Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

First off, I have played a session with the new 4E rules, unlike a lot of the other reviewers here.

I must admit my reviews of the DMG and PHB were made before I played the game, but sadly, my playtest did not improve my thoughts of either book or the game as a whole. And to add to my general displeasure with 4E, the Monster Manual is even worse than I thought during my first read through.

To its credit the Monster Manual provides players every stat that they will need to run a combat encounter. The book is an excellent resource of statistical data. The bad side of the book is that the monsters contained within have been boiled down to just that, statistics. Gone are many of the imaginative characteristics, attacks and background information on societies/ecologies of the various monsters. Yes, this does leave it up to the DM to create unique backgrounds for his own campaign, but it doesn't do much as far as providing a starting point, or just making the book itself more interesting.

In the end I would say that the Monster Manual reminds me of a video game manual, all stats, no flavor.

I would recommend this book only if you were going to write your own adventures for a 4E campaign. If you are going with only published adventures there is little to no need for this book, or the DMG for that matter.

I purchased my first DnD product about 30 years ago (the blue boxed set). I was a strong supporter of the 2nd, 3rd and 3.5 editions. I thought all were improvements upon what came before. I can hardly believe it, but 4th edition will be my last DnD purchase, ever. The game has been oversimplified to the point that the life has been sucked out of it. What follows is what I wish I read before I made my purchase: Here is what it will be like to play a 4th edition character.

All characters (and most monsters) will have 3 once/day powers, 3 once/encounter powers and 3 once/round powers, even if you are 20th level. Some may have 2 or 4 powers, but it really does not matter, because all the powers do basically the same thing: simple damage. No more petrification, or antimagic rays, or haste or slow, just damage. Your once/day powers will do 40 points, your once/encounter powers will do 20 and your once/round powers will do 10. If you are a wizard, your once/round attack will be called a "magic missle", if you are a fighter, it will be called a "longbow". Both require a "to hit", and do the same damage, so the only difference is the name. Strategy has been reduced to "should I close with the monster, or not". For all important battles, you will start out with your "40 point attack" until they are gone, then your "20 point attack", and then use your "10 point attack" until either you or the monster falls down. Repeat this until you level up, at which point your new once/day power will do 50 points, your new once/encounter power will do 25, and your new 1/round power will do 15. Continue until 20th level, then buy a new book. Fast-paced and easy to run? Yes! DnD? No! Just the makings of a Bad MMO. For me, the appeal of DnD was always in the imagination. Just think of the terrors that filled your imagination as your party desended those stone stairs into the lair of a Lich. No one in their right mind would ever try to take one on alone.
Now, in 4th edition, you know the lich will just do 80,80,80,50,50,50, then 20 points/round. If you are high enough level to do 85,85,85,55,55,55, and then 25 points/round, then just go down the stairs and kill it, yourself. No real risk. No real fun, either. DnD is dead.

The card based layout of the entries was a poor choice. It makes the book more difficult to read. Some recycled art and, as mentioned by others, no regard for what people want in a monster book.

Without comparing this book to its previous editions as many reviewers have done, I'm going to review it based on its own merits.

The art, for the most part, is pretty good....and it's everywhere. There is no lack of visual inspiration to stoke the imagination. There are a few pieces that seem particularly appropriate for a "Monster" Manual...in the first few pages are some truly horrific-looking beasties, and there are more than a couple illustrations that simply scream "I WANT TO DEVOUR YOUR SOUL."

The layout is good, with monsters laid out in alphabetical order. There are several different indexes in the back, allowing players to look up monsters by level, by name, etc. Very handy for DMs who're setting up encounters. Also, it's easy to locate the quirkier parts of the book, like the optional PC races.

The only real reason I give this book a four instead of a five is the lack of fluff. While my imagination is just fine, I would have liked just a little more in the way of fiction for these guys to offer thought-fodder for adventures.

All in all, a decent book.

Admittedly there are a couple of classics I miss, but it has a good number of critters and some notable new twists on old favourites. The art isn't bad, and the simple stat blocks are very much like the simpler stat blocks of D&D editions prior to 3rd Edition. The only thing it is truly lacking are "ecology" type blurbs.