Monstrous Mondays: Monster Manual III (3.5)

Moving through the 3.x Monster Manuals this month.  Getting to the third named Monster Manual for 3.x and the first time we get a "3" in our Monster Manual.  Yes AD&D had three monster books and AD&D2 had...well a lot, I was curious to see if we were hitting a point of diminishing returns on our books yet.

But in any case, the cover is rather cool.

Monster Manual III (3.5)

For this review, I am considering the PDF version of this book from DriveThruRPG. I did have the hardcover of this book but I downsized my 3.x collection a few years back. 

PDF. Color cover and interior art. 244 pages.

This book is the first monster supplement for the new "updated" 3.5 version of the D&D rules.  Honestly, I used 3.0 and 3.5 interchangeably, so for me, it was another monster book.  

This one gives us roughly 170+ new monsters. We get some new demons, and more old favorites from the Yugoloths return (one of the reasons why I wanted this one).  This book gives us the Warforged outside of their origin world of Eberron.  There is a creature called a "Witchknife" that caught my attention as well as a "wood woad" but both of them disappointed me. I rather liked the new undead in the Bone Claw, Bone Drinker, Charnel Hounds, and Necronaut.  The Eldritch Giant is also rather cool.

Some of these monsters I did not meet in this book first. Many I ended up getting in packages of mini from Wizards of the Coast before I even knew what they were.  The Chraal and Blackscale Lizardfolk are two perfect examples. I thought the Chraal was a sort of demon at first. I did not play the minis game, so I rarely looked at the cards in detail.

For me, the monsters I liked made it worth the price to buy the book. But it was not enough to have me keep it when I downsized my 3.x collection. 

The art is still all quite good and what I expect from WotC at this stage.

#RPGaDAY2022 Day 15 - Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?

Interesting question.

Normally I prefer to game with people I know. Conventions are an obvious exception.  So there isn't really anyone out there that I would like to have as a Game Master. 

I would however like to play a game with Matt Mercer of Critical Role.  He just looks like he runs a fun game. Yeah, that might make me a heretic among the old-school crowd, but I stopped caring about that years ago.

 

100 Days of Halloween: Talented Adventurers - The Witch: Marena Lenoire

Ok, this is a bit harder to give a fully objective review to because I have worked with nearly everyone involved on other projects.  That being said I will be following my rules for this work. 

Christina Stiles Presents: Talented Adventurers - The Witch: Marena Lenoire

PDF. $3.95. 24 pages. 1 cover page, 1 credits page, 1 about the author page, 3 pages for the OGL. 18 pages of content. Color cover and interior art.

This product does one thing and does it really, really well.  It presents us a single witch, the titular Marena Lenoire, from 1st level to 20th level.

We are given a little bit of background on her and then detailed stat blocks for her 20 levels.

It is a great product for any Pathfinder DM/GM who needs a reoccurring NPC to aid the party. She is a Lawful Good witch (rare and nice to see) so she would not make a good "bad guy" for them. 

Use in War of the Witch Queens

I mean, yeah, she really begs to be used.  I have worked with everyone involved with her creation, so I owe them at least that much to have her show up in the campaign at some point.  I see her in the exact role she was designed for; as something of a folk hero.  She is not a witch that would seek out the title of Witch Queen but would accept it if her peers willed it and she could use it to help her people.

I just need to find a good spot for her.

#RPGaDAY2022 Day 14 - Suggestion Sunday

So today is Suggestion Sunday.  I am supposed to "Roll 1d8+1, and tag that many friends and suggest a new RPG to try."

But generally speaking, I don't like to tag people like that. I have a few on my friend's list that in fact do not like to be tagged. The alternate is also tagging people. 

So instead I am rolling a 1d8+1 and recommending that number of RPGs in my to-be-read pile.

I rolled a 4 so here are 5 RPG recommendations from my to-be-read and to-be-reviewed piles.

1. The Dark Eye.  The English version of the German Die Schwarze Auge has been sitting here taunting me forever. It just looks like so much fun! Plus it has witches. You know I love that.

2. Coyote & Crow Core Rulebook. Alternate future, Native American RPG. The premise intrigues me and any game that has Cahokia as its central city already moves up several notches in my mind.

