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Review of Creature Collection Revised


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Creature Collection Revised cover

Disclaimer I: I have seen in reviews that the content had "spoiler" ascribed to it. I feel that if you are reading a review, you invite that upon yourself. If you don't want "spoilers," why would you read a review of a product you do not own? I will not use the phrase of "Contains Spoilers" in my reviews, if you want a non-biased review that doesn't reveal content-look elsewhere.

Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly.


"... The dark blessings of Mormo infuse these women with strange elemental power, allowing them to align with the forces of night and the darker aspects of nature. The arcane pacy they swore with Mother Mormo keeps them from aging once they've achieved crone-hood, at which point the passage of time does nothing but make them more powerful and more deeply attuned to their elemental power..."
(from the Hag description, p. 212)

WARNING SHOT:

In the early days of the d20 system and the Open Game License, there was one notable monster book that helped define third-party collections. It was the first monster collection released for the newly revised 3rd Edition game.

The Creature Collection became a stop over for those looking outside the Wizards of the Coast's products to see what was new. It paved the way for other companies' books, too, but sadly, it had past its prime once 3.5 was released...

... but not for long.


The Creature Collection Revised is a 3.5 d20 system monster book. This update features most of the creatures from the first work, though fully updated to mesh with the revised rules. Though it fits in with the revised rules, some referees may wonder if this book would be a decent investment to acquire for their home campaigns.

The default setting for this book isn't the standard fantasy world. The Scarred Lands are a gritty place, formed by the war between the gods and titans of the world, and this book offers a view of the aftermath of that conflict by looking at the legacies that remain behind.

A number of creatures that once were presented as stand alones are now worked into templates section so that they might be added to flesh out other monsters or characters. Though some creatures (and a demigod) have been removed to keep this work to a decent size, most of the original work's monsters appear here. Some of the minor critters that lack full entries of their own have been relegated to sidebars.

Notable absences come from the dragonmen, the demigoddess of Shadow, Drendari (I'm not certain if her reappears in the work The Divine and the Defeated, though), the exemplars, those heralds of Vangal and the odd were-vultures. Those sidebar creatures that once had larger entries are the Tokal tribesmen and lard worms. The forsaken dwarves appear as a player character race (PH-styled) entry along with the rest of the Scarred Lands races (including those appearing in the Termana Gazetteer).

The racial entries (culled from the Scarred Lands Gazetteers and DM Screen) are: Dwarves (Charduni, Forsaken, and Mountain), Elves (Dark, Forsaken and Wood), the Termana Gnomes and Gnolls, Hlaf-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings, Humans (with variant rules to alter them by region) and the Terali.

Those creatures appearing as templates now are: Butcher Spirits (animal ghosts), the Carnival Krewe's Plague Wretch, Fatlings (obese servants of Gaurak), the Hags (Brine, Cavern, Ice, Moon, Storm and Swamp), Inquisitors (spirit sentinels of law), Morgaunt, Tokal-infested (the Tokal worm's host), and the Unhallowed (Faithless Knights, False Lovers, Forsaken Priests, and Treacherous Thieves).

A handful of the other creatures are: the Abandoned (a proto-humanoid race), bloodmares (a vicious magical beast that eats horseflesh), the undead Chardun-Slain, Hallow Knights, and Plaguecats.

This volume has a lot of creatures going into, even counting those missing from the revision. And, ironically, like the original, it lacks a detailed breakdown by creature type and challenge rating for the monster appearing here.

The books pages are filled with neat details and follow the 3.5 Monster Manual standard of having a quote appearing before the monster is fully detailed. Ex. "These creatures may have once been normal dogs, but it is clear they have been reshaped by divine will. Their fangs and claws are made of glittering steel, and their thick black fur is tough as wire." (from the Keffiz, p. 113)

Creature Collection Revised has several monsters to add to any campaign, though their flavor text is mainly designed to advance the Scarred Lands campaign setting. Overall, the book will add new challenges to anyone's campaign with a little care to adding them in. Wrack dragons, for example, may call upon some campaign decisions should they be added to spruce up an encounter. Any referee wanting to have a number of creatures at their disposal, without a lot of work to add to themselves should give the Creature Collection Revised a once over.

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Recent Forum Posts
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RE: Regarding Drendari and the Herald..RPGnet ReviewsSeptember 26, 2003 [ 11:40 pm ]
RE: But is it worth buying all over again?RPGnet ReviewsSeptember 26, 2003 [ 11:28 pm ]
RE: But is it worth buying all over again?RPGnet ReviewsSeptember 2, 2003 [ 04:57 pm ]
But is it worth buying all over again?RPGnet ReviewsSeptember 2, 2003 [ 12:06 am ]
Regarding Drendari and the Herald..RPGnet ReviewsAugust 29, 2003 [ 10:25 am ]

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