On my way back from visiting my grandmother in the hospital (don’t worry, she could be a lot worse. It’s not good, but not hugely horrid anymore), I decided to visit Paper Heroes, the FLGS* of the area. While browsing through digging past the GURPS sourcebooks, Buffy and Serenity Roleplaying Games, and World of Darkness titles and carefully avoiding disrupting the Magic: the Gathering game in progress, I came across a book. A thick book. A thick book with many, many shiny images that caught my eye. …And yes, I bought it. What is it?

*Friendly Local Game Store, for those that don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

The title is…The Pathfinder Bestiary! I may not really have any interest in playing a straight-up Pathfinder game, but I’m here to tell y’all a few things about this little 327-page beauty. Let’s get into a few points, then!

• Beautiful art (for the most part). Paizo did an absolutely gorgeous job with the art…for the most part. While there are some stinkers (I’m looking at you, ears-larger-than-your-head nymph and Playboy-centerfold-made-out-of-wood dryad…oh, and pale fat human “ogre” art too. You go away as well), the art for the most part really grabs your eye. Some of the better pieces are their redesigned, sleeker bulette (it looks like a ferocious dinosaurian predator instead of the chunky-monkey it was in the Monster Manual), the somehow both brutish and sophisticated-looking samurai oni, the radiant solar angel’s powerful appearance, the majestic lillend (although her being nude except for some silly gold nipple-caps with tassles is stupid), and a very psychopathic-looking mimic.
• Tabs. Each entry has three little tabs. One shows climate, the other habitat, the other the creature type. It is an interesting organization method, since you can just look at the creature’s tab box and see what you have and where it lives.
• New monsters. Looking just casually may make you think this is just a reprint of the SRD Monster Manual monsters. No, not at all! There are plenty of new little tricks you can find. New skeletons and zombies for template flavor, sea serpents, phoenixes, tengu, and cyclopes for mythological flavor, army ant swarms, mastodons, woolly rhinos, and new dinosaurs for nature and prehistory buffs, new golems such as ice and wood, lindorms for a flightless “brute dragon”, and more dot this title.

Now then, I plan on going into a full piece-by-piece, creature-by-creature review later, but for now I’m just basking in my newfound title.

Greetings, lacedons and gentlemohrgs,  bones and ghouls. Tonight is my favorite night of the year, the one night that my love of the monstrous and legendary isn’t seen as quite as weird as it’s seen the rest of the year. I decided I’d do something a bit unique this year…a top 10 of my personal favorite horror-themed d20 monsters. Note that these are my personal favorites, so they are pretty subjective (duh).

10: Liquefied Zombie

Where it’s From: Urban Arcana

Why it’s Here: The standard zombie has been used to death, so it couldn’t really make it onto this list. The liquefied zombie, however, has a little bit extra that allows it to remain on this list. The liquefied zombie is bloated with decay, and sloshes around, leaking dissolved innards. Melee fighters are also fairly screwed if they encounter one as well, since enough damage will release its caustic load, dealing acid damage to those in range. These creatures have an ick factor that the regular zombie only partially reaches, as well as the realization that hurting it hurts you in return.

9: Leechwalker

Where it’s From: Monster Manual II and Urban Arcana

Why it’s Here: The leechwalker resembles an obese, featureless humanoid covered in leeches and slime. Creepy, no? Well…sorta. After you get over the initial “ZOMG!” moment at such a nasty thing, you realize that despite its appearance and blood-draining abilities, it’s rather weak and, to be blunt, stupid. A leechwalker is a vermin, meaning it isn’t going to go out of its way to mess with you or induce fear in your party, which is a shame. An aberration leechwalker would have probably been more effective, and higher on this list.

8: Flesh Plant

Where it’s From: Advanced Bestiary

Why it’s Here: Plants twisted into piles of bleeding meat. On top of that, their vicious attacks leave gaping, bleeding wounds. These are quintessential “things that should not be” aberrations, in all their hideous glory, and I love them for it.

7: Waking Dead

Where it’s From: Into the Black

Why it’s Here: The waking dead represent claustrophobia and the fear of being buried alive taken into a monster. These beings were presumed dead and buried alive. They later woke and went into hysteria, losing their sanity and their lives, only to later rise as manic undead with bestial hunger. While being buried alive isn’t as prevalent a fear as it was in Victorian times, the idea of the waking dead still has an unsettling tone.

6: Roach Thrall

Where it’s From: Urban Arcana

Why it’s Here: Cockroach-like aberrations that wear flayed human skins as “costumes”: perfect for Halloween! These creatures are essentially expies of the Edgar-suited Bug from Men in Black, but they still have a good body snatcher flavor to them. On the other hand….