3. Hero Kids. I just love the idea of this game.

4. Far Away Land. I am embarrassed by how long this one has been on my TBR piles. It is so good and so much fun.

5. Blue Rose. I know I have reviewed it already and played it. But it is the "+1" part so I can go off of my own script. Seriously check it out it is a wonderful game.

100 Days of Halloween: Stock Art: Curlee Witch's Ritual

Some stock art tonight. This is another Marc Curlee piece. It was featured as the cover for The Talented Witch I reviewed last night.

Stock Art: Curlee Witch's Ritual

I knew Marc only tangentially, but I am friends with many people that were very close to him.

You can buy this piece and use it in your projects.  I think I would like to use it in one of mine, just need to find the right one.

It has a solid Pathfinder feel to it with the inclusion of the hag.

#RPGaDAY2022 Day 13 - How would you change the way you started RPGing?

I don't think I would change anything, to be honest with you.  Save for maybe hold on to some items longer.

Generally speaking, I am not one to have regrets or second guess my past. Things happened, I made the best choices I could with the knowledge I had and it made me what I am right now and I would not want to change that.

My struggles to figure out how Holmes Basic worked with the Monster Manual or Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert worked with the AD&D Players Handbook set me off into directions to understand these systems better. Which got me to write my own material. Which got me into writing my own material for online use. Then to working with real publishers. To produce materials that people buy now. 

It all goes back to that. I would not want to change any of it really.

100 Days of Halloween: The Genius Guide to the Talented Witch

Rogue Genius Games does a LOT of great stuff. Their "Talented" line for various classes was always something I wanted to look into, but since I haven't been playing Pathfinder all that much so I never bought any of them.  But of course, I had to buy the Talented Witch.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews, moreover, many of the people involved with these products are people I have worked with in the past. So I am going to try be extra careful in how I review these.

The Genius Guide to the Talented Witch

PDF ($4.95) and Softcover Print Options, 57 pages. 1 cover, 1 table of contents, 1 credits, 1 OGL, rest content.  Color cover and interior art. 

There is a lot to like about this really. The cover art is from the late Marcum Curlee and features an interesting trio of witches. There is art from Other Side friends Jacob E. Blackmon, Brian Brinlee, and Gary Dupuis.  I really love the art, but that is expected. Hell, even that Morpheus font is like they are flirting with me. 

The talented witch is a little different than the base Witch class in the Pathfinder book. It gets various Edges and Talents at alternate levels. These largely replace all the powers of the witch, including the Hexes.  

Edges are first and there are 40 of these. Edges are a lot like Feats in how they are presented. They include Combat, Cunning, Elemental, Hag, Patron, Spellcasting, and Spellcasting Conduits.  Hag for example can give the Edges of Bite or Claws to do damage. 

Talents are more like magical powers, like Hexes, and also have groupings. There are 140 of these in Blessing, Crafting, Curse, Necromancy, Personal, Spellcasting, and Utility. There are also Major and Grand Talents. Talents that are Hexes are marked with an asterisk.

The idea here is customization. Basically, if you can imagine a witch, you could build it from these options.  There is a dizzying array of choices here. There is even an appendix on familiars here and another on patrons and a compiled witch spell list from various Pathfinder products. 

There is an absolute ton of information here and more than I know what to do with.

The Genius Guide to More Witch Talents

PDF. ($2.95) 25 pages. 1 cover, 1 table of contents, 1 credits page, 1 OGL page. 

This adds more Edges and Talents to the witch class.

This gives us 5 new edges and 95 new witch Talents. And I thought I had options before. Talents that are Hexes are marked with an asterisk.

This one leans more into the curses which are nice. 

Like the Genius Guide to the Talented Witch, this book provides a lot of options for nearly any sort of witch.  Also, like that book the art here is really good.

I am not exactly sure where or when the Talented idea came about but checking the Rogue Genius Games listings there are lot of these. I am not sure how they change the game, but I do love the ideas here as a designer and player of witch classes. As a player, it would also be fantastic especially if you love character customizations.  As a Game Master, keeping track of all of this would be a bit of a chore I think.

I'd have to print these both out I think to get a real feel for them.  

One thing I didn't like about both books was the huge border around all the text. It makes the book pretty, but it is not as efficient when it comes to displaying the text.