There’s a lot of brand new material for 4E in the book, but I am sorry that I didn’t at least mention it in passing and I will strive to be more thorough in the future.

I am DMing a regular game (ask Dave, he’s in it) and I do not use the D&D Compendium very much at all because I have all of the books and simply prefer to do things the old school way with books and pencils. So you see, your statement:

“It’s clear to me most reviewers are not using the Compendium… which implies they’re not actually DMing or they’re not as subscribed as they claim to be.”

…is a restrictive assumption that is false. I have access to D&D Insider and I am DMing, but do not use the compendium much at all.

Furthermore, your whole point is that some MM2 monsters were already available on the compendium, but now they ALL are. So does it really matter one way or another? In fact now WotC is going to be releasing entire sections of PHB3 content early and online, so your very point about MM2 content being released before the book seems to be exactly what the company is looking to do.

My main point is that it probably would have been mentioned if:

1) the reviewers thought it detracted from the book, and

2) the reviewers noticed.

Without both of those things, many reviewers wouldn’t have bothered to mention it. My reasoning for why I don’t feel it detracts is above, and I doubt that too many people have an encyclopedic knowledge of just what monsters in the DDI compendium (especially what variant of that monster is in there), so I can easily forgive the second. As such, I would not expect many (any?) reviewers to bother to mention it.

(Side note: I use the compendium occasionally to prepare for a session, but not extensively. Usually, I just use the monster books or the actual Dungeon articles (using the compendium primarily to locate the source of the monsters), if only due to habit. Most of my use of DDI comes from the articles and Character Builder for my players.)

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I’m not ignoring any of those things – none of the points you raise addresses my issue, which is that none of the reviewers I’ve read have mentioned they’re reprints from another source. How does WotC’s claim that they would not reprint Dungeon or Dragon monsters but didn’t say that about monsters in adventures invalidate my point that (some of) these (MM2) monsters are already available in the DDI?

Since it doesn’t, going on to use “reducto ad absurdum” is a non sequitur, wouldn’t you agree?

You may not use a computer to DM, you have a DDI subscription – but the MM2 reviewers might so this seems like another weird interjection that doesn’t underscore or -mine the point.

Do you use it to prepare for a session? You’re splitting semantic hairs if you do, since that seems like you’re using your DDI subscription… and either way can therefore tell if these monsters are reprints. Again, I’m not sure how that invalidates my point, but if you are subscribing and NOT using DDI it seems like a silly use of money. YMMV!

While I know Bartoneus has a DDI subscription, you’re ignoring a few things:

- Not everyone uses the compendium to DM. I know I don’t tend to, despite having a subscription, as I don’t DM with a computer.

- The monsters you mention were printed in adventures. Many DMs don’t buy the adventures, especially if they aren’t running the specific adventure. Thus, it can be worthwhile to print them in an actual monster manual, especially iconic monsters like Duergar.

- The DDI compendium monster entries include a stat block and nothing else, while the MM entries include artwork, tactics, lore, descriptions, etc, as well as compiling the Duergar into a single monster entry. Personally, I prefer this, though I of course don’t speak for everyone.

Also, while it was said that if they did a Dragon or Dungeon article about the monster, we wouldn’t see reprints in the MMs, they said nothing about adventures. Dropping a monster into an adventure doesn’t really give a GM (especially a new GM) enough to use to drop that monster into a different adventure.

So does the MM2 lose something by having some monsters that debuted in adventures? I don’t personally think so.

I suppose I could also say that putting Goblin stats into the MM1 was a bad idea because Keep on the Shadowfell had tons of the same goblins, and was printed before the MM1 came out. (Though that is taking what you’re saying and running too far with it, I hope it makes my point.)

Graham´s last post: Oh my, he’s at it again!

It’s clear to me most reviewers are not using the Compendium… which implies they’re not actually DMing or they’re not as subscribed as they claim to be.

You mention disappointment at not getting any new dinosaurs?

The T-Rex is on page 89.

Sure, it’s called Fang Titan Drake now, but I’ll be damned if that isn’t a freaking T-Rex.

Even the pic looks a whole lot like the Fiendish T-Rex mini.

Huge sized, no claw attack (“I have a big head… and little arms…”), tail sweep, Furious Roar… sounds good to me.

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Got a simultaneous groan from the entire table when, a couple of sessions in, I launched into “The Rainbow Connection.” Although that might’ve just been my singing. Not only am I unable to carry a tune in a bucket, I couldn’t get one anywhere near the bucket to begin with. Yet I play bards a lot. Bards and clerics.

Go figure.

You seem to have forgotten your friend Jeremy, who played the character Bobo the Bullywug King, in one of TheMainEvent’s 2e campaigns. He had a magic trident of fish command & everything.

Two sessions now I’ve increased the damage of monsters by +1/2 level and decreased their hitpoints to 3/4. We found the game to be faster and the players continually remarked “that’s a lot of damage”. A really well-placed skirmisher’s solo attack knocked someone straight to bloodied. Yet the party still persevered.

I was hoping to see some sort of increasing scale of damage with the MM2 monsters as well as a reduction in hitpoints to speed up the battle. So far, I’m not seeing it yet, but I don’t have the book in hand.

Is there a general increase in damage as the monsters get higher in the Mm2? I guess I’ll find out next week.

Thanks for a great article!

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Y’know, like golems, which nobody has a problem with.

Graham´s last post: 32 hours of D&D gaming party!

That reminds me of something I forgot to mention, the MM2 introduces the concept of monster role minions instead of just “minion” such as Minion Brutes, Minion Skirmishers, etc.