Fiend Folio
Type: Monster Manual Sourcebook
Company: Wizards of the Coast
Designer: Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matt Sernett, Chris Thomasson, James Wyatt
Release: 2003
Outline:
Fiend Folio really surprised me with a large number of usable low challenge rating encounters. I had heard through the grapevine from gamer after gamer that the Fiend Folio was stacked with higher level encounters with little to offer low level parties. This fact couldn’t be further from the truth in fact I found the manual very well versed in Challenge Ratings from ½ to epic levels. If you leave out the 8 pages of Demons I found the creatures I liked tended towards the lower end of the scale. That’s not to say there aren’t a lot of good high level challenges because there are they simply just didn’t have the story detail or unique facets I tend to favor when book marking possible encounters for my campaign(s).
Contents:
What I have done in reviewing the Fiend Folio is bookmarked creatures that I might use in my upcoming Planescape campaign(s). There are many decent or generic creatures in this book that I did not bookmark and I may use many of them. What I have done is narrowed bookmarks down to unique creatures that I believe might provide a memorable experience in a planar encounter standing on their own merit.
Below I have listed my bookmarked creatures divided by challenge rating and a few notes.
Challenge Rating 1-4
Blood bloater, Bacchaf, Blood Thorn, Crypt Thing, Half Fey Centaur, Half Illiad Lizard Folk, Imp, Kaorti, Khaasta, Necrophidius, Senmurv, Shadar-kai, Spriggan, Swarm (cranium rat).
Bacchaf: Want to put your party in danger by having them party too much? It’s a dangerous twist they may not expect and are certain to remember.
Crypt Thing: Useful guardian creature that can be used non lethally.
Challenge Rating 5-8
Caryatid Column, Fensir, Formian, Jackal lord, Slaad (mud), Sword wraith.
Caryatid Column: Great guardian creatures that can be used if desired in a fashion other than a simple fight to the death.
Challenge Rating 9-12
Demodand, Formian, Sheu, Ulgurstasta, Wicker man.
Challenge Rating 13-17
Disenchanter, Ethergaunt, Sea Drake, Sun Wyrm, Zodar.
Disenchanter: Nice to use a creature especially at high levels that puts the party in a different kind of danger as it tries to eat their artifacts rather than kill the party.
Sea Drake: Might be an extremely useful encounter while PCs are traveling by ship without the party needing to actually have a battle with it or encountering its wrath by unknowingly recovering its treasures could setup some fun role-playing.
Thunder worm: Something you can use to bug and bother the PCs with that they can’t defeat. It could be useful in some campaigns giving the PC’s a long term problem they can’t solve but maybe eventually they can find a strategy to battle if desired or simply as an aerial epic level opponent.
Challenge Rating 18+
Chronotyryn, Ethergaunt, Thunder worm.
Various Challenge Ratings
Demon (T) 8 pages worth, Devil (B) 4 pages worth, Varrangoin 5 pages worth, Yugoloth 3 pages.
Totals
1-4 Challenge Rating: 14
5-8 Challenge Rating: 6
9-12 Challenge Rating 5
13-17 Challenge Rating 5
18+ Challenge Rating: 3
Various Challenge Ratings: 4
Total Bookmarks 37
Merits: This book has a great swath of creatures ranging from encounter level ½ to 25. The prestige classes while short seemed quickly adaptable to a campaign, the grafts were an interesting addition allowing more nefarious characters or better yet villains many unique and memorable tools for their battles. Flaws: I had few complaints other than perhaps wanting the Devils, Slaad, and Yugoloths to get more pages than the 8 pages combined these three great archetypes received. I would recommend this book as a valuable encounter resource for any DM who is planning to send D&D 3rd edition parties out into the planes for any period of time. The $29.99 price tag is certainly worth it.
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