5: Doppelganger

Where it’s From: Monster Manual

Why it’s Here: …The Roach thrall doesn’t hold a candle to the true master of bodysnatching, the doppelganger. While I’d prefer a mythological-based doppelganger, the d20 type makes a good alien infiltrator race (heck, they even look like Grays). They are the quintessential “they’re here, they’re there…they could be anywhere!” paranoia fueling creatures.

4: Dread Wraith Sovereign

Where it’s From: Advanced Bestiary

Why it’s Here: While there are plenty of dread undead in the Advanced Bestiary, the one that is undoubtedly one of the most terrifying is the dread wraith sovereign. With several unnatural and icy auras, powerful deflection Defense bonuses, spawn creation, spell resistance, turn resistance, and the ability to sense your very essence of life no matter where you are, it is the perfect hunting undead.

3: Walking Disease

Where it’s From: Into the Black

Why it’s Here: Corpses filled with diseases, fungi, and ooze, carrying their filth with them. There’s just something about disease that makes me feel uneasy, and combining it with the undead just makes it worse.

2: Stygilor

Where it’s From: Menace Manual

Why it’s Here: It’s an obese demon made out of cancerous tumors that eats diseased patients in hospitals. It’s deservedly on this list.

1: Abyssal Larva

Where it’s From: Tome of Horrors III

Why it’s Here: Abyssal larvae resemble obese horned worms with screaming human faces, contorted in pain. They can vomit up maggots and acid, but that’s not why they’re creepy. Their fluff and insanity mechanic makes them creepy. It is insinuated, but not confirmed, that abyssal larvae are the lowest and most tortured of evil humanoid souls, eternally on the lowest rung of the ladder as the horrid, twisted forms of insanity they are now. *Shivers*

Hey y’all, it’s me again! I’ve been really busy lately, looking for a better-paying job, working my current job, sleeping off headaches, and plotting to get a new reptilian pet with my next big paycheck. But don’t worry, I’m not closing shop…for the most part. I am, however, putting the Let’s Read I was doing for The Loch on hiatus. Why? Well, the answer is twofold…

1. The book made Scotsperson go into a Scottish Rage-Coma.

2. For all its flaws, Alten at least tried to remain somewhat science-based. I now have bigger fish to fry over at my other blog… (you’ll see).

So for now, Let’s Read The Loch is considered on hiatus until spring 2010, but don’t worry…I’ll have new reviews here soon enough.

Welcome to the first review of this October season, where we’ll be gazing into the darkness…and hoping it doesn’t gaze back too hard. Today’s review will be of the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook from Sword and Sorcery Studios (a subsidiary tendril of White Wolf. Yes, that White Wolf). I’ll warn you ahead of time: this campaign setting isn’t for everyone. It’s like a D&D version of Call of Cthulhu: It wants you to die. Painfully. In creative and tortuous ways. Especially if you’re a spellcaster.

The Basics

You might be asking yourself the following question: “What is Ravenloft?” Well, let me answer that for you. A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a company called TSR. They created a little game called Dungeons and Dragons, one of the settings of which was called Ravenloft. Later, a company called Wizards of the Coast ate TSR and produced 3E, and for the most part ignored Ravenloft. On the other hand, White Wolf picked up the line with some licensing finesse and created a set of 3E Ravenloft. Nowadays, 4E has had Wizards of the Coast look at Ravenloft again (although by bastardizing it into just being a subportion of the Shadowfell instead of its own demiplane as it was in the past).

At its core, Ravenloft is like every Medieval and Victorian horror archetype bundled together into one realm of terror. Across its expanse, darkness, shadow, and fog (both figurative and literal for all three counts) choke the land, which is cut up into various lands ruled by beings known as Darklords. But enough generalizing, let’s get into the meat of things.

We Don’t Allow Orcs Here: Races in Ravenloft

Ravenloft doesn’t completely adhere to your standard D&D races, so let’s have a look through the species you can find as playables.

Humans: Humans are the most numerous beings in Ravenloft. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense; what are zombies, ghouls, ghosts, and vampires (most of the time) but undead humans? There are really no major changes beyond them speaking languages other than common and native to Ravenloft, such as Balok and Darkonese.

Caliban: Ravenloft’s equivalent of half-orcs, that use half-orc stats. They are flavorfully different, however; caliban are the result of humans contorted in the womb by hag magic, coming out resembling more of less a crossbreed between the Hunchback of Notre Dame and an ogre.

