- D&D 4E Player’s Handbook 3: In-Depth Review
- 4E Monster Manual 2 In-Depth Review and Analysis
- 4E Dungeon Master’s Guide 2: In-Depth Review
- D&D 4E Players Handbook 2 In Depth Review
I was a bit apprehensive going into this review, because, whilst the 4E splat books have been pretty darn good so far, some of the 3.0 and 3.5 Monster Manuals were… um… not that great. Fortunately, as you will see, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.
Some monsters which might have been nice in the MM1 appear in this book, like Metallic Dragons and the Rust Monster. There are also some real classic classic monsters, from 1st and 2nd Edition, which kinda dropped off the radar in 3rd Edition.
There is a vaguely interesting official podcast on the MM2, but if you can’t be bothered listening to it for half an hour, I have heeded their comments and raised most of the points they did, so don’t fret.
If you don’t want to read all of this, scroll down until you hit the Conclusion.
General Notes
One very neat thing about the MM2 is there are a lot more monsters for low level parties. A host of new Humans and other PHB races is very useful for those running city campaigns, and there are monster entries for all the of the PHB2 races. There are also low level monsters from groups such as Aberrations, which were notable missing in the MM1.
A specific improvement raised by the developers was the overall suckiness of Minions in the MM1: they’re simply not worth it, and aren’t that useful. Minions have, on the whole, been made a lot more interesting, and have been given roles, like Artillery, Skirmisher, or Brute, which they weren’t given in the MM1.
Another specific improvement is in Solo monsters. The first MM’s Solo monsters had a few issues: they often had waaaay too many HP, and often weren’t really that dangerous, turning the end of battles into the pen and paper version of mashing the A button until everything’s dead… At-Will, At-Will, At-Will… quite boring. This has been improved. A lot of the new Solos have effects which trigger when they’re bloodied, making things a bit more interesting.
Monsters of Note
Alphabetically, looking at things which are, well, interesting. More than just another monster.
Ankhegs are back. They’re interesting, very low level (Level 3 Elite and Level 1 Minion), and provide interesting tactical options, since they burrow.
Ants, Giant: Now these are some fantastic low level monsters, ranging from level 1 to 5. They seem well thought out, and work well together, leading to interesting tactics. Killing one sends others into a frenzy, forcing the players to be a bit more careful: flinging a Fireball in to kill the minions could be dangerous as the others retaliate. Caution: The Hive Queen is perhaps a bit too powerful for its level, and I’m not the only one to say it. An unprepared party may have troubles.
Behir: For higher level parties… an old monster, back for more. Giant multi-legged serpentine things… with lightning! Of particular note is some interesting mechanics for their Initiative, making them act multiple times, and various condition effects like Daze and Prone to make this Solo creature actually survive for more than 2 rounds. A very well-designed Solo monster.
Bullywug: Hilarious. Classic frog monsters, with an unusually large (for 4E) description passage. Nature inherently hates them, and they know it. Other than being funny and nostalgic, they are actually pretty darn good low-level monsters, ranging from level 1 to 3. Due to the whole Nature-hating-them thing, you heal HP if you Crit them… amusing, and it makes it safer to throw them at parties which are weaker, or without decent healing. Very good.
Demogorgon, Dagon, and co: Apparently the Orcus of the MM2. A random uber-enemy with far too much background information and a pile of cultists. Dagon (a very H. P. Lovecraft-ish version thereof) seems… tacked on, and I have no idea why it’s in the Demogorgon entry. Your milage may vary.
Demons: Well, there’s a few new ones, but of particular interest is the Bebelith is back. If you don’t know what that is, then you probably don’t care. Giant spider-demon. The mechanics for them and the others are quite good, well updated for 4E. The Gnaw Demons are interesting: low-level Skirmishers which can Teleport to bloodied foe; seems like a good way to have the players actually fear something. Oh, and there are so really gross demons. The Pod Demon has possibly the most disgusting picture ever to appear in a Monster Manual, and Yochlols can assume the form of an attractive female Drow and even have a “Seductive Glare” attack, but their real form is this horribly ichy oozy tentacle monstrosity. Blech. Hmm. Rings a bell, though, I think they’re old monsters too. On the bright side, if you’re into that kind of thing, the mechanics are good and, unlike many shapechangers in earlier editions, the new Yochlols are sufficiently dangerous in both their forms.
