By Casey Smith, Staff Reviewer

Available at RPGNow.com

Initiative Round
The Iconic Beastiary: Classics of Fantasy is an unusual monster book from the popular Lion's Den Press writer Ari Marmell. The pdf describes itself as being "a codex of almost familiar creatures." And, indeed, it is--this product contains seven new monsters loosely based off (though still quite different from) those favorites missing from the SRD. Classics of Fantasy goes into detail with the newish creatures it provides, fitting the seven of them across the 28-page pdf. So, with the obligatory product info in mind, read on to see if this book is worthy of your gaming dollar.

When Wizards of the Coast created the Open Game License, they decided to that a few of the iconic D&D monsters--such as the slaad, mind flayers, and beholders--were so much a part of D&D's identity that they wouldn't be released as part of the System Reference Document. Being a laptop DM, I first made this unfortunate discovery for myself when my players were about to combat a mind flayer, and I couldn't find their stats anywhere in the SRD. If you've had the same problem, or if you're a third-party publisher who wants to use one of these creatures in your own gaming product, you can appreciate the effort gone into Classics of Fantasy.

The variant monsters do a good job of occupying the same niche as their intellectual property-protected brethren, while having slightly different capabilities. There is a slaad-like monster, called the ei'risai, which is an outsider embodying raw chaos. As such, their appearance varies wildly (there're even some tables to randomly generate them, much like the hordlings of second edition Planescape) and their spell-like abilities change drastically as they age. The ophiduan are a race of primeval snake people, rigidly defined by castes, who want to bring doom to the civilized world. Greymalkin are predatory great cats much like displacer beasts, but instead of having the displacement ability, they instead spontaneously create mirror images of themselves. The other monsters follow the same pattern, and they should do a good job of keeping your players on their toes.

The Iconic Beastiary: Classics of Fantasy has a solid presentation. It follows the same minimalist layout as the other Lion's Den products, being easy on the eyes and the printer cartridge. The color cover image is impressive, and the two interior sketches are better than you would expect in a pdf product. Since there are several different versions of the ei'risai and the ophiduan, there are actually 13 sets of monster stats in this pdf. And speaking of stats, I found a couple of stat block errors; for the record, the evil eye should have its touch AC lowered to 17 from 19, its grapple bonus should be +11, and its attack bonus should be +9. Also, the semiferum's bite bonus should be +0. Otherwise, editing was good and I didn't notice any spelling or grammar mistakes. The pdf's price of about $6 is steep judging by page count, but fair given the quality of the creatures inside.

Critical Hit
Two monsters really knocked my socks off . . . and, dare I say, I liked them more than their core rules counterparts. Evil eyes are enormous, floating eyeballs (complete with two lengthy pairs of dangling optic nerves) surrounded by a mysterious mist. They have an array of eight extremely nasty gaze attacks, with the catch being that they have to wait 1d4 rounds before using the same gaze again. That should knock your players for a loop. Also, evil eyes have a permanent detect magic effect on that they use to hunt down spellcasters and efficiently collect magic items, making them a perfect fit for a Midnight campaign. I also liked the fact that evil eyes do away with the beholder's antimagic cone; that's one headache both players and DMs can do without.

My other favorite monster is the phrenic scourge (that creepy dude on the cover). These are a race of monstrous, uber-Cuthuluish mass of psionically-endowed tentacles that masquerade as humanoids, taking a bipedal shape and even wearing dark robes. But when the need to, the phrenic scourge can shed this disguise and compress in form to fit through small openings. They reproduce by injecting sentient humanoids with tiny larva that nest in their victim’s brain . . . and, as the cover adventurer can tell you, that’s one unpleasant experience. My player should be on guard, since the scourge will likely be making an appearance in my own campaign.

The book is also 100% open game content.

Critical Fumble
While I appreciated most of the new monsters, two of them had special attacks that I just didn't care for. The scavenger worm can spray forth a cone of venom that makes creatures in the area . . . fall asleep. I could see this "tranquilizing spray" stunning or paralyzing creatures, but sleep is kinda bizarre. Plus, as a CR 4 monster with a mere 3 hit dice and relatively weak bite attack, they are a one-trick pony; easily dispatched if most of the party members make their save. But I suppose the same could be said for carrion crawlers.

The tunnel brute is a large subterranean creature that's extremely aggressive and great at digging. But despite their chitinous skin, mandibles, and scorpion-like tail, they are classified as a giant. They also emanate a powerful pheromone that causes most creatures to fall into deep depression. Again, I just find this to be just strange, and I'm sure any players going up against one would be scratching their heads.

Coup de Grace
Overall, despite my minor criticisms, The Iconic Beastiary: Classics of Fantasy is a solid monster book and one of the better e-books I've reviewed. It's great for DMs that want to shake things up or downplay the quirky D&D-ness of their campaigns. It also provides a nice alternative for publishers who want to make use of protected content in their adventures. On the flip side, every Monster Manuel-owning DM already has access to monsters like these. If the premise for The Iconic Beastiary interests you, it’s well-worth picking up. Maybe it’s not so bad that Wizards of the Coast kept a few monsters to themselves . . . we got these ones instead!

Review Scores
Game Mechanics Rating: 14 (93%)
OGL Open Content Rating: 16 (100%)
Originality Rating: 19 (83%)
Playability Rating: 15 (68%)
Presentation Rating: 30 (94%)
Value Rating: 18 (75%)
Reviewer Opinion: 8 (80%)

Overall Total (Does not include OGL Rating): 104 (83%)
Final Grade: B