Book picks similar to
Monster Manual by Mike Mearls


rpg
gaming
fantasy
dungeons-and-dragons

Manual of the Planes


Jeff Grubb - 2001
    From the depths of Hell to the heights of Mount Celestia, from the clockwork world of Mechanus to the swirling chaos of Limbo, these strange and terrifying dimensions provide new challenges to adventurers who travel there. "Manual of the Planes" is your guidebook on a tour of the multiverse. This supplement for the D&D game provides everything you need to know before you visit other planes of existence. Included are new prestige classes, spells, monsters, and magic items. Along with descriptions of dozens of new dimensions, Manual of the Planes includes rules for creating your own planes. To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the "Player's Handbook," the "Dungeon Master""'s Guide," and the "Monster Manual." A player needs only the "Player's Handbook."

Monster Manual III


Rich BurlewP. Nathan Toomey - 2003
    Describes the characteristics and attributes of a variety of monsters, zombies, demons, giants, werewolves, animals, and aliens for use in the Dungeons and Dragons game.

Eberron Campaign Setting


Keith Baker - 2004
    11,000 proposals and two years of development later, the Eberron Campaign Setting is the result of that search. This brand-new setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is an avenue for any D&D fan to experience swashbuckling adventure and explore mysterious new territories.Designed to introduce a new, fresh world with unlimited possibilities for exploration, the Eberron Campaign Setting includes everything needed to develop characters and run campaigns in this exciting new arena. It includes new character races, monsters, prestige classes, feats, organizations, and equipment unique to the world, and it introduces a new base class to the D&D game. It contains substantial information on new elements of magic, including spells, domains, items, artifacts, and more. Also included are historical and cultural details of the world, along with extensive illustrations and a wealth of maps that put the setting into vivid context. This title will also include both adventure hooks and a full adventure so that players and Dungeon Masters can immediately begin enjoying everything this rich new setting has to offer.

Fiend Folio (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)


James WyattPaul Leach - 2003
    Whether torn from the darkest planes of existence or spawned as blights upon the natural world, the creatures bound within these covers will challenge stalwart adventurers of every experience level.This accessory for the D&D game captures over 150 monsters, including some of the most diabolical beings imaginable. While focused on extraplanar and otherworldly creatures, you'll also stumble across new creatures of every type, with Challenge Ratings that range from 1/8 to 25. Along with three new fiendish prestige classes, six new templates, and rules for swarms, grafts, and symbionts, the Fiend Folio offers a multitude of challenges for every hero.To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player's Handbook, and the Dungeon Master's Guide. A player needs only the Player's Handbook.

Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons)


Andy Collins - 2004
    This book is stocked with everything needed to design any fortified structure imaginable, including: Over 150 new magic items. More than two dozen magical augmentations for stronghold walls. Rules for magic portals, mobile strongholds, and trap creation. Five complete strongholds, including maps, ready for immediate use. Players and Dungeon Masters who want to create customized strongholds will find all the construction materials they need within these pages. To use this accessory, a player or Dungeon Master also needs the "Player's Handbook."

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide


Steve Kenson - 2015
    Crafted by the scribes at Green Ronin in conjunction with the Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards of the Coast, the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide provides D&D fans with a wealth of detail on the places, cultures, and deities of northwestern Faerûn.   The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is also a great way to catch up on recent events in the Forgotten Realms, to get background on locations featured in the Rage of Demons storyline coming in September, and to learn the lore behind video games like Neverwinter and Sword Coast Legends.   Here are just a few of the features you’ll find in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide:   · Immersive Adventuring: This campaign sourcebook provides players and Dungeon Masters material for creating vibrant fantasy stories along the Sword Coast.   · New Character Options: The book offers new subclass options, such as the Purple Dragon Knight and the Swashbuckler, for many of the classes presented in the Player’s Handbook, as well as new subraces and backgrounds specific to the Forgotten Realms.  · Adventure in the Forgotten Realms: Discover the current state of the Forgotten Realms and its deities after the Spellplague and the second Sundering. You’ll also get updated maps of this area of the Realms.· Compatible with Rage of Demons storyline: Make characters for use with the Out of the Abyss adventure and fight back the influence of the demon lords in the Underdark below the Sword Coast.   · Insider Information: Learn the background behind locations, such as Luskan and Gracklstugh, featured in the upcoming digital RPG, Sword Coast Legends, from n-Space.   With new character backgrounds and class options, players will love the storytelling possibilities of playing a noble of Waterdeep, an elf bladesinger, or one of the other new options, while Dungeon Masters will relish a book full of mysterious locations and story hooks to keep players adventuring on the Sword Coast for years to come. Look for Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide to be available on November 3.

