For those who don't know, the Evolved Grottoes & Griffons Teractic Tome, is a Monster Manual style book. The PDF I have weights in at 120 pages, but that doesnt' count things like the cover or table of contents.
While I haven't fully read the Teratic Tome, I am impressed by the cover. It reminds me of the original Manual of the Planes with punny adventurers facing something very mighty.
Looking through the book, that mighty creature is Pantagruel. No, not that Pantagruel although it could very easily be described as that one. After all, this one is returning from a journey gone horribly wrong.
No, the things that struck me about this Pantagruel were it's 'epic' use. It's presence is enough that any creature with 2 hit dice or less that looks upon him dies.
His physical abilities, hit points, magic resistance, and other bits, are on par with the other 'big boys' from the day. It's been a while since I've looked but Orcus 120 hit points and Asmodeus either 199 or 200 right? He's at 216 or so.
Those things, while impressive, didn't strike me as nifty as another bit. See, before Pantagruel shows up, there are numerous signs. Knives hurling themselves at people for example. Animals exploding from insects building hives within them. Things of horror.
It gave me a 'good' feelign. I don't know if it was a deliberate nod to Elder Evils but in feel, that's exactly what it is. This makes Pantagruel something more than just another monster to fight. Before he's even seen, before he's even known, there are signs of his approach.
The interior illustration, if that is indeed Pantagruel on the cover, doesn't live up to that full color awesomeness, but that would be a hard sell. If you can give your players a 'chill' through such an image, it's well worth the fight.
I wonder if the authors will hire someone to do a Pathfinder version? It's not as if Pathfinder has a lot of epic level foes in it's ranks either. That would be nifty. Hell, 4th edition anyone? If Kobold Press can do a Kickstarter to get a 4th edition version of their Midgard Bestiary out, might be worth checking to see if the demand is there.
Looking forward to seeing how many other monsters stand out with some nifty bits that can be incorporated into the campaign.
Hi, Joe,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words about my book!
I haven't read Elder Evils (never got into 3.5E), but obviously I'll need to check it out now. Thanks for the tip!
I haven't played Pathfinder or 4E, so I don't have any plans to release the Tome for those systems -- but I wouldn't rule out the possibility! Maybe one day...
At any rate, thanks again!
I think this was one of my favorite recent game purchases in a long time. Some of the monsters did nothing for me, but there are a lot of foes within this book that I can easily see myself using them as the center of a campaign. Really, a great book.
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