Tome of Beasts 1, 2 & 3 Review Kobold Press D&D 5e
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Ancient dragons, clockwork creatures, and archdevils - what do these all have in common? They all lurk in the pages of Tome of Beasts! I review this trio of incredible books.
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Don't know if your aware but an updated edition of Tome of Beasts I is out soon.
I have, but thank you for letting me know - I appreciate it, it's hard to keep track of everything as there's lots of different content always being released!
Great video! There seems to be a lot of variety in these books!
Thanks for the support! There's a lot of different monsters to choose from!
What is your opinion on the balancing of these creatures? I have heard that they are somewhat overtuned for their CR
I think some of them are slightly more powerful for their CR, but I think they can also make players and DMs think in slightly different ways, providing a slight difference to combat. I know some DMs increased the CR of monsters from Tome of Beasts, and whilst I think some more monsters may need this, I don't necessarily think they all do. For example, the Venomous Mummy from Tome of Beasts I would rate equally challenging as the Mummy from the Monster Manual, as its largely functions the same, swapping the Dreadful Glare and Rotting Fist for a Venomous Fist and and a toxic aura. As such, the Monster Manual Mummy is slightly better offensively, and the Venomous Mummy is better defensively.
Another example is the Desert and Fire Giants. Comparing the Desert Giant and Fire Giant, both are CR 9, the desert giant's AC is one lower, but it has 13 more HP. Its melee attack is +12 to hit instead of +11, but its average damage is 23 (6d4+8) instead of 28 (6d6+7). Other than its Con, the Desert Giant's stats are all slightly higher (its modifier's, other than Con, are all 1 higher than the Fire Giant). The Desert Giant also gets advantage on Stealth checks to hide in sandy terrain, and ignores difficult terrain caused sand, gravel and rocks. So, straight out of the book, the Desert is better in every regard, with the exception of its AC. If encountered in a desert or sandy terrain, the Desert Giant becomes even stronger, and I'd argue for a CR of 10. However, its lower AC and slightly increased stats do mean that martials will have a marginally easier time, and spellcasters slightly more difficult, so it that regard its better balanced.
This said, I don't think a party of 4 level 9 characters would have difficulty killing a Desert Giant or Fire Giant.
If I compare the Ancient Red Dragon and Ancient Flame Dragon than the Ancient red dragon has a significantly higher Str (30 compared to 23 of the Flame Dragon) and as such has a higher damage output. Its Con is also higher, and it has two more hit dice, so have 65 more hit points. The Flame Dragon's wisdom is also 1 higher, and its Dex is +2 instead of +0. So based on statistics, the Ancient Red Dragon is probably better, as its damage output is higher and it has more health.
However, the Flame Dragon ignores fire resistance (not immunity), its Fire Breath can also cause creatures to rampage (attacking the nearest creature) if they fail a Wisdom saving throw (repeating the save at the end of the turn to break the effect), so can potentially cause players to harm each other.
The Flame Dragon can also magically polymorph into a creature with a CR with fire immunity that has CR equal to or lower than its own (retaining its own hit points, hit dice, ability to speak, proficiencies and Int, Wis, and Cha sore). It could potentially polymorph into an Ancient Red Dragon, although it would still have a lower HP than the Ancient Red Dragon, so would still be weaker defensively. In this regard, it has more versatility than the Ancient Red Dragon, but isn't directly as powerful.
The Flame Dragon also knows 4 more languages, so, combined with its polymorph ability, has more options from a roleplaying point of view.
Obviously these are just a few examples, with direct comparison, but I don't think it's as clear cut as all Tome of Beast creatures are more powerful than their Monster Manual counterparts, although it may tend to be that way - without playing through and using all of them, it's hard to give a definite answer!
I hope that helps answer your question, I realise it's a very long and rambling answer!
@@mythicalmeeples that's a very comprehensive breakdown man, I appreciate it. You've more than earned my follow. Great content!
Also, I'm keen to pick up these books but I haven't got the other wotc monster books yet. Would you recommend picking up one of the kobold press book before the expanded wotc books if all you have is the monster manual? Or should I priorities the wotc books first?
