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<blockquote data-quote="JEB" data-source="post: 9287066" data-attributes="member: 10148"><p>Nearing the end of our journey, we move into the GSL era, with the 4e Monster Manual.</p><p></p><p>326 core monsters in the list.</p><p></p><p>139/326 from the 3.5 Monster Manual</p><p></p><p>11/326 from 3e's Monster Manual II [banshee (wailing ghost), fire bat, death knight, war devil, spitting drake, eidolon, fomorian, galeb duhr, hook horror, bone naga, phoenix]</p><p>11/326 from 3e's Fiend Folio [blood fiend, dark creeper, dark stalker, abyssal ghoul, iron cobra, shadar-kai, flame snake, scarab beetle swarm, vine horror, sword wraith, yuan-ti anathema]</p><p>11/326 from Monster Manual III [astral stalker, battlebriar, boneclaw, rage drake, death giant, blackscale lizardfolk, longtooth and razorclaw shifter, war troll, warforged, mezzoloth (mezzodemon)]</p><p>4/326 from Monster Manual IV [balhannoth, dragonspawn (blackspawn stalker [gloomweb], bluespawn godslayer, redspawn firebelcher)]</p><p>5/326 from Monster Manual V [banshrae, carnage demon (evistro), skull lord, wild hunt hound, guulvorg]</p><p></p><p>Shifters and warforged, of course, actually first appeared in the Eberron Campaign Setting, but MM III was the first to introduce the generic version that 4e made core. The similar proportions from MM II, FF, and MM III make me wonder if there was a conscious effort to get a balanced sample of those sources.</p><p></p><p>7/326 from the D&D Miniatures Game [angel of vengeance, macetail behemoth, visejaw crocodile, human bandit, stormrage shambler, boneshard skeleton, snaketongue cultist]</p><p>1/326 from 3e Dragon [fire archon]</p><p></p><p>Seven of these eight were almost certainly intended as a sneak preview of 4e's core monsters, which would make them unique in D&D monster history: creatures explicitly made for one edition, but retro-converted into an older edition to show off before their premiere. (The eighth, human bandit, was hardly a new idea.)</p><p></p><p>5/326 from the Epic Level Handbook [atropal, gibbering orb, larva mage, phane, black (void) slaad]</p><p>3/326 from the Miniatures Handbook [kruthik, magma hurler, gravehound]</p><p>3/326 from Libris Mortis [angel of decay (rot harbinger), fiery (blazing) skeleton, slaughter wight]</p><p>3/326 from Fiendish Codex I [Orcus, barlgura, goristro]</p><p>2/326 from Fiendish Codex II [merregon (legion devil), spinagon (spined devil)]</p><p>2/326 from Monsters of Faerun [spectral panther, sword (blade) spider]</p><p>2/326 from Lost Empires of Faerun [flameskull, helmed horror]</p><p>1/326 from 3e's Deities and Demigods [cyclops]</p><p>1/326 from 3e's Draconomicon [dracolich]</p><p>1/326 from Lords of Madness [grell]</p><p>1/326 from 3e's Oriental Adventures [bog hag]</p><p>1/326 from Eberron Campaign Setting [iron defender]</p><p>1/326 from Sharn: City of Towers [spiretop dragon (drake)]</p><p>1/326 from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits [cambion]</p><p>1/326 from the Dragon Compendium [trap haunt]</p><p></p><p>109/326 newly core monsters</p><p></p><p>Say what you will about the 4e Monster Manual, but it's clearly second only to the 2e Monstrous Manual in terms of diversity of sources.</p><p></p><p>However, it also cut plenty of monsters (275) that had been in the 3.5 Monster Manual. A lot of these cuts had a long history in the game before 4e; but many of them, like metallic dragons, reappeared in MM2 and MM3 (and a few of these were updated again for Monster Vault, making them core again).</p><p></p><p>Other notable cuts included:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lots of normal animals: Discussed in previous posts, but mentioned again because it's definitely the largest chunk of the cuts.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Celestials (angels, archons, etc.): Casualties of 4e's big cosmology shift. The classic demons and devils found a place in the World Axis, but the classic celestials were apparently ripe for reimagining.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blink dog, dragon turtle, cloud giant, sea hag, merfolk, spirit naga, titan, werebear: Despite their long history in the game (going back to 0e!) these never found a place in 4e. 5e, of course, brought them back immediately. (I'd be curious if there was some reasoning behind their 4e absence, or if it was just disinterest.)