Monstrous Compendium Appendix: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

I have been DMing with the same group for almost five years now and while some of the PCs are new, they seem to have all the basic monsters and rules memorized. They're also high level, ranging from 9th to 12th. Problem is: I have to change the appearances of most monsters and appearances to fool the group. What I love about this item is: it's got a ton of powerful creatures in it with new pictures that the PCs can't distinguish from . . . and, moreover, they don't know the special powers of these creatures and it works very well against high level PCs.About half of this book encompasses the Yugoloth, devils and demons. All worthy foes.The pictures are fantastic, for the most part, and you can cover up the other page and show the picture to the PCs to give them a visual. You do not need to be running a PLANESCAPE campaign to use these creatures. Besides, most of these creatures were from the AD & D first edition.Would recommend but only if you are running or planning to run for players with a median average of at least 7th or 8th level.

The first monstrous compendium to come out of the planescape setting is a success. The terrific illustrations by DiTerlizzi and the well organised & detailled notes on the different monsters listed inside breath new life into some old favorite from the planes. demons & devils have never looked so good, and I can finally make sense of the hierarchy of the Aasimon (archon) & Yugoloth (daevil).There is a great continuity in this work and you get the feeling that every monster included in this book belongs here. A short table at the end of the book helps you by sorting out the monster by planes, making it easier to create your own encounter tables. The only importants omissions of this book are the modron (included in the Planescape boxed set) and the demon & devil lord (sadly, they seems to have been forgotten in the planescape campaign...). In short this book is the most usefull of the 3 monster compendiums made for the planescape setting, and the only one most people will ever need. Easily adaptable to any other campaign setting, smartly written and with great illustrations to look at, this supplement is an excellent purchase.

This is one of those books you just can't live without. It is one of the most useful guides to monsters and mayhem there is. It is another one of the many fine TSR products that has made role-playing games like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons alive and kicking all the way into the new millenium.

If a person is running a low-powered, prime material campaign, then they canusually get by on nothing more than the monstrous manual and their own made-up monsters. As the PC's inevitably progress higher and higher in level while their characters are still young and unwilling to retire... books like this one are very handy. The artwork is very nice (though I must agree that some of the baatezu/tanar'ri don't look so terrible; and the pit fiend looks downright silly) and the text is useful in describing thier combat abilities. Any DM who can't make up just enough ecology for the players to buy it should buy the appropriate supplement (for Baatezu, the Guide to hell, etc.) For example, when the PC's stumble across a baatezu or tanar'ri it should be one of the weaker types. If, on the other hand, you decide that their home plane just became the newest battleground in the Blood War, and they're spending all their time going after Pit Fiends and Balor, then this book is not only useful but essential. The toned-down XP values are much closer to reasonable than the exaggerated numbers given in the MM. A warning, however- some of these beasties really are insanely powerful. The Solar, for example, is worth about 10,000 XP too little, the Marut is a roaming machine of death, and the average Maralith is a minor goddess of war with seven solid attacks per round and lots of HP. Use these sparingly until your PC's are all around level 12+.

Five stars does not mean I rate five from all aspects. The MC1 is the most essential book for Role-playing in Planescape campaign setting (rated 5 stars for necessity). The text parts are truly 'powerplaying'. Ecologies and Habitat/Societies are incredibly insufficient; like a computer game handbook. The authors are surely unaware of the powers they gave the creatures - I may say 'gods' with those powers - (rated 3 stars for the texts). The book is DiTerlizzi's masterpiece. The art in this book outshines any of his art in MC2 and Magic the Gathering. If you buy this book think weather you will use it or you will hang the pages on your walls (rated 7 out of five for artwork). Average of these make five stars.