Dwarves and the Like: Dwarves are…typical D&D dwarves. Same with elves, half-elves, gnomes, and halflings. The pen and ink image of a curvaceous dwarf woman in a Renaissance-era tunic and her thick-beared claymore-carrying male companion is much more interesting than standard miner or cleric dwarf images, though, as is the Hamlet-expy gnome male (complete with a skull he’s monologuing at!).

Giomorgo: Also known as half-Vistani, the giomorgo are essentially stereotypical gypsies elevated to an entire race, in appearance and attitude. They don’t have many interesting game traits going for them, with the exception of an inability to cast spells or heal naturally during the period of the full moon due to lunar madness.

In other words…humanoids aren’t really the focus of Ravenloft’s creative pursuits. Those go toward other things.

Class Act: Classes in Ravenloft

The classes have been altered some as well, mostly adding Fear, Horror, and Madness effects as per Unearthed Arcana’s system (so I won’t go over those portions) and potentially higher weakness to corruption. There are, however, some other interesting notes to be touched upon.

Barbarian: Barbarians get a nasty little surprise in that they can’t end their rages. Once all foes are dead, allies are still in danger from the feral raging of the clouded mind of a Ravenloft Barbarian. In other words: player to player kills are justified and welcomed. >_>;

Bard: Bards get a kick to the shins as well. Their Bardic Knowledge is a fair degree harder to use, and their curative magic has a good chance of failure due to the darkness of the realm.

Fighter: Fighters get no really big penalties but gain some new feats. Presumably because the poor fellows don’t deserve more punishment than they get, even from the unforgiving Ravenloft.

Paladin: Paladins in Ravenloft are nearly unheard of, for obvious reasons. Those that are present, however, are like giant bullseyes due to the fact that they ruffle the very fabric of the dark realm’s reality. Players of Paladins are likely to be savaged and violently assaults more than any other party member. Remember, Ravenloft hates you just as much as you hate Ravenloft!

Sorcerers and Wizards: Not only do the townsfolk often not trust you, magic itself hates you in Ravenloft. Spells cast in this domain go horribly wrong, injure you, or fail outright. You have to make the Will save for mind-affecting powers instead of your target, transmutations are painful, divinations utterly fail, and necromancy is high reward for a high risk for both the body and the mind.

There’s also a new prestige class called the Monster Hunter, which is essentially a 5-level Ranger with some Cleric-like defensive powers and Bard-like knowledge thrown in. All in all…it doesn’t matter what class you take, Ravenloft hates you anyway.

Here Be Monsters

The monsters chapter in the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook isn’t a major event, certainly not an entire bestiary (at least on its own…), but it has some interesting points to go over. These creatures have no full stats (here, at least…).

The Three Lords of the Undead: Vampires, ghosts, and liches all gain new abilities, ranging from necromantic animation at will with a simple touch to hypnotic vapors. All are much stronger than their standard versions, and have varied powers that make them interesting and customizable to a great extent. I’m tempted to use a lich that has the skull scry (the ability to see through the eyes of any bare skull within a 100 mile radius) and animating touch.

Werebeasts: Obviously, lycanthropes and were-creatures in general would be part of a horror setting such as this. While there are no new weres presented, there is a new ability given to them. All werecreatures in Ravenloft must consume a large amount of raw meat per day or be consumed by feral hunger that drives their every move. It makes them all the more imposing, even when in human form.

Golems: Golems get a new template, the dread golem, that grants them an Intelligence score, telepathy, and powers that for the most part revolve around fear 0r mobility. I like the dread golem, even if the “always Chaotic Evil” part makes them strange choices for, say, a vampire’s guard or something and pretty much relegates them to the mad scientist’s creation role.

Mummies: All mummies (referred to in Ravenloft as “ancient dead”) in the setting can be healed by positive energy like a living being, a holdover from pre-3E editions of the game. They also gain new powers that vary from individual to individual, such as object animation, animal control, and mental domination. They, like the undead mentioned previously, are tougher and more variable than their main counterparts.

Demons and Devils: The fiendkind in Ravenloft are much less physically present, but can corrupt humans, tainting and controlling their minds over a period of time. They can also spread disease and corruption into the very land itself. In other words, more Medieval paranoia-type demons than things the players are going to physically combat.

The Hags: Surprisingly, instead of being their own creature, hags in Ravenloft are actually human women that had something corrupt them in their old age, giving them monstrous appearances and magical powers. I’m not sure I can really applaud this idea as much as the other monsters, since it seems a bit stereotypical and mean-spirited, but eh. To each their own.

