JoeGKushner
Adventurer
So as a judge, I’ve been getting a lot of CD-Rs that contain PDF files. As my own internet connection at home is no more, it’s kind of neat. One that I wanted to look over right away was the Complete Monster Cards. One of the players in my Forgotten Realms campaign is a wizard with the conjuration specialty. One of the collections within the Complete Monster Cards is Chapter Five, Summoned Monsters.
So the first thing I do is read the instructions. Print the even number and then print the odd number pages first. I don’t have to worry about that as my old Deskjet 970 Cxi by Hewlett Packard is capable of duplex printing. Of course I’m not thinking when I do it and have to cancel the first printing. See, the first page is like a table of contents. If you double print the first page, you’ll wind up off a page. That’s okay though as the last page is the legal information. So just skip those first and last pages and you’ll be okay.
There are nine different files that make up the book. Monsters, dragons, animals, vermin, summoned monsters, summoned natures ally, hydras, companions and monster cards. Now the introduction covers the standard things. How to use the creatures, some standard monster feats and other toys like blank cards.
It’s in the different chapters that you get your money’s worth. I printed out the Summoned Monster Cards first as my player specializes in celestial creatures and I noticed that several of the beasts here fit the bill. Each card is three across and three down, making it easy to line up the cards for those who don’t have a printer capable of using duplex printing. This is a great time saver in terms of monsters as all of the mechanical work of putting the template onto the creature is done for you. Need a celestial brown bear? No problem. How about a celestial griffon or a fiendish huge viper? You’re covered.
The cards start off with the standard stat blocks broken up into boxes. The details of special qualities and special attacks are listed on the back of the cards. As for the cards themselves, they appear very similar to the Complete Spell Cards. The bad thing is though, that I know I’m getting old when the font on the cards is difficult to look at. For example, while looking over the celestial owl, I can’t tell if it has a +18 racial bonus to listen checks or a +8 bonus. Looking at the front which is a little more readable, I think it’s a +8 at the owl’s total score is 14. For me, most of the + signs look like | or 1. Not a good thing.
This is one case where I was able to read the material easier on screen due to increasing the magnification of the PDF as opposed to printing it. Having said that, I haven’t tried printing these cards on a high-end laser printer which might resolve some of the issues. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to such a printer at home and using the one at work would not be the smartest idea. I also used bright paper, (94 brightness), but not heavy stock paper or photo-paper. When I start having to use fancy paper to get proper resolution on the printed page, it’s time to move on.
One file that I was interested in just to see what it had was the hydra one. It provides complete statistics for everything from a five-headed hydra to a twelve-headed hydra. This includes the variants like cryohydra and pyrohydra. This is a nice touch as it makes the GM’s job much easier when looking for that odd creature.
Another one I was interested in was the dragon file. I saw mention that these, due to their numerous abilities, were super sized cards. On screen I didn’t see any difference. The main thing I noticed is that several of them were put on only six to a page, three rows of two. Probably makes it better to see where everything is and organize it, but for a larger touch, I think something else is needed.
The large number of creatures fully fleshed out for quick use is a great time saver. The small print means that only those with real good eyes or really expensive printers are going to be able to fully appreciate the cards. Those who are going to get the most use of this file, are spellcasters who summon a lot of creatures, rangers who have animal companions, and GM’s who keep a few of their favorites out to save time.
So the first thing I do is read the instructions. Print the even number and then print the odd number pages first. I don’t have to worry about that as my old Deskjet 970 Cxi by Hewlett Packard is capable of duplex printing. Of course I’m not thinking when I do it and have to cancel the first printing. See, the first page is like a table of contents. If you double print the first page, you’ll wind up off a page. That’s okay though as the last page is the legal information. So just skip those first and last pages and you’ll be okay.
There are nine different files that make up the book. Monsters, dragons, animals, vermin, summoned monsters, summoned natures ally, hydras, companions and monster cards. Now the introduction covers the standard things. How to use the creatures, some standard monster feats and other toys like blank cards.
It’s in the different chapters that you get your money’s worth. I printed out the Summoned Monster Cards first as my player specializes in celestial creatures and I noticed that several of the beasts here fit the bill. Each card is three across and three down, making it easy to line up the cards for those who don’t have a printer capable of using duplex printing. This is a great time saver in terms of monsters as all of the mechanical work of putting the template onto the creature is done for you. Need a celestial brown bear? No problem. How about a celestial griffon or a fiendish huge viper? You’re covered.
The cards start off with the standard stat blocks broken up into boxes. The details of special qualities and special attacks are listed on the back of the cards. As for the cards themselves, they appear very similar to the Complete Spell Cards. The bad thing is though, that I know I’m getting old when the font on the cards is difficult to look at. For example, while looking over the celestial owl, I can’t tell if it has a +18 racial bonus to listen checks or a +8 bonus. Looking at the front which is a little more readable, I think it’s a +8 at the owl’s total score is 14. For me, most of the + signs look like | or 1. Not a good thing.
This is one case where I was able to read the material easier on screen due to increasing the magnification of the PDF as opposed to printing it. Having said that, I haven’t tried printing these cards on a high-end laser printer which might resolve some of the issues. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to such a printer at home and using the one at work would not be the smartest idea. I also used bright paper, (94 brightness), but not heavy stock paper or photo-paper. When I start having to use fancy paper to get proper resolution on the printed page, it’s time to move on.
One file that I was interested in just to see what it had was the hydra one. It provides complete statistics for everything from a five-headed hydra to a twelve-headed hydra. This includes the variants like cryohydra and pyrohydra. This is a nice touch as it makes the GM’s job much easier when looking for that odd creature.
Another one I was interested in was the dragon file. I saw mention that these, due to their numerous abilities, were super sized cards. On screen I didn’t see any difference. The main thing I noticed is that several of them were put on only six to a page, three rows of two. Probably makes it better to see where everything is and organize it, but for a larger touch, I think something else is needed.
The large number of creatures fully fleshed out for quick use is a great time saver. The small print means that only those with real good eyes or really expensive printers are going to be able to fully appreciate the cards. Those who are going to get the most use of this file, are spellcasters who summon a lot of creatures, rangers who have animal companions, and GM’s who keep a few of their favorites out to save time.
