Right then, let's get into it.
Things Parcelan Liked
-The art, as always, is superb. The depictions of these creatures, with a few exceptions, are some of the greatest things I've ever seen.
-There are a lot more Fey and Constructs in this one, which is good because they were lacking in the last MM.
-Whoever worked on this finally realized Fey doesn't mean fairy-ass bitches. A good example of this is my favorite Fey of the Fiend Folio: The Wendigo.
-Four words: Blood Golem of Hextor.
-Most of the creatures that were cut from the MMII were put into the Fiend Folio. This makes me glad, because we get to see such cool creatures as the Spriggan and the Sea Drake.
-Once again, some classic 2e monsters are back. The Crypt Thing and the Hueceva both make a comeback.
-They started expanding on other creatures. Seeing new Demons and Devils every edition is nothing special, but I was pleased to see new Formians and Inevitables.
-This is one HUGE fucking wealth of monsters.
Things Parcelan Didn't Like
-Same as usual: TOO MANY FUCKING OUTSIDERS! You could practically choke on all the fucking outsiders.
-A new template has been added: (Extraplanar). What does this mean? It's a generic tag for something that isn't of the Prime Material Plane. Kinda worthless, kinda stupid.
-A plague of the first MM: some of the monsters just seem slapped together and have abilities that don't really make sense. Like the creators said: "I have here an octopus, a ram, and a sickle. What kind of demon can I make?" Answer: A ram-headed lamprey with tentacles that can enchant sickles. Grade: F.
-There are very few undead this time around. How good are they? It depends. On the one hand, you have the badass that is the Swordwraith. On the other...you have a Crawling Head.
-Two words: Brain Golem.
-There are a lot of things that are templates (such as Swordwraith) that probably shouldn't be.
-They ditched the system of organization that listed all the stats of individual creatures of a specific type (eg: Demon, Devil, Formian) towards the front of the entries. You now have to hunt for them individually. Sucks.
-The Fiend Folio is a sort of test for D&D 3.5. As a result, the "Beast" type of monster has been eliminated. All Beasts, depending on their powers, have either become Animals or Magical Beasts. I thought it was kind of stupid, actually, but...whatever.
The ParceReview Gives the Fiend Folio: 7/10
The primary problems I have with it are nitpicking and not really game affecting (ex: elimination of Beasts and format changes). It's a small trade-off in exchange for the huge wealth of monsters you have to throw at your players.
All in all: Not exactly a must-have (the MMII was a must-have, and this, my friends, is no MMII) but a definite plus to have. Put it ahead of something like Savage Species, but behind something like the MMII.
quote:
Drysart had this to say about Duck Tales:
I claim this thread in the name of Spain.
Go run from a bull.
quote:
Niklas enlisted the help of an infinite number of monkeys to write:
England contests.
France surrenders.
Thinking about your posts
(and billing you for it) since 2001
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael had this to say about dark elf butts:
Thank you, Parcelan...your review of this book has, as usual with D&D books, hit on all the important things I was curious about.
Ditto, but I allready got it.
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From the book of Faelynn LeAndris, chapter 3, verse 16:
Is there any benifit to a customizer? Seeing as how I warp just about everything and mod a bunch of crap from my old 2e MM's and Fied Folio's? Or am I fine with just my current MM1 and MM2 for 3ed?
I don't see much here that fits the bill for you, other than just providing some base creatures to start with.
However, Lashanna might want to find it in a bookstore and look at Appendix 2: Grafts and Symbionts. It sounds like it might be of interest in making that Prestige Class that she posted about a few days ago.
Oh yeah, and that blood golem? That was sweet. It just about smeared my rogue to dirt.... until our demonlord warrior thingy tore into it with his soulsipper.
