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Disclaimer: I'm unsure if this belongs here or in the OGL/d20 section, as most of these books will probably be written for d20 but I intend to use them with Pathfinder. Anyway....
I've been reading up on a bunch of monster books lately. I enjoy them, both for the options they present me and because it's just plain cool to flip through books and read about tons of horrible, grotesque, interesting, or bizarre creatures. I know at least one other gamer who has bought a Monster Manual-type book with no intention to use it other than for his personal enjoyment, so I can't be alone here.
As a relatively new gamer who missed most of the 3pp stuff in the last few years, I am now armed with tax return money and looking to buy some books.
I prefer print products to PDFs, because I like having them on my book shelf for me to peruse on a whim and because I haven't folded and bought an e-reader just yet.
Books that I have:
3.5 Monster Manual I and II
Pathfinder Bestiary
Books I am considering:
Monster Manual III through V
Sword and Sorcery's Creature Collection books, 1 through 3
Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary
Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors 1 through 3
For the ToH, I'm holding out and hoping that they'll be available through Lulu sometime soon. I understand the ball on that is rolling so hopefully patience there will pay off.
Any other recommendations for d20/OGL monster books? Any recommendations or reservations on the ones I'm considering? Let's see if we can get a good list going for others like me who are looking to pick up the good ones they might've missed.
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I'd lean most towards the Tome of Horrors (I especially) and Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary (or perhaps even the Book of Templates).
I like some of the Monster Manual III / Fiend Folio critters as well, for WotC stuff, although I don't have MMIV or MMV, so I have no idea if they are any good.
While I love the Scarred Lands setting, and have all three Creature Collections, some of the most 'iconic' Scarred Lands critters from the first Creature Collection were built before the Monster Manual was even released, and even updated, are a little wonky. As a result, some of them need to be rewritten more dramatically than a Tome of Horrors critter would. Then again, you may feel the desire to tweak stuff anyway (which I do with pretty much anything I use in-game, turning Asaatthi into variant Freeport serpentfolk, or Sutak into variant gnolls, or Proud into wemics, frex), in which case the CCs are great idea-fodder.
From personal experience the "Monsternomicon" Vol I and Vol II if you can get them, both published by Privateer Press.
There are creatures that while all built to suit the game world created for Iron Kingdoms (And Warmachine) Are still very well done and useful to slip into any game setting.
Plus the "Quick plate" ideas presented at the rear of the book can easily and 'quickly'' be applied to any other monster to tweak an encounter.
Just my two cents, *bows*
Cheers!
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I have to say Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary is one of my very favorite monster books ever. It presents a lot of really cool templates to spice up boring old monsters. Add some of the templates to critters you might not normally associate with such a template and you can get some really unique and fun monsters.
Additionally the templates just plain inspire you to come up with other templates of your own.
My personal opinion is get this book ASAP, as it will take all of the monsters you already have and give you HUNDREDS of cool combinations and hours and hours and hours of fun just messing with ideas.
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So I ended up ordering the Advanced Bestiary and the three Creature Collection books. They were all pretty cheap used, especially the Creature Collection books, so I figured that even if they need heavy tweaking or I only use a few things it would be worth the $55 the four books totaled up to.
I've read a lot of great stuff about the Advanced Bestiary and I'm definitely looking forward to that one the most. I loves me some templates, and although I am currently not running any homebrew I still enjoy customizing the APs.
Between the feedback here and a little bit more research, this is the list of books I've come up with that seem like they are overall, worthy additions to a 3.5 GM's collection. It's pretty lengthy but like I said, I enjoy monster books just for the art and flavor text let alone usefulness.
Advanced Bestiary*
Book of Fiends
Creature Collection I*
Creature Collection II*
Creature Collection III*
Draconomicon
Fiend Folio
Libris Mortis
Monster Manual I*
Monster Manual II*
Monster Manual III
Monster Manual IV
Monster Manual V
Monsternomicon
Monsternomicon II
Pathfinder Bestiary*
Pathfinder Bestiary II
Tome of Horrors
Tome of Horrors II
Tome of Horrors III
A * indicates that I already own or have already ordered this book.