time I saw it was in RHoD) is quite GM-friendly, for me at least. There's some nice stuff and some crud in the book. Of course, there's "crud" in the MM1 for that matter, and they haven't bothered retooling MM2 for 3.5 *yet*, and MM3 was a nightmare with templates mixed into the book like bird poo on my windshield, instead of tidely clumped together in the back of the book. (That's a big change from 3.0 that I find detestable, dribbling the templates in the main body of the book. Makes it considerably more difficult for me to do any prep work at all.) Not to mention that MM3 has - for me - far fewer useful critterbeasties, but was thoroughly infested with undead that - only in *that* book - got a nifty ability conveniently stacking thier CHA mod as a bonus to thier hit points ... yet a Lich - generally acknowledged as the biggest and baddest of formerly humanoid undead, gets poo poo 'd ? No, MM4 is not as bad as some of the drek from its 3 predecessors.
*Rips a leg off the four-legged oversized turkey roasting on a spit in the back yard* Aaaah, useless critterbeasties ... they still make good chow ...
Monster Manual 4 demonstrated a remarkable tie-in with the Red Hand of Doom module released a while back (I got to drop in 4 bluespawn gawdslayers instead of 3 of the lame encounters my party of 9 was facing) as well as *gasp* the War of the Dragon Queen mini's stuff. Party of 9 lvl 8s = EL 14, band of 4 CR 10s = EL 14. Even encounter in my book. So far, 1 dead PC, 2 dad bad guys and there will be 6 players present, or perhaps 7, for the showdown with the last 2 beasties.
Point is, I can actually run the critters with the advice of the tactics column - saves me the trouble of spending 15 minutes or so to look up unfamiliar feats and similar issues.
I DO agree, however, that a large chunk of the book is filler and fluff I can do without. The new-ish stat block format (the first time I saw it was in RHoD) is quite GM-friendly, for me at least. There's some nice stuff and some crud in the book. Of course, there's "crud" in the MM1 for that matter, and they haven't bothered retooling MM2 for 3.5 *yet*, and MM3 was a nightmare with templates mixed into the book like bird poo on my windshield, instead of tidely clumped together in the back of the book. (That's a big change from 3.0 that I find detestable, dribbling the templates in the main body of the book. Makes it considerably more difficult for me to do any prep work at all.) Not to mention that MM3 has - for me - far fewer useful critterbeasties, but was thoroughly infested with undead that - only in *that* book - got a nifty ability conveniently stacking thier CHA mod as a bonus to thier hit points ... yet a Lich - generally acknowledged as the biggest and baddest of formerly humanoid undead, gets poo poo 'd ? No, MM4 is not as bad as some of the drek from its 3 predecessors.*Rips a leg off the four-legged oversized turkey roasting on a spit in the back yard* Aaaah, useless critterbeasties ... they still make good chow ...
Amen brother Turin
My un-humble, quite vitrolic opinion:
the MMIV is a piece of garbage.
I say this for many reasons, the first being... IF I WANT STAT BLOCKS ILL MAKE MY OWN BLOODY STAT BLOCKS not pay $40 for half a book of them.Plus custom-mades are always more interesting than pre-packaged unload here creatures. Most stat block monsters will only ever be used once, how many drow ninjas can there be (that idea is such **** in and of itself) before the characters wonder why they drow are reknowned for their wizards or clerics.
as for lairs. Lairs??? in an MM??? wtf? do they think ive lost my creative spark to be unable to draw a cavern room on a piece of graph paper? It takes 5 seconds, maybe if they made a book called "monster Lairs manual IV" and compiled every publiched monsters lair into a sigle book id buy it, but they have no place in what is known as a MONSTER manual.
my two, or more cents
btw, lets go OOTS... fiendish/half dragon/were-wolf/specter/snail
I have mixed words for this book. "I" won't be buying it. It doesn't do a thing for me. Being a player in poverty, the few new monsters aren't aren't enough ot warrant the high cover price. I agree with many on both sides who've posted in this thread, but "Monster Manual IV" is definately not the right name for this book. Perhaps it should have been named "DMG2: Appednix I". As a DM I don't have problems levelling things up, and fleshing them out with templates or classes, I guess I'm just gifted in that aspect, but it is an excellent tool for quick encounter throw-downs.
Do I run-on my sentences much? Maybe.... ;;D