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Quick review of the Monster Manual for 4th edition
Once again, going behind a cut, because there are some people who don't want to see this for whatever reasons.
Okay, some of you are probably asking, why review the Monster Manual at all? Well, I have my reasons. So, here we go...
The book starts out with the standard breakdown of what the entries are going to include. It explains the basics of what are going to be included in the entries for each monster (things like what 'type' of monster it is, what role it has, how much exp it's worth, defenses, attacks, that kind of thing). If you're familiar with the 3rd edition versions of the MM, that's pretty standard. A few things have changed here, mostly with a smaller number of types of monsters. (Undead now appear to be a subtype of creature, for example.)
Then it jumps right into the monster entries. First thing I notice is that, with only a few exceptions, most monsters only get one or two pages. Yeah, if they're demons, or angels, or dragons, or giants, there's a larger entry, because there are various types of such things. Most other things have to squeeze everything onto one or two pages. Now, that "everything" includes the stat block, some general tactics, a lore entry (i.e. what DC you have to roll on to get information about yon critter), suggested groups of yon critter, and a picture. Every monster has a picture of what it looks like.
Now, the bad news. Some monsters are just flat out missing. Yes, yes, this leaves them room to include them in a Monster Manual 2, what a shock, right? Chromatic dragons are in the book, metallic dragons are not. Ogre mages are not in the book, but Oni mages are. (Yes, they've changed the names of some creatures.) And they thoughtfully provided entries on every single PC race, as well as gnomes and warforged. IMAO, that's space that they could have used for other things.
After all the monster entries are the "Racial Traits" of several races to turn them into PC races. These include Bugbear, Doppleganger, Drow, both types of Gith (zerai and yanki), Gnomes, and so forth. It's not quite the whopping 2 pages each race gets in the Player's Handbook, but it's enough to handle the mechanics portion of character creation. (And no, there still doesn't appear to be a level adjustment for any race.) To me, this is the big thing. I mean, sure, the entries in the PHB are a bit more fleshed out, but when there are more race options in four pages of the Monster Manual then in all of the Player's Handbook, it is a nice little extra. (Of course, the RPGA almost certainly won't allow any of them, save perhaps Gnome, because that race will probably be out in a core book by then.)
Okay, some of you are probably asking, why review the Monster Manual at all? Well, I have my reasons. So, here we go...
The book starts out with the standard breakdown of what the entries are going to include. It explains the basics of what are going to be included in the entries for each monster (things like what 'type' of monster it is, what role it has, how much exp it's worth, defenses, attacks, that kind of thing). If you're familiar with the 3rd edition versions of the MM, that's pretty standard. A few things have changed here, mostly with a smaller number of types of monsters. (Undead now appear to be a subtype of creature, for example.)
Then it jumps right into the monster entries. First thing I notice is that, with only a few exceptions, most monsters only get one or two pages. Yeah, if they're demons, or angels, or dragons, or giants, there's a larger entry, because there are various types of such things. Most other things have to squeeze everything onto one or two pages. Now, that "everything" includes the stat block, some general tactics, a lore entry (i.e. what DC you have to roll on to get information about yon critter), suggested groups of yon critter, and a picture. Every monster has a picture of what it looks like.
Now, the bad news. Some monsters are just flat out missing. Yes, yes, this leaves them room to include them in a Monster Manual 2, what a shock, right? Chromatic dragons are in the book, metallic dragons are not. Ogre mages are not in the book, but Oni mages are. (Yes, they've changed the names of some creatures.) And they thoughtfully provided entries on every single PC race, as well as gnomes and warforged. IMAO, that's space that they could have used for other things.
After all the monster entries are the "Racial Traits" of several races to turn them into PC races. These include Bugbear, Doppleganger, Drow, both types of Gith (zerai and yanki), Gnomes, and so forth. It's not quite the whopping 2 pages each race gets in the Player's Handbook, but it's enough to handle the mechanics portion of character creation. (And no, there still doesn't appear to be a level adjustment for any race.) To me, this is the big thing. I mean, sure, the entries in the PHB are a bit more fleshed out, but when there are more race options in four pages of the Monster Manual then in all of the Player's Handbook, it is a nice little extra. (Of course, the RPGA almost certainly won't allow any of them, save perhaps Gnome, because that race will probably be out in a core book by then.)
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