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In Short

Monster Manual 2 provides monsters! As silly of a declaration as that is, it may be the best way to view the product. The only theme tying together these entries is general support, so expect to find monsters of all levels and types interspersed with occasional stat blocks for higher level humanoids. In play the monsters have been fun, I've found the additional variety to be extremely useful, and on the whole it's a great addition to any DM's library.

The Good: This greatly increases a DM's ability to create themed encounters as compared to having only the Monster Manual. The monsters feel unique in play.

The Bad: More of certain iconic adversaries would be nice. One or two skeleton types alone won't build an encounter, so the DM is stuck with using multiple books in play to reference adversaries.

The Physical Thing

At $34.95 Monster Manual 2 fills its 224 pages with excellent production values. Full color artwork does a great job of depicting the various adversaries included, and both the formatting and editing are well done. As with the Monster Manual, the stat blocks here are focused on ease of use in play. The wonderful monster descriptions and attention to ecology of the AD&D days is sadly missing, but in its place we do have a presentation that makes the monsters faster to integrate into play.

Under the Cover

The same level of quality and diversity that can be found in the Monster Manual may also be found in its sequel. Many of the classic monsters appear again in slightly different forms, including skeletons (Bonecrusher Skeleton), Trolls (Ice Trolls), Dragons (Adamantine Dragons), Beholders (Eye of Frost), and more. Classic adversaries such as the Winter Wolf and Sphinx are also included, and on the whole there's a nice mix of rehashed and reborn content here.

Monstrous races are included as well, and those interested in playing a Bullywug (frog person), Duergar (dark dwarf), or Kenku (bird person) will find character block for each. Bullywug's receive Con and Dex along with a +2 to Athletics and an aura that penalizes enemies for spending a healing surge near them. Duergar receive Con and Wis along with Dark Vision, Dungeoneering +2, and a ranged encounter attack power. Kenku sport Dex and Cha, Low Light Vision, a +2 to Bluff and Stealth, and a 1 point bonus to flanking and aid other actions.

I'm a little unsure of what to think of the change to the Rust Monster. In previous editions the Rust Monster was considered to be an almost comically serious threat because of its love for eating the group's gear. Now when the monster eats a magic item the residuum from that item (magic powder stuff) can be found in its stomach. This is an amount of residuum equal to the full market value of the item, not 1/5th. This has led to a few comments about mages and merchants using the things as disenchantment engines. I think this is an area where some folks' love for balanced gameplay and others' love for logically taking monsters to their foreseeable ends results in a bit of conflict. For me, I was content with the former version as I felt like it encouraged unusual tactics on the part of the PCs. That said, the current version can still chaos quite a bit of chaos by denying a character the use of a magic item until it can be rebuilt later on. In this sense the monster does have the potential to derail the group's fun, as a few magic items gone and the party may have substantial difficulty with later encounters.

In play I've had the most fun with an encounter based around the Eye of Frost, a cold-themed Beholder variant. As an Elite Artillery this entity would constantly weaken and immobilize melee characters while moving around the battlefield. It was a strong tactic, though it did have the disadvantage of generally frustrating the melee characters as they spent a lot of time unable to do anything in the fight (a common problem with control mechanics). The other creatures I've used have worked well in conjunction with the Monster Manual, and I find I'm better able to present themed level appropriate encounters now than I was with just that book.

My Take

I spoke a fair bit about the Rust Monster, but that's only because it was a particularly noteworthy change. The monsters here work as well for me as those presented in the first Monster Manual, and I've drawn heavily upon this book in my current campaign. I particularly like seeing continuous nods towards creatures from previous editions, and the continuing focus on demons and devils is quite nice as those are adversaries all adventurers can get behind killing. The bottom line is that if you want even more monsters for your 4E game then Monster Manual 2 delivers.