Vistani: Stereotypical gypsies gone magical being, and Ravenloft’s only fully Ravenloft-centric creature (at least in this title. You’ll see what I’ve been hinting at…). They have an “evil eye” gaze attack, they use tarot cards, they’re…yeah. Not a big fan of them, since they don’t really bring that much to the table.

Final Thoughts

This is a very polarizing title. If you like classic horror, grab it. If you like challenging play, grab it. If you don’t like archetypical events, horror, or seeing your character suffer in a meat grinder game..don’t grab it. 7/10.

Remember me? Scottish guy? Does Reviews and LP’s in between Rappy and Azalea’s posts? I’m back, and reviewing once a week – posted on TGWTG.com in their blog section. I shall post a link and a brief description here, so I ain’t leaving – not for a long, long time. This week, I am looking at WET, a John-Woo-esque romp with a 70s feel – how does it hold up? Have a wee look down below…

LP Videos can be found here

WET Review can be found here

[Admin's Note: Congratulations on making it to TGWTG blogging, Scotsperson!]

Sorry folks, but the next review is gonna be late. I was planning on reviewing OGL Horror, but I’m now going to have to find something different to do in the spirit of October. This is the first title I’ve asked for a refund on out of sheer disgust. OGL Horror is over 250 pages of recycled d20 Modern rules with the interesting facet of talents and ability-based classes filed away, fear rules from Unearthed Arcana, and a meager bestiary with a handful of new monsters. I could understand and forgive these things if it was free or cheap, but no, this sucker is $24.49. I payed nearly $30 for what equates to a copy of the SRD and a few new creatures and houserules! This title would have probably gotten a 1/10 if I hadn’t asked for my money back to grab something more worthwhile.

I had a horrible night and morning, which gave me insomnia and nightmares when I finally id get to sleep, which made me slightly late for work. So after all that, I had to do the most peaceful thing I can think of…retreat to the sanctity of books, for they always seem to help me feel better. So it’s that time again, folks! Oh, and there will be a new review soon, I promise you that. I got a few more than what I wrote here, but as usual, this is just my main reading list, not everything I get.

The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney (352 pages)

Book Blurb: See review here for a more detailed look than any blurb I could give on it. I just felt like reading it myself instead of relying on a review, though, so I picked it up.

The Book of General Ignorance by the same authors as The Book of Animal Ignorance (go back a few library posts ) (288 pages)

Book Blurb: This title takes a look at “common knowledge” trivia and gives the true story behind them. It’s a fun little title with archetypical British wit.

Dr. Axelrod’s Mini-Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes Mini-Edition by Dr. Herbet R. Axelrod, Dr. Warren E. Burgess, Dr. Cliff W. Emmens, Neal Pronek, Jerry G. Walls, and Ray Hunziker (992 pages)

Book Blurb: …I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I picked this one up. Also, it has a silly title.

Dry Storeoom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey (352 pages)

Book Blurb: A British palaeontologist discussing the inner machinations of a museum? Sign me up to read it! And no, that’s not a copy-paste from above…I managed to find two books that have the same pagecount. Heh.

Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America by Amy Johnson Frykholm (224 pages)

Book Blurb: A cultural study of the premillenial dispensationalist movement in America. Considering my parents are part of this collection of half-baked acorns, I figured it would be an interesting read.

A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic by Henry Gee and Luis V. Rey (144 pages)

Book Blurb: This is a very neat little title, presenting itself as a field guide for time travellers. A mixture of science, speculation, and damn fine art, this title is a very shiny addition to your library.

The Smithsonian: 150 Years of Adventure by James Conway (432 pages)

Book Blurb: A large illustrated guide to the Smithsonian museum chain.

Once again, I must kindly ask all rumormongers to plug their ears and close their eyes and go “LALALALALA!”

Okay, so I was hit-or-miss on my predictions when it came to Zendikar. >.> The Tribal theme? Yes, that exists. In bunches and bunches. We’re already seeing Tribal support for Merfolk, Vampires, Allies (yes, there’s a new creature type called Ally; it’s the new Sliver!), and most of all, Goblins. Those of you who shop on the secondary market better grab some M10 Goblin Chieftains right now, because their price is about to skyrocket thanks to the recent spoiling of this number, courtesy of the Magic Show:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=94705&d=1252037056

