{"id":19633,"date":"2012-03-27T14:00:48","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=19633"},"modified":"2012-03-26T10:02:45","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T15:02:45","slug":"review-rite-publishing-101-not-so-simple-monster-templates-pathfinder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=19633","title":{"rendered":"Review: Rite Publishing – 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates (Pathfinder)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/strong>
\n101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/a> is part of the 101 series, a supplement for the Pathfinder Fantasy system written by Steven D. Russell and published by Rite Publishing.
\nBy Cape Rust<\/em>
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Templates are nothing new, but they are often spread throughout multiple books, slowing down games and wasting valuable table time. 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/em> takes monster templates that Rite Publishing<\/strong> has included on many of their products and consolidates them into one book.<\/p>\n

CONTENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/em> is 37 pages long with 101 templates explained and sometimes displayed on 33 of those pages. When Rite Publishing<\/strong> says 101 templates they mean it! These templates range from challenge rating adjustment -5 to +4. It is rare to see monster templates that will address a -5 challenge rating adjustment.<\/p>\n

OVERALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a day and age when players have learned to min\/max their characters and have no fear of things like orcs and goblins, it is good to see a product that gives Game Masters a chance to beef up lower challenge rating creatures or gimp out creatures that might be a perfect fit for the story but overpowered for the adventuring party.<\/p>\n

RATINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publication Quality:<\/em> 9 out of 10
\nRite Publishing<\/strong> has done a good job of mixing color and black and white art into 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/em>. I have to give them props for selecting art that is more in-tune with the text they are presenting. The addition of captions or titles that describe is a clever way to make sure that some of the stock or public domain art is useable. There is a quick reference chart that lists each of the template’s names and their challenge rating adjustment. Charts like this are a must to ensure that a product with this much information is table-friendly for players and GMs. The templates are in alphabetical order, which works. To improve the usefulness of the well-done chart, I would recommend including a page number behind the challenge rating adjustment number, to make things that much quicker to find. The chart works at the back of the book, but I would be interested to see it at the front of the book where it could be an index\/quick reference chart. These are minor points that should not overshadow a well-set up supplement.<\/p>\n

Mechanics:<\/em> 9 out of 10
\nSome of these templates still feel over-powered, but they are all done well. 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/em> mechanically gives GMs a huge amount of flexibility in how they create monsters to face adventuring parties. Throw a few of these templates on your everyday kobold and you could achieve a total party kill on a 3rd or 4th level adventuring party. Some of the templates include quick rules and most give rebuild rules. This is important especially if a monster acquires one of these templates later in its career. The addition of challenge rating adjustments that subtract from a creature’s challenge rating adjustment is almost as valuable as the challenge rating adjustment on the positive side. Most of the negative challenge ratings involve the loss of a limb or sense, but mechanically they could easily be applied for a player character that gets their arm or leg hacked off, gnawed off, burnt off or dissolved during an adventure.<\/p>\n

Value Add:<\/em> 10 out of 10
\nThere are a boat load of templates in this book. Some are very specialized while others could be used in most situations. Adding these templates to creatures that face adventuring parties will create a variety and add a feeling that these monsters are not just stat bags and treasure generators. Some of these templates would be interesting on player characters. This book should be in every GMs toolkit.<\/p>\n

Overall:<\/em> 9 out of 10
\nTemplates, if used correctly, can add so many dimensions to a game. Rite Publishing<\/strong> is getting better and better with every product they produce and 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates<\/em> is an example of a supplement that is useful, good-looking and thoughtfully executed. There are some truly inspired templates in this book that I doubt you will see anywhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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