false 1998500 0786948523 9780786948529 60 5 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1998500.Monster_Manual_A_4th_Edition_Core_Rulebook 867915 Wizards RPG Team 453 62 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 13 21:49:04 -0800 2009 Wed May 20 18:29:23 -0700 2009
I'll start with what I miss. The description of each monster that could be read to the players was handy, and while there was never a ton of information about the monsters, the 4th edition Monster Manual definitely stresses the tactical aspect of the new game. Each monster gets a tiny paragraph to describe it's basic purpose in the game. No information on their usual habitat, their history, etc. Tellingly, they each get a tiny paragraph of tactical advice instead.

I'm also a touch annoyed that the Lore section, an outgrowth of the great Knowledge sections in the later 3.5 Monster Manuals, is not stronger. It's nice that the monsters all *have* that section, but it'd be nicer if it had some useful information for players that make their knowledge checks. As is, you make your knowledge check, and unless the GM ad-libs, you get a quick, fairly useless history of the monster, rather than any hint as to their abilities or weaknesses.

So that's the complaints. But what works is so strong I'm compelled to more or less ignore them. The biggest change is re-packaging the monsters so that you don't have to create every single one as if it were a character. Dragons are now playable out of the book. Human bad guys don't require you to roll up characters. And every monster has different level versions of itself, and different tactics and powers. It makes it much easier for a DM to throw together an encounter on the fly, and more importantly, the different powers make all the monsters (even the ubiquitous orcs, kobolds and hobgoblins) interesting and more unique.

Plus, as with all the Wizards stuff, it's packed with beautiful artwork, which is crucial to a good Monster Manual.]]>