Badubadubadubadu-wha? O.o

No joke; You are looking at a “fixed” version of Goblin Lackey, and yes, he is a mythic rare. Just when I thought it was safe to stick up for Wizards of the Coast and their decision to introduce another rarity that they promised to save for “epic-feeling creatures and spells” (Mark Rosewater’s exact words), they turn around and pull this crap! *sigh* …Okay, okay, enough with the doomsaying, Azzy. -.- Deep breaths… On another hand, maybe Wizards can get away with it. If you’re looking at Warren Instigator from a tournament player’s point of view, then you should come to the conclusion that he’s not as broken as he looks. He’s utterly unplayable in multicolor decks because of his two-color cost, he trades in combat with almost every other competitive two-drop, and with the rotation of Onslaught out from Extended and Lorwyn out from Standard, there aren’t gonna be a whole lot of big Goblins left for him to combo with.

Still, you cannot deny that Warren Instigator is gonna be pricey, at least at the start. I do not think it is worthy of the mythic rarity, and I have the sneaking suspicion that Wizards only made it that way specifically to give the middle finger to the secondary market, because they lose a lot of profit from players eschewing booster packs in favor of buying single cards. But what’s done is done, and in the end, there are going to players willing to shell out a lot of money for those Instigators. Goblin decks will see some play with him in both Standard and Extended, but there’s no telling yet whether it will be a Top 8 cockroach like Faeries was. If you think they will be, then by all means, buy those Instigators up now, because that mythic rarity isn’t making them any cheaper.

Now let’s get to a prediction that I was utterly wrong about. Lots of artifacts? Well, so far, not really. <.< I’m still holding my breath for more artifacts to show up (not necessarily cards that care about them, now that we know the “priceless treasures” are mostly just the rewards of quest enchantments), I should have gone with my original gut feeling and said that Wizards was going to print a lot more lands than usual, which they are. Another card (or should I say, group of cards) that will open up at a high price with the release of Zendikar are the new enemy-colored fetch lands. Arid Mesa, the red-white representative of this cycle, was recently revealed at Penny Arcade Expo, and the reception has largely been positive. Not only that, but the timing of the release of these lands actually helps keeps their price down on the secondary market, thanks to their ally-colored cousins rotating out of Extended. (Is it just me, or is Wizards – *gasp* – actually paying attention to the power level of non-Standard formats?!)

Enemy-color fetchlands are great news for anyone willing to buy Zendikar, because they come with a couple obvious positives. First, they fill the void left behind by the exit of both the 10th Edition painlands and Shadowmoor-block filterlands from Standard. With the smaller set size of the 2010 Core Set came the decision not to print any enemy-color dual lands in the Glacial Fortress cycle, and the printing of these enemy-color fetchlands catches the remaining two-color pairs up with them. They’re not quite dual lands, but they’ll do, and they’re trade meat if nothing else. ^^ And second, the fetchlands can trigger landfall abilities twice, without losing any mana from doing so. Mind you, Terramorphic Expanse is probably still the better choice for certain builds (especially 5-Color Control, which is about to lose the Vivid lands and Reflecting Pool), but at least enemy-color decks aren’t dead in the water this Standard season. Let’s go red-white! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* ^.^

More to come when the set is fully spoiled.

Since I had to get groceries (and thus deprive myself of my prework nap, and thus shift my sleeping schedule again), I went to the library as well. What did I get? Well, let’s check it out (oh, and now with pagecount lists as well). These are only some of the titles I got this time; there are a few others, but they’re for “light” reading purposes and as such I don’t count them amongst my normal titles.

Japanese Learner’s Dictionary by Living Language (285 pages)

Book Blurb: This one should be fairly self-explanatory.

Beowulf: A Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney (256 pages)

Book Blurb: I just figured I might as well pick it up for the Beowulf saga, if nothing else. The commentaries on it are just gravy.

Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales by Lyle Saxon and Edward Dreyer (581 pages)

Book Blurb: I’m from Louisiana. I write urban fantasy RPG stuff. This should be logical.

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Seveneenth Edition by John Ayto (1,326 pages)

Book Blurb: Superstition and folklore add to my urban fantasy fuel as well. Also, the Pokémon entry in this title (yes, the book has an entry on them) is hilariously inept and strangely worded.

Wheelock’s Latin by Frederic M. Wheelock (560 pages)

Book Blurb: This one should be fairly self-explanatory as well.

Unearthing the Dragon: The Great Feathered Dinosaur Discovery by Mark A. Norell and Mick Ellison (224 pages)

Book Blurb: Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have no interest in palaeontology (which is possible), you will have most likely heard of the feathered dinosaurs out of the Yixian formation in China. This book takes a look at the finds through an American palaeontologist’s eyes to see the progress that has been made in the study of dinosaurs.

