Tome of Horrors vs. Fiend Folio

Last year, Clark Peterson of Necromancer Games made an agreement with Wizards of the Coast to allow Necromancer to publish a monster book updating a number of old 1st and 2nd Edition monsters to 3rd Edition. This product is the Tome of Horrors, and it's an excellent book.

Within the last month, Wizards put out the Fiend Folio, which also updates a number of old monsters to 3rd Edition. And while it's also a great book, a number of the monsters are the same as those appearing in the Tome of Horrors.

While it was my understanding that Wizards would not be updating any of the Tome mosters, this circumstance does offer us a very interesting opportunity: It allows us to take a look at how different designers approached the very same design challenges -- and see how the results differed, and how they were similar. I thought it would be fun to throw some (not nearly all) of these monsters into the ring and see who wins.

So without further ado, let's get to the fights!

Match 1: The Caryatid Column

In the ToH Corner: A 5 HD construct that guards important areas. Like golems, it's immune to most spells. CR 3.

In the FF Corner: A tougher version of the same monster. It isn't as resistant to spells, but it's got more hit points (particularly with the 3.5 bonus to construct hit points that Necromancer didn't have access to), it has hardness like an animated object, and wields a magic sword. CR 6.

Winner: Tie. They're both good. You wouldn't want to use them both, but you could use either and be happy. Both give details on how to make a caryatid column. Neither got the illustration right: The caryatid column isn't a statue, it's a column. A caryatid column goes up to the ceiling (or something else it's supporting). It's a real architectural thing -- look it up.

Match 2: Crypt Thing

In the FF Corner: A 6 HD undead that guards crypts, ejecting interlopers by teleporting them away. CR 3.

In the ToH Corner: With stats pretty similar to the FF version, the main difference is that its "teleport other" ability covers a wider area and is tougher to resist. CR 5.

Winner: The Tome of Horrors. While FF's name for the creature's special ability -- "scatter defilers" -- is pretty cool, the ToH version offers a new spell for creating crypt things and presents a variant of the monster that paralyzes opponents and renders them invisible (so you think they've been teleported away). A good double-whammy encounter.

Match 3: Dark Creeper/Stalker

In the ToH Corner: Little humanoids that dwell in subterranean darkness, led by a Medium-sized version. These sneaky, magic-hungry creatures hate bright light. When they die, however, they explode in a flash of light and heat that harms those around them. I always liked that exploding bit.

In the FF Corner: Monsters similar in flavor, but without the explosions of light when they die. Very similar in stats, and even ECL. The FF dark creeper might be slightly underpowered for its CR 3 rating -- it only has 5 hp and isn't nearly as nasty as say, a 3rd-level rogue.

Winner: The Tome of Horrors. I like the exploding bit.

Match 4: Disinchanter

In the FF Corner: A really tough magic-destroying monster: 16 HD, SR 30, a nasty grapple attack (it's Huge), and it drains magic items like there's no tomorrow. CR 17.

In the ToH Corner: A not-nearly-as-tough version. It's Large rather than Huge, 5 HD, no SR, and its ability to drain magic isn't nearly as scary as the Wizards version.

Winner: I gotta admit. I never liked this monster. It's a goofy-looking cross between an aardvark and a deer that eats magic. Still, if you want a disenchanter in your game, the Field Folio version is cooler and scarier. (This isn't a contest of who can create the toughest monster -- in fact, I'm almost tempted to give it to the Tome because I like the idea of low-level monsters that are a threat to magic items. However, I like the FF's idea of magic item drain better. Magic weapons used against the beast, for example, might also be drained, which is interesting. And the FF version tells you how to determine what item is struck by the disenchanter when it goes for your stuff with its goofy, magic-draining tongue.)

Match 5: Huecuva

In the ToH Corner: An undead that carries a nasty disease and can change itself into other humanoid creatures to disguise its appearance.

In the FF Corner: An undead template with a disease, but no change self power.

Winner: Tome of Horrors. The whole point of the huecuva, it seems to me, is that it can make itself look like a living person, get close, and then spread the disease. The Fiend Folio version forgets that, and makes it into a creature not all that different from a mummy.

Match 6: Kelpie

In the FF Corner: A large fey that can assume the form of a human of either gender, but normally takes the form of a warhorse that lives in the water. (Yeah, that's kinda weird to me, too.) It can charm foes and affect their emotions, tricking them to get close enough for it to drown them.

In the ToH Corner: An intelligent plant that looks like seaweed that can turn itself into a human woman, and use its charm abilities to trick men into coming close so that they'll drown (same modus operandi, pretty different monster).

Winner: The Fiend Folio, on personal preference, despite the bizarre horse-in-the-water thing. It bugs me that the traditional kelpie only affects men, and ToH carries on that idea. Why the assumption of heterosexuality? Why gender-specific? A nickpick? Maybe. But it's my contest. So there. (I also much prefer it portrayed as an evil fey rather than a plant -- but a horse? What is up with that?)

Match 7: Necrophidius
In the ToH Corner: A Large construct that looks like a skeletal snake with a human skull. It entrances foes by swaying back and forth, and its bite paralyzes creatures. It only has 11 hp, which seems strange for something so large and scary.

In the FF Corner: A slightly tougher version. This one has some construct bonus hit points (for a much more satisfying total of 30), and tougher save DCs on both the swaying and the paralyzing. And it gets a sneak attack bonus for attacking entranced foes.

Winner: The Fiend Folio version is the clear winner. The addition of the sneak attack bonus is very appropriate and the stats are much tougher, ensuring that the creature will be around long enough to use its abilities. Both are CR 2 -- the FF version might push the envelope of that rating, but the ToH version is easily underpowered at that CR. The ToH version has a neat variant called the rattler, which has a rattle attack that causes confusion, but it offers no CR adjustment (although it's clearly at least CR 3 with that powerful ability).

Conclusion
It's a tie at four wins each. Okay, so determining a "winner" wasn't really the point. Like I said, they're both good books. The point is to see how different designers convert these old monsters into 3rd Edition. Some monsters are wildly different (the kelpie) and some are actually pretty similar (the crypt thing). Some monsters that I didn't discuss, like the bloodhawk and the death dog, are surprisingly similar. How would you have converted these nasty beasties