Devils: Well, Erinyes are back, although like many 4E creatures they seem to have lost a bit of background information on the way. Other than that, it’s mostly just more for the sake of more… not necessarily a bad thing. Some have interesting mechanics.
Djinn: I went looking for these in the MM1 and was disappointed. Yay, they’re back! They’ve provided a decent amount of background information, which explains why you keep finding them in lamps: divine punishment for losing the war at the beginning of time. Heh. Anyway, they seem to have lost inherent wish-giving, which is probably good, given the exploits players would try in the past. Best to leave things like that to the DM.
Metallic Freaking Dragons: Finally.
Apart from their strange Unaligned status, and the disappearance of Bronze and Brass dragons in favour of Adamantine and Iron ones, they’re pretty darn nice. Unfortunately, like Dragons in the MM1, they’ve been nerfed to hell and have lost lots of background information. Fortunately, 4E dragons require 1/100 of the preparation time that earlier ones needed. I’m quite disappointed in the Silver ones (my favourite) to be honest: in 3.5 they could turn to Human form and often did so… all that remains of that is a brief mention in the Gold Dragon entry. *Sigh* I guess they’re saving it all up for the Draconomicon 2.
Duergar: Yup, our age-old evil Dwarves are back. This entry confused me a lot. I was reading through the book, got the end, and saw the part on PC versions of Monsters. For the Duergar, their Power allows them to shoot “Infernal Quills” at people. “What?” I say! I look at the Duergar entry again. Sure enough, each one seems to have some sort of Quill attack, and the pictures seem to have quills in amongst their spiky hair. But any mention of it in the descriptions? Nope. Not at all.
Eladrin: Apart from “yay, more”, the Arcane Archer deserves a mention because of a confusing attack. It has an Effect allowing it to make the same attack again. At first I thought, “What? Infinite attacks?”, but, if you remember, Effect means it happens whether or not you hit, and strictly only once. Basically… the Arcane Archer attacks, then attacks again. Why they couldn’t just say the Eladrin attacked twice, I don’t know.
Fey Lingerer: I just like the concept. Eladrin Ghosts with serious issues. They’re neat, and have good mechanics to match.
 | Ghost Legionnaire: My favourite monster in the book. A group of ghostly soldiers, reliving their deaths over and over. When encountered, they force the PCs to experience their final battle. They’re also interesting because their spirits are fused, such that their HP are totalled and they are only dismissed once all the HP for the whole group is defeated: an interesting mechanic to fight against, and easy on the DM. There are interesting options for roleplaying an encounter with these things, and for the DM providing plot information through the Ghost Legionnaires. What’s not to love? |
Giants: Frost Giants, notably absent from the MM1, are back. They’ve got a few more Powers which makes them a lot more unique than in earlier editions, which is very nice. They actually feel frosty.
Golem: I was very disappointed in the selection of Golems in the MM1. There was… Flesh, and Stone, I think, and that’s it. Well, we’ve finally got some old favourites, like Bone, Clay, and Iron, plus Chain.
Gray Render: This entry is everything that’s wrong with 4E. Gray Renders had an interesting concept in earlier editions: they sometimes acted maternally, or as some sort of protector, to other animals in their territory. They are apparently now mindless killers. 
Human: This entry is only interesting because it specifically gives a whopping 14 more monsters, and they scale up into high levels (levels 5 – 23, and lots in between). For city campaigns, this is pure gold. For some reason, there’s like half a page on “Human Lore”… go figure. I think it’s just because they had some space left on the page.
Hydra: Specifically mentioned by the designers, the MM1 Hydras were… wrong. Low damage and low HP meant they simply weren’t that dangerous. This has been seriously fixed: they now do tons of damage, get tons of attacks, and they now do the whole heads-growing-back thing: as they hit certain HP values, a head is cut off and regrows as two, making them more and more dangerous until the monster is finally killed. Overall, the design of Hydras has indeed improved since the first MM.