</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JEB, post: 9287066, member: 10148"] Nearing the end of our journey, we move into the GSL era, with the 4e Monster Manual. 326 core monsters in the list. 139/326 from the 3.5 Monster Manual 11/326 from 3e's Monster Manual II [banshee (wailing ghost), fire bat, death knight, war devil, spitting drake, eidolon, fomorian, galeb duhr, hook horror, bone naga, phoenix] 11/326 from 3e's Fiend Folio [blood fiend, dark creeper, dark stalker, abyssal ghoul, iron cobra, shadar-kai, flame snake, scarab beetle swarm, vine horror, sword wraith, yuan-ti anathema] 11/326 from Monster Manual III [astral stalker, battlebriar, boneclaw, rage drake, death giant, blackscale lizardfolk, longtooth and razorclaw shifter, war troll, warforged, mezzoloth (mezzodemon)] 4/326 from Monster Manual IV [balhannoth, dragonspawn (blackspawn stalker [gloomweb], bluespawn godslayer, redspawn firebelcher)] 5/326 from Monster Manual V [banshrae, carnage demon (evistro), skull lord, wild hunt hound, guulvorg] Shifters and warforged, of course, actually first appeared in the Eberron Campaign Setting, but MM III was the first to introduce the generic version that 4e made core. The similar proportions from MM II, FF, and MM III make me wonder if there was a conscious effort to get a balanced sample of those sources. 7/326 from the D&D Miniatures Game [angel of vengeance, macetail behemoth, visejaw crocodile, human bandit, stormrage shambler, boneshard skeleton, snaketongue cultist] 1/326 from 3e Dragon [fire archon] Seven of these eight were almost certainly intended as a sneak preview of 4e's core monsters, which would make them unique in D&D monster history: creatures explicitly made for one edition, but retro-converted into an older edition to show off before their premiere. (The eighth, human bandit, was hardly a new idea.) 5/326 from the Epic Level Handbook [atropal, gibbering orb, larva mage, phane, black (void) slaad] 3/326 from the Miniatures Handbook [kruthik, magma hurler, gravehound] 3/326 from Libris Mortis [angel of decay (rot harbinger), fiery (blazing) skeleton, slaughter wight] 3/326 from Fiendish Codex I [Orcus, barlgura, goristro] 2/326 from Fiendish Codex II [merregon (legion devil), spinagon (spined devil)] 2/326 from Monsters of Faerun [spectral panther, sword (blade) spider] 2/326 from Lost Empires of Faerun [flameskull, helmed horror] 1/326 from 3e's Deities and Demigods [cyclops] 1/326 from 3e's Draconomicon [dracolich] 1/326 from Lords of Madness [grell] 1/326 from 3e's Oriental Adventures [bog hag] 1/326 from Eberron Campaign Setting [iron defender] 1/326 from Sharn: City of Towers [spiretop dragon (drake)] 1/326 from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits [cambion] 1/326 from the Dragon Compendium [trap haunt] 109/326 newly core monsters Say what you will about the 4e Monster Manual, but it's clearly second only to the 2e Monstrous Manual in terms of diversity of sources. However, it also cut plenty of monsters (275) that had been in the 3.5 Monster Manual. A lot of these cuts had a long history in the game before 4e; but many of them, like metallic dragons, reappeared in MM2 and MM3 (and a few of these were updated again for Monster Vault, making them core again). Other notable cuts included: [LIST] [*]Lots of normal animals: Discussed in previous posts, but mentioned again because it's definitely the largest chunk of the cuts. [*]Celestials (angels, archons, etc.): Casualties of 4e's big cosmology shift. The classic demons and devils found a place in the World Axis, but the classic celestials were apparently ripe for reimagining. [*]Blink dog, dragon turtle, cloud giant, sea hag, merfolk, spirit naga, titan, werebear: Despite their long history in the game (going back to 0e!) these never found a place in 4e. 5e, of course, brought them back immediately. (I'd be curious if there was some reasoning behind their 4e absence, or if it was just disinterest.) [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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