Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III

I think if at least one of these is followed, it's worth the same as the original. If all are followed, it's a goldmine. I have the great annoyance to tell you that none of these were followed.

There are 1/3 the number monsters in the new manual as the old one (I hear that if you add this manual, 2, and the Monsters of Faerun books together you get almost as many as the old 2nd edition MM.) I believe that the creators argued "The original MM only had 40 monsters in it!" My answer to this is simple: the first edition didn't have 25+ years of books and two editions in front of it to help.

The new monsters (which ended up drowning out old favorites) are way too underpowered or overpowered, lack depth, and generally seem a little too sci-fi (remember, this is a fantasy game)

The layout definately sucks, it took me an hour to find anything. One monster a page is definately a better road to travel.

Last but not least, the monsters BARELY go beyond the numbers. I suggest you either buy all three of the above mentioned "Monster Manuals" (have fun shuffling books!) or just play 2nd edition AD&D.


Tons of Monsters...Yet Lacking   June 7, 2003
D. Hennemuth (Newport, VT United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

The Third Edition (3E) Monster Manual is a great purchase for any DM. It has a good amount of monsters, pretty descriptive stats, yet...it seems one caliber less than the 2E Monster Manual.

On one hand, the 3E Monster Manual delivers over 200 monsters to terrorize your campaign setting. They have some awesome new monsters. My personal favorite, is a devil, and is known as a Kyton. He is demonic humanoid with hundreds of chains drooping from his body, and his mode of attack is flailing those chains. Pretty hardcore.

On the other hand, the 3E Monster Manual doesn't seem to give enough. Some of the monsters just plain [are bad], and they aren't unique in any way. Also, the amount of creatures do not come near the amount that were in the 2E monster manual, which is frustrating.

On the FINAL hand, It is a must for any DM playing 3E. It isn't a bad book at all...it just seems lacking. The monster stats are good...the amount of monsters are good...but don't expect much more. (If they had 3.5 stars I would give this book 3.5)


Content: Meh... Book Quality: HORRIBLE   February 4, 2003
NomadLLama (Naperville, Illinois United States)
4 out of 9 found this review helpful

Being someone new to the Dungeons and Dragons scene, I had great hope and joy when I opened my amazon.com package containing the Player's Handbook (PHB) and the Monster Manual (MM).

First note: all the D&D books are quite hard to understand without playing first. That would be why you buy the "Adventure Game" using the same ruleset. The MM is the shortest of the D&D books, which makes sense, as it mostly talks only about monsters. The content is hard to understand first hand, however it is quite detailed.

Now, we go onto the quality of the book. Both the DM Guide and the PHB have a hard cover binding and high-quality full-colored pages. The MM has this too, but in my recent experiences, the binding at the spine (the binding that is holding the pages together) is quite loose. So loose that in fact, one player of mine has all the pages completely out of the binding. True, out of 12 NEW MM's that I have seen, all of them had an extremely loose binding, especially with the pages in the back. You can see the rope that is holding the pages together there. Just note: a lot of the pages in this book will fall out with heavy use. something not too normal with hardcover books.

My suggestion, since you are looking at this, is to wait until July 2003, where a new, revised MM will be avaliable. That MM will have 108 more pages, and hopefully a better binding with that many pages. All the D&D core rulebooks are being revised and released in July 2003 (at the end of the month). If you want the D&D books right now, then I suggest the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual II. The MM II will not be revised, and was released recently, so it will be easier to understand. If there is one rulebook that you should not buy, it would be this one. Wait for July 2003 and reap the rewards.