By 

Jeff Hershberger (Madison, WI USA) –

  

Like all previous editions of the Monster Manual – this book contains the list of creatures and their statistics that DMs need to make opponents for their players.

Before 3rd edition, this was all this book tried to do. Even as a 2nd edition DM could choose to buy the Fiend Folio instead of the Monster Manual, the 3rd edition (and 3.5) DM did not have this option. 3.0/3.5 added monster-specific rules that truly turned the Monster Manual into a core rulebook.

Monster feats, exotic attacks, Templates, and rules for PC monsters – all were natural extensions of the monster concept: You have monsters – and now you want to alter them for your specific needs. In my opinion, this was a excellent thing.

The 4th edition Manual follows this model – although here are some differences worth mentioning.

First – the simple stuff:
The laundry list of monsters includes the bulk of classic D&D terrible guys: Orcs, Unicorns, & Worgs (Oh my!). A straight book-to-book comparison will reveal many differences in this edition’s inventory (e.g. 4th ed. has only chromatic Dragons).

Many will be bowled over by which creatures got included – but it’s worth remembering that every edition of D&D has had multiple versions of the Monster Manual (3.5 was up to volume 5). If your favorite terrible guy didn’t make the cut – they’re not gone – they’ll just be in a future product.

The creature entries seem abbreviated at first. Much as in 3.0/3.5 you will not see long-winded paragraphs about a creature’s back-tale or preferred environment. As a DM, when I need a creature I need their stats, not their life tale. Long-winded write-ups take up space that could be to the top by more monsters. Besides, adding thematic information like back tales is *my* job.

Huge changes in creature powers will come as a jolt. Negative levels are gone. 3rd edition negative levels seemed like a excellent thought – but were more hassle than they were worth. They had a high maintenance tail (keep track of your minuses AND then track a save the following day – for each negative level), and they threatened the fundamental goal of all players: level advancement. Excellent riddance.

Undead now drain healing reserves – something that that is depleting (in keeping with the “drain life energy” motif of undead) and does not have a long term maintenance issue. When you are hit, you lose a reserve. Zero maintenance. This is excellent.

Vampires – really Vampire Lords – still make spawns but now ignore garlic, running water, and stilted stakes and have detailed rules for how they must rest. Jettisoning garlic may bother some players – but traits like that work better in novels than they do in RPGs (Bram Stoker never had to deal with PCs wearing plate mail festooned with garlic cloves).

Werewolves don’t spawn lycanthropy – they infect you a disease that makes you berserk. This change is likely due to the same calculation of maintenance hassle vs. gaming value. The first time you face werewolves – lycanthropy is a fun risk. When you face an army of lycanthropes, the disease adds more logistics than drama.

Here are a lot of monster abilities that will translate into the new rules in ways that surprise and thwart. With 4th edition changing the DNA of spells and powers – this was unavoidable and does not pose any barrier to DMs adjusting the power of their chosen monster up or down.

The rules for customizing monsters is everywhere I would be most critical of this volume.

The back of the book contains a division of monsters that can be used for NPCs or PCs. This is essential, since 3.0/3.5 opened the doors for PCs to be whatever they want. The rules provided for playing a PC orc (for model) seem very set alight. Here are a host of issues that playing monsters brought up in 3.5 – and I don’t expect 4th edition to be any uncommon. This section looked a lot like an add on (and that’s fine if it is), but if DMs must expect an expanded set of rules covering this – it’d be nice if the book came out and said it.
3.5′s Monster Manual had “[this monster] as a PC” entries within the monster’s description which I feel is a superior model. I want to be an orc, I pick up my Monster Manual and find the item for – Orc. Putting them in the appendix helps the player who wants to see the full menu of choices – but you could do that with an index and still place all of a monster’s data in one place. I’m a huge believer in one stop shopping – and having the rules for a specific task stored in multiple places just slows things down.

Scaling monsters/Adding templates.
Adding class levels and templates to 3.5 monsters ensured that no monster had to be dull (three words: Vampire Kobold Sorcerer) and from all appearances this will carry forwards in 4th edition. These rules in 4th edition are in the DMG and I would inquiry this.

If the Monster Manual is truly a core book (the core…

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