|
First in a series of sourcebooks for D&D 5th Edition, this is primarily a monster book, but also throws in a selection of extra material. The book starts off with an introduction, which does clearly lay out the book's good intentions, as well as their reasoning for certain changes from the standard D&D 5E format and rules. Unfortunately, this promising start just sets up a reader for disappointment.
First are the 26 monster listings. Despite the introduction's promise of more detailed lore than in the standard D&D monster listings, the listings on average actually tend to have less material, and occasionally don't give the reader more than a physical description and a few vague lines. On a few occasions neat ideas fall flat because they don't provide enough details about them. It's more like the monster listings from early D&D 4th Edition than 5th. In addition, the monster stat blocks tend to rely on high hit points and damage as the primary justification for very high CRs, when many might have made more sense as lower CR foes. The designers are also inconsistent about their treatment of legendary and lair actions - which are supposed to use recharge rules per the introduction - and they quietly throw in other variant mechanics, such as monsters having multiple creature types. (On the more nitpicky side of things, there are also some formatting issues and editing oversights.)
That all said, most of the monster concepts, as well as their stat blocks, seem solid, even if the actual execution doesn't always live up to them. Creatures like the chronosprite, star dragon, and mugarn are among those with particular potential.
The remainder of the book is taken up by a list of adventure hooks and a listing of adventure locations (which honestly feel like filler). The hooks are fairly good inspiration, if occasionally redundant or inconsistent. The adventure locations are a noble effort, each having solid concepts, descriptive elements for multiple senses, sample traps and puzzles, and a list of suggested monsters. However, like the monsters, the execution often falls somewhat short, with the difficulty of the traps and puzzles varying greatly, and a curiously casual writing style at times.
All in all, this is a book with a lot of potential that just didn't quite gel. However, it makes an excellent starting point for DMs who are willing to make up for the weaknesses and rework the material for their own.
|
Log In 
.jpg)