Kenkus can mimic sounds and voiced. Yup, every single one has, basically, unlimited Ghost Sound. Yes, that’s right: a 4E monster with an ability specifically focused for out-of-combat usage! Excellent. I can’t shake that they feel like Tengus in Guild Wars, though… they also mimic people…
Lycanthropes: Old favourites back, which is always good. Wereboar, Weretiger, and another Werewolf for good measure.
Myconids: Yes, everyone’s favourite mushroom men are back, although apparently they nearly didn’t make the final cut. The revamp of these ancient monsters has given them abilities which work very well together, enhancing the idea that they’re all part of a big colony. Both thematically and mechanically, the entry is very good. They’ve thrown in a decent amount of background information, too.
Ooze: Mostly, old favourites. The Black Pudding is back, with some new and less headachy mechanics for splitting into parts when hit: it simply spawns a small Black Pudding Minion whenever you hit it. The Gray Ooze is back, is the Green Slime. Oddly, the Green Slime entry hints at them turning targets into Green Slime (nearly says it in the Tactics entry), but for some unknown reason they don’t actually say it.
Rust Monster: I was a bit saddened that these weren’t in the MM1, because I wanted to see how the 4E mechanics dealt with the rusting. Well, now they exist, and I can say this: it’s handled fantastically. Don’t worry, it’s not something silly like items magically healing after battle… well, okay, there’s a little of that, but they really can munch an item properly. However, to compensate for this, a magic item is converted into Residuum which can be extracted from the Rust Monster’s stomach. I reckon this is an elegant solution to the issue. Interestingly, as I read this, I thought, “Wow, exploit much: just chain up a Rust Monster and you’ve got yourself a disenchanting machine”; lo and behold, I look across the page, and there’s a 1/3 page infobox addressing all of this. Yup, the developers really have outdone themselves this time. My second favourite monster, after the Ghost Legionnaire.
Skeleton: Highlight: Skeletal Steed.
Sphinx: There was a Sphinx in the MM1, but it was a little flavourless: the riddles were only a minor part of the monster. For this new one, the riddles are a core part of the encounter, making the whole thing a lot more interesting.
Spider: There are a few new ones, but of particular interest is that Phase Spiders are back. Not much has changed, but I think the dynamic nature of 4E combats will make their hit-and-run tactics more interesting, and in general they should work better.
Spriggan: Mutant fey gnomes; Redcaps. Apparently a classic monster, although I had not encountered them before. They’ve been designed quite well for this book, and have some interesting abilities. They work very well together, and provide some nice monsters for levels 6-8.
Vine, Predatory: I like this entry for a few reasons. Firstly, the killer Vines are well-designed, and have interesting abilities that are also appropriate to their theme. Secondly, whilst there are only 4 monsters, they’re levels 2, 7, 15, and 16: a huge range. What this means is there are viable choices across most of Heroic and Paragon tiers, which is refreshing.
Winter Wolf: The last monster I’ll mention, I was a bit disappointed in Winter Wolves’ non-appearance in the MM1: I happen to like them. Well, the wait was worth it: they’ve been done well. Like a lot of good 4E monsters, they’ve got a lot more abilities which link to their concept, with lots of ice and cold Powers. There are 4 Winter Wolves presented, levels 14,16, 17, and 26: so, mainly for mid-Paragon play, but I think they’re worth trying. I think the mechanics have finally caught up with the concept: they’re finally more than just a wolf that breaths cold.
Conclusions
One again, I have been quite impressed with the quality of this book, just like many of the 4E books. The designers have learnt from their mistakes, and the result is fantastic. With improved Minions and Solos, and a host of new and old monsters with interesting abilities and concepts, there’s a lot here for everyone. In addition to all the monsters I’ve mentioned, there are many more, with more Angels, Archons, Goblins, Gnolls, and more. Sure, occasionally there are entries that would really benefit from some more background information, but the good far outweighs the bad. This is a good book, and I would recommend it, even to myself: I reviewed it using RupertG’s copy, and personally, I’m probably going to buy it myself. I know a lot of people are against 4E’s strategy of spreading stuff over more books and assuming you’ll buy them… but, honestly, unlike 3.5, they got it right this time. The 4E Monster Manual 2 is a valuable addition to any DM’s arsenal; no matter your campaign, there’s something for you.
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