Dark Sun Creature Catalog (Dungeons and Dragons: Roleplaying Game Supplement) Hardcover – August 17, 2010

I was torn between 4 and 5 stars for this, but in the end, I decided to round up because the price is so insane. For less than every other 4e book to-date, you get...* A *hardbound* book with about a hundred pages of tough, scaly, chitinous, psionic, spiky, mutated beasts perfect for Dark Sun. (According to WotC, it was supposed to be softcover, but the printer's error is our gain!)* A 20-page section on Important Personages, including all the Sorcerer-Kings and a few other notables from Heroic to Paragon levels. (This section also has stats for some templars for several of the cities.)* A very nice, very important section for adapting existing monsters to Dark Sun. Monster Themes are included - many of which include trade-offs, where the monster loses one thing to gain another.* A bevy of hazards for travel through the Wastes, fighting in the Arena, etc. The latter two sections take up the remaining 20 pages.Overall, it's impressive as heck - especially for the price.Naturally, it's not perfect, and for a few minutes, I was downright peeved. I couldn't find my favorite Dark Sun monsters - the Dwarven Banshees, Elf Dune Runners, and Athasian Sloths. Well, the Sloths still aren't here (doh!), but folks looking for those brilliant undead can check the Wight section. No idea why they're there, but they're still very true to the originals.I also wish that more of the Sorcerer-Kings had had MM3-style tricks to throw off conditions. At high levels, I can see the Dragon of Tyr getting stun-locked, and that just makes me sad. Some of the Sorcerer-Kings have these sorts of tricks and some don't. Also, oddly, some are Solos and some are Elites. Those with a bent towards simulation might get distracted by this, but I think it makes sense - the Elites are just more likely to have fully-capable retinues. And, as one more tiny gripe in the "just to annoy us Dark Sun oldtimers" category, some monster names have been simplified (b'rogh -> brogh, hej-kin -> hejkin), and the plurals have all been normalized.Overall, I'm thrilled with this purchase. I would have readily paid a few more bucks for this same content. It's a must-have for anyone running Dark Sun......but if you're not running Dark Sun, it's likely not be worth it. About a third of the book will be mostly-useless to you, and a lot of the monsters might feel incongruous in Forgotten Realms or the Nentir Vale. You could always reskin the cooler stuff, but you'd likely be better off just using the DDI Monster Builder. Still, for the price, it could be tough to resist.

I've successfully poured over this slim, compact, but helpful book. I love that it's a hardback, like how it dovetails in with the campaign guide, and especially like how editing mistakes rampant in the Campaign guide are absent or minor here.Here's why I rated it a 5 out of 5:1. Stats for every Dragon king and a side of parsley to go with them. From the Dragon of Tyr to Giustenal's undead dragon, the gang are all inside. They have some Paragon and even heroic badguys listed in the back that fill out a rogue's gallery that helps cover a lot of bases and complete what we know about the cities. To be honest, it almost makes part of the Campaign guide, safer for the Players to see and review as part of the bargain.2. The good, old favorites. I miss the Erdlu's separation from the Crodlu, and would have liked the subtle differences as explained in Dune trader, the 2nd edition book published more than a decade ago, but I got the big ones, most of the medium ones, and almost all of the little ones covered. Between that and some nice little flavor text I'm fine. I'll admit that the picture of the Braxat and a few others(the Kirre is borderline, but at least a new take on the old thoughts) looks like they hired some interns from a middle school, most of the pics do the setting and its unique art style credit. I didn't see anything that truly was the india ink that brom made famous for the setting, but I was pleased.3. Every single player race was included(shy tieflings) to help fill in for what we have to cover in the differences in Athasian and other cultures. The half-Giant entries especially give 2 paragon and 2 heroic tier monsters well worth the wait.4. The encounter options section, complete with some that can actually be activated and used by skillful player characters was a master stroke. An invention worth of the name DarkSun.5. Adhering to the new stat block. Nuff said.I think this alongside Monster manual 3 are excellent pieces for the DarkSun world. Throw the Campaign guide and skip the marauders module, and you're all set.

Unless you just need more monsters to throw at your players, and don't care where you're getting them from, make sure you own a copy of the Dark Sun Campaign Setting. This book is filled entirely with monster statblocks. Not a bad purchase, as I plan to eventually pick up the campaign setting, just be aware this is only a creature catalog.

The Dark Sun Creature Catalog is well done. It took a while to arrive for us all, but in the end, we got a great hardcover book. I am very pleased with this book. DSCC brings the goods.For hardcore Dark Sun players from back in the day, this book serves well. Yes, it doesn't have all our favorite's, T'Chowb missing hurts me dearly, but it does give most of the old enemies new life for the 4th edition. I agree that I could have skipped most of the personalities in the end for more templates or more monsters, but some day, you will be thankful that someone else did the work on the Dragon of Tyr and the Sorcerer Kings. The Template, added in Dungeon Master's Guide II, is put to good use here.Oh, we all want more monsters, I in particular want more Gith, but this book is well written and serious about Dark Sun. If you are a fan of the genre, are looking to become one or are in need of new monsters to challenge your player's, get this book.

This alternative Dungeons and Dragons World has been touted as one of the best and most popular. Wish I had got this and the Campaign guide years ago. I have the electronics version but the glorious real print is much better. Beautiful artwork and some really great work. Shame you cannot get the Campaign guide for under 50 quid now!

Excellent production,as usual for the 4th Ed Books.A very useful selection of all Creatures extreme and and apocalyptic under the harsh Dark Sun of the blasted world of Athas.

The Dark sun creature catalog is a great book, it comes in a nice hard cover, and has nearly 200 monsters in it! It not only has monster info, but info about the sorcerer-kings and their cities, and stats about them so your PC's can actually battle them!It's 143 pages of useful information, if you have the Dark sun campaign setting game supplement then I highly reccomend this, as it has details about the desert world of Athas. If you don't have it and are just looking to add monsters to your campaign, then it's half and half, since it has stuff about Athas, which won't really apply to you. Also, it dosen't come with monster tokens, and since WoTC haven't made any minis or tokens for Dark sun, it's kind of annoying having to use other monster tokens to pretend. Though I suppose it is just a book, not a set or anything.Overall, it's a great addition to a Dark sun campaign and...stuff.

Introduced to the Dark Sun campaign setting in second edition, I purchased this to see how things have changed two revisions later. Traditional presentation of a monster manual from wizards and D&D itself, but once again a book the is thin and light on content. They could of added more to the book I felt, and once again another reason I am glad that I do not pay full retail on books from wizard in regards to the D&D liscence. Only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it is Dark Sun, otherwise it is a 3 outta 5.

A good read. The monsters have a decent amount of fluff and the art is beautiful. It's a real pity that the Dark Sun Campaign Setting isn't available anymore.