Deities and Demigods


Rich RedmanJeff Easley - 2002
    With abilities that reach nearly beyond the scope of mortal imagination, the splendor of the gods humbles even the greatest of heroes.This supplement for the D&D game provides everything you need to create and call upon the most powerful beings in your campaign. Included are descriptions and statistics for over seventy gods from four fully detailed pantheons. Along with suggestions for creating your own gods, Deities and Demigods also includes information on advancing characters to godhood.To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. A player needs only the Player's Handbook.

Eberron Campaign Guide: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement


James WyattScott Fitzgerald Gray - 2009
    This exciting world is complete with soaring cities, viscious wars, and a gritty mean-streets style that harkens back to the traditions of film noir.The Eberron campaign setting is updated into the 4th edition D&D family with the Eberron Campaign Guide. Featuring all of the character elements from the core rulebooks, this updated version of the Eberron world is a must for any gamer that likes the magic-as-technology, film noir, high-adventure campaign setting that was chosen from over 15,000 game submissions.

Monster Manual


Skip Williams - 2003
    Encounter a horde of monsters armed and ready to battle your boldest heroes or fight alongside them. The fully illustrated pages of this book are overrun with all the creatures, statistics, spells, and strategies you need to challenge the heroic characters of any Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.Over 200 creeps, critters, and creatures keep players on their toes. From aboleths to zombies, the revised "Monster Manual" holds a diverse cast of enemies and allies essential for any Dungeons & Dragons campaign. There are hundreds of monsters ready for action, including many new creatures never seen before. The revised "Monster Manual" now contains an adjusted layout that makes monster statistics easier to understand and use. It has 31 new illustrations and a new index, and contains expanded information on monster classes and playing monsters as heroes, along with information on how to take full advantage of the tie-in D&D miniatures line planned for the fall of 2003 from Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Sword and Fist: A Guidebook to Fighters and Monks (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory)


Jason Carl - 2001
    Contains prestige classes, feats, combat tactics, weapons, and a discussion of the role of fighters and monks in the campaign world.

Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook 1


Jonathan Tweet - 2000
    Each revision integrates user feedback received since the original product release so as to address the specific wants and needs of the player and Dungeon Master audiences. The overall rules system remains intact, with changes targeted specifically at elements of game play that were considered under-powered or incomplete. These revised editions also contain bonus content, such as new feats, that are exclusive to these editions. In addition, the new and revised content instructs players on how to take full advantage of the tie-in D&D miniatures line planned to release in Fall 2003 from Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Overall changes to all the titles include making complex combat easier to understand and provide more information on interacting with and summoning monsters. Specific changes include the following: the Player's Handbook received revisions to character classes to make them more balanced, and there are revisions and additions to spell lists. Amazon.com ReviewThe Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook contains all the rules you need to create characters and begin adventuring with the world's most popular role-playing game. Newcomers to the game will appreciate this book's clear explanations, effective examples, pleasing layout, elegant rules, and brilliant art. It's never been easier to create and role-play a heroic human ranger, cunning elf wizard, or any other fantasy character from the game's 7 races and 11 classes.Old-school players will likewise be pleased, as the outdated AD&D rules system has been given a thorough overhaul. Gone are almost all the old restrictions on race and alignment. Halfling sorcerers, half-orc paladins, dwarf barbarians, and gnome monks are now possible. THACO, negative armor class, funky saving throws, inflated ability scores, heat-based infravision, and just about every other needlessly complex rule has been reworked into a faster, more consistent, and more fun system. Players can choose unique special abilities for their characters as they gain levels, which means that even two fighters of the same race and class can have very different abilities. The end result of all these changes is a dynamic game with more customized characters.Almost every page has some form of new artwork, and the art almost always serves to explain a concept or illustrate a point. The book is filled with example montages that help to show the difference between human, half-elf, and elf, or relative size differences between creatures, or what the various levels of cover and concealment look like. These illustrations make the rules much more clear. The style of the artwork is consistent throughout the book and is a definite departure from older editions of AD&D. Instead of the classic medieval artwork of Larry Elmore, the new book has the spiky, leathery, Mad Max-meets-Renaissance look of the Magic: The Gathering card game.We would have preferred less radical artistic changes, but we love everything else that Wizards of the Coast has done with Dungeons & Dragons. The rules are fast and clear, and the characters--including the new sorcerer class and the return of the monk, barbarian, and half-orc--are fabulous. If you're new to the D&D game, then this rule book is the perfect introduction. And if you're an old-school gamer who played D&D back in the day, then welcome to the new era of D&D.