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs by Philip J. Currie and Kevin Padian (869 pages)

Book Blurb: This is a fairly good technical volume with a wealth of diagrams, fossil sketches, and data entries, so of course I had to pick it up.

Okay, this time, I’m (slightly) more prepared, and thus have a more coherent strategy for giving my opinion on these creatures. The new format is as follows:

What it is: Kinda self-explanatory heading.

What it does: The powers and prowesses you’ll see the creature possess.

Usefulness: A rating system based on how likely you are to use it. The ranks are:

• 1- Unlikely to see use except in certain circumstances, uber-niched.
• 2- Niche creature; likely to see use in certain play styles or individual campaigns, but not an everyday monster.
• 3- Average all in all.
• 4- Somewhat inclined to a certain manner of play or setting, but still valuable.
• 5- Versatile, likelyhood of finding a use high.

Use in d20 Modern: A little bit just for me, on how useful they’d be in a modern setting. Hey…someone is bound to find it useful (even if that person is just myself).

So…let’s get right down to it.

The Basics

Total number of creatures: 21 (26 counting substats within a single header)

Breakup of creature types: 3 aberrations, 2 constructs, 1 fey, 1 humanoid, 4 magical beasts, 2 monstrous humanoids, 1 ooze, 1 outsider, 2 plants, 7 undead

CR range: 1/2 to 15

The Creatures

Bereft (CR 4 Undead)
What it is: Essentially a zombified dryad, spawned from a feykind that was tortured as its forest was burned and destroyed before its very eyes. Something in its dying mind snapped, and it’s clawed its way back from the beyond to wreak horrible vengeance.
What it does: It’s a spoooky undead, which is always fun. Unlike your standard issue zombie, however, a dryad has brains (Int score of 14!) instead of brawn (a mild Str score of 10).  Fast healing, turn resistance, and buffing spells, however, mean it can still take a beating and keep coming. Add to that some nasty druid spells and the ability to disguise itself as a dead tree, and the bereft makes itself a perfect zombie mimic/creature in the shadows undead.
Usefulness: 4-If you like undead, this creature could really be an interesting turn. And we all know that forests aren’t in short supply in DnD.
Use in d20 Modern: In the urban wasteland of the modern era, a dryad without its forest is likely to be very, very common. And where there’s suffering dryads, there are the bereft. This creature is absolutely perfect for modern integration.

Blighter (CR 6 Undead)
What it is: Essentially druid Grim Reapers, complete with scythes. Albeit not very strong Grim Reapers.
What it does: A poison breath weapon, negative energy bolts, frightful presence, and 3 SLAs (blight 3/day, fog cloud 1/day, and longstrider 2/day). It’s not a particularly strong creature, but it has enough nasty abilities to put fear in a low-level party that has no Paladin or Cleric. Hehe…no Paladin or Cleric, like that’ll happen.
Usefulness: 3- The blighter isn’t particularly special or unique (I’ve seen plenty of Reaper expies, many much stronger than these fellows), but I could see it getting some use.
Use in d20 Modern: See all those burial mounds? See Stonehenge and Woodhenge and etc. henges? Imagine blighters in them, resting until disturbed. Let your mind go from there.

Buridai (CR 1/2 Humanoid)
What it is: Lawful Evil badgermen that take slaves and enjoy being generally evil.
What it does: Beyond natural proficiency with nets and a bonus to saves against illusions…nothing, really.
Usefulness: 3- They’re nocturnal, burrowing, forest-dwelling gnoll and orc replacements, and little more.
Use in d20 Modern: If you don’t want to use grimlocks or aberrants, buridai can fit in as another “moleman” race in the deep shadows.

Burrowing Mouther (CR 7 Aberration)
What it is: Resembles the unholy love-child of the sandworms from Dune an an ankheg.
What it does: Thick damage reduction protects it in battle, but its burrowing, paralytic bite, Move Silently proficiency, and tremorsense relegate it to the role of “that thing that grabs you from underground”.
Usefulness: 1- This creature is a one-trick pony, and the authors even admit it.
Use in d20 Modern: “Scary thing in the ground” is a fairly standard horror trope. Use it.

Coldsnake (CR 7 Magical Beast)
What it is: A snake that is cold. Yes, it’s that simple.
What it does: The coldsnake deals cold damage when it constricts and has a weak paralytic glare attack, as well as the ability to be healed by cold damage. Otherwise…not much that differentiates it from a standard constrictor.
Usefulness: 2- Use as a novelty encounter for those not expecting a magical snake in the middle of the wintery forest, not much else.