I'm more drawn to the kobold press books as they make pawns for them and I already have a set of pathfinder pawns.
You're welcome! Glad I could be of help, and thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate it.
I think I would probably say start with Monsters of the Multiverse (MotM)
Unless you're specifically after the lore and background, I would skip Volo's Guide to Monsters, most of it's now in MotM, and I think a lot of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foe's has also made its way into MotM, so I wouldn't worry about Tome of Foes either. You also get player races in MotM.
This said, some of it depends on what sort of monsters you're looking for. If you're after looking for more official monsters, such as Drow, Duergar, Githyanki, Gnolls, and so on, you're better off with MotM.
However, if you're after more Fey, Devils, Demons, Dragons, Golems, Giants, Clockwork creatures and some more mythical creatures, I would say grab one of the Tome of Beasts books. Among these you get Fey Lords and Ladies, Arch-Devils, and Demon Lords, so if you're planning on using anything like that it will give you some ideas for your own.
I also prefer the layout of the Tome of Beasts books, I find it much easier to find specific monsters.
In short, I'd say start with MotM, if you're after something immediately, if not, it might be worth waiting for the updated edition of Tome of Beasts 1 to come out.
Hope that helps!
I've heard that the first book doesn't have as many lower level monsters. I'm a new DM running a campaign starting from Level 1 (the players are now Level 2), which book would be best for me to buy? Can only afford one
First off, welcome to DMing! I hope you really enjoy it!
To answer your question, I would say there isn't a huge difference in the number of low level monsters in the books. Here's a list of the quantity of each up to CR 5.
Tome of Beasts 1 (1st edition):
4 at CR 1/8
20 at CR 1/4
21 at CR 1/2
23 at CR 1
31 at CR 2
33 at CR 3
42 at CR 4
42 at CR 5
Tome of Beasts 2:
2 at CR 0
8 at CR 1/8
23 at CR 1/4
22 at CR 1/2
26 at CR 1
22 at CR 2
32 at CR 3
33 at CR 4
39 at CR 5
Tome of Beasts 3:
1 at CR 0
1 at CR 1/8
13 at CR 1/4
24 at CR 1/2
26 at CR 1
37 at CR 2
39 at CR 3
41 at CR 4
38 at CR 5
So as you can see you've got similar numbers of each, which whilst it doesn't help much, may help you make a more informed decision.
If you've seen particular monsters you want to run, and they're in one of the books, then go for that book.
The first Tome of Beasts book has recently been updated, so it may be worth going for that, because if you get book 2 you may find it outdated in a few years time. However, I know you said you were unsure about book 1, in which case I'd go for book 3, as it also came out recently and shouldn't be updated any time soon.
I hope this helps you in some way, I realise my answer is a bit vague but without access to the most recent version of Tome of Beasts 1 it's hard to give you a more definite answer.
It may be worth asking your players to chip in for some of the books as well, as if you're the only person getting the books it can get very expensive.
@@mythicalmeeples thank you for the reply! i couldn't have asked for a reply more helpful than that, no need to apologize.
I'll try and pick up either revised book 1 or book 3, I'll glance through their monster lists and see which one strikes my fancy the most. and I'll also take your advice and ask them to chip in.. you're right about how pricey it can be 😭
You're welcome, I'm glad I was able to help you! There's a lot of sourcebooks out there, so knowing what to get can be a little overwhelming sometimes.
Concept
What if Tome of Beasts 1, 2 & 3 was from the 1st Edition era?
In Europe I found all tome of beasts book very easy but the Criture Codex it was such a hustle to find. In November I order it from bookdepository and after the new year they refunded my money back. In February I tried with a local shop they kept my order until the middle of April then they said that they could not find it in stock and finaly after 7 month I got it 1 week ago from another shop that I put it on wish list months ago.
They can be a little tricky to find, unless you want to ship from America, the pocket editions definitely seem to be easier to get than the hardback versions. I can't remember which one if was but I struggled to find one of the books for a while too.
I'm glad you managed to pick one up in the end, although it sounds like it was hard work!