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Tome of Beasts: a Book that Every Dungeon Master Needs


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Tome of Beasts is an incredible supplement for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. This book is one of the biggest collections of monsters and villains for 5th edition D&D. Though it was published by a 3rd-party publisher, Kobold Press, this book has come to be something of an unofficial standard Dungeons and Dragons rulebook. If you are a dungeon master who uses adventures published by 3rd party publishers (and you should), there is a good chance that you'll see some of the monsters in this book republished in some form. As for the content of the book, it's simply a massive list of enemies to pit your players against when you're running a D&D game. This includes monsters of all levels, and some individual NPC characters that serve as great villains. At over 400 pages, this book has something for nearly any situation and every level of the play. If you're looking for an interesting, low-powered construct, undead, or ooze to throw at a first-level party, then you'll find it here. When your party is higher in level and you need to put them up against a creature they've never fought before, you will be able to find something here. There is plenty to challeng mid-level parties, including new versions of classic monsters. For example, there are 30 pages of material dedicated to new types of dragons, including things like mithral, void, and cave dragons. By the time your party reaches higher levels and travels to other planes of existence, you can pit them against the new types of devils and demons that appear in this book. But not only are there new fiends, there are new arch-devils and demon princes that make for great high-level villains for your campaign. Looking for something else to do with your players at high levels? You can have them tangle with one of this book's seven Fey lords and ladies, the powerful fey creatures that range in challenge rating from 12-21. There is even a handful of Lovecraftian monsters, such as deep ones and migo. Kobold Press is known for their fantasy setting, Midgard. A well-established setting that is playable in D&D and Pathfinder, with a ton of supplements backing it. It should be noted that Tome of Beasts is something of a Midgard supplement--but stands entirely on its own. If you run a Midgard game, you'll be happy to see that some creatures presented in this book come with a little blurb about their place in Midgard. This is extra information that is entirely separate from the stats and background information given about the creature. It's simply something extra for those running a Midgard campaign to add some flavor. This book can really be applied to any D&D setting, especially given the variety of creatures it presents. Given the wealth of information in Tome of Beasts, this book is a fantastic resource for any dungeon master. It's bigger and has more material than any of the official individual monster supplements for D&D, and it offers a great variety of monsters and non-player characters that can provide you with years worth of material for your game. Given that Tome of Beasts has become a somewhat standard part of the D&D library, with it providing material for several 3rd party modules, buying this book is no-brainer for any DM.

Pick up your copy of Tome of Beasts at DriveThru RPG!

Check out some of our other role-playing game news:

Our weekly tabletop RPG review column

Review of Mini Dungeon Tome (compatible with Tome of Beasts!)

Review of Midgard Hero's Handbook from Kobold Press

Review of D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

Review of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes


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