Creeping Moss (CR 2 Plant)
What it is: A 15 x 15 blanket of moss…or is it?!
What it does: The creeping moss can put heroes to sleep and deal acid damage. In essence, it’s the Plant that thinks it’s an Ooze.
Usefulness: 2- While not too terribly use-ridden (especially with its low CR), this one is fairly fun, and I can’t bring myself to give it a 1 for that very reason.
Use in d20 Modern: There are some strange tales about the deepest jungles and forests of the world, and the creeping moss fits right in with some of those stories (especially the ones pondering the possibility of man-eating plants). A campaign in the deepest reaches of the Congo or Amazon could have an interesting twist with a few of these hanging around (sometimes literally).

Despicable Host (CR 8 Aberration)
What it is: A giant evil forest-dwelling octopus. Yes, I am serious. Yes, I do repeat myself a lot when it comes to “yes, I ams” and “but seriously”. Moving along…
What it does: Its ability to catch players flat-footed nearly every time with its ambush and camouflage strategies as well as its mass of tentacles are its major strength.
Usefulness: 1- It’s good for a scare for your players, but one time is enough times for them to catch on and expect it in case you ever want to use it again.
Use in d20 Modern: It’s the Pacific Northwest tree octopus’s feral giant sibling (in other words, I have no better use for something that weird).

Ettintaur (CR 15 Monstrous Humanoid)
What it is: A centaur-like creature forged out of an ettin and huge horse instead of a human and horse.
What it does: It’s more or less a giant centaur.
Usefulness: 1- See above.
Use in d20 Modern: Umm….yeah. I’ve got nothing for this one.

Fiend Cat (CR 1 Magical Beast)
What it is: A larger than average black cat with magical powers and rudimentary sapience.
What it does: Paralytic purring and a calming aura lull those around it into a false sense of security, before it uses its coup-de-grace ability.
Usefulness: 3- This one is thankfully more useful than most of the creatures we’ve recently looked at, and even has precedents as the “witch’s evil black cat” in lore. It’s not necessarily tied down to forest encounters or nighttime assaults by things in the dark.
Use in d20 Modern: This creature could feasibly be found in the company of a dark spellcaster or a hag if you want to go straight forward with the “fantasy” half of urban fantasy. It could also weasel its way into human society as a “new breed of exotic cat” finding its way into the market.

Flashpoint Ooze (CR 4 Ooze)
What it is: A clear liquid ooze with an oily sheen.
What it does: It catches on fire and in turn catches other things on fire.
Usefulness: 2- Although the chaos of a creature that can set everything ablaze just by sitting near your campfire is insanely fun,
Use in d20 Modern: Perhaps it’s a strange experiment. Perhaps it’s a natural fire control agent. Perhaps it’s magical. Any way you put it, the flashpoint ooze has its potential modern uses.

Ignixie (CR 2 Fey)
What it is: A tiny fey made out of fire.
What it does: It magically spawns fire.
Usefulness: 2- It’s a smaller, weaker fey version of the flashpoint ooze.
Use in d20 Modern: It could be useful in fey-related games as part of the Unseelie Court or something.

Insectus Overmind (CR 7 Aberration)
What it is: A brain with insect legs and psionic powers.
What it does: Can summon insects and use the cloud mind power. It’s also poisonous.
Usefulness: 3- While there’s only so many ways you can use a giant insect brain, there are plenty of different places and strategies you can try out on the basic premise.
Use in d20 Modern: Being a psionic monster, the insectus overmind fits in a bit better in the more “mundane FX” style of modern play, and could probably be a good villain in the Agents of PSI campaign setting (why didn’t that ever get its own book?); in urban fantasy, it’s not that hard to replace its insect-summoning psionics with the crawling carpet spell and have a magical monster.