Masters of the Wild: A Guidebook to Barbarians, Druids, and Rangers (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory)


Mike Selinker - 2001
    Masters of the Wild: A Guidebook to Barbarians, Druids, and Rangers contains strategies for creating specific types of characters, as well as advice for Dungeon Masters and players on how these types of characters could impact a campaign world. This volume contains details of skills, feats, and equipment for players who want to play a specific type of character beyond the information available in the Player's Handbook.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary


Jason BulmahnSean K. Reynolds - 2009
    Within this tome you'll find fire-breathing dragons and blood-drinking vampires, vile demons and shapechanging werewolves, sadistic goblins and lumbering giants, and so much more! Yet not all the creatures in this book are enemies, for some can serve lucky heroes as allies or advisors, be they summoned angels or capricious nymphs. And it doesn't stop there—with full rules for advancing monsters, adapting monsters to different roles, and designing your own unique creations, you'll never be without a band of hideous minions again!The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary is the must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary includes:- More than 350 different monsters.- Dozens of monstrous variants to modify creatures and keep players on their toesNumerous lists of monsters to aid in navigation, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat.- Extensive rules for creating effective and balanced monsters.- Rules for advancing monsters by hit dice, template, or class level.- Universal monster rules to simplify special attacks, defenses, and qualities like breath weapons, damage reduction, and regeneration.- More than a dozen feats tailored especially for monsters.- Suggestions for monstrous cohorts.- Two dozen additional animal companions.- More than a dozen different wandering monster encounter tables.... and much, much more!Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

Complete Adventurer


Jesse Decker - 2005
    As adventuring is the foundation for the entire D&D experience, nearly every aspect of the D&D game benefits from the material in this product. Characters have access to new combat options, spells, equipment, and prestige classes, as well as exciting new character classes such as ninja and scout. Complete Adventurer also provides new information on several organizations and guilds, and Dungeon Masters will find material for creating or optimizing single creatures or even entire campaign worlds.AUTHOR BIO: Jesse Decker is a designer for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. whose recent roleplaying game design credits include Races of Stone(TM) and Unearthed Arcana(TM). Before joining the RPG R&D team as a designer, Jesse served as Editor-in-Chief of Dragon(R) Magazine.

Player's Handbook II


David Noonan - 2006
    This is the first direct follow up to the best-selling and most used D&D rulebook. It is specifically designed to expand the options available for players by both providing new material and increasing the uses for existing rules. Included are chapters on character race, background, classes, feats, spells, character creation, and character advancement. New rules include racial affiliations that make race matter as a character advances in level, new character classes and alternate class features for existing classes, new feats, tools for rapid character creation, and additional organization and teamwork benefits -- an option first introduced in Dungeon Master's Guide II and Heroes of Battle.