Nightshades (Nightflyer, Nightguard, Nighthound, and Nightstalker) (CR 3 to CR 12 Undead)
What it is: The nightflyer resembles a giant shadowy owl, the nightguard a shadowy stone giant, the nighthound a shadowy hound (duh), and the nightstalker a gigantic shadowy wolf.
What it does: With the ability to summon shadows and wraiths, desecration and disease, wounds that cannot be healed by nonmagical means, and induction of despair, the CR 10 nightflyer is a creature that is built to cause as much damage to the entire field of battle as possible. The CR 8 nightguard is the melee brute of the clan as well as able to produce frightful presence and a cold touch to give it an upper hand in physical combat. The CR 3 nighthound is like a hyena or war dog with the ability to induce fear and desecrate lands (both traits that all of these nightshades have in common), and is most likely to be used as a pack of dogs would. Finally, there’s the CR 12 nightstalker. This bruiser has the powers of the nighthound, plus brutal levels of spell resistance and damage reduction, immunity to cold damage, summoning like the nightflyer, and high physical and mental scores. It’s essentially the mastermind and BBEG of these ’shades.
Usefulness: 3- These are some of the better nightshades in my opinion, but they are still saddled with the burden being a breed of nightshade entails.
Use in d20 Modern: The same way any nightshade is: as that shadow in the darkness that happens to be deadly, that thing supposedly just a legend that’s actually real, the childhood terror…that thing.

Owl Howler (CR 1 Undead)
What it is: A zombified owl.
What it does: Other than damage reduction and a weak sonic “breath” weapon, the owl howler has little favoring it over any other weak undead.
Usefulness: 2- The only thing saving it from utter mediocrity is its ability to be used as a familiar, leading to some potentially interesting and quirky NPC wizards.
Use in d20 Modern: Perhaps a bokor in New Orleans or Haiti decided to craft one as a familiar, and the craze caught on in the underground magic community. They might even be as popular a familiar in your particular setting as normal owls are in Harry Potter.

Owllion (CR 5)
What it is: It’s a weaker griffon.
What it does: I reiterate the above…it’s a weaker griffon.
Usefulness: 3- Do I even need to say it again?
Use in d20 Modern: Use it however you’d use a griffon, just in a nocturnal light.

Pooter Bush (CR 2 Plant)
What it is: This….thing…resembles a blackberry bush that has some basic ambulatory capability.
What it does: Not only can it lob berries as if they were weak bullets, they can allow other creatures to feed on them. What happens when you feed on a pooter bush’s berries? Well, you…I can’t believe I’m about to type this in seriousness…you’ll produce flammable flatulence, dealing 1d6 points of damage to anyone behind you.
Usefulness: 1- How does this thing even exist? I cannot fathom why you’d want a mobile toilet humor joke in any book that pretends to be serious. I can understand if it was a joke book or something (although I’d still find it idiotic).
Use in d20 Modern: I’m sure there’s some college student-cum-magibotanist stupid enough to breed one.

Qual Aanan Qualo (CR 3 Monstrous Humanoid)
What it is: Panther people that stage hunts of orcs, half-orcs, and goblinoids.
What it does: They have high Dexterity and several evasion-based abilities, so they are creatures that are meant to fight  ferociously while avoiding attempts to fight back.
Usefulness: 4- I could see these creatures becoming an important species in certain campaigns. Similarly, if you have a party that consists of any of their prey species, these “Neutral Goods” can look positively evil in the eyes of the players.
Use in d20 Modern: Replace catfolk with these fellows, or maybe have them as a close relative of the catfolk.

Unseen (CR 9 Outsider)
What it is: Incorporeal, invisible outsiders that are sort of like ghosts, only not undead.
What it does: It can read minds, hypnosis, has a babble ability like an allip, and can drain away Intelligence. It’s the unseen terror that literally shred away the minds of those that attempt to get close to it. On the other hand, it can be helpful in a way…anyone with a high enough Gather Knowledge skill can glean information from within the blatherings of madness.
Usefulness: 3- A good replacement for ghosts and the typical outsiders, as well as a potential hazardous quest for Wizards and other knowledge seekers.
Use in d20 Modern: Perhaps the unseen are a psionic memory or some sort of arcane knowledge construct gone horribly wrong.

Witchcat (CR 4 Magical Beast)
What it is: Another black cat creature.
What it does: The witchcat can change size from that of a house cat to anything from bobcat to tiger-sized, charm people, and create magical darkness.
Usefulness: 3- On the same page as the fiend cat.
Use in d20 Modern: See the fiend cat.

Woodland Defender (CR 7 Construct)
What it is: A golem made out of rotting plant matter and logs.
What it does: Woodland defenders have a constant aura of plant growth stimulation, can quench fires, and has the typical golem boon of immunity to all but certain spells. In essence, it’s a Druid’s handy helper.
Usefulness: 2- Unless your campaign heavily involves druids, this one’s a bit of an odd ball.
Use in d20 Modern: Conservationist spellcasters and ecoterrorists alike could find use in a hulking mass of mulch such as this.

The Verdict

This title has less variety, less CR range, less creature types, and less holding of my interest. While it has enough decent ideas and  some real gems, it’s certainly not better than its predecessor. 5/10.